  Advances in controlling and measuring systems of ultra-cold atoms provided
strong motivation to theoretical investigations of quantum dynamics in closed
many-body systems. Fundamental questions on quantum dynamics and statistical
mechanics are now within experimental reach: How is thermalization achieved in
a closed quantum system? How does quantum dynamics cross over to effective
classical physics? Can such a thermal or classical fate be evaded? In these
lectures, given at the Les Houches Summer School of Physics "Strongly
Interacting Quantum Systems Out of Equilibrium", I introduce the students to
the novel properties that make ultra-cold atomic systems a unique platform for
study of non equilibrium quantum dynamics. I review a selection of recent
experimental and theoretical work in which universal features and emergent
phenomena in quantum dynamics are highlighted.
