Don't you think it would be nice if you had a photographic memory? But is it actually a thing?

When humanity first landed on the moon in 1969, the typeface Futura was right there with them. In this fascinating history of typography, designer Douglas Thomas shares Futura's role in launching the Apollo 11 spacecraft -- and how it...

In 1848, Phineas Gage survived a seemingly unsurvivable injury to his brain, but the tale of that event has become quite colorful, and inaccurate, in many cases. So, what REALLY happened to Phineas Gage?

In the 1960s, the USA almost put a ring around the Earth by launching hundreds of millions of tiny copper needles into space in an attempt to create a reliable boost for their communications systems.

In this video Paul Andersen explains how forests and rangelands are managed to provide renewable lumber and cattle. Threats to renewability of forests include old-growth logging, forest fires, and tree plantations. Threats to renewable...

Welcome to Crash Course Theater with Mike Rugnetta! In this, our inaugural week, we're going to ask the two classic questions about theater. 1.What is theater? And 2. Is it spelled -re or -er? Well, there's a clue to question two in the...

In which John introduces you to quite a lot of Chinese history by

discussing the complicated relationship between the Confucian sch
olars
who wrote Chinese history and the emperors (and empress) wh
o made it.
Included is...

Self-reflection could link to negative feelings, but it could also be helpful if you know how to avoid those pitfalls. So let’s learn how self-reflection works and get to know yourself in a healthy way!

We need to think beyond national borders to solve global problems, says activist Colombe Cahen-Salvador. Reimagining the world's fractured systems of governance and calling out their ineffective responses to major issues -- from the...

Paul Andersen describes the process of DNA fingerprinting and DNA profiling. He explains how variability in STRs can be used to identify individuals. He explains the importance of DNA fingerprinting in forensics and paternity cases.

How can Daenerys Targaryen help us understand personal identity? Find out as Hank continues our exploration of personal identity, learning about Hume’s bundle theory and Parfit’s theory of survival through psychological connectedness.

In which John Green finally gets around to talking about some women's history. In the 19th Century, the United States was changing rapidly, as we noted in the recent Market Revolution and Reform Movements episodes. Things were also in a...

Wael Ghonim is the Google executive who helped jumpstart Egypt's democratic revolution ... with a Facebook page memorializing a victim of the regime's violence. Speaking at TEDxCairo, he tells the inside story of the past two months,...

We all know that music tugs at our heartstrings. But the question of why music gives us the feels is a trickier one, and it’s something psychologists have been investigating for a long time.

If you read a poem and feel moved by it, but then find out it was actually written by a computer, would you feel differently about the experience? Would you think that the computer had expressed itself and been creative, or would you...

Mice, bugs and hamsters are no longer the only way to study the brain. Functional MRI (fMRI) allows scientists to map brain activity in living, breathing, decision-making human beings. Read Montague gives an overview of how this...

We need to save Jabril and John Green Bot’s movie nights. Jabril generally likes action movies and John Green Bot likes romantic movies, but they need to find something that they can both watch and enjoy together. Today, we’re going to...

I took a trip to one of Austin's famous moontowers so I could put the enormity of our solar system into perspective. With the help of a grapefruit, and a lot of walking, you'll get an idea of just how tiny everything is out there!!

Elon Musk thinks that we can make Mars habitable by nuking it. But would that really work?

Mr. Andersen explains the importance of physics as a science. History and virtual examples are used to give the discipline context.

Activist and author Gloria Steinem is an icon of the global feminist movement. She's spent her life defying stereotypes, breaking social barriers and fighting for equality. In conversation with TEDWomen curator Pat Mitchell, Steinem...

In this video Paul Andersen explains cause and effect its importance in science and engineering. He starts by addressing the chain of interactions that must be present to show cause and effect. He addresses the assumptions of...

Black history taught in US schools is often watered-down, riddled with inaccuracies and stripped of its context and rich, full-bodied historical figures. Equipped with the real story of Rosa Parks, professor David Ikard highlights how...

People have been grappling with the question of artificial creativity -- alongside the question of artificial intelligence -- for over 170 years. For instance, could we program machines to create high quality original music? And if we...