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Free online lectures: Explore a world of ideas

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Museum of Science, Boston

One of the world's largest science centers, the Museum of Science, Boston attracts 1.6 million visitors a year through vibrant programs and over 550 interactive exhibits. Its mission is to stimulate interest in and further understanding of science and technology and their importance for individuals and society. Other features include the Thomson Theater of Electricity; Current Science & Technology Center; Charles Hayden Planetarium; Gilliland Observatory; and Mugar Omni Theater. The Museum's exhibit plan, Science Is an Activity, has been awarded several National Science Foundation grants and profoundly influenced exhibit development at other major science centers.

http://www.mos.org

Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Airplane

Fri, Feb 7, 2003

Tom Crouch, expert on the Wright Brothers and senior curator at the National Air and Space Museum, discusses how Wilber and Orville Wright started revolutions in transportation, warfare, leisure, and communication, and changed how we all see our world: as a whole. Before the Wright Brothers took their historic flight in north Carolina almost 100 years ago, jetting off to Bermuda was about as realistic as vacationing on Mars.

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Double Helix: The Script for Life

Wed, Mar 5, 2003

This is the first in a four-part series of lectures celebrating the 50th anniversary of Watson and Crick's discovery of DNA in 1953. These lectures explore the impact this breakthrough is having on scientific discovery today. Part I: The human genome project has provided researchers with a growing list of genes; but the key to understanding life, both in health and sickness, is the script that outlines how these cellular players interact with each other. Young discusses how researchers are using new approaches to biology to map out cell circuitry and illuminate the cause of disease.

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Double Helix: Implications for Disease

Wed, Mar 19, 2003

This is the third in a four-part series of lectures celebrating the 50th anniversary of Watson and Crick's discovery of DNA. These lectures explore the impact this breakthrough is having on scientific discovery today. Part III: Weinberg and Daly discuss how scientists are using genetics to understand disease. Weinberg will present the ways that genetic research impacts our approach to studying and understanding cancer. Daly will discuss how new genomic technologies and computational analysis are aiding in the hunt for disease-causing genes.

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Human Genome and Beyond

Fri, Feb 16, 2001

Dr. Eric Lander, director of genome research at the Whitehead/MIT Institute, talks about the tools of modern genome research that he and his research group have developed, including genomic maps of the human, mouse and rat genomes in connection with the Human Genome Project and techniques for genetic analyses of complex, multigenic traits. He has applied these techniques to the understanding of cancer, diabetes, hypertension, renal failure and dwarfism.

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Stem Cell Research and Policy

Fri, Nov 19, 2004

George Daley and his team of stem cell rearchers from Harvard Medical School discuss the scientific and medical potential of stem cells, as well as the controversy and the impact of the recent election on stem cell policy. Following the presentation, the team engages in a public discussion about the ideas, questions and concerns that lecture attendees have about stem cell research. This project is supported by a Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) from the National Center for Research Resources, National Institutes of Health. It does not necessarily represent the official views of NCRR or NIH.

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Museum of Science, Boston
Psychology of Surveys: Measuring Public Opinion

Fri, Nov 5, 2004

Barry C. Burden of Harvard University lectures on the science and technology behind measuring public opinion. How can we know what 200 million Americans think, feel, and know? Can telephone interviews with a few hundred people really describe public opinion? How much can answers be manipulated by rewording the questions? This lecture is ASL interpreted.

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Museum of Science, Boston
AIDS: Learning From the Past, Looking Towards the Future

Fri, Dec 3, 2004

As a way of marking World AIDS Day on December 1st, the Museum of Science welcomes clinician and researcher Pride Chigwedere from Zimbabwe to comment on the past two decades of international efforts to stem the spread of AIDS. Looking to the future, Chigwedere talks about prevention and treatment strategies drawn upon our knowledge of the disease, and the people it affects, looking at Africa as a case study. This lecture is ASL interpreted.

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Aerodynamics of Sports: High-Performance Equipment

Mon, Feb 16, 2004

**Dr. Kim Blair** shares how he and his students turn work into play and influence world class sports from bicycling to mountain climbing. Blair describes what the New England Patriots, Lance Armstrong, and Tiger Woods all have in common. In addition to being champions and having large salaries, all of their performance has benefited from sports engineering. From safer helmets to faster bikes, aeronautics and computer modeling have helped to improve the performance of a world of sports equipment and those that use it.

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Next Generation Communication Technologies

Wed, Jan 14, 2004

This discussion looks at the current and potential uses of communications technologies and what the implications may be for today and tomorrow. From the invention of the telegraph in 1837 to modern day digital cell phones and GPS navigation systems, communication technologies have come a long way in a short time. Communication devices now serve a broad range of uses, from controlling satellites more than a billion miles from Earth to communicating with tiny networks of devices inside the human body.

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Museum of Science, Boston
Monsters, Dwarfs, and Everything in Between

Wed, Apr 20, 2005

Sally Baliunas discusses how physics enables us to study rare and distant stars, from monsters 100 times heavier than the sun, to white dwarfs no larger than Earth but more than 100,000 times more dense. Baliunas explains that inside the nucleus of an atom, the laws of quantum mechanics successfully describe the domain of the incredibly small; yet the same laws influence the very large, including such objects as stars.

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Museum of Science, Boston