YSC2234: Human Biology
Instructor: William H. Piel
Office: RC1-02-06C
SMS: +65 9724 6482
Email: william.piel@yale-nus.edu.sg
Office Hours: Tuesdays 3PM-5PM, but ultimately best done with prior SMS or WhatsApp message to check that I didn’t step out for something urgent. Alternatively, feel free to schedule any other time.
Class Schedule
- Monday: 09:00-1030
- Thursday: 09:00-1030
- Venue: Y-CR15
Course Description
This course examines the anatomy and physiology of humans and other animals in an evolutionary and comparative framework. Major themes include the integration among physiological systems to maintain homeostasis; understanding biological structures as statements of homology; suboptimal or pathological adaptive solutions as the product of phylogenetic constraints or physiological trade-offs; and human adaptive plasticity in diverse environments. This course should be of interest to students wanting to learn about human and animal biology, chronic and metabolic pathologies in contemporary urban societies, or students considering careers in medical, veterinary, or pharmaceutical science.
Required Reading for All Students
- Lieberman, D. 2014. The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease. Vintage Press.
- Additional readings and papers provided.
Required Readings for More Ambitious Pre-Med Students
Widmaier, Raff and Strang. Vanders Human Physiology: The mechanisms of Body Function, 14th Edition. Editions 9-13 function perfectly well as substitutes and may be considerably cheaper through secondhand sources. Students planning to pursue medical school will find this to be a useful textbook for later studies. Students who choose an earlier edition are required to compare theirs with the 13th edition in the library in order to figure out the equivalent page numbers.
Not required, but available in the library for reference
Netter’s Atlas of Human Anatomy, 5th Edition (but any edition will do)
Additional Readings Provided
- Wolpert Principles of Development. 3th ed. London: Oxford University Press.
- Biewener. Animal Locomotion. Oxford University Press.
- Various papers from the primary and secondary literature
Reading
This course is primarily concerned with understanding major themes and concepts in an evolutionary context, which is why the Lieberman book is required reading. Secondarily, this course is concerned with the nuts and bolts of anatomy and physiology, and in that regard a fair bit of memorization is necessary — and that is where the Vanders textbook can help. For our purposes, this textbook goes into more detail than is necessary, but students may find it handy nonetheless. One strategy is to read the required materials and then skim Vanders before class, and based on what is covered in class, return to the text and focus on the parts that deal with material covered in class. The initial skim is valuable because it gives an overview of the topic in all its glory, including material that we will not be covering. This allows you to know where to find information later in life, and is generally good training for future studies in professional schools (e.g. medical or veterinary school) where such details matter. But again, note that this is not required reading.
Movies
We will be viewing about 45 minutes of films per week.
Course Grading
An in-class mid semester exam, worth about 25%, tests retention and comprehension of material covered in class, including papers, over the first third of the semester. A take-home second semester exam, worth about 25%, tests material covered in the second third of the course. A final exam is the same but worth about 30%, covering the entire year but with primary emphasis on the last third of the semester. Reading quizzes will be worth about 18%, with the remainder going to class participation. These point allotments are subject to change, and their true weight ultimately depends on class variance.
Policy for Academic Integrity:
Students are welcome to form study groups or in other ways collaborate on reading assignments and when studying for exams. However, quizzes should be answered in private and questions or ideas about papers should be the student’s original thoughts.
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I cannot access the videos here for some reason prof
Hi – please check this page for the login and password.