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Cause and Effect Text Structure
Cause and Effect Text Structure identifies the common characteristics of the cause and effect structure of informational text.
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Sonnet 147 – William Shakespeare
"Sonnet 147" presents one of William Shakespeare's sonnets.
Professor Dave Explains
Logic in Late Ancient Philosophy
Previously we outlined Aristotle's enormous contributions in establishing logic as a formal field of inquiry. So what happened after that? How did the minds that followed, many directly in his lineage, develop this field further? What is...
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The Modern Galileo
Nobel Laureate Roger Penrose, University of Oxford, describes how, while he's not exactly aware of what exactly motivates him to write his popular books about physics, he clearly looks to Galileo as an inspiring role model.
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Fringe Benefits
Princeton historian of science Michael Gordin describes how being receptive to wacky, unorthodox ideas - up to a point - brings various benefits to our understanding of the world.
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Redesigning the Violin, Part 2
Award-winning violinmaker and acoustical researcher Joseph Curtin continues his description of how the design of the violin might be improved upon, this time focussing on changes to the sound.
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Understanding Vision
Stanford University neuroscientist Kalanit Grill-Spector describes how the act of vision is much more complicated than we might naively assume, as 30% of our brains is dedicated to vision processing.
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Making a Difference
Solar physicist Jenny Nelson, Imperial College, describes the importance of combining scientific research with real-world impact as we grapple with the pressing challenges of improving our environment.
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Evolutionary Evidence
UC Berkeley sleep scientist Matthew Walker invokes a series of related evolutionary arguments to support his point that sleep must serve our most basic biological functions and is key to our survival.
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Probing the Ocean Depths
Marine biologist Edie Widder at the Ocean Research & Conservation Association describes how she developed an innovative undersea camera that significantly contributed to our understanding of marine life.
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Time’s Arrow & EPR
Nobel Laureate Anthony Leggett (Illinois) speculates on how we might re-interpret the famous EPR experiments by flipping the arrow of time.
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Shepherding, Gravitationally
Astrophysicist Scott Tremaine (Institute for Advanced Study) describes his experiences at developing our understanding of "shepherding moons" and how it related to the rings of Saturn and Uranus.
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Redesigning the Violin, Part 1
Award-winning violinmaker and acoustical researcher Joseph Curtin describes how, despite the fact that the violin is often said to be a perfect design, there are many ways it can be improved upon.
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Octaves and Harmonics
Nobel laureate in Physics David Politzer (Caltech) uses a banjo to demonstrate how octaves and harmonics arise from vibrating strings.
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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...
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The Sociology of Mindsets
Psychologist Carol Dweck (Stanford) discusses the effect of community values on mindsets.
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Born or Made?
Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck describes how we can be routinely deceived into concluding that highly accomplished people are just “naturally gifted” at what they do, ignoring all the effort they put in and challenges they overcame.
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Between Two Extremes
Cognitive scientist Victor Ferreira (UC San Diego) discusses the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, while admitting that most cognitive scientists opt for the middle road between the two intellectual poles.
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Anatomical Discoveries
Neuroscientist Kalanit Grill-Spector (Stanford) describes a discovery she made with her graduate student of a certain region of the brain.
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Abusing Abuse
Psychologist and memory scientist Elizabeth Loftus (UC Irvine) speculates on the sudden boom in so-called "repressed memory therapy" that led to a spate of accusations of past abuses.
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Cultural Mindsets
Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck describes how, while she believes that her work on mindsets is universally relevant, understanding distinct values and practices is essential to getting the message across diverse cultures.
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The Anthropic Principle
Nobel Laureate in Physics Anthony Leggett (Illinois) describes the so-called Anthropic Principle that some invoke to answer the "fine tuning problem" of cosmology.
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Situational Popularity
Stanford University psychologist Philip Zimbardo describes a formative influence he had as a teenager that tangibly demonstrated the strong impact situational factors have on group behavior.
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Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Cognitive scientist Victor Ferreira (UC San Diego) describes a core question in linguistics concerning how language and thought are related.