Gresham College Lectures

Can a scientific theory ever be confirmed? https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/should-we-trust-a-theory

Must a scientific theory be falsifiable? These are deep questions that have fascinated philosophers from David Hume to Karl Popper, and continue to be at the core of scientific reasoning. Theories such as that of the multiverse or almost all string theories make no empirically verifiable predictions. Does this move them into the realm of metaphysics, or even quasiscience? Modern philosophers of science have moved on beyond the notion of falsifiability. They refer to the old school who believed in empirical testing of scientific theories as the Popperazzi. Now one applies statistical inference, pioneered by Reverend Thomas Bayes in the 19th century, to infer the likelihood that a theory is correct. Philosophers argue that while one can never prove that a theory of the universe is correct, one can increase the level confidence in the theory even without any empirical tests, if the theory satisfies certain conditions that I will explain. In this way one can provide non-empirical support for string theory and even the theory of the multiverse.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/should-we-trust-a-theory

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

This lecture explains how my participation in making some videos for the University of Nottingham’s ‘test-tube’ YouTube channel led to collaboration with the video-journalist Brady Haran, and the creation of the YouTube channel, The Periodic Table of Videos. Beginning as a collection of 120 videos (one for each of the elements of the Periodic Table, plus introduction), it gathered momentum and now has about 600 uploaded videos, 790,000 YouTube subscribers and more than 130 million views in over 200 countries. Its evolution and success will be explained.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/from-test-tube-to-youtube

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

We all eat and have an interest in food! https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/how-much-maths-can-you-eat

Indeed food and beverage processing is the world’s largest manufacturing industry with a UN Forecast that the world food output must increase by 70% by 2050. The many existing, and potential, applications of mathematics in agricultural-science and food technology will be described, explaining how the fundamental process of freezing, cold storing, cooking, making, eating, and even digesting, food are all areas in which the application of areas of mathematics such as thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and partial differential equation theory can make a very big difference.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/how-much-maths-can-you-eat

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Oceans have been the least well-known major component of the Earth’s environment. https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/under-the-sea-whats-happening-in-our-oceans

Whilst deep ocean exploration has enabled great advances in understanding the nature of sea floors, we are only recently starting to understand patterns of marine circulation and how these have changed over time. Scientists are also finding increasing evidence of human-induced damage at vast scale – destruction of fish and coral ecosystems, and vast gyrating pools of plastic refuse, for example. What attempts are being made to reduce the footprint of human activity on the oceans, and can they succeed in restoring the largest living space on earth?

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/under-the-sea-whats-happening-in-our-oceans

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

In the year 754 the first pope ever to cross the Alps came to a small chapel in what is now northern France and prostrated himself before the king of the Franks, beseeching him for military aid. The pope came with singers from the Roman song school. When he and the king signed 'treaties of peace' together the foundations were laid for what has long been known as Gregorian (or better 'Frankish-Roman') Chant. This is the music of a trans-alpine Western Europe beginning o revive, albeit very slowly, after the withdrawal of Roman imperial power. No activity marked this broader horizon more potently, or more often, than the daily celebration of Gregorian chant by priests, deacons and singers.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-christian-singer-charlemagne-and-beyond

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

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Cyberspace must not be an unpoliced area of society - it is much too important for that. But the courts have ruled that mass surveillance of citizens by their Government is disproportionate and unacceptable in a democracy. After Edward Snowden revealed the existing extent of surveillance, Internet experts have strengthened encryption and the security services say that their ability to disrupt criminals have been weakened.

In the battle between the spooks and the geeks, who will win? And who should win?

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-dilemmas-of-privacy-and-surveillance

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

International competition drives schools and universities around the world as never before, and an increasingly complex world places more demands for evidence of qualifications and standards. Clashes with constraints of state funding created enormous pressures and educators struggle with their own skills and approaches. New technology, such as massive open online courses (MOOCs), threatens to disrupt the foundations of traditional ‘chalk and talk’. More than half of the Eurozone’s young workers are in temporary jobs and the UK seems to have a talent mismatch between skills on offer and what employers need. Amidst the challenges, the changes, and the confusion, what can be done? How can medieval-type apprenticeships become an increasingly important part of a modern answer? The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Dr Andrew Parmley, will explore the historical background to apprenticeships, their importance over the centuries, and their relevance to the future. He will set out how apprenticeships can rise to the challenges of modern education in a modern society, provide training for working life, and benefit apprentices themselves throughout their lives. You can read more about the City of London's The City's Business programme here, which looks at how businesses can support young people to develop skills for work.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/apprenticeship-politics-education-or-reality-television

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Most equate ‘anaesthesia’ with general anaesthesia. https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-history-of-local-anaesthesia

This is likely because the introduction of general anaesthesia (1847) pre-dated that of local anaesthesia (1884). The drugs used for these first demonstrations, ether and cocaine, had been in existence for centuries before pioneers made the mental leap between the knowledge that they could cause – respectively – sedation and numbness, and the potential for these effects to be used for the benefit of humanity. Dr Harrop-Griffiths will put a humorous spin on a fascinating story.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-history-of-local-anaesthesia

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

This lecture explains how my participation in making some videos for the University of Nottingham's 'test-tube' YouTube channel led to collaboration with the video-journalist Brady Haran, and the creation of the YouTube channel, The Periodic Table of Videos. Beginning as a collection of 120 videos (one for each of the elements of the Periodic Table, plus introduction), it gathered momentum and now has about 600 uploaded videos, 790,000 YouTube subscribers and more than 130 million views in over 200 countries. Its evolution and success will be explained.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/from-test-tube-to-youtube

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Support the show

A celebration of the heart for St Valentine's Day. https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/affairs-of-the-heart-an-exploration-of-the-symbolism-of-the-heart-in-art

How is it that a simple pump has become a symbol of the highest human emotions of love, truth, conscience and moral courage? How have artists represented this over the centuries? And how effective have those representations been? This lecture will be an interdisciplinary presentation by Professor Martin Elliott and Dr Valerie Shrimplin (art historian and registrar of Gresham College).

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/affairs-of-the-heart-an-exploration-of-the-symbolism-of-the-heart-in-art

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Support the show