Inventor Dean Kamen lays out his argument for the Segway and offers a peek into his next big ideas (portable energy and water purification for developing countries).

It's amazing what a rigged game of Monopoly can reveal. In this entertaining but sobering talk, social psychologist Paul Piff shares his research into how people behave when they feel wealthy. (Hint: badly.) But while the problem of...

Discover a process that truly demonstrates nature's grit: ecological succession! The Amoeba Sisters introduce both primary and secondary succession

Speaking at a TED Salon in London, Martin Jacques asks: How do we in the West make sense of China and its phenomenal rise? The author of "When China Rules the World," he examines why the West often puzzles over the growing power of the...

According to the UN, people living in urban places now outnumber those in rural areas — which is a pretty new phenomenon for many parts of the world. So today, we’re going to discuss factors that have led to this shift in populations...

Africa needs engineers, but its engineering students often end up working at auditing firms and banks. Why? Kamau Gachigi suspects it's because they don't have the spaces and materials needed to test their ideas and start businesses. To...

Every once in a while, all the oaks or spruces or other plants in a region suddenly produce a tremendous bounty of seeds – up to 100 times more than usual. But why do they do it, and how do they all manage to...

Paul Andersen explains the major classification terms in ecology and how a community can be measured by species composition and species diversity. The symbiosis of leaf cutter ants is included. The podcast ends with a discussion of...

Explore the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium equations with The Amoeba Sisters! Learn why this equation can be useful, its five assumptions, and how to calculate genotype and allele frequencies with p and q values! This video does assume the...

What would you do if your job was to save the planet? When Christiana Figueres was tapped by the uN to lead the Paris climate conference (COP 21) in December 2015, she reacted the way many people would: she thought it would be impossible...

Paul Andersen reviews the major within the first unit on natural selection. He starts by defining evolution and explaining how evolution can occur in a population. He reviews the population genetics and camouflage lab. He reviews...

Explore several ecological relationships with The Amoeba Sisters! Ecological relationships discussed include predation, competition, and symbiotic relationships (parasitism, mutualism, and commensalism). Table of Contents: Intro 00:00...

Hank introduces us to ecology - the study of the rules of engagement for all of us earthlings - which seeks to explain why the world looks and acts the way it does. The world is crammed with things, both animate and not, that have been...

How likely is a 21st-century epidemic of the plague? Unlike other diseases, the plague is alive and well in some parts of the world, but scientists and doctors are continuing to develop better treatments.

Lara Brenner talks about her research on how stressed cougars are and how the public views them. Then Jessi from Animal Wonders joins the show with Seraphina the red fox!

Once the powerhouse of America's industrial might, Detroit is more recently known in the popular imagination as a fabulous ruin, crumbling and bankrupt. But city planner Toni Griffin asks us to look again -- and to imagine an...

For most living things, scalding water is deadly. But it turns out there are some deep sea shrimp that do like a good boil.

Oxford philosopher and transhumanist Nick Bostrom examines the future of humankind and asks whether we might alter the fundamental nature of humanity to solve our most intrinsic problems.

Thailand's "Mr. Condom," Mechai Viravaidya, retells the country's bold plan to raise its standard of living, starting in the 1970s. First step: population control. And that means a lot of frank, funny -- and very effective -- talk about...

When a group of apes got split apart, slight differences in their new environments led to big differences in future generations.

Different dogs look incredibly different - but that doesn't mean they are necessarily more diverse.

Mathematician Kelsey Houston-Edwards explains exactly what singularities are and how they exist right under our noses.

Aliens - Are We Looking in the Wrong Place?

Like Egypt, Sumer, and Mesoamerica, ancient China represents a hydraulic civilization—one that maintained its population by diverting rivers to aid in irrigation—and one that developed writing thousands of years ago. Today, we’re going...