Santa Fe Institute Courses

The Organism as Subject and Object of Evolution

Explore how organisms and environments co-evolve through a process of construction, challenging the traditional view of adaptation in evolutionary biology.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 23 minutes
• On-Demand
• Free Video

The Mother of Mass Extinctions: How Life on Earth Nearly Ended 250 Million Years Ago

Explore the greatest biodiversity crisis in Earth's history, examining causes and consequences of the end-Permian mass extinction through global research and geological evidence.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 13 minutes
• On-Demand
• Free Video

Complex Time - Hallmarks of Biological Failure

Explore biological failure through interdisciplinary perspectives, examining hallmarks, causes, and potential interventions in aging and disease processes across species and systems.

• YouTube
• 28 minutes
• On-Demand
• Free Video

Complex Time: Population and the Environment

Sir Partha Dasgupta discusses analytical demography and population ethics, exploring the complex relationship between population dynamics and environmental sustainability.

• YouTube
• 32 minutes
• On-Demand
• Free Video

Deborah Gordon on Ant Colonies as Distributed Computers

Exploring ant colonies as dynamic, adaptive systems and their lessons for human society, technology, and problem-solving in uncertain environments.

• YouTube
• 54 minutes
• On-Demand
• Free Video

The Uncertainty Paradox - Can Science Make Uncertainty Optimistic?

Explore the relationship between science, uncertainty, and optimism, examining how embracing uncertainty can lead to a more optimistic scientific perspective and improve public communication.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 34 minutes
• On-Demand
• Free Video

A New Thermodynamics of Biochemistry - Part 2

Exploring thermodynamics in living systems, from cellular metabolism to ecosystems. Insights on climate change, agriculture, and the search for extraterrestrial life through a new lens of biochemistry and physics.

• YouTube
• 46 minutes
• On-Demand
• Free Video

Andrea Wulf on The Invention of Nature - Humboldt's Dangerous Idea

Exploring Humboldt's legacy: interdisciplinary science, ecology, and the interconnectedness of nature. Discusses his influence on modern thought, politics, and the challenges of holistic understanding in an increasingly complex world.

• YouTube
• 49 minutes
• On-Demand
• Free Video

RNA Macrostates and Landscapes

Explore RNA macrostates, scaling of base-pair probabilities, and optimization for protein over-expression. Gain insights into advanced RNA folding concepts beyond minimum free energy structures.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 10 minutes
• On-Demand
• Free Video

Sidney Redner on Statistics and Everyday Life

Explore everyday phenomena through statistical analysis, revealing hidden patterns in parking, elevators, and sports. Learn how complex systems research uncovers universal principles in daily life.

• YouTube
• 58 minutes
• On-Demand
• Free Video

Collective Behavior of Honeybees & Fireflies

Explore collective behavior in honeybees and fireflies, revealing how diversity and self-organization lead to emergent intelligence and adaptive swarm dynamics in insect communities.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 1 minute
• On-Demand
• Free Video

Jonas Dalege on the Physics of Attitudes & Beliefs

Exploring statistical mechanics to understand belief formation and attitude dynamics. Insights into cognitive dissonance, ambivalence, and social interactions through physics-inspired models of opinion networks.

• YouTube
• 48 minutes
• On-Demand
• Free Video

J. Doyne Farmer on The Complexity Economics Revolution

Exploring complexity economics: from chaos theory to market ecology, bounded rationality, and innovative approaches to tackle economic challenges like climate change and inequality.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 4 minutes
• On-Demand
• Free Video

Everything Is a Network, but the Network Is Not Everything - Dynamics of Stage-Structured Food Webs

Explore how stage-structured food web models challenge traditional views on ecological community stability, offering new insights into the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem resilience.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 6 minutes
• On-Demand
• Free Video

Thermodynamic Speed Limits for Multiple, Coevolving Subsystems

Explore thermodynamic speed limits for coevolving subsystems, focusing on tighter bounds for composite systems and their applications in cell sensing dynamics.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 4 minutes
• On-Demand
• Free Video