Curated Video
Beyond The Room Under Renovation
Particle physicist Nima Arkani-Hamed (Institute of Advanced Study) describes how preoccupations with "what's new" in physics miss the bigger picture.
Curated Video
Against Trendiness
Particle physicist Nima Arkani-Hamed (Institute for Advanced Study) details his frustration with most popular physics writing.
Curated Video
Dark Energy
Cosmologist Rocky Kolb (Chicago) provides a brief background on the mystery of dark energy while explaining why the phenomenon is personally bothering him.
Curated Video
Technology as a Proxy
SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) astronomer Jill Tarter describes how we use technology as a proxy for potential alien intelligence, and how our search involves looking for signals that nature doesn't make on her own.
Curated Video
Sensationalistic Science
Celebrated physicist Nima Arkani-Hamed (Institute for Advanced Study) highlights poor practices in both science and science journalism.
Curated Video
Scientific Storytelling
University of Chicago theoretical physicist Rocky Kolb relates his belief that a valuable way of teaching science is to focus on the compelling stories of the people at the root of scientific discovery.
Curated Video
New Laws?
2003 Nobel Laureate Antony Leggett, University of Illinois, describes his belief that reductionistic approaches to physics are not always the right way to proceed, describing how the possible breakdown of the laws of quantum mechanics...
Curated Video
Inspired Towards Physics
Cosmologist Justin Khoury, University of Pennsylvania, relates how a documentary on Einstein, impact of a great high school teacher, and the sense of being able to control his own academic destiny, all shaped him towards becoming a...
Curated Video
“Freezing in” the Wrong Picture
Particle physicist Nima Arkani-Hamed (Institute for Advanced Study) describes how popular science writing often communicates already outdated ideas to the public.
Curated Video
In Freud's Shadow
UC Berkeley sleep scientist Matthew Walker describes how the attitudes towards sleep science have evolved over the years, and how the impact of Sigmund Freud still strongly lingers.
Curated Video
Breaking Down Barriers
Anthropologist Frans de Waal, Emory University, describes his long-standing interest in trying to penetrate the consciousness and feeling of animals, his optimism at the growing societal realisation of our animal nature, and the...
Curated Video
Science and Culture
Celebrated physicist Nima Arkani-Hamed (Institute for Advanced Study) relates why, for him, a basic appeal of science is how it is independent from people and culture.
Curated Video
In Search of a Mechanism
Jay Gargus (UC Irvine) describes the importance of combining genetic and biophysiological principles to penetrate the true nature of disease.
Curated Video
Evolving Moral Understanding
Anthropologist Frans de Waal, Emory University, describes how the genetic commonalities between humans, bonobos and chimpanzees cast suspicions on the long-held claim of anthropologists that humans are an extremely aggressive species...
Curated Video
Radio Intelligence
Astronomer Jill Tarter, Director of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute, describes the details of the search for extraterrestrial life using radio waves.
Curated Video
Turning the Universe Upside Down
Nobel Laureate Roger Penrose (Oxford) tells us why he is sceptical of the inflationary theory of cosmology.
Curated Video
Testing Morality
Anthropologist Frans de Waal, Emory University, describes how our understanding of altruism and prosocial tendencies have changed considerably over the past few years, both for humans and other primates.
Curated Video
Quasicrystals and Symmetries
Princeton University physicist Paul Steinhardt describes how quasicrystals violate long-established symmetry rules for solids.
Curated Video
Octaves and Harmonics
Nobel laureate in Physics David Politzer (Caltech) uses a banjo to demonstrate how octaves and harmonics arise from vibrating strings.
Curated Video
No Explanation
Nobel Laureate Roger Penrose, University of Oxford, describes why he believes that inflationary cosmology doesn't explain the mystery of why the universe began in such an unlikely, very smooth state, arguing that had it started out...
Curated Video
Looking to the Past
Particle physicist Nima Arkani-Hamed (Institute for Advanced Study) describes his intriguing prescription for how we might make progress in fundamental physics without experiment to guide us.
Curated Video
Beyond The Textbooks
Physicist Paul Steinhardt, Princeton University, describes his early experiences that led him on the road towards the discovery of so-called quasicrystals, a new state of matter.
Curated Video
Vital Variability
Lisa Feldman Barrett, Northeastern University, describes how the field of psychology has historically been beset by essentialism - the notion that there are essential features or characteristics that define a psychological category - and...
Curated Video
RNA as a Parasite
Renowned polymath Freeman Dyson (Institute for Advanced Study) gives his take on the origin of life.