12 Short Videos about the Physics of the Cosmos

The Open University has teamed up with “geek chic” comedian David Mitchell to release a series of 12 short animated YouTube videos about the Physics of the Cosmos: “60-Second Adventures in Astronomy”.  A real treat.  And it’s educational!  If you have only 60 seconds, you can now learn everything we know about matter, energy, life, the Universe and everything…

Watch 60-Second Adventures in Astronomy now!

1. The Big Bang

   – Find out how scientists have calculated the exact volume of the noise created at the birth of the Universe.

2. Supernovae

   – Learn how all the elements in the Universe were formed.

3. Exoplanets

   – How are scientists studying distant stars to learn more about exoplanets, the invisible planets that orbit them?

4. A Day on Mercury

   – Find out how you’d pass the time on planet Mercury, where a single day lasts two years.

5. The Rotating Moon

   – Discover how the Moon’s orbit means we always see its best side.

6. Life on Mars

   – Discover how asteroids and microbes flying through space could hold the secret to life on Earth – and maybe even Mars.

7. Event Horizons

   – Just what is the point of no return? German physicist, Karl Schwarzschild calculated the event horizon of black holes. And it can tell us more about the eventual fate of all the galaxies.

8. Dark Matter

   – Fritz Zwicky was a Swiss astronomer who discovered Dark Matter in the Universe. But what’s the matter with dark matter?

9. Dark Energy

   – Dark Energy explores how Einstein was right all along about the expanding Universe.

10. Special Relativity

    – Who had more fun in life, Albert Einstein or Richard Feynman?

11. Large Hadron Collider

    – Turns out the Large Hadron Collider is not as dangerous as we thought.

12. Black Holes

    – Is it possible to make your own black hole?

Learn more with OpenLearn, the home of free learning from The Open University.

Enjoy yourself!