TED Talks
TED: The secret to mastering life's biggest transitions | Bruce Feiler
How do you navigate life's growing number of transitions with meaning, purpose and skill? Writer Bruce Feiler offers a powerful way to handle uncertain, painful and confusing times -- or "lifequakes", as he calls them. Learn how to equip...
SciShow
Why the Pandemic Has Us Buying Roller Skates and Baking Bread
A lot of people have been pretty cooped up lately and it’s starting to bring out some strange desires in people. What context can psychology offer to help us understand what might be going on?
SciShow
3 Discoveries You Missed Because of COVID
There have been a lot of scientific discoveries around COVID, but other science stories did happen in 2020 — including amazing discoveries about everything from dinosaurs to parasites.
SciShow
Could the Plague Rise Again?
How likely is a 21st-century epidemic of the plague? Unlike other diseases, the plague is alive and well in some parts of the world, but scientists and doctors are continuing to develop better treatments.
TED Talks
TED: Can light stop the coronavirus? | David Brenner
Far-UVC light is a type of ultraviolet light that kills microbes and viruses and, crucially, seems to be safe to use around humans. Radiation scientist David Brenner describes how we could use this light to stop the spread of SARS-CoV-2,...
MinuteEarth
Four Reasons Our Brains Suck At Pandemics
Certain cognitive biases cause humans to make unsafe decisions in a pandemic, making a terrible disease even worse.
TED Talks
Laurie Garrett: Lessons from the 1918 flu
In 2007, as the world worried about a possible avian flu epidemic, Laurie Garrett, author of "The Coming Plague," gave this powerful talk to a small TED University audience. Her insights from past pandemics are suddenly more relevant...
TED Talks
Hadyn Parry: Re-engineering mosquitos to fight disease
In a single year, there are 200-300 million cases of malaria and 50-100 million cases of dengue fever worldwide. So: Why haven't we found a way to effectively kill mosquitos yet? Hadyn Parry presents a fascinating solution: genetically...
SciShow
We May Have a COVID Vaccine in 2021, But Not Without Taking Risks
Right now, experts say a vaccine for COVID-19 is a year or more away. But as far away as it sounds, it’s only within the realm of possibility because scientists are speeding up the vaccine development process in surprising ways.
SciShow
Why Can’t You Use E15 Gas in Summer?
A new strain of bird flu has been detected in North American birds for the first time in seven years. And U.S. President Biden is temporarily lifting the country's summertime ban on E15 gasoline.
TED Talks
David Heymann: What we do (and don't) know about the coronavirus
What happens if you get infected with the coronavirus? Who's most at risk? How can you protect yourself? Public health expert David Heymann, who led the global response to the SARS outbreak in 2003, shares the latest findings about...
SciShow
Why It's Good for COVID-19 Models to Be Wrong
As we react to the predictions that epidemiological models make, changing the ways we act and go about our lives, those estimates can appear totally off. But if a model’s predictions end up being wrong, that might mean it's done exactly...
SciShow
How to Make a COVID-19 Vaccine
One year to eighteen months might seem like a while to wait for a COVID-19 vaccine, but there's a good reason finding and approving a candidate takes a whole lot of time.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why plague doctors wore beaked masks | TED-Ed
The year is 1656. Your body is wracked by violent chills. Your head pounds and you're too weak to sit up. In your feverish state, you see a strange-looking man wearing a beak-like mask, his body covered from head to toe. Without seeing...
MinuteEarth
Where Will The Next Pandemic Come From?
The most likely cause of the next pandemic will be the “spillover” of a disease from one of a select group of animals with particular immune system traits and interactions with humans.
SciShow
We Know More About Those COVID-19 Variants. It's Not Great | SciShow News
Scientists have learned more about the UK and South American variant of the COVID-19 virus, and how they might be affected by vaccines. The news isn't good, but behind the scary headlines is important research that can help us be better...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: 3 ways to end a virus | TED-Ed
Viruses are wildly successful organisms. There are about 100 million times as many virus particles on Earth as there are stars in the observable universe. Even so, viruses can and do go extinct. So, what is the possibility of the virus...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How do governments create money out of thin air? | Jonathan Smith
In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic rocked economies worldwide. Millions of people lost their jobs, and many businesses struggled to survive or shut down. Governments responded with some of the largest economic relief packages in...
TED Talks
TED: Climate change is becoming a problem you can taste | Amanda Little
Our food systems have not been designed to adapt to major disruptions like climate change, says environmental journalist Amanda Little. In this eye-opening talk, she shows how the climate crisis could devastate our food supply -- and...
TED Talks
TED: How we'll fight the next deadly virus | Pardis Sabeti
When ebola broke out in March 2014, Pardis Sabeti and her team got to work sequencing the virus's genome, learning how it mutated and spread. Sabeti immediately released her research online, so virus trackers and scientists from around...
Crash Course
Europe in the Global Age: Crash Course European History
In which John looks at what it even means to live in a global age, as we've been talking about Europe's role in the gobal community for 47 episodes now. But, pedantry aside, the world is more connected than ever, and that has had effects...
TED Talks
TED: How great leaders take on uncertainty | Anjali Sud and Stephanie Mehta
In a constantly changing world, it's impossible for leaders to provide employees with the assurance they want, says Vimeo CEO Anjali Sud. Her solution: lead with humanity and flexibility. In conversation with veteran journalist Stephanie...
TED Talks
What COVID-19 revealed about US schools -- and 4 ways to rethink education | Nora Flanagan
The abrupt shift to online learning due to COVID-19 rocked the US education system, unearthing many of the inequities at its foundation. Educator Nora Flanagan says we can reframe this moment as an opportunity to fix what's long been...
SciShow
What Does an Asymptomatic COVID-19 Infection Look Like?
Some people who get sick with COVID-19 don't feel any symptoms of the disease, but what does an asymptomatic COVID-19 infection look like?