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