Animals are communicating -- but what are they saying? And can we talk back? Marine biologist David Gruber introduces Project CETI: a team of scientists, linguists and AI specialists hoping to decode sperm whale language. Using...

Paul Andersen explains how living organisms exchange matter with the environment. The importance of the surface area to volume ratio is emphasized using a simple mathematical model. The essential chemicals for life; water, carbon,...

In 2009, researchers ran a simple experiment. They took everything we know about our solar system and calculated where every planet would be up to 5 billion years in the future. They ran over 2,000 simulations, and the astonishing...

What will become of humanity after spend a few hundred years on Mars? What will happen after a few thousand? Evolution has, and still is, shaping humanity in rather drastic ways. How long will humans stop being human and become Martian?

Earth’s magnetic field is special! And, in the last 20 years, we’ve made incredible discoveries, thanks to a squad of probes that have flown around our planet, observing solar wind as a team!

The pandemic forced the world to work together like never before and, with unprecedented speed, bore a new age of health and medical innovation. Physician-scientist Daniel Kraft explains how breakthroughs and advancements like...

According to some of the latest New Horizons data, Pluto's got flowing nitrogen ice and only half the atmosphere it had two years ago. Plus, the latest batch of exoplanets includes a world that's a lot like Earth... probably.

In this video Paul Andersen shows how increasing ocean temperatures causes coral polyps to release their symbiotic algae. This process of coral bleaching decreases the availability of energy for the coral and may eventually lead to coral...

Now that we’ve started talking about identity, today Hank tackles the question of personhood. Philosophers have tried to assess what constitutes personhood with a variety of different criteria, including genetic, cognitive, social,...

Is the Universe Entirely Mathematical feat. Max Tegmark

As a diver in the 1970s, marine ecologist Enric Sala saw once-lush oceanscapes reduced to underwater deserts -- but later, in marine preserves across the globe, he also witnessed the ocean's power to rejuvenate itself when left to its...

In 1990, an experiment conceived by Carl Sagan was performed using using the Galileo spacecraft. The purpose? To detect life on a planet based on measurements by a space probe. The experiment was successful, and abundant life was...

When there’s only one species on an evolutionary branch, we call it a monospecific taxon. Studying these special species can help us better understand not just those sparse groups, but all life on this planet.

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How do we find planets -- even habitable planets -- around other stars? By looking for tiny dimming as a planet passes in front of its sun, TED Fellow Lucianne Walkowicz and the Kepler mission have found some 1,200 potential new...

Imagine a distant future when humans reach beyond Earth, forge cities on planets thousands of light-years away, and maintain a galactic web of trade and transport. What would it take to make that leap? And where would we get enough...

The SETI Institute's Jill Tarter makes her TED Prize wish: to accelerate our search for cosmic company. Using a growing array of radio telescopes, she and her team listen for patterns that may be a sign of intelligence elsewhere in the...

In this video Paul Andersen explains how the Earth's climate will natural change due to interactions between the Sun and Earth, volcanism, and plate tectonics. Species may go extinct leading to adaptive radiation or may move to a...

Do other planets have weather? It turns out that, yes, they do! But, the weather isn't all the same on other planets because of things like atmosphere. In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina takes us on a tour of the weather on...

What do astronomers look for when they study exoplanets for signs of alien life? Hank explains how space telescopes are already yielding tantalizing clues of what other worlds might hold -- including water! -- and how the next generation...

Over the years, scientists have made a lot of predictions about how Earth's climate is changing, but they don't just pull those predictions from thin air.

The oceans absorb a lot of CO2, leading to a variety of effects like ocean acidification. But you might not expect one of those effects: stronger lightning strikes.

Under the sea, untold wonders await in the form of untapped medicinal potential. Chemist Sam Afoullouss dives into the science behind natural remedies, explaining why the ocean's great (and still largely unexplored) biodiversity is ideal...

Why do we see those stunning lights in the northern- and southernmost portions of the night sky? The Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis occur when high-energy particles are flung from the Sun's corona toward the Earth and mingle with...

Given the option, few would choose to buy products that harm the earth -- yet it's nearly impossible to know how most consumer goods are made or where they're sourced from. That's about to change, says supply chain innovator Markus Mutz....