Science courses

In this course, we are going to explore science “essentials” — core content and concepts necessary for a strong foundation in science, which will help prepare you to take on challenging science problems. Whether you’re...

Each day, you interact with tens, if not hundreds, of electrical devices, from the light in your kitchen to the computer, tablet or phone you are using right now. In this course, you will discover...

This course was written in collaboration with Aaron Miller, a PhD in physics from Penn State University, and was integrated into a YouTube video series on MinutePhysics. Beginning with famous thought experiments and a few...

Chemistry is the science of how matter transforms from starting materials into other substances. Driven by physics and the fundamental properties of the elements, chemistry frees us from depending on the materials we find in...

Here we lay out Newton's law of gravity and crack open the universe of consequences that spring from it. On the journey we'll come to understand planetary phenomena like tides and atmospheres, the rich geometry...

This course was written in collaboration with quantitative biologists and biophysicists from leading research groups at Caltech and Duke. Computational biology merges the algorithmic thinking of the computer scientist with the problem solving approa...

Can you put a number on how much you don't know? (Sure you can! ) When you learn something new, how should it change your beliefs about how the world works? (It depends! ) Is...

Here we'll establish the bedrock principles of physics and use them to reveal matter in motion; from drones and rockets to skyscrapers and blinking fireflies. By the end, you'll develop a rigorous approach to describing...

This course was written by MinuteEarth, creators of YouTube videos that combine world-class explanations and visuals to help viewers understand complicated science. The definition of a molecule is pretty simple: it's any group of atoms...

Everything we hear and see is based on information our bodies take in from waves. In this course you’ll learn what waves are, how they travel, and how they interact. Along the way, you’ll apply...

Discover physics in unexpected places: from refrigerators and toilets, to traffic jams and water towers. By the end of this course, you'll use powerful ideas like forces, energy, and estimation to catch criminals, design bridges,...

The universe consists of over 100 billion galaxies like ours, each containing tens or hundreds of billions of stars. This course will highlight what we know (and what is still unknown) about this vast and...

The principles of quantum mechanics came from investigating microscopic phenomena; the bizarre behavior of quantum objects like atoms and elementary particles that often appear to contradict classical mechanics and probability. In this course you'l...

This course was written in collaboration with Lee Weinstein. Lee earned his Ph. D. in Mechanical Engineering at MIT, where he conducted research in solar thermal energy generation In this course we'll examine the principal...

Explaining the world means thinking with scientific principles — but usually they're cloaked in technical manipulations. In this course we'll dispense with number-crunching and mathematics in search of something more useful: physical insight. Ther...