Khan Academy on a Stick : Life on Earth and in the Universe

Khan Academy on a Stick

Cosmology and astronomy

Earth Formation
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How the Earth is a the byproduct of a local supernova
Beginnings of Life
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Life and photosynthesis start to thrive in the Archean Eon
Ozone Layer and Eukaryotes Show Up in the Proterozoic Eon
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Ozone Layer and Eukaryotes Show Up in the Proterozoic Eon. Great Oxygenation Event (Oxygen Catastrophe)
Biodiversity Flourishes in Phanerozoic Eon
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Cambrian explosion and biodiversity in the Phanerozoic Eon
First living things on land clarification
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First living things on land clarification (This video copyrighted under Create Commons Attribution and Share-Alike CC-BY-SA license)

History of life on Earth

Earth is over 4.5 billion years old. How do we know this? When did life first emerge? From the dawn of Earth as a planet to the first primitive life forms to our "modern" species, this tutorial is an epic journey of the history of life on Earth.

Human Evolution Overview
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From the extinction of the dinosaurs to humanity
Understanding Calendar Notation
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Difference between BC, BCE, AD and CE. A little bit about the birth of Jesus as well.
Correction Calendar Notation
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Correcting the time difference calculation by taking into account that there is no year 0
Development of Agriculture and Writing
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The Paleolithic and Neolithic eras of the Stone Age.
Firestick Farming
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How the indigenous Australians used fire to change their environment
Collective Learning
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How symbolic language drives collective learning and how this is one of the truly differentiating aspects of human beings relative to the rest of the animal kingdom
Thomas Malthus and Population Growth
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Thomas Malthus's views on population. Malthusian limits.
Land Productivity Limiting Human Population
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Thinking about how we get Calories from the land limits human population densities
Energy Inputs for Tilling a Hectare of Land
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Thinking about energy consumption for tilling land
Random Predictions for 2060
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Sal's random predictions for the year 2060

Humanity on Earth

Where do we think humans come from? How and why have we developed as a species. This tutorial attempts to give an overview of these truly fundamental questions. From human evolution (which is covered in more depth in the biology playlist) to the development of agriculture, this tutorial will give you an appreciation of where we've been (and maybe where we're going).

Chronometric Revolution
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Discussion of the relatively recent changes in our ability as a species to shine light on our deep past
Carbon 14 Dating 1
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Carbon 14 Dating 1
Carbon 14 Dating 2
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Carbon 14 Dating 2
Potassium-Argon (K-Ar) Dating
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How K-Ar dating can be used to date very old volcanic rock and the things that might be buried in between
K-Ar Dating Calculation
Working through a calculation for K-Ar dating (good to have some prior experience with e and logarithms)

Measuring age on Earth

Geologists and archaeologists will tell you how old things are or when they happened, but how do they know? This tutorial answers this question by covering some of the primary techniques of "dating" (not in the romantic sense).

Detectable Civilizations in our Galaxy 1
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A framework for thinking about how many detectable civilizations are out there.
Detectable Civilizations in our Galaxy 2
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Why do we even care about the Drake Equation. Thinking about the fraction of a planet's life when a civilization might be detectable.
Detectable Civilizations in our Galaxy 3
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Reconciling with the traditional Drake Equation
Detectable Civilizations in our Galaxy 4
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Taking a shot at estimating the number of detectable civilizations
Detectable Civilizations in our Galaxy 5
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More reasons why we haven't detected anything yet.

Life in the Universe

Are dolphins the only intelligent life in the universe? We don't know for sure, but this tutorial gives a framework for thinking about the problem.