Big Ideas (audio)

Educator and author, Camille Paglia, discusses The Future of Education at the 2010 Globe and Mail Open House Festival in Toronto. The event moderator is broadcaster, Valerie Pringle.

Sean M. Carroll of CalTech discusses how the direction of the arrow of time was defined by the Big Bang. He also speculates about what might have come before the Big Bang. The lecture is entitled The Origin of the Universe & the Arrow of Time.

German psychoanalyst, Werner Bohleber, on The Phenomenon of Adolescent Violence.

Craig Kaplan discusses origami, tiling patterns and other areas of art where mathematics and computers have had a significant impact. The lecture, entitled Mathematical Art and Artistic Mathematicians, was deliverd at the Quantum to Cosmos Festival.

Art historian Francis Broun presents his lecture entitled Genius Denied: The Art of Sir Edwin Landseer. It was recorded at the Women's Art Association in Toronto on May 24th, 2010.

Indiana University professor of History and Philosophy of Science, William R. Newman presents his lecture, entitled Why Did Isaac Newton Believe in Alchemy? Through historical documents and experiments that demonstrate alchemical processes, this lecture explains why one of the most insightful scientists in history was convinced that alchemical transformations were scientifically plausible. It was delivered at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario, on October 6th, 2010.

Dr. James Hansen of the NASA Goddard Institute delivers a lecture on Human-Made Climate Change: A Moral, Political, and Legal Issue.

A panel discussion on climate science and climate justice with the world 19s foremost climate scientist, Dr. James Hansen, as well as Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, and Clayton Thomas-Muller, the Indigenous Environmental Network's Tar Sands Campaigner. The event moderator is Dr. Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux.

S. James Gates Jr., Director of the Center for String and Particle Theory at the University of Maryland, discusses the question "Does Reality Have a Genetic Basis?"

As part of the Literature for Our Time series, University of Toronto English Professor Nick Mount examines Ariel, Sylvia Plath's posthumously published collection of poems

Stewart Brand delivers a lecture focusing on his book Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto.

Lord Bhikhu Parekh is Emeritus Professor of Political Philosophy at the Universities of Westminster and Hull and a Fellow of the British Academy. He is the author of several books in political philosophy including Rethinking Multiculturalism and A New Politics of Identity. This lecture on Secularism and the Role of Religion in Public Life was hosted by the Centre for Ethics at the University of Toronto on April 6, 2010.

John Mighton of the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences delivers a lecture on The Ubiquitous Bell Curve: What It Does and Doesn't Tell Us. The talk focuses on JUMP Math and Mighton's work helping teachers learn how to excite students about mathematics.

Robert Adams discusses Mohsin Hamid's 2007 novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, which was short listed for the Booker Prize.

British literary and cultural theorist, Terry Eagleton, delivers a lecture at York University entitled Is Marxism a Theodicy?

Big Ideas presents British cultural theorist, Terry Eagleton, on The Metaphysics of Terror. This archival lecture was originally part of a 4-part series and recorded at the University of Toronto in January 2004.

Chris Lintott of the University of Oxford discusses The Galaxy Zoo, an internet-based program for enlisting the help of amateur astronomers in cataloguing other galaxies.

The Swiss-born Muslim philosopher gives a lecture based on his recent book In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad.

Jeremy Rifkin, President of the Foundation on Economic Trends, and author of The Empathic Civilization, spoke on global environmental issues at the Tulip Festival in Ottawa on May 16, 2010.

Authors Jeff Rubin and Andrew Nikiforuk discuss The Future of the Oil Economy, with moderator Paul Waldie. This panel was part of the 2010 Globe and Mail Open House Festival.