You updated your password.

Reset Password

Enter the email address you used to create your account. We will email you instructions on how to reset your password.

Forgot Your Email Address? Contact Us

Reset Your Password

SHOW
SHOW

36 Big Ideas

Take an unforgettable look at 36 big ideas—in everything from science to philosophy—with this collection of Great Courses lectures.
Ask anything about The Great Courses
 
 

Overview Course No. 9001

The Great Courses has introduced millions of lifelong learners to some of the biggest ideas out there. Enjoy a collection of 36 lectures specially curated from some of our most popular courses and get a fresh learning experience in a wide range of disciplines. Religious writings that may have been forged; a universal template of world myths; the science of tasting colors—Join us for an intriguing tour of big ideas!

About

John McWhorter

Far from being a language in decline, we have reason to believe that English, with all its beauty and quirks and illogicities, will be carried far into the future.

INSTITUTION

Columbia University

John McWhorter is an Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He earned a PhD in Linguistics from Stanford University. He is the author of several books, including The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language; Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter; and Word on the Street, a book on dialects and Black English. He has also been published in outlets such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, and he has appeared on Dateline and Good Morning America, among other platforms.

By This Professor

Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths of Language Usage
854
How Hamilton Revolutionized the Broadway Musical
853
Language Families of the World
854
Understanding Linguistics: The Science of Language
854
Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius

To study the deepest impulses in human nature, we see the lure of wealth and conquest, the deep-seated urge for fame and glory, the quest for higher ends, a basic human determination.

INSTITUTION

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius is a Professor of History at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He received his PhD in European History, specializing in modern German history, from the University of Pennsylvania. He has published numerous articles and two books: The German Myth of the East: 1800 to the Present and War Land on the Eastern Front: Culture, National Identity, and German Occupation in World War I. He won the top two teaching awards at the University of Tennessee and was awarded a prestigious research fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

By This Professor

Turning Points in Modern History
854
Apollo 11: Lessons for All time
853
Utopia and Terror in the 20th Century
854
A History of Eastern Europe
854
John R. Hale

The most important record of religious history resides not in books and sacred texts but buried in the earth.

INSTITUTION

University of Louisville
View Full Details

By This Professor

The Art of Public Speaking
854
The Great Tours: Greece and Turkey, from Athens to Istanbul
854
Exploring the Roots of Religion
854
The Greek and Persian Wars
854
Peter M. Vishton

The human mind remains one of the most mysterious and fascinating frontiers of modern science. Exploring that frontier yields useful knowledge as well as insights about ourselves.

INSTITUTION

The College of William & Mary
View Full Details

By This Professor

Understanding the Secrets of Human Perception
854
Outsmart Yourself: Brain-Based Strategies to a Better You
854
Scientific Secrets for a Powerful Memory
854
Scientific Secrets for Raising Kids Who Thrive
854
Robert Sapolsky

We humans activate the stress-response for reasons of psychological factors, and that's simply not what the system evolved for. If you do that chronically, you're going to get sick.

INSTITUTION

Stanford University
View Full Details

By This Professor

Stress and Your Body
854
Biology and Human Behavior: The Neurological Origins of Individuality, 2nd Edition
854
Being Human: Life Lessons from the Frontiers of Science
854
Dorsey Armstrong

Every turning point discussed in these lectures shifted the flow of the river of history, bringing us ever closer to the modern world.

INSTITUTION

Purdue University

Dorsey Armstrong is a Professor of English and Medieval Literature at Purdue University, where she is also the head of the Department of English. She received her PhD in Medieval Literature from Duke University. She is the executive editor of the academic journal Arthuriana, which publishes cutting-edge research on the legend of King Arthur, from its medieval origins to its modern enactments. She is a recipient of the Charles B. Murphy Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award, Purdue’s top undergraduate teaching honor. Her other Great Courses include The Black Death: The World’s Most Devastating Plague and The Medieval World.

By This Professor

King Arthur: History and Legend
854
Years That Changed History: 1215
854
Women of History
853
The Black Death: Did Humans Spread the Plague?
853
Robert C. Solomon

What I want to ask you is to look at emotions, as I have, as something wondrous, something mysterious, something exotic, as well as something dangerous, something profound, and something valuable.

