Physics
How Dangerous is Radiation Exposure?
How dangerous is radiation exposure? The reality is much less fantastical than typically portrayed in Hollywood horror films. […]
Science
History
Biological Anthropology—Unpacking Race and Biology
In this free lecture, Professor Scott Lacey discusses big questions of anthropology. What does it mean to be human? Where did we come from? And what unites us in our diversity today? […]
Science
Computer Programming: Understanding Variables
The leap from traditional calculators to the power of computer programming begins when we turn to variables, operations with variables, and input/output commands. When we combine variables with other operations or input/output commands, we get statements that let the computer do virtually everything we regard as impressive. […]
Astronomy
Eclipse Glasses Not Required
The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory has created a free Smithsonian Eclipse app, allowing users to watch a live NASA stream of the eclipse as it moves across the country. […]
Physics
Big Mysteries: Extra Dimensions
Extra dimensions, which may well be an incorrect hypothesis, are one possible explanation for why gravity is so much weaker than the other forces. In this video, Great Courses professor Dr. Don Lincoln explains it all with the help of a talking rabbit. […]
Chemistry
A Search For the Theory of Everything
The unifying theories of physics are among the greatest and most complex in all of science—nothing less than a search for the theory of everything. […]
Physics
The Origin of Mass
Sophisticated consumers of science have heard that the Higgs boson is the origin of mass for ordinary matter. This is true, to a degree… […]
Science
Will Flowering Plants Take Over the World?
Flowering plants arrived relatively late in geological time, between 290 to 145 million years ago. But once here, they evolved quickly and often displaced many other types of plants. In fact, in terms of species, flowering plants are the dominant plant form on Earth today with more than 300,000 types. Learn how their unique reproductive mechanisms led to this explosion of speciation in such a relatively short time.
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Physics
Wave or Particle—What Is Light?
Light propagates through space as a continuous wave, but also exchanges energy in the form of discrete particles. So, wave or particle—what is light? […]
Astronomy
Hubble Images—Exploring the Birthplace of Stars
Among the incredible Hubble cloud images, none has been received with greater public acclaim than the detailed 1995 snapshot of newborn stars emerging from giant pillars of gas and dust inside the Eagle Nebula. This image looks like a fantasy landscape out of a dream or a children’s story. Get ready to explore this image in the context of galactic interstellar clouds, the process of star formation, and the impact of young stars on their interstellar environments. […]