At Stanford Social Neuroscience Laboratory, scientists have spent years studying kindness, connection and empathy. But those can all seem in short supply at a time of deep divisions. But the head of that lab offers a data-driven reason...

The conflict in the Middle East has been a fraught subject for decades, including in the U.S., and especially within American Jewish and Muslim communities. And for almost as long, interfaith groups have sought to bring those communities...

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the world's largest private philanthropic organization, with an endowment of $50 billion. Melinda Gates plays a huge role in shaping its work, and her new book, The Moment of Lift: How Empowering...

Nearly 10 years after the 9/11 attacks and with the American military involved in multiple Muslim nations, a Gallup survey showed strong positive feelings among Muslim-Americans about their prospects in this country. Ray Suarez discusses...

Mohamed Bzeek has become somewhat of a local hero in Los Angeles, taking on a life mission that few others would consider: as a foster parent who cares solely for terminally ill children. Special correspondent Gayle Tzemach Lemmon meets...

Why do people have faith in what they cannot see? Author Elaine Pagels explores the concept of religious belief, and shares her own experience with finding faith in the face of tragedy, in her new book, "Why Religion?" Jeffrey Brown...

When Joshua Weil, a member of one of Orlando's largest mosques, heard initial reports of Sunday's mass shooting, he thought, "please don't let [the gunman] be Muslim." But the gunman was, and for Muslim-Americans the attack has raised...

Book: Living Faith

Today we conclude our unit on Philosophy of Religion and Hank gets a little help from Indiana Jones to explain religious pragmatism and Pascal’s Wager, fideism, and Kierkegaard’s leap to faith.

Plenty of good things are done in the name of religion, and plenty of bad things too. But what is religion, exactly — is it good or bad, in and of itself? Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah offers a generous, surprising view.

Strong faith is a core part of Alaa Murabit's identity -- but when she moved from Canada to Libya as a young woman, she was surprised how the tenets of Islam were used to severely limit women's rights, independence and ability to lead....

Welcome back to SciShow Quiz Show! Katelyn Salem of Kate Tectonics competes against Googleable internet sensation, Hank Green.

Greece has been the poster child for European economic crisis, but former Prime Minister George Papandreou wonders if it's just a preview of what's to come. “Our democracies," he says, "are trapped by systems that are too big to fail, or...

Within each of us are two selves, suggests David Brooks in this meditative short talk: the self who craves success, who builds a r_sum_, and the self who seeks connection, community, love -- the values that make for a great eulogy....

What does it take to build a legacy? Hip-hop artist Cordae tells how he went from mixtape-dropping high school kid to Grammy-nominated music star whose "Hi Level" mindset helps him achieve his dreams.

The term "compassion" -- typically reserved for the saintly or the sappy -- has fallen out of touch with reality. At a special TEDPrize@UN, journalist Krista Tippett deconstructs the meaning of compassion through several moving stories,...

People want to be religious, says scholar Karen Armstrong; we should help make religion a force for harmony. She asks the TED community to help build a Charter for Compassion -- to restore the Golden Rule as the central global religious...

Michael Shermer says the human tendency to believe strange things -- from alien abductions to dowsing rods -- boils down to two of the brain's most basic, hard-wired survival skills. He explains what they are, and how they get us into...

Paula Stone Williams knew from a young age that she was transgender. But as she became a parent and prominent evangelical pastor, she feared that coming out would mean losing everything. In this moving, deeply personal talk, Paula and...

What exactly is civility, and what does it require? In a talk packed with historical insights, political theorist Teresa Bejan explains how civility has been used as both the foundation of tolerant societies and as a way for political...

Join Rev. James Forbes at the dinner table of his Southern childhood, where his mother and father taught him what compassion really means day to day -- sharing with those who need love.

* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. An architect of the "Boston miracle," Rev. Jeffrey Brown started out as a bewildered young pastor watching his...

When you look at Muslim scholar Dalia Mogahed, what do you see: A woman of faith? A scholar, a mom, a sister? Or an oppressed, brainwashed, potential terrorist? In this personal, powerful talk, Mogahed asks us, in this polarizing time,...

Kevin Breel didn't look like a depressed kid: team captain, at every party, funny and confident. But he tells the story of the night he realized that -- to save his own life -- he needed to say four simple words.