TED-Ed
TED-ED: How your muscular system works - Emma Bryce
Each time you take a step, 200 muscles work in unison to lift your foot, propel it forward, and set it down. It's just one of the many thousands of tasks performed by the muscular system: this network of over 650 muscles covers the body...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Can 100% renewable energy power the world? - Federico Rosei and Renzo Rosei
Every year, the world uses 35 billion barrels of oil. This massive scale of fossil fuel dependence pollutes the earth, and it won't last forever. On the other hand, we have abundant sun, water and wind, which are all renewable energy...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why do our bodies age? - Monica Menesini
Human bodies aren't built for extreme aging: our capacity is set at about 90 years. But what does aging really mean, and how does it counteract the body's efforts to stay alive? Monica Menesini details the nine physiological traits that...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How do your hormones work? - Emma Bryce
Over our lifetimes, our bodies undergo a series of extraordinary metamorphoses: we grow, experience puberty, and many of us reproduce. Behind the scenes, the endocrine system works constantly to orchestrate these changes. Emma Bryce...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Will there be another pandemic in your lifetime? | TED-Ed
We tend to think of pandemics as unlikely events, but disease outbreaks are surprisingly common. Over the past 400 years, the longest stretch of time without a documented outbreak was just four years. So, what's the probability of...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Are food preservatives bad for you? - Eleanor Nelsen
Food doesn't last. In days, sometimes hours, bread goes moldy, apple slices turn brown, and bacteria multiply in mayonnaise. But you can find all of these foods out on the shelf at the grocery store " hopefully unspoiled -- thanks to...
TED Talks
Hans Rosling: The good news of the decade? We're winning the war against child mortality
Hans Rosling reframes 10 years of UN data with his spectacular visuals, lighting up an astonishing -- and under-reported -- piece of front-page good news: We're winning the war against child death. Along the way, he debunks one flawed...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The science of smog - Kim Preshoff
On July 26, 1943, Los Angeles was blanketed by a thick gas that stung people’s eyes and blocked out the Sun. Panicked residents believed their city had been attacked using chemical warfare. But the cloud wasn’t an act of war. It was...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How do glasses help us see? - Andrew Bastawrous and Clare Gilbert
Today, glasses help millions of people with poor vision be able to see clearly. But how? Andrew Bastawrous and Clare Gilbert help unravel the answer by explaining refraction - the ability of a transparent medium, like glass, water, or...
TED Talks
TED: What Americans agree on when it comes to health | Rebecca Onie
We may not be as deeply divided as we think -- at least when it comes to health, says Rebecca Onie. In a talk that cuts through the noise, Onie shares research that shows how, even across economic, political and racial divides, Americans...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: A brief history of alcohol - Rod Phillips
Nobody knows exactly when humans began to create fermented beverages. The earliest known evidence comes from 7,000 BCE in China, where residue in clay pots has revealed that people were making an alcoholic beverage from fermented rice,...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The surprising reasons animals play dead - Tierney Thys
From lemurs to lizards, ants to amphibians, sharks to chickens, hundreds of animals "play dead" as a survival tactic. But how and why do animals do this? Tierney Thys explains how this curious behavior, known as tonic immobility or TI...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What causes kidney stones? - Arash Shadman
The biggest kidney stone on record weighed more than a kilogram and was 17 centimeters in diameter. The patient didn't actually swallow a stone the size of a coconut; kidney stones form inside the body. So how do they grow in the first...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How does alcohol make you drunk?
Ethanol: this molecule, made of little more than a few carbon atoms, is responsible for drunkenness. Often simply referred to as alcohol, ethanol is the active ingredient in alcoholic beverages. So how exactly does it cause drunkenness,...
TED-Ed
Why bats don't get sick | Arinjay Banerjee
Consider a bat that is infected with several deadly viruses, including ones that cause rabies, SARS, and Ebola. While this diagnosis would be lethal for other mammals, the winged wonder is totally unfazed, and may even spend the next 30...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why is it so hard to cure cancer? - Kyuson Yun
We've harnessed electricity, sequenced the human genome, and eradicated smallpox. But after billions of dollars in research, we haven't found a solution for a disease that affects more than 14 million people and their families at any...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: When is a pandemic over?
Consider the following scenario: a highly infectious, sometimes deadly respiratory virus infects humans for the first time. It spreads rapidly worldwide, and the WHO declares a pandemic. The death toll starts to rise and everyone is...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How the food you eat affects your gut - Shilpa Ravella
The bacteria in our guts can break down food the body can't digest, produce important nutrients, regulate the immune system, and protect against harmful germs. And while we can't control all the factors that go into maintaining a healthy...
TED Talks
TED: How humanity doubled life expectancy in a century | Steven Johnson
Doubling human life expectancy in a century is our greatest achievement, says author Steven Johnson. How did we make it happen -- and can we keep it going? Backed by fascinating historical anecdotes, he shares some life-lengthening...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The life cycle of a t-shirt - Angel Chang
Consider the classic white t-shirt. Annually, we sell and buy 2 billion t-shirts globally, making it one of the most common garments in the world. But how and where is the average t-shirt made, and what's its environmental impact? Angel...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How blood pressure works - Wilfred Manzano
If you lined up all the blood vessels in your body, they'd be 60 thousand miles long. And every day, they carry the equivalent of over two thousand gallons of blood to the body's tissues. What effect does this pressure have on the walls...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Pedro Brugarolas: Why do hospitals have particle accelerators?
Is there a way to detect diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's before they advance too far? Doctors are using injected radioactive drugs that circulate through the body and act as a beacon for PET scanners. These diagnostic tools can...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How do you know if you have a virus? | Cella Wright
A new virus emerges and spreads like wildfire. In order to contain it, researchers must first collect data about who's been infected. Two main viral testing techniques are critical: one tells you if you have the virus and the other shows...
TED Talks
Ellen Agler: Parasitic worms hold back human progress. Here's how we can end them
Parasitic worms date back thousands of years, causing diseases that limit human potential. But today, effective treatment against them requires just a few pills, taken once or twice a year. With 1.7 billion people at risk of infection,...