UCOR-3800 : Mass Extinctions

Why did the dinosaurs die out 65 million years ago, yet small mammals survived? What caused the other four great mass extinctions in Earth history? Is there any relation of these past events to current global climate change, which will affect all nations, cultures, and ecosystems? Students in this course will study methods and results from geoscience and physics to learn about the science of climate change, past, present, and future, and the global effects of this change.