Teaching Company

Professor Viskontas examines the most vital scientific concepts and ideas in order for you to develop a solid foundation of knowledge that will put more advanced areas of science within your reach.

What, exactly, is religion? Why does one religious tradition often differ so markedly from another? Why--despite their common source--are the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam so different? What kinds of factors separate the beliefs of a Hindu or Buddhist from the 'people of the book' and from other sects of Hindus or Buddhists? Religion affects everyone's life, whether directly or indirectly, and as religious issues become more...

Provides an overview of the science of nutrition and popular misinformation regarding physical health.

Relativity and quantum physics touch the very basis of physical reality, altering commonsense notions of space and time, cause and effect. Both have reputations for complexity, but the basic ideas behind relativity and quantum physics are, in fact, simple and comprehensible by anyone. The essence of relativity in a single sentence: The laws of physics are the same for all observers in uniform motion. Relativity and quantum physics are the gateway...

"Life in Our Universe reveals the cutting-edge research leading scientists to believe that life is not exclusively the domain of Earth. Taught by Dr. Laird Close, an award-winning Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at The University of Arizona, these 24 mind-expanding lectures offer an unparalleled look at the subject of life and the mysteries that remain. Supported by stunning visuals, this course shares some of the most intriguing discoveries...

What is your definition of number? Defining the abstract idea of number is extremely difficult and today, we still struggle with the notion of what numbers mean. Numbers neither came to us fully formed in nature nor did they spring fully formed from the human mind. Like other ideas, they have evolved slowly throughout human history. Both practical and abstract, they are important in our everyday world but remain mysterious in our imaginations. If...

Hollywood has gone to elaborate lengths to recreate the violence and mayhem of ancient warfare in movies, but what were ancient battles really like? What weapons, tactics, armor, training, and logistics were used? What were the crucial factors that could turn the tide of battle, giving one side victory and consigning the other to slaughter, capture, or, at best, escape to fight another day? These lectures examine some of the most notable battles...

Disc 1. The lure of the city -- Catalhoyuk, first experiment in urban living -- Jericho and its walls -- Uruk, city of Gilgamesh -- Mysterious Mohenjo-daro -- Kahun, company town in the desert . Disc 2. Work and life at Deir el-Medina -- Amarna, revolutionary capital -- Knossos, palace, city, or temple? -- Akrotiri, Bronze Age Pompeii -- Mycenae, Tiryns, and the mask of Agamemnon -- Athens, civic buildings and civic identity. Disc 3. Athenian domestic...

Ready to exercise those brain cells? Professor Arthur T. Benjamin is renowned for his feats of mental calculation performed before audiences at schools, theaters, museums, conferences, and in this series, he shows that there are simple tricks that allow anyone to look like a math magician. Throughout these lectures, he shows how everything in mathematics is connected--how the beautiful and often imposing edifice that has given us algebra, geometry,...

The "Long Debate" on the nature of truth, the scale of real values, the life one should aspire to live, the character of justice, the sources of law, and the terms of civic and political life is encompassed by the name philosophy. Three persistent themes--understood as problems--are knowledge, conduct, and governance, on which there is a storehouse of insights, some so utterly persuasive as to have shaped thought itself. Beginning with Plato and Aristotle,...