Traceurs, or parkour athletes, seem superhuman in their ability to scale up walls and drop down from rooftops without injury. But it turns out that there’s a fair amount of biomechanics at play behind these powers.

At the Harbour School in Hong Kong, TED Senior Fellow Cesar Harada teaches citizen science and invention to the next generation of environmentalists. He's moved his classroom into an industrial mega-space where imaginative kids work with...

Tuna are ocean athletes -- fast, far-ranging predators whose habits we're just beginning to understand. Marine biologist Barbara Block fits tuna with tracking tags (complete with transponders) that record unprecedented amounts of data...

In a forward-looking talk, author Bina Venkataraman answers a pivotal question of our time: How can we secure our future and do right by future generations? She parses the mistakes we make when imagining the future of our lives,...

Some people tout the health and productivity benefits of cold showers, but how much do they really do?

The term Gross Domestic Product is often talked about as if it were “handed down from god on tablets of stone.” But this concept was invented by an economist in the 1930s. We need a more effective measurement tool to match 21st century...

This video is chapter 5 in my series on special relativity, and it covers how things that are moving (that is, moving relative to an inertial reference frame) at different speeds appear to be shorter in length... and longer in...

Leaving a high-flying job in consulting, Angela Lee Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school. She quickly realized that IQ wasn't the only thing separating the successful students from those who...

Driving can be dangerous, especially if you’re trying to juggle a variety of distractions while barreling down a busy highway. So scientists are looking into ways to keep us focused on the task at hand, even if you’re traveling in an...

Backed by mathematical analysis, network theorist Albert-László Barabási explores the hidden mechanisms that drive success -- no matter your field -- and uncovers an intriguing connection between your age and your chance of making it big.

Your teeth contain traces of strontium isotopes that can reveal where you lived while they were forming.

Today Hank uses his patented prognosticating abilities to tell you about some space news events to watch out for in 2013.

What one thing is the Curiosity rover going to spend most of the year doing? Why are we going back to the...

Physicist Patricia Burchat sheds light on two basic ingredients of our universe: dark matter and dark energy. Comprising 96% of the universe between them, they can't be directly measured, but their influence is immense.

Most of the time, it’s not great when an expensive spacecraft slams into an extraterrestrial body. But now and then mission control intentionally crashes a spacecraft for science!

Ever wonder how Einstein proved E=mc2? This is how. Pi day (3.14) is Albert Einstein's Birthday! To celebrate, we'll explain 4 of his most groundbreaking papers from 1905, when he was just 26 years old

Sunscreen comes in different levels of SPF, or sun protection factor, but what does that mean for your skin and the ultraviolet radiation hitting it? Olivia explains the science of SPF.

In 2018, Scotland, Iceland and New Zealand established the network of Wellbeing Economy Governments to challenge the acceptance of GDP as the ultimate measure of a country's success. In this visionary talk, First Minister of Scotland...

Paul Andersen shows you how to use a sphygmomanometer to measure the systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The the describes the elements of the laboratory portion. The temperature is gradually lowered and the respiration rate of a...

For 28 years, Denise Herzing has spent five months each summer living with a pod of Atlantic spotted dolphins, following three generations of family relationships and behaviors. It's clear they are communicating with one another -- but...

How often does technology interrupt us from what we really mean to be doing? At work and at play, we spend a startling amount of time distracted by pings and pop-ups -- instead of helping us spend our time well, it often feels like our...

Lara Brenner talks about her research on how stressed cougars are and how the public views them. Then Jessi from Animal Wonders joins the show with Seraphina the red fox!

Different hospitals produce different results on different procedures. Only, patients don’t know that data, making choosing a surgeon a high-stakes guessing game. Stefan Larsson looks at what happens when doctors measure and share their...

The Juno spacecraft has been making close flybys of Jupiter and its measurements have revealed some new things about Jupiter’s interior. And astronomers were surprised after putting together the most complete atmospheric profile that’s...

Engineering, like life, could really use a lot more cheese. This week we are looking at a cheese factory in Toronto and what it can teach us about process control systems. We’ll explore feedforward and feedback systems, and see how...