TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What really happens to the plastic you throw away - Emma Bryce
We've all been told that we should recycle plastic bottles and containers. But what actually happens to the plastic if we just throw it away? Emma Bryce traces the life cycles of three different plastic bottles, shedding light on the...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How to grow a bone - Nina Tandon
Can you grow a human bone outside the human body? The answer may soon be yes. Nina Tandon explores the possibility by examining how bones naturally grow inside the body, and illuminating how scientists are hoping to replicate that...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How do animals see in the dark? - Anna Stockl
To human eyes, the world at night is a formless canvas of grey. Many nocturnal animals, on the other hand, experience a rich and varied world, bursting with details, shapes, and colors. What is it, then, that separates moths from men?...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: What happens during a stroke? - Vaibhav Goswami
Every two seconds, someone in the world has a stroke. One out of every six people will have a stroke at some point in their lives. Strokes deprive brain cells of oxygen and are one of the most common causes of death, and a leading cause...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How long will human impacts last? - David Biello
Imagine aliens land on Earth a million years from now. What will these curious searchers find of us? They will find what geologists, scientists, and other experts are increasingly calling the Anthropocene, or new age of mankind. David...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Are you a body with a mind or a mind with a body? - Maryam Alimardani
Our bodies _ the physical, biological parts of us - and our minds - the thinking, conscious aspects - have a complicated, tangled relationship. Which one primarily defines you or your self? Are you a body with a mind or a mind with a...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why do honeybees love hexagons? - Zack Patterson and Andy Peterson
Honeybees are some of nature's finest mathematicians. Not only can they calculate angles and comprehend the roundness of the earth, these smart insects build and live in one of the most mathematically efficient architectural designs...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How CRISPR lets you edit DNA - Andrea M. Henle
Explore the science of the groundbreaking technology for editing genes, called CRISPR- Cas9, and how the tool could be used to cure diseases. -- From the smallest single-celled organism to the largest creatures on Earth, every living...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How the heart actually pumps blood - Edmond Hui
For most of history, scientists weren't quite sure why our hearts were beating or even what purpose they served. Eventually, we realized that these thumping organs serve the vital task of pumping clean blood throughout the body. But how?...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The science of skin color - Angela Koine Flynn
When ultraviolet sunlight hits our skin, it affects each of us differently. Depending on skin color, it'll take only minutes of exposure to turn one person beetroot-pink, while another requires hours to experience the slightest change....
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why it's so hard to cure HIV/AIDS - Janet Iwasa
In 2008, something incredible happened: a man was cured of HIV. In over 70 million HIV cases, this was a first, and, so far, a last, and we don't yet understand exactly how he was cured. But if we can cure people of various diseases,...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What color is Tuesday? Exploring synesthesia - Richard E. Cytowic
How does one experience synesthesia -- the neurological trait that combines two or more senses? Synesthetes may taste the number 9 or attach a color to each day of the week. Richard E. Cytowic explains the fascinating world of entangled...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How does cancer spread through the body? - Ivan Seah Yu Jun
Cancer usually begins with one tumor in a specific area of the body. But if the tumor is not removed, cancer has the ability to spread to nearby organs as well as places far away from the origin, like the brain. How does cancer move to...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why wildfires are necessary - Jim Schulz
Our early ancestors relied on lightning to cause forest fires, from which they could collect coals and burning sticks to help them cook food and clear land. Yet, it wasn't just humans who benefited from these natural phenomena. Even as...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: When is water safe to drink? - Mia Nacamulli
Water is refreshing, hydrating, and invaluable to your survival. But clean water remains a precious and often scarce commodity - there are nearly 800 million people who still don't have regular access to it. Why is that? And how can you...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The science of skin - Emma Bryce
Between you and the rest of the world lies an interface that makes up 16% of your physical weight. This is your skin, the largest organ in your body: laid out flat, it would cover close to 1.7 square meters of ground. But besides keeping...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How menstruation works - Emma Bryce
At this moment, three hundred million women across the planet are experiencing the same thing: a period. The monthly menstrual cycle that gives rise to the period is a reality that most women on Earth will go through in their lives. But...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How to make a baby (in a lab) - Nassim Assefi and Brian A. Levine
Infertility affects 1 in 8 couples worldwide. But in the last 40 years, more than 5 million babies have been born using in vitro fertilization (IVF). How does it work? Nassim Assefi and Brian A. Levine detail the science behind making a...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The race to sequence the human genome - Tien Nguyen
In 1990, The Human Genome Project proposed to sequence the entire human genome over 15 years with $3 billion of public funds. Then, seven years before its scheduled completion, a private company called Celera announced that they could...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Why do we sweat? - John Murnan
There are a number of scenarios that can make us sweat_including exercise, eating spicy foods, and nervousness. But how does this substance suddenly materialize, and what exactly is its purpose? John Murnan explores the science behind...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Dead stuff: The secret ingredient in our food chain - John C. Moore
When you picture the lowest levels of the food chain, you might imagine herbivores happily munching on lush, living green plants. But this idyllic image leaves out a huge (and slightly less appetizing) source of nourishment: dead stuff....
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Where did Earth's water come from? - Zachary Metz
Water covers over 70% of the Earth, cycling from the oceans and rivers to the clouds and back again. It even makes up about 60% of our bodies. But in the rest of the solar system, liquid water is almost impossible to find. So how did our...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How does your body know you're full? - Hilary Coller
Hunger claws at your belly. It tugs at your intestines, which begin to writhe, aching to be fed. Being hungry generates a powerful and often unpleasant physical sensation that's almost impossible to ignore. After you've reacted by...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How your muscular system works - Emma Bryce
Each time you take a step, 200 muscles work in unison to lift your foot, propel it forward, and set it down. It's just one of the many thousands of tasks performed by the muscular system: this network of over 650 muscles covers the body...