Along with Caltech physicist Mlodinow (The Drunkard's Walk), University of Cambridge cosmologist Hawking (A Brief History of Time) deftly mixes cutting-edge physics to answer three key questions-- Why is there something rather than nothing? Why do we exist? Why this particular set of laws and not some other?-- and explains that scientists are approaching what is called "M-theory," a collection of overlapping theories (including string theory) that...

Brian Greene, a leading string theorist, relates the scientific story behind the research on string theory, which reveals a vision of the universe with new dimensions hidden within the fabric of space, black holes transmuting into elementary particles, rips and punctures in the space-time continuum, gigantic universes interchangeable with minuscule ones.

Beginning with simple and clear explanations of major concepts of physics, including gravity, electromagnetism, and relativity, this DVD illuminates one of the most revolutionary theories in physics today. The string theory, or superstring theory, proposes that the fundamental ingredients of nature are inconceivably tiny strands of energy, whose different modes of vibration underlie everything that happens in the Universe.

Host Brian Greene, professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University and best-selling author, takes viewers on an exciting and in-depth exploration of a groundbreaking new theory: One of the most ambitious and exciting scientific theories ever posed, and one that may be the long-sought 'Theory of Everything.'

"This course aims to provide a non-technical and accessible description of the central foundational concepts and historical development of the topic in theoretical physics call superstring/M-theory. These lectures place this topic in the context of the more general development of mathematical and scientific thought that can be traced from the ancient realms of Egypt and Greece to medieval Iraq, Renaissance Europe, and the present."--p. 1 of course...