There is a rising number of people of all ages with mental health illnesses globally, that has been accompanied by a greater willingness to talk about it in many places. What are the most common disorders and the best treatment options, including non-medical treatment and lifestyle modifications? The lecture will conclude by looking at global mental health myths, for example in several cultures individuals with problems are considered to be holding a negative spirit inside them. A lecture by Mon...
Feb 13, 2023•2 hr 5 min
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the distinction between solicitors and barristers? What is the purpose of the independent Bar in our legal system today? How does England and Wales compare with common law jurisdictions which have abandoned, or have never had, a split profession? Is the Bar’s history as a bastion of privilege, its various historical monopolies and prerogatives, and its culture and organisation problematic? What are the benefits of an independent Bar? A lecture by Leslie T...
Feb 10, 2023•2 hr 3 min
When the Western Roman Empire crumbled, the Anglo-Saxon peoples who occupied Britain brought their own paganism with them. This was Germanic, with a pantheon of deities that included Woden, Thunor, Tiw and Frig. Its temples were wooden structures that leave scant traces in the landscape, but you can find evidence for their beliefs in cemeteries like Sutton Hoo. This lecture looks at such evidence and at literature such as Beowulf and the history written by the Christian scholar Bede. A lecture b...
Feb 08, 2023•2 hr
Composers of tonal music, from the 17th century through to the latest jazz tune or film score, think mainly in terms of how their chords succeed each other, rather than taking chords in isolation. We will investigate the most important succession of chords in Western music, the cadence. Cadences are a kind of punctuation, dividing music into sentences or periods. They are also responsible for creating a sense of relief or suspense. A lecture by Marina Frolova-Walker recorded on 26 January 2023 a...
Feb 07, 2023•2 hr 18 min
Why is the deep ocean cold? And why does this matter for global warming? Doing the maths with pipes and plumbing, not computers, we explore how processes that keep the deep oceans at frigid Arctic temperatures also determine how fast the world is warming in response to rising greenhouse gas concentrations – and also explain why it would be so difficult to say when the warming would stop even if we were to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations at today’s levels forever. A lecture by Myles Allen...
Feb 03, 2023•59 min
The field of probability started when a French nobleman asked the mathematician Blaise Pascal to solve a dispute for him about a game consisting of throwing a pair of dice 24 times. Pascal discussed this and other problems with fellow mathematician Pierre de Fermat, in a series of letters in which they arrived at the basic principles of probability theory. This lecture looks at dice, cards, lotteries, and other games of chance. Can mathematics help us win? A lecture by Sarah Hart recorded on 31 ...
Feb 02, 2023•2 hr 1 min
Louis XIV saw himself as a patron of the arts, as well as an absolute monarch and warlord. He talked to his favourite artists and writers, including Bernini, Racine, Andre Lenotre the gardener and Charles Lebrun the painter, almost as equals, and made Versailles an arts and entertainment centre rivalling Rome. Versailles’s influence, like the French language, spread across Europe. In his range and passion, Louis XIV was unsurpassed as a patron of the arts, both in his time and later. A lecture b...
Feb 01, 2023•2 hr 2 min
How is the decentralised finance world organised? This lecture discusses how cryptographic technology is applied in business. It discusses blockchains and their uses. It explains how smart contracts, open code that automatically executes contracts once certain conditions are fulfilled, are used. It will also look at non-fungible tokens, a type of cryptographic asset on a blockchain with a unique identification code and metadata that distinguishes it from any other. A lecture by Raghavendra Rau r...
Jan 27, 2023•2 hr 3 min
How does everyday medical practice get interpreted in the courtroom? In cases of child protection, do everyday decisions made in a resource-limited NHS stand up to cross-examination? Does the duty of care in hospital also extend to collecting evidence, and are the obligations of the doctor looking after a child different to the obligations of the expert commenting on them in retrospect? How does this affect the number of medical personnel willing to come forwards to give expert evidence? A lectu...
Jan 25, 2023•2 hr 8 min
The evolution of our Sun from ordinary star into red giant is radically different from the evolution of much more massive stars towards their end-points: supernova explosions followed by black holes. This lecture will contrast the relevant nuclear physics and thermodynamics that determine these very different outcomes. A lecture by Katherine Blundell OBE recorded on 18 January 2023 at David Game College, London. The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresh...
