Evolution is one of the main controversial topics in biology, and also one of the most fascinating phenomena in nature! This course is an introduction to evolutionary biology and the evolutionary process. In this introductory course, you will know the genetic basis of evolution: the nature of the genetic information; the main mechanisms of evolution, such as natural selection, crossing over and mutation; An overview of the process of speciation, and finally: how some computer algorithms can be inspired in the evolution of populations to solve hard combinatorial problems!

The course is divided into three main sections:

1- The fundamentals: In this section, we have an overview of the process of evolution, and why it is different from metamorphosis. You'll also learn concepts of genetics

2- The mechanisms: In this section, are presented the main mechanisms of evolution, such as natural selection, mutation, crossing over, and genetic drift

3- The extra section: Here, there are two lectures: in the first one, we will use a bioinformatic toool to search for similar genetic sequences. In the second class, we will explore the idea of genetic algorithms and how evolution inspires computer optimization algorthms

So, if you are interested in the theory behind the evolutionary process, or you simply want to know how evolution can be seen as an algorithm, this course is for you!