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Cosmology Schedule

Senior Honors Seminar

August          30   Introduction

September    1    Time Travel

                    6    Big Bang

                    8    discussion

                    13    Stellar Evolution

                    15    discussion

                    20    Origin of Solar System, Earth, and Moon

                    22   discussion

                    27    Origin of Microbial Life

                    29    discussion (guest visit by Mark Lyford- cellular biologist)

October        4    Cambrian Explosion, fast metabolism, skeletal systems,    

                           marine arthropods

                    6    discussion

                    11    Silurian time, colonization of land, first land plants and arthropods

                    13    discussion

                    18    Devonian time, origin of insects, trees, 6-legged locomotion

                    20    discussion

                    25    Carboniferous time, flight, metamorphosis, giant insects,

                              coal swamps 

                    27    discussion

November     1    Permian time, warm-blooded predators, giants decline,

                                massive extinction

                    3    discussion, final papers due Dec.9

                    8    Mesozoic era- Triassic time, living with dinosaurs

                    10    discussion

                    15    Jurassic park- insects and birds

                    17    discussion

                    22    Mesozoic perspective- visit to the UW Geology Museum (dinosaurs!)

                    24    discussion

                   29    discussion (guest visit by Greg Brown- botanist)

December     2    Cretaceous time, flowering plants, butterflies, social insects  

                    6    Cenozoic time- origins of tropical complexity

                    9  Life in the Universe- discussion, final research papers due