MIT OpenCourseWare: Free Courses from the institute

For millions of years after the Big Bang, nearly all the matter in the universe was in the form of hydrogen and helium; other elements like carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen only formed later, in nuclear reactions inside stars. To learn what the universe looked like back then, MIT astrophysicist Anna Frebel studies the oldest stars we can find—13 billion years old, to be precise—scanning them for traces of elements that will give a clue to their history. As Professor Frebel explains to Sarah Hansen in this episode, curiosity about the origins of the universe we live in is a profoundly human trait, just like curiosity about one’s own family history. To help communicate to laypeople the wonder and amazement that motivates astronomers like herself, Prof. Frebel has written a book and recorded a companion series of videos, both of which are intentionally designed to be as user-friendly as possible. It doesn’t matter, she says, if viewers and readers don’t grasp all the details; her hope is that they will develop the desire to understand more, and that that desire will spark further learning.

Uploaded 11-11-20

Relevant Resources:

MIT OpenCourseWare
https://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=chalkradio&utm_term=s2e2

The OCW Educator Portal
https://ocw.mit.edu/educator/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=chalkradio&utm_term=s2e2

"Cosmic Origin of the Chemical Elements" on OCW
https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-8-007-cosmic-origin-of-the-chemical-elements-fall-2019/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=chalkradio&utm_term=s2e2

Professor Frebel’s book Searching for the Oldest Stars
https://www.amazon.com/Searching-Oldest-Stars-Ancient-Universe/dp/0691165068

Professor Frebel’s faculty page
https://web.mit.edu/physics/people/faculty/frebel_anna.html

Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
https://www.sessions.blue

Connect with Us

If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. We’d love to hear from you!

Call us @ 617 475-0534

On our site
https://ocw.mit.edu/about/contactus/

On Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/MITOCW/

On Twitter
https://twitter.com/MITOCW?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

On Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/mitocw/?hl=en

Stay Current

Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
https://ocw.mit.edu/subscribe/index.htm?utm_source=header

Support OCW
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep those programs going!

https://giving.mit.edu/give/to/ocw/?utm_source=ocw&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=fall2020



Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Prof. Jonathan Gruber, our guest for this episode, likes to tell his students that economics is a fundamentally right-wing science. What he means by that is that classical economics is built on one powerful explanatory insight: that free markets—networks of buyers and sellers, producers and consumers, weighing the trade-offs of different options and making self-interested choices based on supply and demand—do a better job of deciding how to allocate resources than can be achieved by a top-down, command-economy approach. But as Gruber goes on to explain, that principle only holds when all participants have equal access to markets and to information; in the real world, imbalances in that access lead to market failures, inefficient allocations of resources that leave most people worse off than they would otherwise be. That’s why government regulation still has a role in a properly functioning economy. Tune in to hear Prof. Gruber explain why we need “capitalism with gutter guards” to ensure equitable outcomes, especially in sectors of the economy such as healthcare where the ideal markets envisioned by classical economics are particularly unattainable or undesirable.

Uploaded 05-11-25

Relevant Resources:

MIT OpenCourseWare (https://ocw.mit.edu/)
The OCW Educator portal (https://ocw.mit.edu/educator)
Prof. Gruber’s faculty page (https://economics.mit.edu/people/faculty/jonathan-gruber)
14.01 Principles of Microeconomics on MIT OpenCourseWare (https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/14-01-principles-of-microeconomics-fall-2023/)
14.41 Public Finance and Public Policy on MIT OpenCourseWare (https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/14-41-public-finance-and-public-policy-fall-2010/)
Power and Progress (book by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson) (https://www.amazon.com/Power-Progress-Thousand-Year-Technology-Prosperity/dp/1541702549)
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions (https://www.sessions.blue/)


Connect with Us

If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. We’d love to hear from you!

