7.340 Regenerative Medicine: from Bench to Bedside (MIT)
Regenerative medicine involves the repair and regeneration of tissues for therapeutic purposes, such as replacing bone marrow in leukemia, cartilage in osteoarthritis or cells of the heart after a heart attack. In this course, we will explore basic mechanisms of how cells differentiate into specific tissues in response to a variety of biologic signaling molecules. We will discuss the use of such factors for in vitro tissue production. We will also study the cellular mechanisms involved in the cl
Money Talks: The Quiz Andrew Palmer, Simon Long and Rachana Shanbhogue answer tough questions about finance and economics and fight for prizes. Philip Coggan is our quizmaster supremo.
11.125 Exploring K-12 Classroom Teaching (MIT)
Subject uses K-12 classroom experiences, along with student-centered classroom activities and student-led classes, to explore issues in schools and education. Topics of study include design and implementation of curriculum, addressing the needs of a diversity of students, standards in math and science, student misconceptions, methods of instruction, the digital divide, teaching through different media, and student assessment.
Author(s):
Stem Cells: Programming and Personalized Medicine
After years of relentless lab work, rising and falling expectations, and the challenge of a sometimes hostile public, Rudolf Jaenisch says, “The scenario that looked like a fantasy … has come closer to reality. We can study complex human diseases in a Petri dish and potentially contribute to therapy.” In this l
Acknowledgements
Active galaxies provide a prime example of high energy processes operating in the Universe. This unit gives an overview of active galaxies, including the supermassive black holes that power the engines at their centres, and the emission processes by which we detect and study them. It also gives practice in mathematical techniques for analysing data and theoretical models.
Studying Darwin
This unit brings together a collection of units from the OpenLearn site that would be of interest to anyone wishing to study Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection and how his work has gone on to influence other work around this theory.
"The New Epoch" and the 21st Century Imperative for Engineering History
Great civil engineers finds an aesthetic appropriate for their building’s material and structure, asserts David Billington, whose life work has been the study of some of the world’s most stunning engineering feats.
He reviews his own intellectual journey, first honoring some of his forebears, including Elt
Birth of a drug
The search for new medicinal products is one of the major driving forces behind the development and application of new synthetic methods. This unit focuses on a specific case study, which follows the development of a drug for the treatment of high blood pressure. It is a particularly good example of the application of organic chemistry in the pharmaceutical industry, and illustrates the scientific processes that are involved in the development of any new drug.
Bioengineering at MIT: Building Bridges Between the Sciences, Engineering and Health Care (Part Two
Glycomics, the study of sugars’ role in living systems, is a relative newcomer to the revolution in molecular biology. In fact, Ram Sasisekharan remembers how colleagues told him “not to work on carbohydrates -- that it was useless.” But his research has shown that glycans, observed as long chains or intricat
Biological Large Scale Integration
Though Stephen Quake’s research is confined to the smallest of scales, his achievements have already made a large impact on the study of biology. Quake’s area of microfluidics involves fabricating tiny devices akin to those a plumber uses, but useful on the molecular level. Quake modestly describes his “plumbing
The Next Frontier: Bioelectronic Interfaces
In the beginning, there was ENIAC. The first electrical computer could do 5,000 additions or subtractions per second, recounts Mark Reed, as long as people with shopping carts full of vacuum tubes jumped to the rescue each time the behemoth suffered a burnout. Then came transistors, and integrated circuits, greatly incre
Leading Change: A Conversation with Ron Williams
In what Dean Dave Schmittlein bills as a master class, Ronald A. Williams discusses how an emphasis on new technology and application of basic values helped turn around the health care giant Aetna.
Williams’ case study begins in 2001, when he arrived to find a corporation bleeding out -- having lost $280 million in th
China's Development and China-U.S. Relations
MIT President Susan Hockfield hails a new era of collaboration between the Institute and China, and Zhou Wenzhong, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China, discusses the larger relationship between his country and the U.S., particularly in light of the economic crisis
Modeling Human Mobility
Researchers who wish to study mobility patterns might be reaching for your phone. Increasingly, cell phones are equipped with locational receivers (Global Positioning Systems or GPS) and their bread crumb trails are opening up entirely new ways to study and predict the dynamics of travel. “We are in the GPS revolution because
Lunch with a Laureate: Robert Horvitz
As an undergraduate at MIT, Robert Horvitz did not take a biology course until his senior year. But after only six weeks into his first class with professor Cy Leventhal, he realized this was the field for him. He boldly asked for a recommendation as part of his application to grad school—in biology. “Is it too late?” he
How to Read 1,000,000 Manga Pages: Visualizing Patterns in Games, Comics, Art, Cinema, Animation, TV
In his introduction, moderator Ian Condry advocates utilizing the expertise and innovation of all disciplines in order to best explore new directions in the humanities. He suggests that the challenge of discovery may ultimately be useful as theoretical exploration, which incorporates the transformative power of art as well.
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4.3 Golden Rice in the public domain
Genetic manipulation of crops is an issue of great current interest and controversy. This unit covers some of the basic science that underpins the debate and examines the hotly contested case study of the development of ‘Golden Rice’. By looking at the science 'behind the headlines' you will acquire a clearer idea of both what is possible in GM science and what may be desirable.
2.3 From infected cells to transgenic plants
Genetic manipulation of crops is an issue of great current interest and controversy. This unit covers some of the basic science that underpins the debate and examines the hotly contested case study of the development of ‘Golden Rice’. By looking at the science 'behind the headlines' you will acquire a clearer idea of both what is possible in GM science and what may be desirable.
4.2 The science behind Golden Rice
Genetic manipulation of crops is an issue of great current interest and controversy. This unit covers some of the basic science that underpins the debate and examines the hotly contested case study of the development of ‘Golden Rice’. By looking at the science 'behind the headlines' you will acquire a clearer idea of both what is possible in GM science and what may be desirable.
4.1 Vitamin A deficiency
Genetic manipulation of crops is an issue of great current interest and controversy. This unit covers some of the basic science that underpins the debate and examines the hotly contested case study of the development of ‘Golden Rice’. By looking at the science 'behind the headlines' you will acquire a clearer idea of both what is possible in GM science and what may be desirable.
