David Duchovny is known to audiences for his iconic roles in "Californication" and "The X-Files." He's now turning his attention to something more intimate: poems that wrestle with love, loss, memory and the passing of time. It’s a...

We tend to consider romantic partners and family ties to be our most important relationships, but deep friendships can be just as meaningful. In a perspective-shifting talk, author Rhaina Cohen introduces us to the people unsettling...

As a neurodivergent child going to school far from home, Misan Harriman found solace in the internet -- "an endless library of the extraordinary," as he calls it. In this powerful talk, he shares his journey as a self-taught photographer...

Hundreds of years ago, your ancestor stole a magical tarot deck from Fate herself— and it came with a terrible cost. Once every 23 years, one member of your family must face Fate in a duel with rules only known to your opponent. And...

Matt Resnik has helped changed the face of autism in his hometown. When he was diagnosed as a child, his parents poured their hearts into getting him therapy, even launching an organization, in hopes he would outgrow his challenges and...

Plenty of good things are done in the name of religion, and plenty of bad things too. But what is religion, exactly — is it good or bad, in and of itself? Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah offers a generous, surprising view.

The global refugee crisis is a mental health catastrophe, leaving millions in need of psychological support to overcome the traumas of dislocation and conflict. To undo the damage, child psychiatrist and TED Fellow Essam Daod has been...

Farting is hilarious and gross and everyone is doing it so why can't we talk about the science of it?! Flatulence, passing gas, cutting the cheese, toots.... whatever you call it, it's natural and here's how it works.

More than 2,000 years ago, the Greek philosopher Plato recounted the legend of the Ring of Gyges in "Republic." The story of the ring surfaces as the philosopher, Socrates, and his student discuss why people act justly: is it because...

Nothing is original, says Kirby Ferguson, creator of Everything is a Remix. From Bob Dylan to Steve Jobs, he says our most celebrated creators borrow, steal and transform.

Zombies have a distinct lineage— one that traces back to Equatorial and Central Africa. For three centuries, African people were enslaved and brought to the Caribbean Islands. There, a religion known as vodou developed, along with the...

If you are a living, breathing human being, chances are you have felt sad at least a few times in your life. But what exactly is melancholy, and what (if anything) should we do about it? Courtney Stephens details our still-evolving...

Our society is in the midst of a social crisis, says op-ed columnist and author David Brooks: we're trapped in a valley of isolation and fragmentation. How do we find our way out? Based on his travels across the United States -- and his...

It's time to take a look at a quieter, sweeter, and maybe happier film in this series. Sophia Coppola's "Lost in Translation" is a wonderful romantic comedy that doesn't play by the usual rules of its genre. In this episode, Michael...

In a lyrical, unexpectedly funny talk about heavy topics such as frayed relationships and the death of a loved one, elizabeth Lesser describes the healing process of putting aside pride and defensiveness to make way for soul-baring and...

In ancient Kyoto, a Shinto scholar found himself distracted from his prayers and sought to perform a purification ritual that would cleanse him. He decided to travel to the revered Hie Shrine; walking the path alone, ignoring any...

Take a journey through Walt Whitman's poem 'A Noiseless Patient Spider' with the help of three animators who each used a different animation style to bring this beautiful poem to life.

The underworld is overcrowded, and Zeus has ordered Hades to let some spirits out. Hades arranges all the souls of the dead in a line before Cerberus. When one of his three heads bites down on the soul in front of it, they'll get...

Every hear of 'Sol'? Sure you have! It's our Sun! It sits at the center of our 8 planet solar system, providing us with heat and light. But how does that energy get to us? In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina chats about the...

Theater had a slow start in Germany, mainly because Germany wasn't really a thing until *relatively* recent times. After Germany finally became a unified state, it had a couple of really important theatrical movements. Today we'll talk...

Before we dive into the big questions of philosophy, you need to know how to argue properly. We’ll start with an overview of philosophical reasoning and breakdown of how deductive arguments work (and sometimes don’t work).

In this video James Parsons reads James I's treatise on the divine right of kings, a fantastic window into the mindset that led to his son causing the English Civil War and losing his head.

Howcast - Ever think being reincarnated as an ant could be a step toward liberation? For most Hindus the highest goal is moksha, when you are released from the cycles of rebirth and achieve unity with God.

Howcast - Learn how to use the DJ software Serato in this Howcast DJ video with expert Rock and Soul DJ School.