Call us @ 617-715-2517

On our site (https://ocw.mit.edu/contact/)
On Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MITOCW/)
On X (https://twitter.com/MITOCW)
On Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/mitocw/)
On Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/mitocw.bsky.social)
On Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/@MITOCW)


Stay Current

Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter. (https://ocw.mit.edu/newsletter/)

Subscribe to Chalk Radio (https://chalk-radio.simplecast.com/)

Support OCW

If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep these programs going! (https://giving.mit.edu/give/to/ocw/?utm_source=ocw&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=donate)



Credits

Sarah Hansen, host and producer (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-e-hansen/)
Brett Paci, producer (https://twitter.com/Brett_Paci)
Dave Lishansky, producer (https://twitter.com/DaveResonates)
Jackson Maher, producer
Show notes by Peter Chipman



Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First-year students who already plan to major in chemistry don’t require any special bells or whistles to motivate them to study the subject. But introductory chemistry is a required subject for all students at MIT, regardless of their intended major, and materials scientist Jeffrey Grossman has found that for many students in his course 3.091 Introduction to Solid State Chemistry, the subject becomes much more accessible if he takes conscious steps to make it real for them. He does this both inside and outside the classroom. First, he makes sure that part of each lecture he delivers explores the connection between the topic of the lecture and his students’ actual experience. Second, he gives students the chance to play around with real-world materials so they can learn the principles of chemistry firsthand. As Professor Grossman explains in this episode, it was by playing around with materials that the very first chemists began to learn about matter and its properties, and this kind of basic experimentation has an inherently multisensory quality that deepens and enriches students’ understanding of the concepts they learn.

Uploaded 02-12-20

Subscribe to the Chalk Radio podcast: https://chalk-radio.simplecast.com/

Relevant Resources:

MIT OpenCourseWare
https://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=chalkradio&utm_term=s2e3

The OCW Educator Portal
https://ocw.mit.edu/educator/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=chalkradio&utm_term=s2e3

Professor Grossman’s course on OCW
https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/materials-science-and-engineering/3-091-introduction-to-solid-state-chemistry-fall-2018/index.htm

Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
https://www.sessions.blue

Connect with Us

If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. We’d love to hear from you!

Call us @ 617 475-0534

On our site
https://ocw.mit.edu/about/contactus/

On Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/MITOCW/

On Twitter
https://twitter.com/MITOCW?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

On Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/mitocw/?hl=en

Stay Current

Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
https://ocw.mit.edu/subscribe/index.htm?utm_source=header

Support OCW
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep those programs going!

https://giving.mit.edu/give/to/ocw/?utm_source=ocw&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=fall2020



Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MIT 18.156 Projection Theory, Spring 2025
Instructor: Lawrence D Guth
View the complete course: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-156-projection-theory-spring-2025
YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUl4u3cNGP62K9_7Pg26ytrAOXwXFpN43

Uploaded 03-11-25

We introduce two fundamental methods to study projections, developed by Kaufman and Falconer in the 1960s and 70s. The first is based on double counting. The second is based on Fourier analysis.

License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA
More information at https://ocw.mit.edu/terms
More courses at https://ocw.mit.edu
Support OCW at http://ow.ly/a1If50zVRlQ

We encourage constructive comments and discussion on OCW’s YouTube and other social media channels. Personal attacks, hate speech, trolling, and inappropriate comments are not allowed and may be removed. More details at https://ocw.mit.edu/comments.



Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MIT 3.091 Introduction to Solid-State Chemistry, Fall 2018
Instructor: Jeffrey C. Grossman
View the complete course: https://ocw.mit.edu/3-091F18
Course Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUl4u3cNGP63z5HAguqleEbsICfHgDPaG
Highlights Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUl4u3cNGP61q4qJ1vdkBbiWn3AF1q5SQ

Uploaded 07-12-20

Bronsted-Lowry acids; bases and neutralization.

License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA
More information at https://ocw.mit.edu/terms
More courses at https://ocw.mit.edu
Support OCW at http://ow.ly/a1If50zVRlQ

We encourage constructive comments and discussion on OCW’s YouTube and other social media channels. Personal attacks, hate speech, trolling, and inappropriate comments are not allowed and may be removed. More details at https://ocw.mit.edu/comments.



Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MIT 18.156 Projection Theory, Spring 2025
Instructor: Lawrence D Guth
View the complete course: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-156-projection-theory-spring-2025
YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUl4u3cNGP62K9_7Pg26ytrAOXwXFpN43

Uploaded 03-11-25

We study algebraic structure in the set of exceptional directions.

License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA
More information at https://ocw.mit.edu/terms
More courses at https://ocw.mit.edu
Support OCW at http://ow.ly/a1If50zVRlQ

We encourage constructive comments and discussion on OCW’s YouTube and other social media channels. Personal attacks, hate speech, trolling, and inappropriate comments are not allowed and may be removed. More details at https://ocw.mit.edu/comments.



Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MIT 3.091 Introduction to Solid-State Chemistry, Fall 2018
Instructor: Jeffrey C. Grossman
View the complete course: https://ocw.mit.edu/3-091F18
Course Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUl4u3cNGP63z5HAguqleEbsICfHgDPaG
Highlights Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUl4u3cNGP61q4qJ1vdkBbiWn3AF1q5SQ

Uploaded 07-12-20

The conductivity of electrons in semiconductors lie somewhere between those of insulators and metals.

License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA
More information at https://ocw.mit.edu/terms
More courses at https://ocw.mit.edu
Support OCW at http://ow.ly/a1If50zVRlQ

We encourage constructive comments and discussion on OCW’s YouTube and other social media channels. Personal attacks, hate speech, trolling, and inappropriate comments are not allowed and may be removed. More details at https://ocw.mit.edu/comments.



Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MIT 18.156 Projection Theory, Spring 2025
Instructor: Lawrence D Guth
View the complete course: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-156-projection-theory-spring-2025
YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUl4u3cNGP62K9_7Pg26ytrAOXwXFpN43

Uploaded 03-11-25

We develop the last tool in our toolkit from combinatorial number theory.

License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA
More information at https://ocw.mit.edu/terms
More courses at https://ocw.mit.edu
Support OCW at http://ow.ly/a1If50zVRlQ

We encourage constructive comments and discussion on OCW’s YouTube and other social media channels. Personal attacks, hate speech, trolling, and inappropriate comments are not allowed and may be removed. More details at https://ocw.mit.edu/comments.



Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MIT 3.091 Introduction to Solid-State Chemistry, Fall 2018
Instructor: Jeffrey C. Grossman
View the complete course: https://ocw.mit.edu/3-091F18
Course Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUl4u3cNGP63z5HAguqleEbsICfHgDPaG
Highlights Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUl4u3cNGP61q4qJ1vdkBbiWn3AF1q5SQ

Uploaded 07-12-20

Lewis structures, covalent bonds, and resonance.

License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA
More information at https://ocw.mit.edu/terms
More courses at https://ocw.mit.edu
Support OCW at http://ow.ly/a1If50zVRlQ

We encourage constructive comments and discussion on OCW’s YouTube and other social media channels. Personal attacks, hate speech, trolling, and inappropriate comments are not allowed and may be removed. More details at https://ocw.mit.edu/comments.



Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MIT 18.156 Projection Theory, Spring 2025
Instructor: Lawrence D Guth
View the complete course: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-156-projection-theory-spring-2025
YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUl4u3cNGP62K9_7Pg26ytrAOXwXFpN43

Uploaded 03-11-25

We discuss the analogy between the Szemeredi-Trotter theorem and the exceptional set problem. We explain why it is hard to adapt the proof of Szemeredi-Trotter to the exceptional set problem.

License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA
More information at https://ocw.mit.edu/terms
More courses at https://ocw.mit.edu
Support OCW at http://ow.ly/a1If50zVRlQ

We encourage constructive comments and discussion on OCW’s YouTube and other social media channels. Personal attacks, hate speech, trolling, and inappropriate comments are not allowed and may be removed. More details at https://ocw.mit.edu/comments.



Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices