TED-Ed
TED-ED: Why do people fear the wrong things? - Gerd Gigerenzer
A new drug reduces the risk of heart attacks by 40%. Shark attacks are up by a factor of two. Drinking a liter of soda per day doubles your chance of developing cancer. These are all examples of a common way risk is presented in news...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The myth of Arachne and Athena - Iseult Gillespie
From sailors who were turned into pigs, nymphs that sprouted into trees, and a gaze that converted the beholder to stone, Greek mythology brims with shape-shifters. The powerful Gods usually changed their own forms at will - but for...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The history of museums - J. V. Maranto
Museums have been a part of human history for over 2,000 years -- but they weren't always like the ones we visit today. J.V. Maranto uncovers the evolution of museums, from the first museum in 530 BC (curated by a princess) to PT...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Can you solve the control room riddle? - Dennis Shasha
As your country's top spy, you must infiltrate the headquarters of the evil syndicate, find the secret control panel, and deactivate their death ray. But your reconnaissance team is spotty, and you have only limited information about the...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: What "Orwellian" really means - Noah Tavlin
If you've watched the news or followed politics, chances are you've heard the term Orwellian thrown around in one context or another. But have you ever stopped to think about what it really means, or why it's used so often? Noah Tavlin...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How to manage your time more effectively (according to machines) - Brian Christian
Human beings and computers alike share the challenge of how to get as much done as possible in a limited time. Over the last fifty or so years, computer scientists have learned a lot of good strategies for managing time effectively - and...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How did clouds get their names? - Richard Hamblyn
The study of clouds has always been a daydreamer’s science, aptly founded by a thoughtful young man whose favorite activity was staring out of the window at the sky. Richard Hamblyn tells the history of Luke Howard, the man who...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How computers translate human language - Ioannis Papachimonas
Is a universal translator possible in real life? We already have many programs that claim to be able to take a word, sentence, or entire book in one language and translate it into almost any other. The reality, however, is a bit more...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: What makes something "Kafkaesque"? - Noah Tavlin
The term Kafkaesque has entered the vernacular to describe unnecessarily complicated and frustrating experiences, especially with bureaucracy. But does standing in a long line to fill out confusing paperwork really capture the richness...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Is there a reproducibility crisis in science? - Matt Anticole
Published scientific studies can motivate research, inspire products, and inform policy. However, recent studies that examined dozens of published pharmaceutical papers managed to replicate the results of less than 25% of them - and...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The paradox of value - Akshita Agarwal
Imagine you're on a game show and you can choose between two prizes: a diamond - or a bottle of water. It's an easy choice _ the diamonds are more valuable. But if given the same choice when you were dehydrated in the desert, after...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Can you solve the river crossing riddle? - Lisa Winer
As a wildfire rages through the grasslands, three lions and three wildebeest flee for their lives. To escape the inferno, they must cross over to the left bank of a crocodile-infested river. Can you help them figure out how to get across...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What's the fastest way to alphabetize your bookshelf? - Chand John
You work at the college library. You're in the middle of a quiet afternoon when suddenly, a shipment of 1,280 books arrives. The books are in a straight line, but they're all out of order, and the automatic sorting system is broken. How...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How high can you count on your fingers? (Spoiler: much higher than 10) - James Tanton
How high can you count on your fingers? It seems like a question with an obvious answer. After all, most of us have ten fingers -- or to be more precise, eight fingers and two thumbs. This gives us a total of ten digits on our two hands,...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Can you solve the prisoner hat riddle? - Alex Gendler
You and nine other individuals have been captured by super-intelligent alien overlords. The aliens think humans look quite tasty, but their civilization forbids eating highly logical and cooperative beings. Unfortunately, they're not...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: When to use apostrophes - Laura McClure
It's possessive. It's often followed by S's. And it's sometimes tricky when it comes to its usage. It's the apostrophe. Laura McClure gives a refresher on when to use apostrophes in writing.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How do hard drives work? - Kanawat Senanan
The modern hard drive is an object that can likely hold more information than your local library. But how does it store so much information in such a small space? Kanawat Senanan details the generations of engineers, material scientists,...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How statistics can be misleading - Mark Liddell
Statistics are persuasive. So much so that people, organizations, and whole countries base some of their most important decisions on organized data. But any set of statistics might have something lurking inside it that can turn the...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Can you solve the airplane riddle? - Judd A. Schorr
Professor Fukan_, the famous scientist, has embarked on a new challenge - piloting around the world in a plane of his own design. There's just one problem: there's not enough fuel to complete the journey. Luckily, there are two other...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Why do people get so anxious about math? - Orly Rubinsten
Have you ever sat down to take a math test and immediately felt your heart beat faster and your palms start to sweat? This is called math anxiety, and if it happens to you, you're not alone: Researchers think about 20 percent of the...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Can you solve "Einstein's Riddle"? - Dan Van der Vieren
Before he turned physics upside down, a young Albert Einstein supposedly showed off his genius by devising a complex riddle involving a stolen exotic fish and a long list of suspects. Can you resist tackling a brain teaser written by one...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Where do superstitions come from? - Stuart Vyse
Are you afraid of black cats? Would you open an umbrella indoors? How do you feel about the number 13? Whether or not you believe in them, you're probably familiar with a few of these superstitions. But where did they come from? Stuart...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How people rationalize fraud - Kelly Richmond Pope
If you ask people whether they think stealing is wrong, most of them would answer yes. And yet, in 2013, organizations all over the world lost an estimated total of $3.7 trillion to fraud. Kelly Richmond Pope explains how the fraud...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: A poetic experiment: Walt Whitman, interpreted by three animators - Justin Moore
Take a journey through Walt Whitman's poem 'A Noiseless Patient Spider' with the help of three animators who each used a different animation style to bring this beautiful poem to life.