Just this week, a free five-week MOOC on arms control, the Threat of Nuclear Terrorism begins. It's taught by former secretary of defense William Perry, and his first MOOC was awesome, so I'd recommend checking it out. The deadline for the first assessment (an assignment where you write a mere paragraph) is Tuesday October 24, so at the time of writing, there's still plenty of time to join *and* get the certificate of accomplishment. But I'd recommend joining regardless, if you're interested in catastrophic risks.

Today, the danger of some sort of nuclear catastrophe is greater than it was during the Cold War, and most people are blissfully unaware of this danger.”

I wrote these words three years ago, and the danger has only increased. I believe strongly that we must educate ourselves on these dangers; that belief led me to create my first online course, “Living at the Nuclear Brink.” It had a very broad range, from physics to history to politics and diplomacy. I am following up that course with this new one, which is focused on one particular danger: nuclear terrorism. The course is shorter, lasting five weeks, and goes into much more detail on this one topic. Our faculty consists of internationally renowned experts, scientists, political activists and scholars; the one thing they share is a strong commitment to the urgency of educating people on this important topic. In some of the sessions, you will also hear students actively participating in the conversation.