Simons Foundation Courses

Dynamic Evolution of the Spider Silk Gene Family (May 7, 2025)

Delve into the evolutionary dynamics of spider silk genes with Cheryl Hayashi, exploring how these complex structures have evolved over 300 million years in this Presidential Lecture.

• YouTube
• 2 hours 6 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Real and Not Just Hopeful Monsters: Evolution by Very Large Jumps

Explore groundbreaking research on large-effect mutations and how phenotypic plasticity enables significant evolutionary adaptations through environmental regulation.

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

The Earth's Core: The Engine of Our Planet

Discover how quantum mechanics and statistical physics help calculate properties of Earth's core, revealing its role as our planet's dynamic engine.

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

Cryptic Changes to Degenerate Neurons and Circuits Elicited by Temperature: Effects of Climate Change on Neural Dynamics - January 22, 2025

Explore groundbreaking research on how temperature changes and environmental perturbations affect neural circuits and animal resilience, with insights into climate change impacts on biological systems.

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

Tales of Diverse Hearing and Sound Localization Specialty: From Owls to Humans - February 12, 2025

Explore fascinating research on hearing mechanisms across species, comparing neural sound processing in owls and humans while uncovering fundamental similarities in brain function.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 2 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Where is Mathematics Going? - The Future of Mathematics and Computer-Assisted Proof Development

Explore the future of mathematics and how computers can revolutionize proof development through tools like Lean in this Presidential Lecture by Kevin Buzzard.

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

Brain-Wide Representation of Prior Information

Discover how prior information is encoded across 20-30% of brain regions, spanning all neural processing levels, supporting Bayesian inference models over localized decision-making theories.

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

The Representation of Mood in the Primate Insula

Discover how neurons in the anterior insular cortex create neural correlates of happiness and shape mood through persistent brain responses in primates.

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

Global Brain Dynamics in C. elegans - A Decade of Progress

Discover how global brain dynamics in C. elegans have advanced over a decade, revealing neural mechanisms from sensation to action and cognition insights.

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

Origins of the Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain

Discover the founding story of the Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain through Bill Newsome's firsthand account of pivotal conversations, workshops, and the 2013 neuroscience revolution.

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

Multiplicative Structure in Additive Problems

Explore Diophantine counting problems through circle method analysis, focusing on multiplicative statistics of polynomials and Perazzo cubic fourfolds with expert insights.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 2 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Distribution of Zeros, Eigenvalues and Eigenfunctions in Number Theory

Explore statistical laws governing zeta functions and automorphic forms, examining numerical observations and their impact on arithmetical invariants in number theory.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 11 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Universal Distributions of Groups and Algebraic Objects

Explore universal distributions of groups and algebraic structures in arithmetic statistics, from Cohen-Lenstra-Martinet heuristics to non-abelian groups and modules.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 3 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Joint Linnik Problems and Siegel Zeros

Explore advanced number theory through simultaneous equidistribution conjectures for torus embeddings in PGL_2 forms, connecting Siegel zeros to L-function bounds.

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

Extrema of the Characteristic Polynomial of CβE Matrices

Explore extrema of characteristic polynomials in CβE matrices and their logarithmically correlated fields, validating the Fyodorov–Hiary–Keating conjecture through rigorous mathematical analysis.

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