TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Can you solve the basketball robot riddle? | Dan Katz
You’ve spent months creating a basketball-playing robot, the Dunk-O-Matic, and you’re excited to demonstrate its capabilities. Until you read an advertisement: “See the Dunk-O-Matic face human players and automatically adjust its skill...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Could AI predict the future? | Thomas Hofweber
A couple has been considering getting engaged, but they’re worried about divorce statistics. An AI-based model was just released that can predict your likelihood of divorce with 95% accuracy. The only catch is the model doesn’t offer any...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How do doctors determine what stage of cancer you have? | Hyunsoo Joshua No and Trudy Wu
Each year, approximately 20 million people receive a cancer diagnosis. At that time, a patient usually learns their cancer’s stage, which is typically a number ranging from one to four. While staging is designed, in part, to help...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Can you transplant a head to another body? | Max G. Levy
In 1970, neurosurgeon Robert White and his team carted two monkeys into an operating room to conduct an ambitious experiment. The objective was to connect the head of Monkey A to the body of Monkey B, in what he considered a whole-body...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Could we build a miniature sun on Earth? | George Zaidan
Stars have cores hot and dense enough to force atomic nuclei together, forming larger, heavier nuclei in a process known as fusion. In this process, the mass of the end products is slightly less than the mass of the initial atoms. But...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: These animals can hear everything | Jakob Christensen-Dalsgaard
The world is always abuzz with sounds, many of which human ears simply can’t hear. However, other species have extraordinary adaptations that grant them access to realms of sonic extremes. And some of them don’t even have ears— at least,...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The gory history of barber surgeons | Stephanie Honchell Smith
It’s a cold morning in 15th century France and you’re off to the barber for a shave and haircut. You hear the familiar sound of singing inside and eye a bowl of blood in the window. You grab a cup of ale and examine the array of teeth...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Sherlock Holmes and the case of the Red-Headed League | Alex Rosenthal
One day in the fall, you called upon your friend, Sherlock Holmes, and found him in conversation with Jabez Wilson. Wilson had been working for the mysterious League of Red-Headed Men. Today, he arrived at work to find the group had...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What really caused the Irish Potato Famine | Stephanie Honchell Smith
For over 200 years, potatoes thrived in Ireland; roughly half the country’s residents lived almost entirely on potatoes. But when harvesting began in 1845, farmers found their potatoes blackened and shriveled. While this failed harvest...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: 3 tips on how to study effectively | TED-Ed
A 2006 study took a class of surgical residents and split them into two groups. Each received the same study materials, but one group was told to use specific study methods. When tested a month later, this group performed significantly...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The diseases that changed humanity forever | Dan Kwartler
Since humanity’s earliest days, we’ve been plagued by countless disease-causing pathogens. Invisible and persistent, these microorganisms and the illnesses they incur have killed more humans than anything else in history. But which...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: This is what happens when you hit the gas | Shannon Odell
In 2015, two men drove a Volkswagen across the US on just over 100 gallons of fuel. Their 81-mile-per-gallon performance doubled the car's estimated fuel rating, and set the record for the lowest fuel consumption ride of a diesel car....
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Which is better for you: "Real" meat or "fake" meat? | Carolyn Beans
In 2021, a survey of over 1,000 Americans found that nearly two-thirds had eaten plant-based meat alternatives in the past year. Many cited potential health and environmental benefits as their motivation. But are these alternative meats...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Whoever builds something here will be rich beyond measure | Fabio Pacucci
Since the 1950s, governments, companies, and researchers have been planting flags among the stars. But while it might seem like there's plenty of room in space, some pieces of celestial real estate are more valuable than others. As far...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What's the smartest age? | Shannon Odell
Tomorrow is the annual Brain Clash — a decathlon of mental challenges, trivia competitions, and puzzles. Amir needs a smart and capable teammate and must choose between three people; all of different ages and talents. So, who should Amir...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Can you change your sleep schedule? | TED-Ed
An early bird rises with the sun, springing out of bed abuzz with energy. Meanwhile, a night owl groggily rises much later, not hitting their stride until late in the day. How many people are truly night owls or early birds? And are our...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What did people do before anesthesia? | Sally Frampton
The quest for anesthetics that could induce unconsciousness and enable more meticulous surgeries began around the early 3rd century CE. Before anesthesia was widely used, patients had to consciously endure every moment of surgery. So,...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Food expiration dates don't mean what you think | Carolyn Beans
Countries around the world waste huge amounts of food every year: roughly a fifth of food items in the US are tossed because consumers aren't sure how to interpret expiration labels. But most groceries are still perfectly safe to eat...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why do we have crooked teeth when our ancestors didn't? | G. Richard Scott
According to the fossil record, ancient humans usually had straight teeth, complete with wisdom teeth. In fact, the dental dilemmas that fuel the demand for braces and wisdom teeth extractions today appear to be recent developments. So,...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What caused the Rwandan Genocide? | Susanne Buckley-Zistel
For one hundred days in 1994, the African country of Rwanda suffered a horrific campaign of mass murder. Neighbor turned against neighbor as violence engulfed the region, resulting in the deaths of over one-tenth of the country's...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Seeing things that aren't there? It's pareidolia | Susan G. Wardle
Imagine opening a bag of chips, only to find Santa Claus looking back at you. Or turning a corner to see a building smiling at you. Humans see faces in all kinds of mundane objects, but these faces aren't real— they're illusions due to a...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The epidemics that almost happened | George Zaidan
In 2013, an Ebola outbreak began in Guinea. The country had no formal response system and the outbreak became the largest Ebola epidemic in recorded history. Guinea then completely overhauled their response system, and were able to...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What is a poop transplant, and how does it work? | Kathryn M. Stephenson and David L. Suskind
1,700 years ago, Chinese alchemist Ge Hong was renowned for his soup that could cure diarrhea-stricken patients. It had a surprising secret ingredient: feces. While it might seem unwise to consume feces, exciting new research suggests...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How to deal with rejection | TED-Ed
Rejection hurts. It's incredibly painful to feel like you're not wanted — and we do mean painful. Researchers found that we relate rejection to being "hurt," using terms like "crushed" or "broken-hearted." So, why does rejection trigger...