Our Courses

Finding Hidden Messages in DNA (Bioinformatics I)

Named a top 50 MOOC of all time by Class Central! This course begins a series of classes illustrating the power of computing in modern biology. Please join us on the frontier of bioinformatics to look for hidden messages in DNA without ever needing to put on a lab coat. In the first half of the course, we investigate DNA replication, and ask the question, where in the genome does DNA replication begin?

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 16 hours
• English

Weight Management: Beyond Balancing Calories

Across the globe, more people are suffering from obesity than at any other time in our history. Why has obesity become so common and so challenging? In this course, we will look at the root cause of obesity, as explained by the latest science. We will see how our food environment has evolved over the last half-century, and how it is altering our biology to over-consume calories and resist sustained weight loss. We will also see how stress, a sedentary lifestyle, and inadequate sleep disrupt our appetite control system to promote gaining weight.

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• Self Paced
• 18 hours
• English

Introduction to the Biology of Cancer

Over 500,000 people in the United States and over 8 million people worldwide are dying every year from cancer. As people live longer, the incidence of cancer is rising worldwide and the disease is expected to strike over 20 million people annually by 2030. This open course is designed for people who would like to develop an understanding of cancer and how it is prevented, diagnosed, and treated. The course introduces the molecular biology of cancer (oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes) as well as the biologic hallmarks of cancer.

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• Self Paced
• 8 hours
• English

Global Warming I: The Science and Modeling of Climate Change

This class describes the science of global warming and the forecast for humans’ impact on Earth’s climate. Intended for an audience without much scientific background but a healthy sense of curiosity, the class brings together insights and perspectives from physics, chemistry, biology, earth and atmospheric sciences, and even some economics—all based on a foundation of simple mathematics (algebra).

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• Self Paced
• 39 hours
• English

Chemical Biology

Chemical biology is a burgeoning field that has rapidly risen to prominence. This surge of interest has been fuelled by chemical biology’s applicability to understanding critical processes in live cells or model organisms in real time. This success has arisen because chemical biology straddles a nexus between chemistry, biology, and physics. Thus, chemical biology can harness rapid chemistry to observe or perturb biological processes, that are in turn reported using physical assays, all in an otherwise unperturbed living entity.

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 21 hours
• English

Medical Neuroscience

Medical Neuroscience explores the functional organization and neurophysiology of the human central nervous system, while providing a neurobiological framework for understanding human behavior. In this course, you will discover the organization of the neural systems in the brain and spinal cord that mediate sensation, motivate bodily action, and integrate sensorimotor signals with memory, emotion and related faculties of cognition.

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 71 hours
• English

Knowing the Universe: History and Philosophy of Astronomy

This is an introductory level course about the history and philosophy of astronomy, the oldest science. We'll look at how humans learned to ask questions about the universe, and even before the invention of modern instruments like the telescope, learned some amazing things about their place in nature. We will start with prehistoric cultures who kept accurate calendars and move through the time of the Greek philosophers who laid down the rudiments of logic and mathematics and the modern scientific method.

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 32 hours
• English

The Science of the Solar System

Learn about the science behind the current exploration of the solar system in this free class. Use principles from physics, chemistry, biology, and geology to understand the latest from Mars, comprehend the outer solar system, ponder planets outside our solar system, and search for habitability in our neighborhood and beyond. This course is generally taught at an advanced level assuming a prior knowledge of undergraduate math and physics, but the majority of the concepts and lectures can be understood without these prerequisites.

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 30 hours
• English

Epigenetic Control of Gene Expression

While the human genome sequence has transformed our understanding of human biology, it isn’t just the sequence of your DNA that matters, but also how you use it! How are some genes activated and others are silenced? How is this controlled? The answer is epigenetics. Epigenetics has been a hot topic for research over the past decade as it has become clear that aberrant epigenetic control contributes to disease (particularly to cancer). Epigenetic alterations are heritable through cell division, and in some instances are able to behave similarly to mutations in terms of their stability.

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• Self Paced
• 17 hours
• English

Genomics: Decoding the Universal Language of Life

What is a genome? A genome contains all of the information that a cell needs to develop, function, and reproduce itself, and all the information needed for those cells to come together to form a person, plant, or animal. Genomes contain an organism’s complete set of genes, and also the even tinier genetic structures that help regulate when and how those genes are used. The ability to regrow a torn ligament, the clues that might predict the onset of mental illness, the nutritional potential of crops, and even the history of life itself, are all encoded in genomes.

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• Self Paced
• 37 hours
• English

Bioinformatic Methods II

Large-scale biology projects such as the sequencing of the human genome and gene expression surveys using RNA-seq, microarrays and other technologies have created a wealth of data for biologists. However, the challenge facing scientists is analyzing and even accessing these data to extract useful information pertaining to the system being studied. This course focuses on employing existing bioinformatic resources – mainly web-based programs and databases – to access the wealth of data to answer questions relevant to the average biologist, and is highly hands-on.

