TED-Ed
TED-ED: Music and math: The genius of Beethoven - Natalya St. Clair
How is it that Beethoven, who is celebrated as one of the most significant composers of all time, wrote many of his most beloved songs while going deaf? The answer lies in the math behind his music. Natalya St. Clair employs the...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed A brief history of graffiti - Kelly Wall - MENA
Spray-painted subway cars, tagged bridges, mural-covered walls -- graffiti pops up boldly throughout our cities. And it turns out: it's nothing new. Graffiti has been around for thousands of years. And across that span of time, it's...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The history of museums - J. V. Maranto
Museums have been a part of human history for over 2,000 years -- but they weren't always like the ones we visit today. J.V. Maranto uncovers the evolution of museums, from the first museum in 530 BC (curated by a princess) to PT...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: History's deadliest colors - J. V. Maranto
When radium was first discovered, its luminous green color inspired people to add it into beauty products and jewelry. It wasn't until much later that we realized that radium's harmful effects outweighed its visual benefits....
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Why Shakespeare loved iambic pentameter - David T. Freeman and Gregory Taylor
Shakespeare sometimes gets a bad rap in high schools for his complex plots and antiquated language. But a quick peek into the rhythm of his words reveals a poet deeply rooted in the way people spoke in his time - and still speak today....
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The evolution of the book - Julie Dreyfuss
What makes a book a book? Is it just anything that stores and communicates information? Or does it have to do with paper, binding, font, ink, its weight in your hands, the smell of the pages? To answer these questions, Julie Dreyfuss...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why is this painting so captivating? - James Earle and Christina Bozsik
On first glance, the painting Las Meninasc (The Maids of Honorc) might not seem terribly special, but it's actually one of the most analyzed pieces in the history of art. Why is this painting by Diego Velazquez so captivating? James...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How did Dracula become the world's most famous vampire? - Stanley Stepanic
Over a hundred years after his creator was laid to rest, Dracula lives on as the most famous vampire in history. But this Transylvanian noble _ neither the first fictional vampire, nor the most popular of his time _ may have remained...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Why should you read Tolstoy's "War and Peace"? - Brendan Pelsue
"War and Peace." A tome. A slog. The sort of book you shouldn't read in bed because if you fall asleep it could give you a concussion. Right? Only partly. "War and Peace" is a long book, sure, but it's also a thrilling examination of...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The world's most mysterious book - Stephen Bax
Deep inside Yale's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library lies a 240 page tome. Recently carbon dated to around 1420, its pages feature looping handwriting and hand drawn images seemingly stolen from a dream. It is called the Voynich...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: What makes something "Kafkaesque"? - Noah Tavlin
The term Kafkaesque has entered the vernacular to describe unnecessarily complicated and frustrating experiences, especially with bureaucracy. But does standing in a long line to fill out confusing paperwork really capture the richness...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Earworms: Those songs that get stuck in your head - Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis
Have you ever been waiting in line at the grocery store, innocently perusing the magazine rack, when a song pops into your head? Not the whole song, but a fragment of it that plays and replays until you find yourself unloading the...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: A brief history of goths - Dan Adams
What do fans of atmospheric post-punk music have in common with ancient barbarians? Not much ... so why are both known as _goths"? Is it a weird coincidence _ or is there a deeper connection stretching across the centuries? Dan Adams...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How brass instruments work - Al Cannon
What gives the trumpet its clarion ring and the tuba its gut shaking oompah-pah? And what makes the trombone so jazzy? Al Cannon shows how these answers lie not in the brass the instruments are made of, but in the journey that air takes...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The many meanings of Michelangelo's Statue of David - James Earle
We typically experience classic works of art in a museum, stripped of their original contexts, but that serene setting can belie a tumultuous history. Take Michelangelo's statue of David: devised as a religious symbol, adopted as a...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The complex geometry of Islamic design - Eric Broug
In Islamic culture, geometric design is everywhere: you can find it in mosques, madrasas, palaces, and private homes. And despite the remarkable complexity of these designs, they can be created with just a compass to draw circles and a...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The secrets of Mozart's "Magic Flute" - Joshua Borths
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Die Zauberflote" ("The Magic Flute") is widely regarded as one of the most influential operas in history. And while it may seem like a childish fairytale at first glance, it's actually full of subversive...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Group theory 101: How to play a Rubik's Cube like a piano - Michael Staff
Mathematics explains the workings of the universe, from particle physics to engineering and economics. Math is even closely related to music, and their common ground has something to do with a Rubik's Cube puzzle. Michael Staff explains...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The myth of Oisin and the land of eternal youth - Iseult Gillespie
In a typical hero's journey, the protagonist sets out on an adventure, undergoes great change and returns in triumph to their point of origin. But in the Irish genre of myth known as echtrai, the journey to the otherworld ends in a point...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: What is abstract expressionism? - Sarah Rosenthal
If you visit a museum with a collection of modern and contemporary art, you're likely to see works that sometimes elicit the response, _My cat could make that, so how is it art?" But is it true? Could anyone create one of Jackson...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: A brief history of chess - Alex Gendler
Trace the storied history of the game of chess, from its origins in 7th century India to the computer software we use today. -- The attacking infantry advances, their elephants already having broken the defensive line. The king tries to...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Why is Vermeer's "Girl with the Pearl Earring" considered a masterpiece? - James Earle
Is she turning towards you or away from you? No one can agree. She's the subject of Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer's "Girl with the Pearl Earring," a painting often referred to as the 'Mona Lisa of the North.' But what makes this painting...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The physics of the "hardest move" in ballet - Arleen Sugano
In the third act of "Swan Lake", the Black Swan pulls off a seemingly endless series of turns, bobbing up and down on one pointed foot and spinning around and around and around thirty-two times. How is this move - which is called a...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Eye vs. camera - Michael Mauser
Your eyes don’t always capture the world exactly as a video camera would. But the eyes are remarkably efficient organs, the result of hundreds of millions of years of coevolution with our brains. Michael Mauser outlines the similarities...