INSTITUTION

The University of Texas at Austin
View Full Details

By This Professor

Passions: Philosophy and the Intelligence of Emotions
854
No Excuses: Existentialism and Meaning of Life
854
Sean Carroll

We need to push on our understanding of cosmology, particle physics, gravity, not to mention how complexity and entropy evolve through time, and eventually you'll be able to really understand what our theories predict.

INSTITUTION

Johns Hopkins University

Sean Carroll is the Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University and both a member of the Fractal Faculty and an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute. He received his PhD in Astrophysics from Harvard University. He is the author of several books, including Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime, and the host of the weekly Mindscape podcast. He has been awarded prizes and fellowships by the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the Guggenheim Foundation, among others.

By This Professor

The Many Hidden Worlds of Quantum Mechanics
854
Wondrium Perspectives
853
Dark Matter, Dark Energy: The Dark Side of the Universe
854
The Great Courses Professors Remember Stephen Hawking
853
Edwin Barnhart

In my own experience as an explorer, it's almost always the case that the locals knew where lost places were all along. The discoverer is just the first person to ask the right questions.

INSTITUTION

Maya Exploration Center
View Full Details

By This Professor

Ancient Civilizations of North America
854
Lost Worlds of South America
854
Exploring the Mayan World
854
Maya to Aztec: Ancient Mesoamerica Revealed
854
Patrick Grim

In the end, imagining a world of fact without value is quite nearly impossible for creatures like us. Our lives are woven in terms of the things we value.

INSTITUTION

State University of New York, Stony Brook
View Full Details

By This Professor

Mind-Body Philosophy
854
The Philosopher's Toolkit: How to Be the Most Rational Person in Any Room
854
Philosophy of Mind: Brains, Consciousness, and Thinking Machines
854
Wondrium Perspectives
853
Mark A. Stoler

History is an interpretive discipline in which we try to understand not only the past, but also the present by looking into the past.

INSTITUTION

The University of Vermont
View Full Details

By This Professor

The Skeptic's Guide to American History
854
Ken Albala

It may seem monomaniacal, but I teach about food, I write about food, I love to cook, I read about food for leisure-what better recipe is there for happiness than to make work and play completely seamless?

INSTITUTION

University of the Pacific
View Full Details

By This Professor

Food: A Cultural Culinary History
854
Cooking across the Ages
854
Robert M. Hazen

The best thing about teaching a Great Course is how much you learn in the process-from colleagues, from the fabulous Great Courses professional staff, and from listeners, who send amazing stories and ask amazing questions.

INSTITUTION

George Mason University
View Full Details

By This Professor

The Origin and Evolution of Earth: From the Big Bang to the Future of Human Existence
854
The Joy of Science
854
Apollo 11: Lessons for All time
853
Steven L. Goldman

After 50 years, I continue to find new depths and fresh excitement in studying the history and philosophy of science.

INSTITUTION

Lehigh University
View Full Details

By This Professor

Science in the 20th Century
854
Science Wars: What Scientists Know and How They Know It
854
Great Scientific Ideas That Changed the World
854
David Sadava

The DNA double helix, discovered in 1953, is one of the great icons of science in our society, rivaling the atom in its pervasiveness in our culture.

INSTITUTION

City of Hope Medical Center, Claremont Colleges
View Full Details

By This Professor

What Science Knows about Cancer
854
Understanding Genetics: DNA, Genes, and Their Real-World Applications
854
Stephen Nowicki

It's almost 75 years later, and we find ourselves in much the same position as Wells described in 1929. Our knowledge of biology has exploded in recent years and it continues to expand exponentially.

INSTITUTION

Duke University
View Full Details

By This Professor

Biology: The Science of Life
854
Jay L. Garfield

The beauty of 'doing' philosophy is that we don't have to make yes-or-no choices.

INSTITUTION

Smith College
View Full Details

By This Professor

Meaning of Life: Perspectives from the World's Great Intellectual Traditions
854
H. Craig Heller

Keep those neurons busy!