Jan 23, 2023•55 min
Vaccination against disease has saved countless lives, yet it remains a controversial topic because of concerns some hold about safety and potential harms. Should we be legally required to vaccinate ourselves and our children? How important is individual choice when balanced against saving lives? To what extent should vaccination of children be a matter for parents or the state? This lecture considers the challenges we face in fighting disease while remaining a democratic, liberal society. A lec...
Jan 20, 2023•53 min
Breast cancer is one of the most dreaded diseases for women, not only because it can be a serious medical condition resulting in painful therapies, but because it is regarded as an assault on a sufferer’s self-image and sexuality. Historically, women have responded to diagnoses of breast cancer in different ways. This lecture explores some of the shifting ideas about breast cancer, including the appropriation of “blame” (that is, debates about “stress” and carcinogenic environments). A lecture b...
Jan 18, 2023•58 min
Microbial chemistry makes bread rise and cheese mature, and turns grapes into wine. Microbes help make engine fuel, life-saving antibiotics and nano-particle sunscreens. Without fungi and bacteria, the world would sink under its own waste within days, since only these microbes have the ability to degrade complex polymers such as the lignin in plants. Might we be able to harness this amazing power of microbial degradation to help remove the human-made plastic mountain, or clean up toxic waste sit...
Jan 16, 2023•59 min
Coronary heart disease caused by narrowing and blockage of the heart arteries causes angina, heart attacks and heart failure. It remains one of the commonest causes of mortality in the UK and globally. Public health interventions and improvements in treatment have steadily reduced deaths from coronary heart disease. This lecture will discuss the causes of coronary heart disease and advances in reducing its effects. A lecture by Sir Chris Whitty The transcript and downloadable versions of the lec...
Jan 10, 2023•2 hr 4 min
What was religion like in Roman Britain? What pre-Roman deities persisted? Which new gods came with Romans? This lecture looks at the evidence: inscriptions, statues and figurines, carvings and all the impediments of ritual, as well as the testimony of hundreds of burials. It shows how the Romans developed the cults of native deities such as Sulis and Belatucadros, and imported their own official divinities such as Jupiter and Mercury and mystery religions such as that of Mithras. A lecture by R...
Dec 19, 2022•2 hr 1 min
Fake news, influence operations, disinformation, misinformation and conspiracy theories are different flavours of falsehoods that have one thing in common: they put citizens in the front line of countering threats to democracies, national security, and community safety. This talk will explore governments’ and platforms’ efforts to counter falsehood, and what citizens can do to defend themselves, their loved ones, and ultimately their nations from influence operations. A lecture by Dr Victoria Ba...
Dec 16, 2022•55 min
Drawing on examples from the Israel-Palestine conflict, this lecture explores contrasting approaches, theories and practices for interpreting the relationship between religion and violence. It argues that understanding that religion can both incite violence and promote peace - is vital for building peace in the Middle East. It will explore the Myth of Redemptive Violence theory; the Mimetic Violence and Scapegoat theory; and the Myth of Religious Violence theory. A lecture by Jolyon Mitchell The...
Dec 16, 2022•56 min
On the 5th of December 1952 London experienced a major pollution episode, the Great Smog, resulting in thousands of deaths throughout the city. On the 70th anniversary of this event, the lecturer will review how air pollution has changed in the intervening period, the evidence that it is still having profound effects on our health and the effectiveness of measures to ensure clean air and better public health. A lecture by Ian Mudway The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are ava...
Dec 12, 2022•2 hr 3 min
What is the role of the judiciary in England and Wales, how did it develop, and how does it compare with other countries? This lecture will examine how judges are appointed, whose interests they serve, and who they are accountable to. It will examine the relationship between an independent judiciary and the rule of law, and what ideological assumptions underpin the judicial function in modern liberal democracies. Do our judges have the training, understanding and skills to perform their roles? A...
Dec 09, 2022•2 hr 3 min
The name might sound forbiddingly technical, but the chord is immediately recognisable and it has played a hugely important role in tonal music. This is a chord of action and motion: it sounds unstable and incomplete, leading the listener to expect the particular triad that is its normal target. Without this chord, what we call Viennese classicism (Haydn-Mozart-Beethoven) would have been impossible. We will also look at how composers play with the expectations generated by the chord. A lecture b...
