TED Talks
Jonathan Haidt: Religion, evolution, and the ecstasy of self-transcendence
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt asks a simple, but difficult question: why do we search for self-transcendence? Why do we attempt to lose ourselves? In a tour through the science of evolution by group selection, he proposes a provocative...
TED Talks
TED: Why we make bad decisions | Dan Gilbert
Dan Gilbert presents research and data from his exploration of happiness -- sharing some surprising tests and experiments that you can also try on yourself. Watch through to the end for a sparkling Q&A with some familiar TED faces.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The secret messages of Viking runestones | Jesse Byock
With their navigational skills and advanced longships, the Vikings sustained their seafaring for over 300 years. But for all their might, they left few monuments. Instead, fragments of stone, bark and bone found in the sites of ancient...
TED Talks
Alice Dreger: Is anatomy destiny?
Alice Dreger works with people at the edge of anatomy, such as conjoined twins and intersexed people. In her observation, it's often a fuzzy line between male and female, among other anatomical distinctions. Which brings up a huge...
TED Talks
Kate Hartman: The art of wearable communication
Artist Kate Hartman uses wearable electronics to explore how we communicate, with ourselves and with the world. In this quirky and thought-provoking talk, she shows the "Talk to Yourself Hat", the "Inflatable Heart", the "Glacier...
TED Talks
Sebastian Deterding: What your designs say about you
What does your chair say about what you value? Designer Sebastian Deterding shows how our visions of morality and "the good life" are reflected in the design of objects around us.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The forgotten queen of Egypt | Abdallah Ewis
The year is 1249 CE. King Louis IX is sailing the Nile, threatening to overthrow the sultan and capture Egypt. Egypt's commanders ask the sultan's wife, Shajar Al-Durr, to report this news to the injured sultan. But they don't know the...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The imaginary king who changed the real world
In 1165, copies of a strange letter began to circulate throughout Europe. It spoke of a fantastical realm, containing the Tower of Babel and the Fountain of Youth— all ruled over by the letter’s mysterious author: Prester John. Who was...
TED Talks
Chiki Sarkar: How India's smartphone revolution is creating a new generation of readers and writers
India has the second largest population of any country in the world -- yet it has only 50 decent bookstores, says publisher Chiki Sarkar. So she asked herself: How do we get more people reading books? Find out how Sarkar is tapping into...
TED Talks
Maurizio Seracini: The secret lives of paintings
Art history is far from set in stone. Engineer Maurizio Seracini spent 30 years searching for Leonardo da Vinci's lost fresco "The Battle of Anghiari," and in the process discovered that many paintings have layers of history hidden...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: A day in the life of a teenage samurai | Constantine N. Vaporis
The year is 1800 in the castle town of Kôchi, Japan. It's just after sunrise, and 16-year-old Mori Banshirô is already hard at work practicing drills with his long sword. He is an ambitious samurai in training, and today he must impress...
TED Talks
TED: This country isn't just carbon neutral -- it's carbon negative | Tshering Tobgay
Deep in the Himalayas, on the border between China and India, lies the Kingdom of Bhutan, which has pledged to remain carbon neutral for all time. In this illuminating talk, Bhutan's Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay shares his country's...
TED Talks
Brandon Clifford: Architectural secrets of the world's ancient wonders
How did ancient civilizations move massive stones to build Stonehenge, the Pyramids and the Easter Island statues? In this quick, delightful talk, TED Fellow Brandon Clifford reveals some architectural secrets of the past and shows how...
TED Talks
T. Morgan Dixon and Vanessa Garrison: The most powerful woman you've never heard of
Everyone's heard of Martin Luther King Jr. But do you know the woman Dr. King called "the architect of the civil rights movement," Septima Clark? The teacher of some of the generation's most legendary activists -- like Rosa Parks, Diane...
TED Talks
Sal Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education
Salman Khan talks about how and why he created the remarkable Khan Academy, a carefully structured series of educational videos offering complete curricula in math and, now, other subjects. He shows the power of interactive exercises,...
TED Talks
Stephen Burt: Why people need poetry
"We're all going to die -- and poems can help us live with that." In a charming and funny talk, literary critic Stephen Burt takes us on a lyrical journey with some of his favorite poets, all the way down to a line break and back up to...
SciShow
How Tattoos Really Work... At Least in Mice
People have been getting tattoos for thousands of years, but we've never quite been sure why the ink sticks around under our skin. A group of researchers now think they might have the answer. Plus, scientists are on the road to making...
TED Talks
My wish: A global day of film - Jehane Noujaim
The first step to world peace is for people to meet each other. We can't all travel the world at the same time, but we can meet each other in other ways. In this talk, Jehane Noujaim unveils her 2006 TED Prize wish: to bring the world...
TED Talks
Nic Marks: The Happy Planet Index
Statistician Nic Marks asks why we measure a nation's success by its productivity -- instead of by the happiness and well-being of its people. He introduces the Happy Planet Index, which tracks national well-being against resource use...
TED Talks
Rebecca MacKinnon: Let's take back the Internet!
In this powerful talk from TEDGlobal, Rebecca MacKinnon describes the expanding struggle for freedom and control in cyberspace, and asks: How do we design the next phase of the Internet with accountability and freedom at its core, rather...
TED Talks
Aaron Huey: America's native prisoners of war
Aaron Huey's effort to photograph poverty in America led him to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where the struggle of the native Lakota people -- appalling, and largely ignored -- compelled him to refocus. Five years of work later,...
TED Talks
Joshua Foer: Feats of memory anyone can do
There are people who can quickly memorize lists of thousands of numbers, the order of all the cards in a deck (or ten!), and much more. Science writer Joshua Foer describes the technique -- called the memory palace -- and shows off its...
TED Talks
TED: How to connect while apart | Eric Yuan
People everywhere are using Zoom to work, take classes, do yoga -- and even get married. The company's CEO and founder Eric Yuan reflects on how they developed the world's most popular video chat software and envisions a digital future...
TED Talks
George Monbiot: The new political story that could change everything
To get out of the mess we're in, we need a new story that explains the present and guides the future, says author George Monbiot. Drawing on findings from psychology, neuroscience and evolutionary biology, he offers a new vision for...