Gresham College Courses

Mithras - Master of Mystery

Explore the enigmatic cult of Mithras, the Roman Empire's most famous mystery religion, examining its shrines, myths, membership and rituals to uncover its closely guarded secrets.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 34 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Music of Light and Colour - How Sound Becomes Vision

Explore the fascinating connections between sound and vision through synesthesia, cymatics, and how composers like Scriabin and Kandinsky translated music into color and light.

• YouTube
• 49 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Will You Be AI's Pet? - Exploring Human Domestication by Artificial Intelligence

Explore the provocative question of human domestication by AI through animal metaphors, examining how we might trade freedom for convenience and discovering principles for maintaining agency.

• YouTube
• 46 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Death Investigation - What Do Coroners Do?

Explore the vital role of coroners in death investigation, from legal duties to inquest procedures and how they protect public health through unexplained death analysis.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 43 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Constable's "The Cornfield" - A Bicentenary Harvesting

Explore Constable's iconic "The Cornfield" on its bicentenary, examining how this masterpiece shaped English national identity and speaks to modern environmental anxieties.

• YouTube
• 49 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

An Ocean of Air - Understanding Atmospheric Science and Climate Change

Explore atmospheric science and greenhouse gases with Helen Czerski, examining how humanity affects our planet's air and what this means for our environmental future.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 46 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Why Do We Grieve? - The Science and Evolution of Human Grief

Explore the evolutionary puzzle of grief through neuroscience, examining why humans and animals mourn, how loss affects the brain and body, and whether grief can or should be treated.

• YouTube
• 47 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Alien Earths - What Makes Us Special?

Explore the remarkable diversity of exoplanets and discover whether Earth's unique characteristics make it truly special in a universe of 10,000+ alien worlds.

• YouTube
• 46 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

AI Will Be Your Overlord - Faster, Brighter, Better Than You?

Explore AI's potential dominance and its implications for human intelligence, consciousness, and society's future ethical challenges.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 30 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Earth - Our Planetary Life Support System

Explore Earth's interconnected systems through physics, discovering how energy flows and matter cycles sustain our planetary life support system in this engaging lecture.

• YouTube
• 46 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Shakespeare's Musical Fairies

Explore how Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream inspired centuries of musical adaptations from Mendelssohn to Britten, examining the fairy world's enduring musical appeal.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 58 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

How Does Surveillance Work?

Explore the evolution of surveillance systems from ancient Rome to digital monitoring, examining historical contexts, legal frameworks, privacy concerns, and the balance between security and civil liberties.

• YouTube
• 51 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

The Shape of Hands - Symmetry, Chirality and Handedness

Explore chirality and handedness in nature, from DNA to seashells, uncovering how left-right asymmetry shapes physics, chemistry, biology, and the mysteries of natural structures.

• YouTube
• 58 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

How It Ends - What We Know about the Fate of the Universe

Explore the Universe's ultimate fate through modern cosmology, dark matter mysteries, and predictions spanning the next 100 billion years with insights into cosmic beginnings.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 1 minute
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Lessons from Guantánamo Bay - Legal Advocacy and Human Rights Challenges

Explore Guantánamo Bay's evolution from immigration detention to terror suspects, uncovering legal loopholes, torture exposure, and advocacy strategies that freed 98% innocent detainees.

• YouTube
• 53 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video