Gresham College Lectures

We often change our minds after we decide to do something. In finance and business though, if you think you might like to change your mind you will have to pay your counterparty so that your right to change your mind is agreed in advance.But how much is the right to change your mind worth? Option pricing is the art of determining the value of this right.This lecture was recorded by Raghavendra Rau on 26th February 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, LondonThe transcript and downloadable versions of the

A musical scale – a hierarchical collection of pitches spread over multiple octaves – is a fundamental building block in the creation of melodies and harmonies in a wide range of musical practices. But where do these scales come from? Are they invented or discovered?This lecture looks at the history, theory and artistry of scale construction in a wide range of styles, and how each scale can, through ‘rotation’, form a colourfully expressive palette of modal colours.This lecture was recorded by

Major geophysical events such as earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes can occur with little or no warning and have catastrophic effects.This lecture will consider the health impacts of these natural disasters and how best to minimise them.Trauma often dominates the first days after the initial event but predicting the medium-term effects such as infectious diseases can head off predictable secondary health disasters over the medium and long term.This lecture was recorded by Sir Chris Whitty on 20th

Immunotherapy has brought new hope for curing common cancers that have spread (metastatic) – once regarded as impossible.Over the last 10 years, immune checkpoint inhibitors – drugs that allow the immune system to identify and destroy previously unrecognised cancer cells – have been successfully used to treat melanoma, kidney cancer and lung cancer, among others. Clinicians are looking at whether vaccines, oncolytic viruses and cellular therapies could cure cancer.This lecture explores the

Why have people believed in dragons, and what were they actually? Is there a difference between Western and Eastern dragons, in a global perspective, and if so, why?Has the Western attitude to dragons changed in the modern era? Did Christianity give rise to a different idea of what a dragon should be? These are the questions that this lecture sets out to answer.This lecture was recorded by Ronald Hutton on 14th February 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, LondonThe transcript and downloadable versions

There have been two major revolutions in how we look at the sky - the shift beyond the optical to other wavelengths, particularly the radio, and the increasing attention paid to how objects change over time.We start with the discovery of pulsars by Jocelyn Bell Burnell, explore how a microwave oven bamboozled astronomers, and discuss the latest research on Fast Radio Bursts, mysterious events detected in galaxies billions of light-years away.This lecture was recorded by Chris Lintott on 21st

The relationship between intimacy and technology is dynamic and transformative. Adult entertainment providers were early adopters of the Internet and directly influenced its development. Meanwhile, digital communication has changed our consumption of pornography, how we date, and how we seek pleasure.There is increasing concern that Internet-mediated sex is having a negative impact on humans. What’s the evidence for that? And what does the future hold?This lecture was recorded by Dr Victoria Baines