INSTITUTION

Stanford University
View Full Details

By This Professor

Secrets of Sleep Science: From Dreams to Disorders
854
Monisha Pasupathi

I became a professor in the first place so that I could spend my life learning; the opportunity to both learn and tell others about the process of learning was irresistible.

INSTITUTION

University of Utah

Dr. Monisha Pasupathi is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Utah. She holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from Stanford University. She joined the faculty at Utah in 1999 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Germany. Professor Pasupathi has been honored multiple times for her teaching. She was named Best Psychology Professor by her university's chapter of Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in Psychology. Psi Chi also awarded her the Outstanding Educator Award and Favorite Professor Award. Professor Pasupathi's research focuses on how people of all ages learn from their experiences, particularly through storytelling. She is coeditor of Narrative Development in Adolescence: Creating the Storied Self, and her work has been published widely in scholarly journals.

By This Professor

How We Learn
854
Scott Huettel

Over the past half-century, decision scientists have identied anomalies, or biases, in people's behavior that can't readily be explained with traditional economic models.

INSTITUTION

Duke University
View Full Details

By This Professor

Behavioral Economics: When Psychology and Economics Collide
854
Marc Zender

The invention and development of writing is a fascinating subject; it sheds light on human ingenuity, complexity, and even on civilization itself.

INSTITUTION

Tulane University
View Full Details

By This Professor

Writing and Civilization: From Ancient Worlds to Modernity
854
Indre Viskontas

The beauty of science is that with each question that is answered, many more questions are raised; each discovery helps us develop more refined queries about the world around us.

INSTITUTION

University of California, San Francisco

Indre Viskontas is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of San Francisco, where she runs the Creative Brain Lab. She earned a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles. She has published more than 50 original papers and chapters related to the neural basis of memory and creativity. A passionate science communicator, she has appeared on major TV and radio programs and hosts the popular science podcast Inquiring Minds as well as the podcast Cadence: What Music Tells Us about the Mind.

By This Professor

12 Essential Scientific Concepts
854
How Digital Technology Shapes Us
854
Brain Myths Exploded: Lessons from Neuroscience
854
Creativity and Your Brain
854
Bart D. Ehrman

After his crucifixion, Jesus' disciples came to believe he'd been raised from the dead and made a divine being. What had seemed like defeat became for them the ultimate cosmic victory.

INSTITUTION

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Bart D. Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received his MDiv and PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary. He has written or edited more than 30 books, including six New York Times bestsellers: Misquoting Jesus; God’s Problem; Jesus, Interrupted; Forged; How Jesus Became God; and The Triumph of Christianity. He has also received several teaching honors, including the John William Pope Center Spirit of Inquiry Award and the UNC Students’ Undergraduate Teaching Award.

By This Professor

How Jesus Became God
854
The New Testament
854
History of the Bible: The Making of the New Testament Canon
854
The Historical Jesus
854
Dr. Grant L. Voth

No idea of any single culture will ever capture the entire human sense of god, or creation, or the hero; and to get a more complete human picture, we have to look at the myths of many cultures.

INSTITUTION

Monterey Peninsula College
View Full Details

By This Professor

Great Mythologies of the World
854
Myth in Human History
854
Steve Joordens

Human memory is absolutely amazing. It keeps us connected with our past while preparing us for our future.

INSTITUTION

University of Waterloo
View Full Details

By This Professor

Memory and the Human Lifespan
854
Daniel W. Drezner

Those radically opposed to capitalism are less dangerous to prosperity than those who are so fervent in their support of the free market that they threaten to subvert the very system that they claim to love.

INSTITUTION

Tufts University
View Full Details

By This Professor

Foundations of Economic Prosperity
854
Sherwin B. Nuland

The underlying philosophy of the Hippocratic physicians was that disease involves a patient’s entire body and mind, so therapy must be directed to the whole context of the patient’s life situation rather than a small part of it.

INSTITUTION

Yale School of Medicine
View Full Details
Shaun Nichols

I think that regardless of whether you think that fate or karma exists, it’s a really interesting question of why it’s such a powerful cultural force. Why do people believe in these things?

