Globally, we produce more than a trillion computer chips every year. Which means about 20 trillion transistors are built every second— and this process is done in fewer than 500 fabrication plants. How do we build so many tiny,...

For centuries, humans have reported animals freaking out during solar eclipses, like birds falling from the sky and bees hiding in their hives, but the animals most affected by eclipses might be us.

For some women, leaving the workforce to care for children or family is a choice. For others, it’s a necessity. But Neha Ruch, founder of Mother Untitled, doesn’t think a career pause means putting aside professional ambitions. Ali Rogin...

It's time for our periodic update of good news from Angus Hervey, founder of Fix the News, an independent publication that reports stories of global progress. In a quick talk, he shares three major updates of recent human progress on...

A technology to ignore birds on radar ended up being useful to study and conserve them.

During the 8th century CE, warfare and failing agriculture forced Maya people to move north, to hotter, drier Yucatán. Because of its freshwater access, Chichen Itza became the most powerful Maya city, with nearly 50,000 citizens at its...

Everybody pees and poops — and we know that urine and stool contain a rich source of information on our health, says data detective Newsha Ghaeli. Exploring the growing field of wastewater epidemiology, she shows how studying sewage can...

Almost everything we know about the reproductive practices of European eels comes from a genius study conducted more than 100 years ago.

We underestimate the power of our own generous actions, says Asha Curran, CEO of the global generosity movement GivingTuesday. Sharing stories of people making a difference through simple acts of kindness, she shows how generosity, even...

Paleontologists have spent the better part of two decades debating whether Coelophysis ate its own kind. It turns out, the evidence that scientists have had to study in order to answer that question includes some of the strangest and...

While sour taste's original purpose was to warn vertebrates of danger, in a few animal groups, including us, its role has reversed. The taste of danger became something it was dangerous for us to avoid.

Peter McIndoe isn't a fan of birds. In fact, he has a theory about them that might shock you. Listen along to this eye-opening talk as it takes a turn and makes a larger point about conspiracies, truth and belonging in divisive times.

If we're going to solve the climate crisis, we need to talk about supply chains, says biodiversity champion and 2023 Audacious Project grantee Nicole Rycroft. Her organization, Canopy, partners with key industry leaders to overhaul their...

While antibiotics have saved millions of lives, misusing them can speed up how fast bacteria evolve to resist them. And it turns out that one of the biggest hotspots for these antibiotic-resistant bacteria…is hospitals.

Nearly twenty years after the dot-com bubble burst, the internet is an essential piece of the modern world, with the public side mostly commanded by a few powerful companies.

Why is good news so rare? In a special broadcast from the TED stage, journalist Angus Hervey sheds light on some of the incredible progress humanity has made across environmental protection, public health and more in the last year,...

Pirate fishing, oil spills and other undetected crimes are destroying ocean ecosystems -- but we can't stop what we can't see. Harnessing the power of satellite data and AI to catch maritime offenders in the act, ocean conservation...

Is it possible that this century is the most important one in human history? The 21st century has already proven to be a period of rapid growth. We're on the cusp of developing new technologies that could entirely change the way people...

Right now, hundreds of thousands of people are "stuck" in the US criminal justice system. They've completed all of their requirements for release, but nobody knows it because the system is run on old databases that don't talk to each...

To restrain global warming, we know we need to drastically reduce pollution. The very next step after that: using both natural and technological solutions to trap as much excess carbon dioxide from the air as possible. Enter Orca, the...

Fred de Sam Lazaro reports from Kenya, where private capital is being used to help install toilets and sanitation facilities in the country's poorest areas.

In 2015, Gravity Payments CEO Dan Price announced he would raise the company's minimum wage to $70,000 a year by 2017 and slash his own compensation by more than 90 percent. More than a year later, Price reports the company's revenue and...

It's been said that money is the root of all evil. Does money make people more likely to lie, cheat and steal? Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports on new research from the University of California, Berkeley about how wealth and...

The Democratic Republic of Congo is a massive country, with a land area the size of Alaska and Texas combined. It’s also home to a large part of the Congo Basin rainforest, a habitat for countless species and a crucial absorber of...