TED Talks
TED: The beauty of wildlife — and an artistic call to protect it | Isabella Kirkland
I think of my paintings as alarm clocks, says artist Isabella Kirkland. "They're reminders of what's at stake; the only problem is we keep pushing the snooze button." Investigating humanity's relationship to nature, she shares work that...
PBS
How Horses Went From Food To Friends
Do our modern horses descend from just one domesticated population, or did it happen many times, in many places? Answering these questions has been tricky, as we’ve needed to bring together evidence from art, archaeology, and ancient...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why is this black square famous? | Allison Leigh
In 1915, an exhibition of radical artworks opened in Russia. Many pieces pushed the boundaries of form and style, but one was particularly controversial: Kazimir Malevich's "Black Square." Criticized as simple and uninspired, Malevich's...
SciShow
How Math Can Help Decode Art
Even though math and art feel like polar opposites, it turns out computer algorithms and calculations can help us see masterpieces in a new light. From using wavelet decomposition to study Van Gogh to using convolutional filters in...
SciShow
How to See Inside Anything
You might think of x-rays as the go-to particle to see through solid objects. But there's a subatomic particle out there that can see through everything from volcanos to lead shielding in nuclear reactors. It's called a muon, and...
SciShow
The Quietest, Oldest, and Magnetic-iest Science of 2018
2018 was full of exciting discoveries and incredible advancements in the field of science. So today, we are taking a look back at 2018 to highlight three more great science news stories!
Crash Course
Crash Course European History Preview
John Green is teaching history again. This time, we're looking at the history of Europe in 50 episodes. We'll start at the tail end of the so called Middle Ages, and look at how Europe's place in the world has developed and changed in...
SciShow
Tracking Plant Genetics Through Art
Just like animals, plants evolve and change over time. And you might think we'd be looking for things like fossils to figure out how they've changed, but some scientists are using a far less traditional resource: art.
TED Talks
Denis Dutton: A Darwinian theory of beauty
TED collaborates with animator Andrew Park to illustrate Denis Dutton's provocative theory on beauty -- that art, music and other beautiful things, far from being simply "in the eye of the beholder," are a core part of human nature with...
SciShow
The Quietest, Oldest, and Magnetic-iest Science of 2018
2018 was full of exciting discoveries and incredible advancements in the field of science. So today, we are taking a look back at 2018 to highlight three more great science news stories!
Be Smart
How Atom Bombs Can Uncover Forged Art
It's been estimated that 1 in 10 works of fine art are forged or misattributed. The truth is, no one really knows how much fake art is out there, because many art counterfeiters are so skilled that their paintings are almost...
TED Talks
TED: Can art amend history? | Titus Kaphar
Artist Titus Kaphar makes paintings and sculptures that wrestle with the struggles of the past while speaking to the diversity and advances of the present. In an unforgettable live workshop, Kaphar takes a brush full of white paint to a...
SciShow
3 Ways Humans Have Literally Put Themselves Into Art
Artists are notorious for pouring their heart and soul into their work, but historically, they also put some of their literal body parts into it as well!
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The Artists | Think Like A Coder, Ep 5 | Alex Rosenthal
This is episode 5 of our animated series "Think Like A Coder." This 10-episode narrative follows a girl, Ethic, and her robot companion, Hedge, as they attempt to save the world. The two embark on a quest to collect three artifacts and...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Can you guess what's wrong with these paintings? | Noah Charney
Prior to the mid-20th century, art restorers took a heavy-handed approach, often drastically altering paintings in the name of "improving" art. Today, they focus on keeping the original work intact with minimal intervention, and must...
TED Talks
TED: Tales of passion | Isabel Allende
Author and activist Isabel Allende discusses women, creativity, the definition of feminism -- and, of course, passion -- in this talk.
TED Talks
Sarah Lewis: Embrace the near win
At her first museum job, art historian Sarah Lewis noticed something important about an artist she was studying: Not every artwork was a total masterpiece. She asks us to consider the role of the almost-failure, the near win, in our own...
TED Talks
Milton Glaser: Using design to make ideas new
From the TED archives: The legendary graphic designer Milton Glaser dives deep into a new painting inspired by Piero della Francesca. From here, he muses on what makes a convincing poster, by breaking down an idea and making it new.
TED Talks
Alexa Meade: Your body is my canvas
Alexa Meade takes an innovative approach to art. Not for her a life of sketching and stretching canvases. Instead, she selects a topic and then paints it--literally. She covers everything in a scene--people, chairs, food, you name it--in...
SciShow
How Scientists Protect the World's Most Famous Art
Conserving and restoring art can be pretty tricky. Thankfully, scientists have been learning how to restore artwork in some pretty cool ways that are effective, safe, and a little weird, to be honest.
TED Talks
TED: How loss helped one artist find beauty in imperfection | Alyssa Monks
Painter Alyssa Monks finds beauty and inspiration in the unknown, the unpredictable and even the awful. In a poetic, intimate talk, she describes the interaction of life, paint and canvas through her development as an artist, and as a...
TED Talks
Tracy Chevalier: Finding the story inside the painting
When Tracy Chevalier looks at paintings, she imagines the stories behind them: How did the painter meet his model? What would explain that look in her eye? Why is that man ... blushing? She shares three stories inspired by portraits,...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: What is abstract expressionism? - Sarah Rosenthal
If you visit a museum with a collection of modern and contemporary art, you're likely to see works that sometimes elicit the response, _My cat could make that, so how is it art?" But is it true? Could anyone create one of Jackson...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Dissecting Botticelli's Adoration of the Magi - James Earle
The scene of the three wise men offering gifts to a newborn Jesus was widely painted during the Renaissance era, so how did painter Sandro Botticelli create a version that's still well known today? James Earle describes who and what set...