Coursera Plus Annual is 40% Off — Ends July 6.

Class Central is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

The Great Courses Plus

A New History of Life

via The Great Courses Plus

Go to class Write review
Simplilearn Ad

Become an AI & ML Engineer with Cal Poly EPaCE — IBM-Certified Training

Learn More → Babbel Ad

Start speaking a new language. It’s just 3 weeks away.

Learn More →

Overview

Google, IBM & Meta Certificates – 40% Off
One plan covers every Professional Certificate on Coursera.
Unlock All Certificates
Learn the history of life in a dramatic new way with this fascinating course that draws upon biology, earth science, and other disciplines to explain life's mysterious origins.

Syllabus

  • 01: The Interconnected Earth
  • 02: The Vast Depths of Earth Time
  • 03: Fossil Clocks
  • 04: Paleontologists as Detectives
  • 05: The Shifting Surface of Planet Earth
  • 06: Earliest Origins-Formation of the Planet
  • 07: Origins of Land, Ocean, and Air
  • 08: The Early Chemical Evolution of Life
  • 09: Hints of the First Life Forms
  • 10: How Life Transformed the Early Earth
  • 11: Snowball Earth-Another Crisis
  • 12: Metazoans-Life Grows Up
  • 13: Incredible Variety-The Cambrian Explosion
  • 14: Window to a Lost World-The Burgess Shale
  • 15: The Forgotten Fossils in Earth's Story
  • 16: Introduction to the Great Mass Extinctions
  • 17: The Collapse of Earth's First Eden
  • 18: Making the Break for Land
  • 19: Getting a Backbone-The Story of Vertebrates
  • 20: The Evolution of Jaws
  • 21: These Limbs Were Made for Walking?
  • 22: Tiktaalik-The Search for a Fishapod
  • 23: Carboniferous Giants and Coal
  • 24: Amniotes-The Shape of Things to Come
  • 25: Permian Extinction-Life's Worst Catastrophe
  • 26: Finding the Killer-The Greenhouse Earth
  • 27: The Dinosaurs Take Over
  • 28: Letting the Dinosaurs Speak-Paleobehavior
  • 29: Conquering the Air-The Evolution of Flight
  • 30: Monsters of the Deep-Mesozoic Oceans
  • 31: The Cretaceous Earth-A Tropical Planet
  • 32: The Sky Is Falling-End of the Dinosaurs
  • 33: The Collision of North and South America
  • 34: The Rise of Mammals and the Last Ice Age
  • 35: The Humble Origins of Human Beings
  • 36: The Conscious Earth
  • By This Professor

Taught by

Stuart Sutherland

Reviews

4.7 rating at The Great Courses Plus based on 104 ratings

Start your review of A New History of Life

Go to class

Never Stop Learning.

Get personalized course recommendations, track subjects and courses with reminders, and more.

Sign up for free
Someone learning on their laptop while sitting on the floor.