NASA Future Missions

About the instructor:
Bruce Fouke is the Ralph E. Grim Professor in Earth Science & Environmental Change at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He also serves as Director of the Illinois Roy J. Carver Biotechnology Center.
https://esec.illinois.edu/directory/p...

Coursera version of this course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/emerge...

Course Description:
How did life emerge on Earth? How have life and Earth co-evolved through geological time? Is life elsewhere in the universe? Take a look through the 4-billion-year history of life on Earth through the lens of the modern Tree of Life!

This course will evaluate the entire history of life on Earth within the context of our cutting-edge understanding of the Tree of Life. This includes the pioneering work of Professor Carl Woese on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus which revolutionized our understanding with a new "Tree of Life." Other themes include:
Reconnaissance of ancient primordial life before the first cell evolved
The entire ~4-billion-year development of single- and multi-celled life through the lens of the Tree of Life
The influence of Earth system processes (meteor impacts, volcanoes, ice sheets) on shaping and structuring the Tree of Life

This synthesis emphasizes the universality of the emergence of life as a prelude for the search for extraterrestrial life.