What's Up, Doc? Is Biomedical Research Really Close to Curing Anything?
Douglas Melton, Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences at Harvard University
A century ago, people would suffer and die from what we now consider routine bacterial infections. With the discovery of penicillin, a miracle occurred where it became possible to cure people who previously had been left for dead. We're now at the edge of a similar revolution due to remarkable innovations in the field of regenerative biology. In this lecture, Dr. Douglas Melton introduces the astounding advances being made today to unlock the powerful potential hidden within our own cells. Cloning, regeneration, "man-made" stem cells, an end to aging as we know it; these may all sound like science fiction, but they're closer than you think.
The Floating University
Originally released September 2011.
Additional Lectures:
Michio Kaku: The Universe in a Nutshell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NbBjNiw4tk
Joel Cohen: An Introduction to Demography (Malthus Miffed: Are People the Problem?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vr44C_G0-o
Steven Pinker: Linguistics as a Window to Understanding the Brain http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-B_ONJIEcE
Leon Botstein: Art Now (Aesthetics Across Music, Painting, Architecture, Movies, and More.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6F-sHhmfrY
Tamar Gendler: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Politics and Economics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm8asJxdcds
Nicholas Christakis: The Sociological Science Behind Social Networks and Social Influence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wadBvDPeE4E
Paul Bloom: The Psychology of Everything: What Compassion, Racism, and Sex tell us about Human Nature
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=328wX2x_s5g
Saul Levmore: Monopolies as an Introduction to Economics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK2qHyF-8u8
Lawrence Summers: Decoding the DNA of Education in Search of Actual Knowledge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6SY6N1iMcU