INSTITUTION

Cornell University
View Full Details
The Big Bang

01: The Big Bang

CONCEPT: The universe came into existence not as an explosion but as an expansion of space itself. The big bang theory proposes that the universe (with all its matter and energy) came into existence at one moment in time not as an explosion, but as an expansion of space itself. What observations support this theory? Find out the surprising conclusions today’s astronomers draw. from The Joy of Science, Lecture 32

34 min
Astronomy

02: Astronomy

CONCEPT: Almost everything we know about the distant stars comes from electromagnetic radiation traveling at 186,000 miles per second. Almost everyone loves astronomy, but few of us realize that it’s the science (and art) of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting photons from space. What are astronomical data? How are they collected by telescopes in space and on Earth? And how do astronomers gather, interpret, and explain what they find? from The Joy of Science, Lecture 29

30 min
Time’s Arrow

03: Time’s Arrow

CONCEPT: The essence of time is its one-way, asymmetrical direction. Break an egg. Melt an ice cube. Mix coffee and cream. Each starts with an ordered state and ends with one that is much more disorderly. Examine the entropy of the universe and the one-way direction of time. from Mysteries of Modern Physics: Time, Lecture 4

30 min
Time Travel

04: Time Travel

CONCEPT: Real time travel would involve not de- and rematerializing, but moving through all intervening points between locations in space-time. Use a simple analogy to understand how a time machine might work. Unlike movie scenarios featuring dematerializing and rematerializing, a real time machine would be a spaceship that moves through all the intervening points between locations in space-time. from Mysteries of Modern Physics: Time, Lecture 19

31 min
String Theory, Membranes, and the Multiverse

05: String Theory, Membranes, and the Multiverse

CONCEPT: Tiny, one-dimensional strings could actually be the foundation of our entire physical universe. What exactly is string theory? What can M-theory and the behavior of black holes reveal about it? How does the theory of loop quantum gravity explain how gravity works at the quantum level? Answers to these mind-bending scientific questions await you in this lecture. from 12 Essential Scientific Concepts, Lecture 22

32 min
Three Faces of Information

06: Three Faces of Information

CONCEPT: Ours is, without a doubt, an age of information. Consider that information could be independent of content—a radical idea that’s led to powerful information technologies that continue to change our world. By viewing DNA and black holes as actual structures of information, scientists now think that information is physically real. This lecture will take you on a mind-bending trip to the frontiers of science. This lecture is from Great Scientific Ideas That Changed the World by Dr. Steven L. Goldman, the Andrew W. Mellon Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at Lehigh University.

29 min
The Human Asteroid

07: The Human Asteroid

CONCEPT: Despite our great strides in biological understanding, the diversity of species on our planet is decreasing at an alarming rate. Just as we find ourselves on the brink of truly understanding life’s diversity, we find ourselves on the brink of losing it. This concept is your window into the world of biodiversity. How do we measure biodiversity loss? And, more important, why should we care? from Biology: The Science of Life, Lecture 72

32 min
What Is the Meaning of Life?

08: What Is the Meaning of Life?

CONCEPT: Surprisingly, vastly different civilizations come to some of the same conclusions about the answers to the meaning of life. What is the underlying meaning of life? While there may not be a single answer on which everyone can agree, there are recurrent themes that appear in the investigations of vastly different civilizations. Take a closer look at some of them in this lecture. from The Meaning of Life, Lecture 36

32 min
Psychology and Free Will

09: Psychology and Free Will

CONCEPT: Unconscious stimuli can actually have a profound effect on the choices you think you make independent of anything else. Although we may believe we understand our own minds and motivations, many psychologists believe we don’t have as much insight into the choices we make as we might think. This lecture describes experiments that demonstrate the effect of unconscious stimuli on our behavior. from Great Philosophical Debates: Free Will and Determinism, Lecture 15

32 min
What Is Existentialism?

10: What Is Existentialism?

