Wellness

THE ART OF LEARNING HOW THE UNIVERSE WORKS NOW

Black Hole in front of the Milky Way by Dr. Ute Kraus. Fuzzball (String Theory).

by Dr. Ute Kraus. Black Hole in front of the Milky Way. Fuzzball (String Theory).

Have you always wanted to understand how the universe works? There is wonderful way you can get your knowledge fix!

World Science U is a fabulous free online resource that enables you to dive deeply through artfully produced digital education content presented by world-renowned scientists. There is something for everyone, ranging from basic to advanced levels of learning.

World Science U is the online education component of the Science Festival Foundation, co-founded by world-renowned physicist, Brian Greene, and former ABC News Producer, Tracy Day.

You can learn through 3 different levels of WSU offerings:

Science Unplugged - These 1-minute videos are a casual entry point for anyone looking for a quick answer to clarify a concept or two.
Master Classes - A mix of video, animation, community discussions, & virtual one-on-one sessions with distinguished lecturers from Princeton, Stanford, and MIT.
Courses - The most exciting offering of World Science U: actual university-level courses that serve as an intro to Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity.

Here is a sampling of what you can learn from the World Science U catalog:

THE DARK SIDE OF THE UNIVERSE

In 1998, theoretical cosmologist Michael Turner coined the term "dark energy." Since then, he has worked to combine cosmology and particle physics to understand the origin and evolution of the universe.

THE EDGES OF THE UNIVERSE

Andrew Strominger, along with fellow world-renowned string theorist Cumrun Vafa, famously worked on the microstates of black holes. In this Master Class, Strominger gives an overview of our scientific progress in understanding the fundamental laws of nature.

LOOP QUANTUM GRAVITY

Carlo Rovelli is the discoverer of a theory that attempts to bridge the divide between quantum mechanics and general relativity. Join him in this Master Class, as he gives a detailed overview of loop quantum gravity.

FROM CHEMISTRY TO LIFE

To look for evidence of life on other planets, we have to adapt what we know about chemistry on Earth to aid our search. Astronomer Dimitar Sasselov explains how we can use what we already know to search for alien life in this Master Class.

EINSTEIN'S ASTROPHYSICAL MESSENGERS

Gabriela González's team at LIGO uses ground-based experiments to search for gravitational waves produced by black holes. In this Master Class, learn how they conduct this search and what mysteries they hope to solve about our universe.

FUNDAMENTAL LESSONS FROM STRING THEORY

Cumrun Vafa, together with fellow world-renowned string theorist Andrew Strominger, developed a new way to calculate black hole entropy in the language of string theory. Follow Vafa as he guides you through some of the more incredible things we have learned since string theory's inception.

MATHEMATICS: THE LANGUAGE OF NATURE

Mathematician Edward Frenkel takes a look at the elegant formalism of mathematics, discussing the Langlands program and the idea of mathematical unification through symmetry.

THE BLACK HOLE INFORMATION PARADOX

In the 1970s, Stephen Hawking realized a major conflict arising from the quantum nature of black holes. String theorist Samir Mathur has been working for many years on this yet-unsolved problem, and has a radical solution to the so-called information paradox.

THE PAST AND FUTURE OF UNIFICATION

Throughout the history of physics, scientists have worked to unify many different fields into an all-encompassing description of the universe. String theorist Robbert Dijkgraaf, Director and Leon Levy Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, discusses the connections between the very big and the infinitesimally small.

HISTORY AND MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Max Tegmark, cosmologist and Professor of Physics at MIT, delivers a comprehensive look at the study of our universe, examining both the origin of our cosmos and the infinite questions waiting to be answered.

Here are even more cool World Science U classes for you to try:

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IMAGE CREDITS:

Image: by Dr. Ute Kraus. Black Hole in front of the Milky Way. Fuzzball (String Theory).
Image: by ESO/VISTA/J. Emerson. The Helix Nebula.
Image: Courtesy of NASA. Giant Galaxy String.
Image: Courtesy of NASA. Hoag's Object.
Image: by Andrey Kravtsov. Courtesy of University of Chicago. Dark Energy.
Image: by NASA/CXC/M.Weiss. Courtesy of NASA. Black Hole.
Image: by Henze, NASA. Courtesy of NASA. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.
Image: by Michael Bachofner. Courtesy of NASA. Planets.
Image: by NASA/JPL-Caltech. Courtesy of NASA. Black Hole at Center of Milky Way.
Image: by trailfan. String theory?
Image: by Lucas Taylor at CERN. Depiction of a Higgs Boson Produced by Colliding Protons Decaying into Hadron Jets and Electron.
Image: by Dana Berry for NASA. Black Hole Paradox.
Image: by Andrew Pontzen and Fabio Governato for UCL Mathematical and Physical Sciences. Large-Scale Structure of Light Distribution in the Universe.
Image: by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. Spiral Galaxy M101.
Image: by NASA/JPL-Caltech. Black Hole with Corona, X-ray Source (artist's concept).
Image: by Lunch. Calabi–Yau Manifold.
Image: by BN App - Download now!
Image: by Bulwersator. Derived from ESA/Hubble & NASA. A Horseshoe Einstein Ring from Hubble.