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 19 hours
• English

Introduction to Genetics and Evolution

Introduction to Genetics and Evolution is a college-level class being offered simultaneously to new students at Duke University. The course gives interested people a very basic overview of some principles behind these very fundamental areas of biology.

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• Self Paced
• 25 hours
• English

Introduction to Genomic Technologies

This course introduces you to the basic biology of modern genomics and the experimental tools that we use to measure it. We'll introduce the Central Dogma of Molecular Biology and cover how next-generation sequencing can be used to measure DNA, RNA, and epigenetic patterns. You'll also get an introduction to the key concepts in computing and data science that you'll need to understand how data from next-generation sequencing experiments are generated and analyzed. This is the first course in the Genomic Data Science Specialization.

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• Self Paced
• 6 hours
• English

The Brain and Space

This course is about how the brain creates our sense of spatial location from a variety of sensory and motor sources, and how this spatial sense in turn shapes our cognitive abilities. Knowing where things are is effortless. But “under the hood,” your brain must figure out even the simplest of details about the world around you and your position in it. Recognizing your mother, finding your phone, going to the grocery store, playing the banjo – these require careful sleuthing and coordination across different sensory and motor domains.

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 10 hours
• English

Bioinformatic Methods I

Large-scale biology projects such as the sequencing of the human genome and gene expression surveys using RNA-seq, microarrays and other technologies have created a wealth of data for biologists. However, the challenge facing scientists is analyzing and even accessing these data to extract useful information pertaining to the system being studied. This course focuses on employing existing bioinformatic resources – mainly web-based programs and databases – to access the wealth of data to answer questions relevant to the average biologist, and is highly hands-on.

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 20 hours
• English

Lactation Biology

Lactation and especially milk, which is the product of that unique mammalian process, are routinely encountered within our daily lives. Nevertheless, they often are poorly understood by many, even including many who are engaged in the business of producing milk.

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• Self Paced
• 40 hours
• English

Introduction to Systems Biology

This course will introduce the student to contemporary Systems Biology focused on mammalian cells, their constituents and their functions. Biology is moving from molecular to modular. As our knowledge of our genome and gene expression deepens and we develop lists of molecules (proteins, lipids, ions) involved in cellular processes, we need to understand how these molecules interact with each other to form modules that act as discrete functional systems. These systems underlie core subcellular processes such as signal transduction, transcription, motility and electrical excitability.

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• Self Paced
• 19 hours
• English

Grade 6

The subscription provides comprehensive support to Grade 6 students in Maths, Physics, Biology and Chemistry for the entire academic year, helping them build a strong foundation for their primary education.

Additionally learn 14 international languages as per the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).

• Course by
• Self Paced
• Not Available
• English

Grade 10

The subscription provides comprehensive support to Grade 10 students in Maths, Physics, Biology and Chemistry for the entire academic year, helping them build a strong foundation for their primary education.

Additionally learn 14 international languages as per the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).

• Course by
• Self Paced
• Not Available
• English

Grade 9

The subscription provides comprehensive support to Grade 9 students in Maths, Physics, Biology and Chemistry for the entire academic year, helping them build a strong foundation for their primary education.

Additionally learn 14 international languages as per the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).

• Course by
• Self Paced
• Not Available
• English

Grade 8

The subscription provides comprehensive support to Grade 8 students in Maths, Physics, Biology and Chemistry for the entire academic year, helping them build a strong foundation for their primary education.

Additionally learn 14 international languages as per the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).

• Course by
• Self Paced
• Not Available
• English

Grade 7

The subscription provides comprehensive support to Grade 7 students in Maths, Physics, Biology and Chemistry for the entire academic year, helping them build a strong foundation for their primary education.

Additionally learn 14 international languages as per the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).

• Course by
• Self Paced
• Not Available
• English

Molecular Biology - Part 1: DNA Replication and Repair

An in-depth adventure through DNA replication and repair to strengthen your scientific thinking and experimental design skills.

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• Self Paced
• English

Cell Biology: Cell-Cell Interactions

How do we know what we know about cells? Enhance your scientific thinking and data analysis skills with this in-depth adventure through cell biology.

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• Self Paced
• English

The Science of Gastronomy

This course introduces several basic scientific principles underpinning the methodology of cooking, food preparation, and the enjoyment of food. All topics covered have a strong basis in biology, chemistry, and physics application. Among others, they include the consumption of cooked food, the physiological and evolutionary implications of the senses, geographic and cultural influences on food, and the rationale behind food preparation.

• Course by
• Self Paced
• 16 hours
• English