What's tasty, abundant and high in protein? Bugs! Although less common outside the tropics, entomophagy, the practice of eating bugs, was once extremely widespread throughout cultures. You may feel icky about munching on insects, but...

There was a medical incident on the ISS which required NASA to treat an astronaut from Earth. And astronomers have discovered what might be some of the universe’s earliest stars.

Regular old glass like the kind that makes up a mason jar can shatter and explode if put in the oven. But we do have types of glass that you can bake your pie or brownies in and it's all thanks to some neat chemical tricks.

Multidisciplinary artist and TED Fellow Paul Rucker is unstitching the legacy of systemic racism in the United States. A collector of artifacts connected to the history of slavery -- from branding irons and shackles to postcards...

What can you do to build a better world? Sharing stories from her pioneering career dedicated to tackling poverty, Jacqueline Novogratz offers three principles to spark and sustain a moral revolution. Learn how you can commit (or...

Plastics usually stop electricity in its tracks, but scientists have figured out a way to keep the electrons flowing.

There are currently hundreds of thousands of people on transplant lists, waiting for critical organs like kidneys, hearts and livers that could save their lives. Unfortunately, there aren't enough donor organs available to fill that...

It sounds like science fiction, but journalist Stephen Petranek considers it fact: within 20 years, humans will live on Mars. In this provocative talk, Petranek makes the case that humans will become a spacefaring species and describes...

What if everything in your life was randomized: from the food you ate to the things you did and the places you traveled? Computer scientist Max Hawkins created algorithms to make decisions like these for him -- and got hooked on the...

As benign as it may look up close, the tiny seaweed Caulerpa taxifolia can wreak quite a bit of havoc on coastal ecosystems. This super algae is very adaptable; it also grows fast and spreads easily. Eric Noel Munoz gives the details of...

About the importance of the National Parks Foundation.

For a seed to start growing, its embryo must emerge from its hard coat. In nature the embryo is aided by frost and animal digestion -- but humans can help too. Nicking, filing, and soaking the seed in hot water or acid are all forms of...

Perhaps you’ve punched out a paper doll or folded an origami swan? TED Fellow Manu Prakash and his team have created a microscope made of paper that's just as easy to fold and use. A sparkling demo that shows how this invention could...

Without water, a human can only survive for about 100 hours. But there's a creature so resilient that it can go without it for decades. This 1-millimeter animal can survive both the hottest and coldest environments on earth, and can even...

The Sun delivers more energy to Earth in one hour than all of humanity uses in an entire year. How can we make this power more accessible to everyone, everywhere? Solar designer Marjan van Aubel shows how she's turning everyday objects...

Our diets are more global than we realize, because our common food crops and animals were domesticated far away in diverse locations.

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The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states that you can never simultaneously know the exact position and the exact speed of an object. Why not? Because everything in the universe behaves like both a particle and a wave at the same time....