Course Description

Course curriculum

  • 01

    Welcome to the course! [IMPORTANT!]

    • How the class works, Part 1

    • How the Class Works, Part 2

    • What if I have to miss a Zoom session? How do I get dates, times, URLs, etc? Are there recordings?

    • How fast do you want to learn? It's up to you! [Some constraints on Q&A, don't skip this lesson]

    • Intro to your Instructors

    • Resources: Strongly Recommended

    • What If You Have Tech Problems?

    • Friends, Americans, Countryfolks, Lend us Your Dogs - and Cats.....
  • 02

    Mod 1: Anthro is FUN: Starting the Journey

    • What is anthropology? How does this class fit into the series?

    • The Ice Age timeline

    • Neandertals, Hominins, Hominids and other Terminology

    • Human Species, Human Races - What are they?

    • WHY are humans the 2nd LEAST diverse species of mammal on Earth

    • What does "Human" mean?

    • Let's Discuss!

    • Can You Find the Anthro Error? (great fun!)
  • 03

    Mod 2: Introducing Neandertals and Denisovans

    • Introducing the Neandertals and the Denisovans: Whose cousins are they?

    • Neandertals: Skulls, DNA, Language Skills

    • Neandertals: How Did They Live?

    • Neandertals: What do we know about structure of their families/groups?

    • What Did Denisovans Look Like?

    • What does "Hunt" Mean When we are Talking About How Our Ancestors (of both species) lived?

    • How Smart Were Neandertals? Did Dogs Help Us Hunt? The significance of birds...

    • Short Videos

    • Self-Assessment for Module 2
  • 04

    Mod 3: Driving Biological Change

    • How Does Biological Change Happen?

    • Natural Selection and Mutation

    • Artificial Selection (Domestication) - Creating new species of plants and animals

    • Swapping DNA from One Species to Another

    • Epigenetics

    • Macroevolution and Hox Genes

    • What Kinds of DNA Change Occurred in our Human Ancestors?

    • When Humans Nearly Vanished [Book recommendation & PBS Video]

    • Should You Get a DNA Test? What will it actually tell you?

    • Questions, Questions!
  • 05

    Mod 4: Arf, Arf. How Wolves Turned into Our Beloved Dogs

    • What is a dog?

    • WHEN Did Wolves Begin Their Journey to Dogs: PDF with the Details of Research

    • What Else, Besides Our Leftover Scraps, Attracted Wolves and Wildcats?

    • Dog Communications: Rick

    • Dog Intelligence, part 1

    • Dog Intelligence, Part 2

    • How I Became a Dog Lover: Victoria

    • Are There Really "Dog People"? Pros and Cons

    • How Dogs Think About Their Role in Our Lives and Other Weighty Topics

    • 2021 New Research on Genetic Changes in Dog DNA

    • Victoria's 9 Dogs - or is it 10??

    • Self-Domestication in New Species: Ongoing?

    • Tell Us Your Dog Story
  • 06

    Mod 5: Meow Meow. How Wildcats Became Our Helpers and Beloved Companions

    • WHY Did Cats Become Domestics?

    • When Did Cats Start Down the Domestication Road?

    • My Life With Cats: Rick

    • Cat communication: Rick

    • After Domestication, How Did F. catus Proliferate to Every Continent?

    • The Sociable Cat

    • Multi-Species Communication: Preview and Discussion

    • Multi-Species Communication

    • The Symbolic Meanings of Cats through History

    • Some resources to track down and enjoy, with written summaries

    • In Which an Herbivore Explains Carnivory to Cats (Just for fun, not everyday; it's not healthy)

    • Does This Look Like Felis catus To You?

    • Tell us YOUR cat story!
  • 07

    Mod 6: Can We Make a New "Dog"?

    • Why do we need a New Dog?

    • The Fox Experiments in Siberia: The Startling Answer to "What do you select for?"

    • A PDF view of the Fox domestication

    • Are We All the Way to a Domesticated Fox: International Collaboration
  • 08

    Mod 7: Cock-a-Doodle in SE Asia

    • The Importance of Chickens for SE Asia and for Pacific Peoples

    • Sea People, by Christina Thompson

    • Modern Moa of the Pacific
  • 09

    Mod 8: Emmer & Einkorn Marry and Produce a High-Protein "Child"

    • The Transformational Power of Emmer and Einkorn: The World Changed

    • Einkorn is available at the Ashland Co-Op

    • An Alternative Motivation for Grain Domestication (Be prepared to laugh!)

    • The Ugly Unintended Legacy of Wheat Domestication

    • A book to supplement your study

    • Wheat Allergies: Newest Research

    • Plant Domestication Discussion
  • 10

    Mod 9: When Nicky Neandertal Met Sally Sapiens - and her sister Shan Met Danzi Denisov

    • Close Species Separate, Come Together, Separate Again - Mate & Compete

    • Species Admixture: Some Interesting Research Reports

    • Why Did Our Cousins go Extinct: Ideas That Don't Work

    • Why Did Our Cousins Go Extinct: The Unexciting Reason That's Probably True

    • How are Neandertals AND Humans Different from Apes but SImilar to Each Other?

    • Human Social Organization vs. Neandertal: Possible Addendum to the Main Theory of Extinction

    • Human Social Organization Continued

    • Summary of the Social Organization Theories

    • Neandertals, Denisovans and GHOST DNA: April 2020

    • More Hot Neander/Denisov News

    • Denisovans in the Philippines, Sept 2021

    • 2021 News: Waves of Neandertal-Human Hybridization, PLUS What Genetically is Unique About H. sapiens?

    • How H. sapiens sapiens remained one subspecies for 150K years

    • H. sapiens, one sub-species, Part 2

    • Multi-species Ancestry: Discussion
  • 11

    Next Steps!

    • What is so AMAZING about the Ice Age? What were our ancestors doing and learning?

    • Additional Links and Resources for the Class

    • Do You Want to Have an End-Class Virtual Party? Ideas for future classes!

Instructor(s)

Instructor Bio:

Victoria Leo and Rick Baird are the dynamic duo who provide you with rigorously-accurate - and FUN - explorations in a wide range of subjects that they have accredited academic degrees in, or the equivalent. You will find classes in sciences like anthropology, biology and astronomy, and classes from finding life in outer space to deeply understanding your human body, mind, heart and soul. Neandertals, Denisovans and human evolution. Dog and cat and chicken domestication. Meditation and mindfulness. Comprehensive introductions to 101 forms of creativity. Marriage, family, kinship, religion, power and economics, from cultures all around the world. Writing and creating fiction that comes alive. Forest and Sky Bathing, and other mental health tools. Rick has degrees from Caltech and MIT in chemistry and chem engineering, and is an avid amateur astronomer and astrophotographer. Victoria has grad degrees in anthro, bio and psychology and is certified in multiple tools and techniques. You can visit them at www.soaringdragon.biz. Victoria is the author of multiple books in health and creativity. She is currently busily creating books in her science fiction universe. Visit her Amazon author page or email [email protected]. [Make sure it's .biz. .com is a Chinese restaurant. Victoria can't cook.]

Victoria C. Leo & Rick Baird

Welcome to Creativity, Anthropology, Astronomy & More - ONLINE!