SciShow
Why Does Lithium Help Bipolar Disorder?
There’s no doubt that lithium has a diverse list of uses. But the way that it interacts with our bodies to help treat bipolar disorder is aiding us in better understanding the disorder and potentially developing new drugs to combat it.
SciShow
Changing DNA in a Cell With No DNA: Gene Therapy for Blood Disorders
Lots of genetic diseases come down to a small change in a single gene, but how do you treat those diseases when the cells involved don’t have any DNA?
SciShow
7 Medicines That Come from Super Toxic Critters
Scorpion venom and insect poison sound really deadly, but scientists are increasingly turning them into medical treatments that save millions of lives. Chapters CAPTOPRIL 1:18 SOUTH AMERICAN PIT VIPER Credit: Renato Augusto Martins 1:33...
SciShow
Using One of the Deadliest Neurotoxins for Beauty... and Medicine?
Botox is a prescription drug best known for its cosmetic use, but its active ingredient is one of the deadliest biological substances known to mankind.
TED Talks
TED: A king cobra bite -- and a scientific discovery | Gowri Shankar
A king cobra has enough venom to kill 10 people in a single bite. Recounting his near-death experience after being bitten by one of these majestic yet deadly snakes, conservationist and TED Fellow Gowri Shankar shares the epiphany he had...
TED Talks
Megan Washington: Why I live in mortal dread of public speaking
Megan Washington is one of Australia's premier singer/songwriters. And, since childhood, she has had a stutter. In this bold and personal talk, she reveals how she copes with this speech impediment—from avoiding the letter combination...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How the COVID-19 vaccines were created so quickly | Kaitlyn Sadtler and Elizabeth Wayne
In the 20th century, most vaccines took over a decade to research, test, and produce. But the vaccines for COVID-19 were cleared for emergency use in less than 11 months. The secret behind this speed is a medical technology that's been...
SciShow
Placebos & Nocebos: How Your Brain Heals and Hurts You
You've probably heard how some drugs and treatments make people feel better, even when they turn out to be fake. That's the placebo effect, but how does it work? And could the same effect backfire, causing your brain to make you feel...
SciShow
How an Ancient Remedy Became a Modern Cure for Malaria
In the 1960s drug-resistant strains of malaria emerged, making the disease even deadlier than before. Then, pharmaceutical scientist Tu Youyou discovered a promising new remedy buried within the pages of ancient Chinese texts.
SciShow
How Gene Therapy Could Revolutionize Addiction Treatment
Cocaine addiction is difficult to treat, but with the help of gene therapy, scientists are hoping to change that
SciShow
Cyclopia: A Rare Birth Defect That Could Help Cure Cancer
With a greater understanding of biological mechanisms, humans may be able to take a devastating birth defect and turn it into a treatment for cancer.
SciShow
When You Have Cancer, But You're Fine Cancer Overdiagnosis
Studies suggest that if you made full-body scans part of your regular routine, you’d find a bunch of cancers over the years, but it wouldn't change your odds of having a life-threatening cancer. This is mostly because our definition of...
TED Talks
Fatima AlZahra'a Alatraktchi: To detect diseases earlier, let's speak bacteria's secret language
Bacteria "talk" to each other, sending chemical information to coordinate attacks. What if we could listen to what they were saying? Nanophysicist Fatima AlZahra'a Alatraktchi invented a tool to spy on bacterial chatter and translate...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What are stem cells? - Craig A. Kohn
Is personalized medicine for individual bodies in our future? Possibly -- with the use of stem cells, undifferentiated cells with the power to become any tissue in our bodies. Craig A. Kohn describes the role of these incredible,...
SciShow
Three Creative Ways to Eradicate Diseases
Smallpox is the first and only human disease we've totally wiped out. However, thanks to breakthroughs made while eradicating smallpox and a number of other creative solutions , we've come really close to making a few more diseases a...
TED-Ed
How does artificial intelligence learn? | Briana Brownell
Today, artificial intelligence helps doctors diagnose patients, pilots fly commercial aircraft, and city planners predict traffic. These AIs are often self-taught, working off a simple set of instructions to create a unique array of...
SciShow
6 Sleeper-Agent Pathogens That Can Make You Sick
Your body usually does a great job defending you from all kinds of viruses, fungi, and bacteria. However, there are some pathogens out there that can hide from your immune system and stay dormant in your body, waiting for their...
TED Talks
TED: Our treatment of HIV has advanced. Why hasn't the stigma changed? | Arik Hartmann
The treatment of HIV has significantly advanced over the past three decades -- why hasn't our perception of people with the disease advanced along with it? After being diagnosed with HIV, Arik Hartmann chose to live transparently, being...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The last living members of an extinct species | Jan Stejskal
In the savannahs of Kenya, two female northern white rhinos, Nájin and Fatu, munch contentedly on grass. They are the last two known northern white rhinos left on Earth. Their species is functionally extinct— without a male, they can't...
SciShow
Why Can't I Wear My Dog's Flea and Tick Collars?
It seems like the easiest way to avoid tiny parasites is to just slap on your animal’s tick or flea collar and hike into the woods worry-free. But you definitely shouldn’t.
Crash Course
Non-Human Animals: Crash Course Philosophy
Today we are taking all the things we have learned this year about doing philosophy and applying that to moral considerations regarding non-human animals. We’ll explore what philosophers like Peter Singer and Carl Cohen have to say about...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The Akune brothers: Siblings on opposite sides of war - Wendell Oshiro
There are many stories that can be told about World War II, from the tragic to the inspiring. But perhaps one of the most heart-rending experiences was that of the Akune family, divided by the war against each other, and against their...
TED Talks
Leila Pirhaji: The medical potential of AI and metabolites
Many diseases are driven by metabolites -- small molecules in your body like fat, glucose and cholesterol -- but we don't know exactly what they are or how they work. Biotech entrepreneur and TED Fellow Leila Pirhaji shares her plan to...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Debunking the myths of OCD - Natascha M. Santos
There's a common misconception that if you like to meticulously organize your things, keep your hands clean, or plan out your weekend to the last detail, you might be OCD. In fact, OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) is a serious...