Dec 07, 2022•2 hr 15 min
Invisible microbes have created some of the largest structures on the planet. Mycorrhizal fungi form extraordinary subterranean networks that associate symbiotically with plant roots. Most land plants, including many human crops, need mycorrhizae for optimal growth, but recent research has shown they also play important roles in forest-wide communication and may even turn some trees into carnivores. More dramatically, microbial communities have created global landmarks ranging from the White Cli...
Dec 02, 2022•58 min
The Alfred Wiener Holocaust Memorial Lecture This lecture highlights the experiences of Jewish refugees fleeing from antisemitic persecution and from World War II to Portugal. It describes how they were treated, how they attempted to escape Europe, and how they struggled in a “no-man’s land” between a painful past and an unknown future. Listening to their voices may help us to understand Jewish heartbreak and perseverance in the 1940s and encourage us to listen compassionately to refugees’ stori...
Dec 01, 2022•58 min
Before net zero, climate policy was all about contraction and convergence of emissions between rich and poor to achieve, in the words of the Rio Convention, “stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere” at a safe level. But scientists struggled to establish what that “safe” level was, making little progress in over a quarter of a century. And it was not because we were incompetent: for fundamental reasons in physics and probability theory, we were asking the wrong question. ...
Nov 29, 2022•2 hr 2 min
When we buy, sell, bargain, barter, bid at auctions, and compete for resources, we want to be sure that we are using the best strategies. Game theory can help us understand precisely these kinds of situations. That’s why in 1994, the Nobel Prize for Economics was won by a mathematician – John Nash. Using games like the Prisoner’s dilemma, this lecture explains the work of game theorists such as Nash, David Blackwell and John von Neumann. A lecture by Sarah Hart The transcript and downloadable ve...
Nov 24, 2022•2 hr
Britain before 1914 was convulsed by the Irish Question. Since the Act of Union of 1800, Ireland had been governed without the consent of the vast majority of Irish Catholics, who comprised around 3/4 of the population. Home Rule was the suggested solution. But there was a second question, the Ulster Question arising from the presence of a large Protestant minority in the north east of Ireland, who rejected rule from Dublin. This lecture asks whether better answers are available today. A lecture...
Nov 21, 2022•2 hr 2 min
The crypto movement began as a reaction to the concentration of economic power in the traditional financial system (and associated financial crises). It involved the creation of a new type of financial recording system, that did not depend on any one individual keeping records, did not allow falsification, and prevented fraud and double spending. Crypto is underpinned by public-private key encryption, hashing and mining and allows a completely decentralised system to write enforceable contracts ...
Nov 21, 2022•59 min
The levels of income in parts of China and India were similar to those in Europe in the middle ages, until the Mediterranean pulled ahead – followed by northern Europe, initially Holland and then Britain. This ‘great divergence’ was one of the fundamental shifts in history – and is only now being reversed. Did the divergence arise from imperialism and a 'drain' of wealth from Asia, or did it arise from internal features of Asian and European Society? A lecture by Martin Daunton The transcript an...
Nov 17, 2022•2 hr 5 min
Alexei Navalny is the leading opposition leader in Russia. He is also currently serving a lengthy prison sentence in a Russian correctional colony. This lecture will look at the use of the processes of the law by the Russian state to silence and isolate Navalny and to neutralise other forms of internal dissent. It will consider more widely the state of the rule of law in Russia since its invasion of Ukraine. A lecture by Thomas Grant KC The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are...
Nov 15, 2022•2 hr 2 min
AI technology is already changing the face of the world as we know it. This lecture looks at the reasons why AI is hailed as an unprecedented revolution using practical examples from healthcare and business. Humans and machines will coexist and make joint decisions, but what does this mean for humanity? Learn what this gigantic shift, a 4th industrial revolution, entails and how you can harness the benefits and avoid the traps. A lecture by Dr Loubna Bouarfa The transcript and downloadable versi...
Nov 15, 2022•2 hr 1 min
Our nearest star, that is the engine sustaining life on Earth, will one day run out of fuel. When this happens, the Sun will start expanding dramatically, forming a red giant and engulfing much of the solar system including the inner planets, vaporizing oceans; formerly icy planets will become habitable. A lecture by Professor Katherine Blundell OBE The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/end-sun ...
Nov 14, 2022•2 hr 1 min
