From: VideoLectures on Sat, Mar 12 2011 10:29 AM

During recent years, there has been a growing interest in learning algorithms capable of utilizing both labeled and unlabeled data for prediction tasks. The reason for this attention is the cost of assigning labels which can be very high for large datasets. Two main settings have been proposed i...

From: VideoLectures on Fri, Mar 11 2011 10:39 AM

From: VideoLectures on Thu, Mar 10 2011 10:35 AM

In this third and final panel, moderator David Thorburn makes an impassioned bid to refocus attention on the unique role newspapers play in society, and to cast a more skeptical eye on the merits of cyberjournalism. Newspapers organize the world on a daily basis, “create a universe that is in so...

From: VideoLectures on Tue, Mar 08 2011 10:17 AM

From: VideoLectures on Tue, Mar 08 2011 10:17 AM

The presentation is a case study of Jerusalem, the most destroyed and rebuilt city in history, and a major site for the three great monotheistic religions which are now adhered to by more than half the religious population of the world. Basic ideas of loss and restitution are briefly examined in...

From: VideoLectures on Mon, Mar 07 2011 10:02 AM

This Nobel Prize-winning scientist admits to staying up late the night before his talk to bone up on thermodynamics. He puts his research to good use, discussing the history and application of the laws of thermodynamics, which have served as “the scientific foundation of how we harness energy, a...

From: VideoLectures on Mon, Mar 07 2011 10:02 AM

Renaissance Physicists This duet of talks by two Nobelists, while cheering the consolidation of MIT’s Physics groups within the new Green Center for Physics, sees primarily gloomy prospects for science in coming decades. There are “dark clouds on the horizon,” believes Robert Laughlin, as the po...

From: VideoLectures on Fri, Mar 04 2011 12:47 AM

Natural disasters, fires, and earthquakes, destroyed Japan’s cities in whole or in part on numerous occasions over the last centuries. Human intervention, political change, modernization, and the air raids of the Second World War brought about further destruction and promoted the transformation ...

From: VideoLectures on Wed, Mar 02 2011 5:12 AM

The reconstruction of Berlin, after the massive destruction it suffered in World War II, was complicated in two fundamental ways. First was the question of historical continuity. On the one hand, there was a desire to reconstruct: to repair a damaged but extant city or, more broadly, to continue...

From: VideoLectures on Tue, Mar 01 2011 4:51 AM

This lecture places the attack on the World Trade Center in the context of New York’s history as a place that is seemingly destined to be destroyed and rebuilt with stunning regularity. It explores three ways of looking at a central experience, and cultural trope, about New York City: that it is...

From: VideoLectures on Tue, Mar 01 2011 4:51 AM

From: VideoLectures on Thu, Feb 24 2011 7:06 AM

From: VideoLectures on Thu, Feb 24 2011 6:54 AM

Topics covered : The start of your Lean journey

From: VideoLectures on Thu, Feb 24 2011 5:41 AM

No diagnosis of cancer is welcome, but some scenarios are more dreaded than others. Richard Hynes discusses what happens “when cells in the primary tumor lose their sense of address and wander off to places they’re not supposed to go.” His talk lays out the process of invasion, by which the can...

From: VideoLectures on Thu, Feb 24 2011 4:04 AM

From: VideoLectures on Thu, Feb 24 2011 3:51 AM

With his 500-plus patents, Robert Langer, Jr. surely has dibs on the title of MIT’s Mr. Wizard. This talk, which concludes the series on cancer research, deals with Langer’s efforts to design materials for safer and more effective cancer treatment. Langer describes his groundbreaking work of 30 ...

From: VideoLectures on Mon, Feb 21 2011 11:05 AM

From: VideoLectures on Mon, Feb 21 2011 10:37 AM

This lecture introduces biblical law in a comparative approach that identifies similarities and differences between Israelite law and other Ancient Near Eastern legal traditions, such as the Code of Hammurabi. Distinctive features of Israelite law are explained as flowing from the claim of divin...

From: VideoLectures on Mon, Feb 21 2011 10:13 AM

After a detailed explanation of the requirements for the paper assignment, Professor Hayes turns to the Writings - the third section of the Bible - and considers a recent approach to the study of the Bible, called canonical criticism. The books in this section of the Bible explore various questi...

From: VideoLectures on Mon, Feb 21 2011 10:13 AM

This lecture continues the discussion on Genesis, including the familiar accounts of Cain and Abel, the Flood and Noahide covenant. The story of Cain and Abel expresses the notion of the God-endowed sanctity of human life and a "universal moral law" governing the world. Examination of the contra...