What is the nature of life? In this lecture I will review the revolution
in biological thinking that has dramatically changed how we view life.
I will review such persistent ancient ideas as spontaneous generation
and why it took so long to disprove this notion, the impact of the
microscope on biology, and the discovery of the laws and agency of heredi ... Show More
Oct 2009
Lecture 9: Inside the Earth
What is the interior structure of the Earth and how does it drive the Earth's magnetic and geologic activity? We will review our current knowledge of the interior of the Earth, how we measure it using Seismology, the origins of the Earth's magnetic field, and discuss the workings ... Show More
42m 47s
Oct 2009
Lecture 10: The Earth's Atmosphere Erratum
This lecture was to be about the Earth's atmosphere, its composition and structure, the greenhouse effect, and the primordial atmosphere, but about 2 seconds into the lecture, unbeknownst to me, the battery compartment on my digital voice recorder came open in my pocket. At the e ... Show More
1m 17s
Mar 2006
Lecture 44: Life, the Universe, and Everything (Life Part II)
How can we search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and what are we looking for? This second part of a 2-part lecture picks up where we left off yesterday by examining SETI, the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence, and reviews what we might look for and how. We will use thi ... Show More
45m 56s
Sep 2007
Lecture 02: Astronomical Numbers
What are our units of measure in astronomy? To begin our exploration of astronomy, we first need to develop a common language for notating large numbers, and introduce the basic units of length, mass, and time that we will use throughout the quarter. This lecture is a quick revie ... Show More
43m 58s
Sep 2007
Welcome to Astronomy 161 for Autumn Quarter 2007
Welcome to the Astronomy 161 Lecture Podcasts. This is a brief message from me explaining the podcasts, and welcoming new and old listeners. University. Lectures will begin on Wednesday, 2007 Sept 19, and run through Friday, 2007 Nov 30. New lectures will appear shortly before 6p ... Show More
7m 35s