The Canadian Space Agency's Chief Astronaut, Julie Payette delivers a lecture entitled Canadian Space Agency Perspectives from Space: Research and Diplomacy.

In a lecture entitled How Success Happens, New York Times columnist and author, David Brooks, draws from the research in his latest book The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement. His lecture was delivered at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.

Author, teacher and activist, Clay Shirky, discusses the visionary insights of Marshall McLuhan as well as his own ideas about the effects of new media and social networking on our society. Shirky's latest book Cognitive Surplus explores how new technology is unleashing a wave of creative production that he believes is transforming the world. Following the lecture, Shirky sits down for an interview with broadcaster Jesse Hirsh. The event was part of the McLuhan 100 series at the International Festival of Authors at Harbourfront Centre.

Author and astronomer Ray Jayawardhana discusses Alien Planets and his latest book Strange New Worlds. The lecture focuses on techniques for detecting planets orbiting distant stars.

What will it mean to be human in the future? Uploading consciousness into virtual worlds and prolonging life through biotechnology are already being contemplated. Canada's leading science fiction writer, Robert J. Sawyer, offers his insights in a lecture entitled Humanity 2.0, produced in collaboration with the Literary Review of Canada.

Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Philosophy at McGill University, Charles Taylor and Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, Jonathan Sacks discuss The Future of Religion in a Secular Age. The New Atheists, the state of marriage, the dangers of religion in the political sphere and the difference between religious thinking and magical thinking are all discussed.

Steven Pinker, author of The Better Angels of Our Nature, delivers a lecture entitled Thinking About Our Society: Why Violence Has Declined. Pinker (Psychology - Harvard University) explores the essence of human nature and what lies behind the statistically unmistakable reduction in violence over the past few centuries.

Bestselling author, essayist and New Yorker contributor, Adam Gopnik, delivers the fifth installment of the 2011 CBC Massey Lectures, Winter: Five Windows on the Season. In this lecture, entitled Remembering Winter, Gopnik offers a delightful meditation and reflection on winter, drawing from his memories of growing up in Montreal as well as from the works of other artists, writers and thinkers who have shaped our ideas about the most memorable of seasons.

Adjunct Professor of Physics at Northeastern University in Boston, Graham Farmelo, on Paul Dirac and the Religion of Mathematical Beauty. Apart from Einstein, Paul Dirac was probably the greatest theoretical physicist of the 20th century. Dirac, co-inventor of quantum mechanics, is now best known for conceiving of anti-matter and also for his deeply eccentric behavior. For him, the most important attribute of a fundamental theory was its mathematical beauty, an idea that he said was "almost a religion" to him.

Toronto-based public-space artist, Sean Martindale on Playful Interventions: Engaging Our Urban Environments. Martindale discusses public art projects including his Poster Pocket Planters and the extensive use of repurposed materials in such works as his cardboard sculptures.

John Duffy, advisor to former Prime Minister Paul Martin and founder of StrategyCorp, tackles the subject of The Emerging Politics of Technology in a lecture produced in collaboration with the Literary Review of Canada. Duffy has spent years pondering the role of technology in our thinking about policy and politics. And he believes that the politics of technology is at the forefront of Canada's public policy debates. But is technology beyond political and democratic control? And if not, how can we ensure that the cost and benefit of new technological developments do not deepen the already growing inequalities in our society?

Science historian and author (Darwin Among the Machines) George Dyson on the Origins of the Digital Universe. The talk focuses on the work done at The Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton New Jersey by such renowned scientists as John von Neumann and Kurt Godel.

Daniel Kahneman, author of Thinking, Fast and Slow, on The Machinery of the Mind. Kahneman is Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs at Princeton University and the winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics.

Drawing on their vast experiences and first-hand knowledge, distinguished humanitarians Senator Romeo Dallaire and Stephen Lewis, enter into a dialogue about the issues that they have committed their lives to: the eradication of the use of child soldiers and stopping the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa. Their discussion, moderated by journalist Anna Maria Tremonti, was organized by PEN Canada.

Philosopher Ian Hacking delivers the 2011 Ioan Davies Memorial Lecture entitled Who Are You? The Biosocial Being. The lecture, which looks at how much of who we are is determined by biology versus our social environment, took place at York University on November 14, 2011.

Art historian Francis Broun discusses the work of the 17th century painter Artemisia Gentileschi. Broun explores why Artemisia, who was widely respected in her own time, was forgotten and why she has recently been returned to her rightful place as a groundbreaking painter.

Graeme Gibson, author of The Bedside Book of Beasts, and recipient of the Order of Canada, explores the many ways that humans relate to the natural world. His lecture, entitled Echoes of a Working Eden, also addresses the damage done to us by our abandonment of Nature. The lecture was produced in collaboration with the Literary Review of Canada.

