Can a cat be both alive and dead? Can a computer think? How does a tortoise beat Achilles in a race? Voiced by comedian David Mitchell, these fast-paced animations explain six famous thought experiments, from the ancient Greeks to Albert Einstein, that have changed the way we see the world. Subjects as vast as time travel, infinity, quantum mechanics and artificial intelligence, are squeezed into 60-second clips that will tickle your funny bone and blow your mind.

Everything we wear, every product we use, every building we see is a design defined by a certain shape. The Design with Vision project illustrates how eye tracking technology can be combined with shape generation software to create a radically new type of computer aided design. As you sketch ideas for product shape the system detects what you are looking at and offers you a range of on-screen alternative shapes. This is computing that works with your own creativity rather than replacing it – this research, a collaboration between the OU and the University of Leeds is aimed at stimulating and generating ideas for designers, the result could have a global effect on the industries of the future.

Get ready for life in the digital age with this free course, Preparing for your digital life in the 21st Century, which explores how technology shapes our world. Learn what it means to live a ‘digital life’, understand the role of information and communication technologies, and discover how computers work behind the scenes.

Did you know that by surfing the internet you can lose your privacy, your money and even your identity? Computer viruses and Trojans often arise during the investigation of computer-based crime, such as the downloading of child pornography. But what if you are innocent? Often Trojans are cited as the cause in what’s become known in legal circles as "The Trojan Defence". Ian Kennedy whose OU research forms the basis for this programme uncovers some of the artefacts examined and techniques to support or refute claims of innocence. Somehow losing your privacy doesn't seem so bad at all.

2009 is the 40th anniversary of the first computer network - the precursor of the internet - and the 20th anniversary of the brilliant idea that led to the creation of the world wide web. What exactly is the internet, and how does it differ from the world wide web? Who were its pioneers, and what technological surprises has it sprung? This album opens with a specially recorded interview with John Naughton, Professor of the Public Understanding of Technology at The Open University and author of 'A brief history of the future - the origins of the internet'. He explores some of the key moments in the short but spectacular history of an extraordinary phenomenon, the people who made them happen, and some of the problems that have emerged. The album also features archive interviews with Tim Berners-Lee, Vint Cerf, Donald Davies and other pioneers of the internet age, recorded in the late 1990s. The album is completed by a newly recorded interview with Rodney Harrison, lecturer in Heritage Studies at The Open University, in which he talks about his research into Second Life: Cyber-Archaeologies, Heritage and Virtual Communities. The interviews are presented by radio journalist Penny Boreham.