CONCEPT: Existentialism is not a gloomy, anxious philosophy but a way of thinking that can be positive-minded and invigorating. Existentialism is recognized as a movement—rather than a school of thought or doctrine—and can be traced throughout the history of Western philosophy. You’ll discover that at the heart of this revolutionary philosophical outlook runs an emphasis on individualism, passion, and freedom. from No Excuses: Existentialism and the Meaning of Life, Lecture 1

30 min
Infancy Gospels

11: Infancy Gospels

CONCEPT: Many of the most revealing stories about the life, deeds, and sayings of Jesus never made it into the New Testament. The four Gospels of the New Testament say very little about Jesus's life as an infant and a young boy. This "lost period" is the subject of several early gospels, including the Proto-Gospel of James and the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. What do these early gospels say? And why did they not make it into the New Testament? from Lost Christianities: Christian Scriptures and the Battles over Authentication, Lecture 10

32 min
The Problem of Pseudonymity

12: The Problem of Pseudonymity

CONCEPT: Many religious writings in the ancient world were forged—sometimes by the author’s followers instead of the author himself. Explore the hard evidence that some of the letters circulating in Paul’s name were actually forged by other Christian writers. The New Testament contains both authentic and pseudonymous Pauline letters; and knowing who wrote what can have a profound effect on our understanding of the Bible and its history. from The History of the Bible, Lecture 4

31 min
Cosmic Hub at Stonehenge

13: Cosmic Hub at Stonehenge

CONCEPT: Ancient civilizations built amazing structures with mysterious purposes. Stonehenge is the iconic Neolithic and Bronze Age structure that represents the pinnacle of the megalithic tradition. Explore the history of this impressive wonder and mull over various interpretations archaeologists have put forth about this sacred landscape’s true purpose. from Exploring the Roots of Religion, Lecture 26

31 min
Washington—Failures and Real Accomplishments

14: Washington—Failures and Real Accomplishments

CONCEPT: George Washington’s least-known presidential and military successes were actually his most important contributions to American history. Surprisingly, it may actually be George Washington’s least-known presidential and military accomplishments (and failures) that had the most dramatic impact on the early history of the United States of America. Learn why these “negative contributions” and “non-events” have often been ignored by many historians. from The Skeptic’s Guide to American History, Lecture 4

29 min
The Black Death

15: The Black Death

CONCEPT: The Black Death, which killed up to one-half of Europe’s population, made social mobility possible for the first time. The Black Death had a cataclysmic impact on medieval history, changing almost every aspect of life in the space of just a few short years. But one of the most intriguing changes was positive: social mobility that gave more power and autonomy to peasants and less to nobles. from Turning Points in Medieval History, Lecture 21

31 min
Gutenberg’s Print Revolution

16: Gutenberg’s Print Revolution

CONCEPT: The Protestant Reformation, the Renaissance, and the Scientific Revolution would never have happened were it not for one single invention: the printing press. Trace how Johannes Gutenberg’s introduction of a press with movable type sparked a print revolution. His press became a key factor in the Protestant Reformation, the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, and the standardization of vernacular languages. from Turning Points in Modern History, Lecture 3

32 min
Mysteries of the Industrial Revolution

17: Mysteries of the Industrial Revolution

CONCEPT: The Industrial Revolution could only have happened in England, and only at the time in history that it did. Conditions for an industrial revolution were ripe in France, China, and the Ottoman Empire in the 1800s. So why was England the country where this landmark economic event occurred—and why could it only have been England? Find out by examining various explanations at individual, national, and global levels. from Foundations of Economic Prosperity, Lecture 9

33 min
A Renaissance in the Kitchen

18: A Renaissance in the Kitchen

CONCEPT: Renaissance court banquets were so grand that each of a typical banquet’s dozen courses was an entire meal in itself. Experience the mind-boggling grandeur of a Renaissance court banquet thrown on January 23, 1529, by the son of the duke of Ferrara. As you’ll learn, Renaissance banquets were less about taste and more about overwhelming the diner by the variety and elegance of each course. from Food: A Cultural Culinary History, Lecture 15

31 min
The Khipu

19: The Khipu

CONCEPT: The world’s largest untranslated written language was made with strings and knots. How did the Inca Empire manage to be so organized, expansive, and efficient? The answer: a set of strings tied with many tiny knots. Learn how these khipus acted as recording devices for everything that could be recorded in a normal document, from population censuses to histories to simple instructions. from Lost Worlds of South America, Lecture 21

34 min
Japanese—The World’s Most Complex Script

20: Japanese—The World’s Most Complex Script

CONCEPT: Japanese writing is the most complicated script ever devised, and its complexity will likely never be abandoned. Borrowed and adapted from the Chinese, Japanese writing is the most complicated script ever devised. Find out how Japanese writing took on the complex form it has today, why attempts to simplify it have had little success, and the reason it’s unlikely the system will ever be abandoned. from Writing and Civilization: From Ancient Worlds to Modernity, Lecture 6

23 min
The Monomyths of Rank and Campbell

21: The Monomyths of Rank and Campbell

CONCEPT: There exists a universal template for mythic archetypes that overrides cultural origin. Heroic journeys enchant and inspire us—no matter what cultural heritage they originate from. Analyze this fascinating universality with a close look at the monomyths, a concept put forward by Otto Rank and Joseph Campbell. from Myth in Human History, Lecture 25

31 min
Why Texting Is Misunderstood

22: Why Texting Is Misunderstood

CONCEPT: Until the advent of e-mail and text messages, there was no truly conversational form of writing analogous to conversational speech. Contrary to what you may think, e-mail and texting aren’t bad writing. Rather, as Professor McWhorter shows, they’re a form of speech produced on the fly rather than with careful, largely solitary concentration, and they can actually tolerate a greater diversity of structures and vocabulary than formal writing can. from Myths, Lies, and Half Truths of Language Usage, Lecture 23

31 min
The Hard Problem of Consciousness

23: The Hard Problem of Consciousness

CONCEPT: Current scientific knowledge may be unable to accurately explain our subjective experiences. If there is a defining problem in the philosophy of the mind today, it is the idea of accounting for our subjective experiences. Go inside what David Chalmers calls the “hard problem of consciousness,” which offers some intriguing perspectives on how we perceive our experiences and ourselves. from Philosophy of Mind: Brains, Consciousness, and Thinking Machines

32 min
Our Changing Brain

24: Our Changing Brain

CONCEPT: The human brain is not a static organ but has the ability to continually remold itself (like plastic) throughout a person’s life. Follow the evolution of neuroscience and discover how our brains—from the smallest brain cell to sweeping regions across the brain—demonstrate plasticity. Then learn about the stream of chemical reactions that affect memory, skill acquisition, and more. from 12 Essential Scientific Concepts, Lecture 9

30 min
The Strange World of Dreams

25: The Strange World of Dreams

CONCEPT: Dreams have a powerful influence on our memory, our creativity, and our ability to recover from trauma. Before modern scientific methodology, the veracity of dream theories proved to be problematic; despite the subjectivity of Freud’s theories, they couldn’t be proven wrong. Find out how recent dream research offers new findings about the brain during sleep. from Secrets of Sleep Science: From Dreams to Disorders, Lecture 12

29 min
What Babies Know

26: What Babies Know

CONCEPT: Babies are born with innate scripts that help them immediately make sense of the world through learning. While it may seem that newborns start life with a blank slate, they actually come outfitted with the capacity to start learning right away. Find out what early infancy research reveals about habituation, the importance of dishabituation, and how scientists perform testing on infants. from How We Learn, Lecture 6

30 min
Synesthesia—Tasting Color and Seeing Sound

27: Synesthesia—Tasting Color and Seeing Sound

CONCEPT: Some people have the ability to make different perceptive connections, such as associating letters with colors. What does blue taste like? What is the sound of the number five? People with synesthesia have answers to these seemingly bizarre questions. Learn about the ways in which their brains draw connections between different sensory inputs, and discover some interesting facts about normal perception as well. from Understanding the Secrets of Human Perception, Lecture 22