Renowned British psychiatrist and author, Iain McGilchrist, delivers a lecture entitled Our Mind at War, drawing from research in his latest book, The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World.

Psychiatrist and author, Allen J. Frances, believes that mental illnesses are being over-diagnosed. In his lecture, Diagnostic Inflation: Does Everyone Have a Mental Illness?, Dr. Frances outlines why he thinks the DSM-V will lead to millions of people being mislabeled with mental disorders.

Lisa Harvey-Smith of CSIRO discusses the mega-telescope known as the Square Kilometre Array. CSIRO, the Australian Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organisation, is part of the continent-spanning next-generation radio telescope project which is due to be completed in 2019.

Dr. Marc D. Lewis discusses the story and the science behind his book Memoirs of an Addicted Brain. Lewis is a professor at the Behavioral Science Institute, part of Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Lewis's book documents the years he spent addicted to drugs including morphine and heroin, and links his first-hand drug experiences to his current behavioral science research into the interaction between drugs and brain chemistry.

Chris Turner discusses his book The Leap: How to Survive and Thrive in the Sustainable Economy. Citing German energy policy and business examples such as Walmart, Turner explains how sustainability makes excellent business sense.

Renowned literary theorist, Northrop Frye, delivers the first lecture in his famous course on The Bible and Literature. The lecture is entitled "An Approach to the Bible".

Renowned literary theorist, Northrop Frye, delivers the second lecture in his famous course on The Bible and Literature. The lecture is entitled "The Shape of the Bible".

Rebecca MacKinnon, co-founder of Global Voices, discusses her book Consent of the Networked which examines issues of internet freedom and security. MacKinnon looks at Internet regulation in China, how Social Media affected the Arab Spring and the fight over SOPA.

Don Kurtz, of the University of Central Lancashire, discusses asteroseismology in a lecture entitled Songs of the Stars: The Real Music of the Spheres. He explains how sound waves are helping to locate distant Earth-like planets, study solar storms and explain what happens in the core of stars.

Dr. Iain McGilchrist is a renowned psychiatrist and author. Drawing from his book, "The Master and his Emissary", McGilchrist explores how the divided brain is shaping modern civilization. His lecture was delivered at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, on March 7, 2012.

Taking its name from the book The Grandest Challenge: Taking Life-Saving Science from Lab to Village, this symposium includes the book's authors, Dr. Abdallah Daar and Dr. Peter Singer as well as James Maskalyk. Maskalyk is the author of Six Months in Sudan: A Young Doctor in a War-Torn Village.

Our second installment of The Grandest Challenge Symposium features James Orbinski, author of An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-First Century. Following Dr. Orbinski's lecture he is joined in conversation by moderator Gillian Findlay.

Douglas Thomas, author of A New Culture of Learning, delivers a lecture on the intersections of technology, culture and education. This lecture is part of Learning 2030, TVO's special series on the future of education and was recorded on October 28, 2012.

In a lecture entitled "Fighting Poverty", Senator Hugh Segal explains why we need a new national approach to tackling poverty arguing that the costs and consequences of poverty are much larger than direct spending on social programs. Segal has been a long-time proponent of establishing a Guaranteed Annual Income. This lecture was produced in collaboration with the Literary Review of Canada.

National Post columnist, Andrew Coyne, presents a lecture entitled Post-Economic Politics in Canada. In Coyne's opinion, the state of the economy, contrary to popular belief, will not be the defining issue in our public policy debates. His lecture was produced in collaboration with the Literary Review of Canada and was delivered at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto on May 14th, 2012.

Tyler Cowen discusses his book The Great Stagnation: How America Ate All the Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History, Got Sick and Will (Eventually) Feel Better. Andrew Coyne (National Post) presents a rebuttal and the pair discuss Cowen's thesis focusing on issues of productivity, innovation and government policy (moderated by Wendy Dobson).

Julian Barbour, visiting professor at the University of Oxford and the author of "The End of Time", addresses the question, Does Time Exist? Barbour explores the history of scientific thought on the concept of time and presents his own interpretations of what time is.

University of Toronto Psychology Professor, Jordan Peterson, on Redemption and Psychology in Christianity. Dr. Peterson's lecture was the keynote address at the 2012 Meaning Conference held in Toronto.

Our third installment of The Grandest Challenge Symposium features Samantha Nutt, Founder and Executive Director of War Child. Also featured is Stephen Lewis, Chair of the Stephen Lewis Foundation and the author of Race Against Time. Both Lewis and Nutt address the challenges of humanitarian intervention in Africa.