It began with just 10 electric scooters in Santa Monica, California, but soon sidewalks and streets were flooded with thousands of them. Essentially skateboards with handles that can be picked up and dropped off anywhere, they've been...

For decades, many cities in California have enacted bans against cruising, where people parade their custom-built low-rider cars on city streets. But recently there’s been a push to overturn those ordinances, which many argue have been...

If you've ever been stuck at a red light on a country road, you know it can be annoying. No other cars for miles, but you can't shake the feeling that if you run the light, one will appear out of nowhere and slam into you. Today we have...

Today, we're going to step away from video games and take a closer look at a game type that has been with us for over a millennium - card games. Since Tang Dynasty China, cards have proven to have quite the staying power spawning a...

The roadmap to ending pollution from transportation is here, says electrification advocate Monica Araya. In conversation with head of TED Chris Anderson, Araya introduces Drive Electric: a global campaign to retire the polluting internal...

* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. In an emotionally charged talk, MacArthur-winning activist Majora Carter details her fight for environmental...

In this video Paul Andersen explains how a spontaneous process may take either the thermodynamically controlled or the kinetic controlled pathway. If the activation energy determines the path taken then the process is under kinetic...

It's late, pitch dark and a self-driving car winds down a narrow country road. Suddenly, three hazards appear at the same time. With no human at the wheel, the car uses smart eyes, sensors that'll resolve these details all in a...

Researchers have noticed some trends in the relationship between academic performance and noise. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t sound good.

Wouldn't it be nice if our transportation was as sleek as in The Jetsons or Futurama? Flying cars are cool, but what about a giant network of human-sized tubes that run through buildings and across entire cities? Well guess what? The...

Educator and entrepreneur Sebastian Thrun wants us to use AI to free humanity of repetitive work and unleash our creativity. In an inspiring, informative conversation with TED Curator Chris Anderson, Thrun discusses the progress of deep...

From shipping routes to airplane traffic to even the Internet, transportation planning is all about designing optimal transportation networks to move goods, information, and people around the globe. Today, we're going to discuss...

When a very young child looks at a picture, she can identify simple elements: "cat," "book," "chair." Now, computers are getting smart enough to do that too. What's next? In a thrilling talk, computer vision expert Fei-Fei Li describes...

What would Immanuel Kant say about a fender bender? In a surprisingly funny trip through the teachings of some of history's great philosophers, TV writer and producer Michael Schur (from hit shows like "The Office" and "The Good Place")...

You’re cruising down the highway when all of a sudden endless rows of brake lights appear ahead. There’s no accident, no stoplight, no change in speed limit, or narrowing of the road. So why is there so much traffic? It's due to a...

In which Stan Muller subs for John Green and teaches you about energy and humanity. Today we discuss the ideas put forth by Alfred Crosby in his book, Children of the Sun. Historically, almost all of the energy that humans use has been...

How do we build a society without fossil fuels? using her native Costa Rica as an example of positive action on environmental protection and renewables, climate advocate Monica Araya outlines a bold vision for a world committed to clean...

Tesla's Autopilot system is the most advanced available right now, but it has limitations, and some of those limitations might be us.

Many of the world's biggest problems require asking questions of scientists -- but why should we believe what they say? Historian of science Naomi Oreskes thinks deeply about our relationship to belief and draws out three problems with...

The pandemic spurred an unprecedented reclamation of urban space, ushering in a seemingly bygone era of pedestrian pastimes, as cars were sidelined in favor of citizens. Highlighting examples from across the United States, environmental...

More than half of the world's population already lives in cities, and another 2.5 billion people are projected to move to urban areas by 2050. The way we build new cities will be at the heart of so much that matters, from climate change...

How can cities help save the future? Alex Steffen shows some cool neighborhood-based green projects that expand our access to things we want and need -- while reducing the time we spend in cars.

The most advanced robots in the world might not be exactly what you're expecting. But they're shaping humanity's future.

Mapping apps help us find the fastest route to where we’re going. But what if we’d rather wander? Researcher Daniele Quercia demos “happy maps” that take into account not only the route you want to take, but how you want to feel along...