30 min
This Is Your Brain on Metaphors

28: This Is Your Brain on Metaphors

CONCEPT: Metaphors are scientifically proven to literally change how (and what) you think. Discover how metaphors have an enormous, scientifically proven power on our minds. It turns out that your brain processes metaphors, analogies, parables, and other figures of speech (with all their confusion and symbolism) in very concrete ways—and it can sometimes even fall for just how literal they can seem. from Being Human: Life Lessons from the Frontiers of Science, Lecture 11

32 min
The Ancient “Art of Memory”

29: The Ancient “Art of Memory”

CONCEPT: An ancient mnemonic strategy dating back to ancient Greece is still one of the best techniques for aiding in memory recall. Memory improvement is far from a new goal. Here, learn about the Method of Loci, an ancient mnemonic strategy that dates back to classical Greece and Rome and was originally used to help people memorize large numbers of individuals. How does this strategy work? And what does it tell us about memory? from Memory and the Human Lifespan, Lecture 2

32 min
The Pleasures and Pains of “Maybe”

30: The Pleasures and Pains of “Maybe”

CONCEPT: Our brains prefer random rejection over always getting what we want. Go inside the neurobiology behind how (and why) we’re willing to tolerate such long delays in gratification. You’ll learn how gratification postponement explains why humans have achieved so much as a species, and also why we’re susceptible to crippling addictions. from Being Human: Life Lessons from the Frontiers of Science, Lecture 7

28 min
Stress and Growth—Echoes from the Womb

31: Stress and Growth—Echoes from the Womb

CONCEPT: While in the womb, a fetus can sense—and respond to—the environmental stressors of its mother. Explore the consequences stress can have on fetal life. You’ll learn how the biology of the mother-fetus relationship is such that everything that goes on in the outside world (including something as straightforward as extremely loud noises) can be experienced as stress inside the womb. from Stress and Your Body, Lecture 6

32 min
Frontiers of Cancer Treatment

32: Frontiers of Cancer Treatment

CONCEPT: Personalized, engineered viruses can target tumors—but ignore normal cells. Today’s scientists can combat resistant cancers in a cutting-edge way: by creating special proteins and introducing them into a patient’s immune system cells; in essence, a cell vaccine that is a “self-vaccine.” Find out how it’s done in this look at the frontiers of how biotechnology is transforming how we treat cancer. from What Science Knows About Cancer, Lecture 22

33 min
Harvey, Discoverer of Circulation

33: Harvey, Discoverer of Circulation

CONCEPT: A description of blood circulation from 1628 is actually the greatest contribution ever made to the art of healing. Is it possible that a description of how blood circulates that dates back to the early 17th century could be the greatest contribution ever made to medicine? Investigate how the discoveries of William Harvey became a landmark moment in the history of medical science. from Doctors: The History of Scientific Medicine Revealed through Biography, Lecture 4

32 min
The Evolution of Behavior

34: The Evolution of Behavior

CONCEPT: Species use behavior to maximize the number of copies of their genes that are passed on to subsequent generations. This lecture on the evolution of the brain and behavior reviews the mechanisms of evolution, and then looks at the ways species can maximize (through behavioral means) the number of copies of their genes that are passed on to the next generation. from Biology and Human Behavior, Lecture 10

31 min
When Incentives Backfire

35: When Incentives Backfire

CONCEPT: Economic incentives such as money can actually backfire and discourage behavior rather than encourage it. One of the most striking findings in behavioral economics research: Economic incentives (such as money) can actually backfire and discourage behavior rather than encourage it. Learn how this conclusion was reached through elegant studies, including one about the timing of parents who are picking up children at daycare¬¬¬. from Behavioral Economics: When Psychology and Economics Collide, Lecture 21

31 min
How Emotions Are Intelligent

36: How Emotions Are Intelligent

CONCEPT: Our emotions have what philosophers call intentionality, which requires actual intelligence. Emotions, as it turns out, aren’t just feelings—they actually have intelligence. Here, explore the concept of emotional intelligence and the idea that emotions are actually engagements with the world that give us insights into its nature (and, like all intelligence, can sometimes be false). from Passions: Philosophy and the Intelligence of Emotions, Lecture 13

32 min

We use cookies to improve our services, make personal offers, and enhance your experience. See our Cookie Policy