Don Lincoln

Taught by noted physicist Dr. Don Lincoln of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, this course follows the search for a theory that explains all physical reality-a theory of everything. Dr. Lincoln covers recent developments in particle physics and cosmology, plus the background needed to appreciate the centuries-long search for this holy grail of science. Only high-school-level math is used.

It turns out the usual story of Benjamin Franklin's discovery of electricity using just a kite and a key isn't exactly true. Get the real story behind this and other misunderstandings about electricity and reframe the way you think about how electricity w

Clarify oversimplified ideas concerning how carbon dating works and get a stronger appreciation of just how complicated and sophisticated a scientific technique it is. While dating objects under 60,000 years old has become relatively easy, the current acc

At its core, relativity is about something very simple: how two people in relative motion see the world differently. In the first of two episodes on misunderstandings about relativity, explore the Lorentz transforms, then journey through a seeming paradox

Radiation is one of the most misunderstood of all scientific phenomena. Get the scientific truths about this subject by investigating the four types of ionizing radiation, including alpha radiation, beta radiation, gamma radiation, and neutron radiation.

There are some popular misconceptions about alien life that science fiction writers have said often enough that we take them to be likely or true. But are they? Professor Lincoln unpacks the possibility of silicon-based life and truths about the Drake equ

Examine the peculiarities of quantum mechanics in an effort to better understand what's going on in the quantum world. Get a whirlwind introduction that covers everything from the wave function and the behavior of electrons to the double-slit experiment a

How do misconceptions about nutrition spread? What if what you learned about digestion isn't the entire story? In this episode, examine the unseemly alliance between science, advertisers, and the media; and make sense of the important role that a fascinat

Get a whirlwind introduction to the scientific truths about how planes fly through the air. This episode overturns the (often-very-wrong) way flight is taught in introductory physics classes and focuses on two relevant subjects involved in flight: air cir

Start your journey through some of the most jarring misconceptions of science with this introductory look at the nature of science itself. You'll examine ways the scientific method deviates from the way it's taught, the true definitions of terms like "theory" and "model," and the relationship science shares with philosophy.