Iqbal Masih
Richard Epstein on Happiness, Inequality, and Envy
Richard Epstein of the University of Chicago talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the relationship between happiness and wealth, the effects of inequality on happiness, and the economics of envy and altruism. He also applies the theory of evolution to explain some of the findings of the happiness literature.
Wales on Wikipedia
Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the birth and growth of Wikipedia. He talks about the role of Hayek's insights into the design of Wikipedia, how Wikipedia deals with controversy, the reliability of Wikipedia relative to traditional reference sources and the future possibilities for projects that rely on voluntary contributions of time and creativity.
Organic animal husbandry Greenberg on Depression, Addiction, and the Brain 7.343 Neuron-glial Cell Interactions in Biology and Disease (MIT) 21L.488 Contemporary Literature: Literature, Development, and Human Rights (MIT) 6.931 Development of Inventions and Creative Ideas (MIT) 7.346 Synaptic Plasticity and Memory, from Molecules to Behavior (MIT) 7.343 A Love-Hate Relationship: Cholesterol in Health and Disease (MIT) 21L.017 The Art of the Probable: Literature and Probability (MIT) 3.042 Materials Project Laboratory (MIT) 7.341 The DNA Damage Response as a Target for Anti-Cancer Therapy (MIT) 7.342 Systems Biology: Stochastic Processes and Biological Robustness (MIT) 6.111 Introductory Digital Systems Laboratory (MIT) 9.013J Cell and Molecular Neurobiology (MIT) MAS.632 Conversational Computer Systems (MIT) 9.71 Functional MRI of High-Level Vision (MIT) 11.941 Learning by Comparison: First World/Third World Cities (MIT) SP.269 Passing: Flexibility in Race and Gender (MIT)
This booklet contains the principles that underpin organic farming. It is intended that
producers, technicians and other interested persons, find here the elements to be considered to establish livestock organic farms. Author(s):
Gary Greenberg, psychologist and author of The Noble Lie and Manufacturing Depression, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the nature of addiction, depression and mental illness. Drawing on ideas in the two books, Greenberg argues that there are strong monetary incentives to define various problems as illnesses that psychiatrists "cure" with drugs. Greenberg argues that this distorts science and has strong impacts, good and bad, on how we view ourselves and the challenges of life. The co
The main goal of this seminar will be to study the nervous system from the perspective of neuron-glia interactions. In each class, we will focus on one type of glial cell and discuss its origin, classification and function within the nervous system. Current findings concerning diseases associated with each type of glial cell will be discussed. This course is one of many Advanced Undergraduate Seminars offered by the Biology Department at MIT. These seminars are tailored for students with an inte
Central to our era is the gradual movement of all the world's regions toward a uniform standard of economic and political development. In this class we will read a variety of recent narratives that partake of, dissent from, or contribute to this story, ranging from novels and poems to World Bank and IMF statements and National Geographic reports. We will seek to understand the many motives and voices – sometimes congruent, sometimes clashing – that are currently engaged in producing
This course examines the role of the engineer as patent expert and as technical witness in court and patent interference and related proceedings. It discusses the rights and obligations of engineers in connection with educational institutions, government, and large and small businesses. It compares various manners of transplanting inventions into business operations, including development of New England and other U.S. electronics and biotechnology industries and their different types of institut
In this course we will discover how innovative technologies combined with profound hypotheses have given rise to our current understanding of neuroscience. We will study both new and classical primary research papers with a focus on the plasticity between synapses in a brain structure called the hippocampus, which is believed to underlie the ability to create and retrieve certain classes of memories. We will discuss the basic electrical properties of neurons and how they fire. We will see how fi
In this class, we will examine cholesterol's role in the cell and in the body as a whole, from its function as a structural component of the membrane to its function in signaling. We will discuss mechanisms of cholesterol sensing, mechanisms of feedback regulation in cells, cholesterol in the brain, cholesterol in the circulation, 'good cholesterol' and 'bad cholesterol,' cholesterol-related human disorders, and the drugs that deal with some of these disorders.
This course is one of many Ad
"The Art of the Probable" addresses the history of scientific ideas, in particular the emergence and development of mathematical probability. But it is neither meant to be a history of the exact sciences per se nor an annex to, say, the Course 6 curriculum in probability and statistics. Rather, our objective is to focus on the formal, thematic, and rhetorical features that imaginative literature shares with texts in the history of probability. These shared issues include (but are not limited to)
As its name implies, the 3.042 Materials Project Laboratory involves working with such operations as investment casting of metals, injection molding of polymers, and sintering of ceramics. After all the abstraction and theory in the lecture part of the DMSE curriculum, many students have found this hands-on experience with materials to be very fun stuff - several have said that 3.042/3.082 was their favorite DMSE subject. The lab is more than operating processing equipment, however. It is intend
Cellular responses to DNA damage constitute one of the most important fields in cancer biology. In this class we will analyze classical and recent papers from the primary research literature to gain a profound understand of cell cycle regulation and DNA damage checkpoints that act as powerful emergency brakes to prevent cancer.
This course is one of many Advanced Undergraduate Seminars offered by the Biology Department at MIT. These seminars are tailored for students with an interest in using pr
In this seminar, we will discuss some of the main themes that have arisen in the field of systems biology, including the concepts of robustness, stochastic cell-to-cell variability, and the evolution of molecular interactions within complex networks.
This course is one of many Advanced Undergraduate Seminars offered by the Biology Department at MIT. These seminars are tailored for students with an interest in using primary research literature to discuss and learn about current biological researc
6.111 is reputed to be one of the most demanding classes at MIT, exhausting many students' time and creativity. The course covers digital design topics such as digital logic, sequential building blocks, finite-state machines, FPGAs, timing and synchronization. The semester begins with lectures and problem sets, to introduce fundamental topics before students embark on lab assignments and ultimately, a digital design project. The students design and implement a final digital project of their choi
This course explores the major areas of cellular and molecular neurobiology, including excitable cells and membranes, ion channels and receptors, synaptic transmission, cell-type determination, axon guidance, neuronal cell biology, neurotrophin signaling and cell survival, synapse formation and neural plasticity. Material includes lectures and exams, and involves presentation and discussion of primary literature. It focuses on major concepts and recent advances in experimental neuroscience.
This class explores interaction with mobile computing systems and telephones by voice, including speech synthesis, recognition, digital recording, and browsing recorded speech. Emphasis on human interface design issues and interaction techniques appropriate for cognitive requirements of speech. Topics include human speech production and perception, speech recognition and text-to-speech algorithms, telephone networks, and spatial and time-compressed listening. Extensive reading from current resea
We are now at an unprecedented point in the field of neuroscience: We can watch the human brain in action as it sees, thinks, decides, reads, and remembers. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is the only method that enables us to monitor local neural activity in the normal human brain in a noninvasive fashion and with good spatial resolution. A large number of far-reaching and fundamental questions about the human mind and brain can now be answered using straightforward applications of
The primary purpose of this seminar is to enable students to craft approaches to so-called "First World"/ "Third World" city comparisons that are theoretically sophisticated, methodologically rigorous, contextually grounded, and significantly beneficial. Since there exists very little literature and very few projects which compare "First World" and "Third World" cities in a sophisticated and genuinely useful manner, the seminar is structured around a series of readings, case studies, and discuss
This course is primarily a literature seminar. We will use American literature as a lens through which to examine different passing tropes. It will provide an introduction to queer, gender, and critical race theories for science and math majors. We will read such works as Running A Thousand Miles for Freedom, Incognegro, and Focault's A History of Sexuality, to name just a few.
