June 23 -
July 11, 2025
The first two weeks of each course are asynchronous and consist of about 7 hours of work per week. During the third week, students interact with their instructor and other students via videoconferencing meetings, and the course is about 20 hours long.
The synchronous portion of this course during the third week will be from 10:00- 11:15 AM Monday-Friday.
Rising
10th
11th
12th
Step into the incredible world of growth and transformation! In this fascinating course, you’ll uncover the secrets of how animals grow—and why they stop when they reach the perfect size.
Dive deep into the science of:
- Insects: Learn how they control growth, molt, and undergo jaw-dropping metamorphosis.
- Mammals: Compare how humans and other mammals regulate growth rates using hormones.
- Growth Hormones: Discover how these powerful molecules orchestrate growth and body size across species.
Are you ready to grow your knowledge and explore the science of life? Let’s get started!
Fred Nijhout is broadly interested in developmental physiology and in the interactions between development and evolution. He has several lines of research ongoing in his laboratory that, on the surface, may look independent from one another, but all share a conceptual interest in understanding how complex traits arise through and are affected by the interaction of genetic and environmental factors. He is currently serving as John Franklin Crowell Distinguished Professor of Biology at Duke University, a position which he has held since 2014. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame and his M.A. and Ph. D. from Harvard University.
