Crash Course
Things Fall Apart, Part 2: Crash Course Literature 209
In which John Green concludes teaching you about Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. You'll learn about the historical contexts of Things Fall Apart, including 19th century colonization and 20th century decolonization. We're going to...
TED Talks
T. Morgan Dixon and Vanessa Garrison: The most powerful woman you've never heard of
Everyone's heard of Martin Luther King Jr. But do you know the woman Dr. King called "the architect of the civil rights movement," Septima Clark? The teacher of some of the generation's most legendary activists -- like Rosa Parks, Diane...
TED Talks
Rob Knight: How our microbes make us who we are
Rob Knight is a pioneer in studying human microbes, the community of tiny single-cell organisms living inside our bodies that have a huge — and largely unexplored — role in our health. “The three pounds of microbes that you carry around...
TED Talks
TED: Living sculptures that stand for history's truths | Sethembile Msezane
In the century-old statues that occupy Cape Town, Sethembile Mzesane didn't see anything that looked like her own reality. So she became a living sculpture herself, standing for hours on end in public spaces dressed in symbolic costumes,...
TED Talks
TED: When Black women walk, things change | T. Morgan Dixon and Vanessa Garrison
T. Morgan Dixon and Vanessa Garrison, founders of the health nonprofit GirlTrek, are on a mission to reduce the leading causes of preventable death among Black women -- and build communities in the process. How? By getting one million...
SciShow
The Cost of Saving a Drowning Town
This week, a group of scientists estimated the cost of saving just one small village in America’s Chesapeake Bay from rising sea levels, and another found evidence that Smilodon (aka the saber-toothed cat) actually helped take care of...
TED Talks
George Monbiot: The new political story that could change everything
To get out of the mess we're in, we need a new story that explains the present and guides the future, says author George Monbiot. Drawing on findings from psychology, neuroscience and evolutionary biology, he offers a new vision for...
SciShow
Why Dancing Is So Helpful for Parkinson's
For millions of people with Parkinson’s disease, movement becomes much harder. But researchers have found that dance therapy may help them both physically and mentally.
TED Talks
TED: When workers own companies, the economy is more resilient | Niki Okuk
Another economic reality is possible -- one that values community, sustainability and resiliency instead of profit by any means necessary. Niki Okuk shares her case for cooperative economics and a vision for how working-class people can...
TED Talks
Brittany Packnett: How to build your confidence -- and spark it in others
"Confidence is the necessary spark before everything that follows," says educator and activist Brittany Packnett. In an inspiring talk, she shares three ways to crack the code of confidence -- and her dream for a world where...
TED Talks
Mitch Resnick: Let's teach kids to code
Coding isn't just for computer whizzes, says Mitch Resnick of MIT Media Lab -- it's for everyone. In a fun, demo-filled talk Resnick outlines the benefits of teaching kids to code, so they can do more than just use new tech toys but also...
TED Talks
TED: How to stop the metaverse from becoming the internet's bad sequel | Micaela Mantegna
The metaverse is already on fire, and we haven't even built it yet, says TED Fellow and video game lawyer Micaela Mantegna. She lays out why the metaverse is at risk of inheriting some of the internet's worst traits, like unchecked...
TED Talks
Amanda Schochet: How bumble bees inspired a network of tiny museums
Sometimes, small things make a huge impact. After studying how bees in urban environments can survive by navigating small land patches, ecologist Amanda Schochet was inspired to build MICRO, a network of portable science museums the size...
TED Talks
Jay Bradner: Open-source cancer research
How does cancer know it's cancer? At Jay Bradner's lab, they found a molecule that might hold the answer, JQ1. But instead of patenting it and reaping the profits (as many other labs have done) -- they published their findings and mailed...
TED Talks
TED: How Airbnb designs for trust | Joe Gebbia
Joe Gebbia, the co-founder of Airbnb, bet his whole company on the belief that people can trust each other enough to stay in one another's homes. How did he overcome the stranger-danger bias? Through good design. Now, 123 million hosted...
TED Talks
TED: The giant leaps in language technology -- and who's left behind | Kalika Bali
Thousands of languages thrive across the globe, yet modern speech technology -- with all of its benefits -- supports just over a hundred. Computational linguist Kalika Bali dreams of a day when technology acts as a bridge instead of a...
PBS
The Bronies Phenomenon
You might assume that the animated TV series "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic" is for little girls, but Bronies - adult men who sincerely LOVE the show, and aren't afraid to admit it - would differ. Many people are baffled, even...
TED Talks
Ellen Jorgensen: Biohacking -- you can do it, too
We have personal computing -- why not personal biotech? That's the question biologist Ellen Jorgensen and her colleagues asked themselves before opening Genspace, a nonprofit DIY bio lab in Brooklyn devoted to citizen science, where...
TED Talks
TED: How to lead in the new era of employee activism | Megan Reitz
What does it mean to lead in this new age of employee activism? Megan Reitz offers a four-point crash course on what employees want from their organizations and how leaders can rise to the challenge of building proactive and productive...
TED Talks
Sydney Jensen: How can we support the emotional well-being of teachers?
Teachers emotionally support our kids -- but who's supporting our teachers? In this eye-opening talk, educator Sydney Jensen explores how teachers are at risk of "secondary trauma" -- the idea that they absorb the emotional weight of...
TED Talks
TED: Bridges should be beautiful | Ian Firth
Bridges need to be functional, safe and durable, but they should also be elegant and beautiful, says structural engineer Ian Firth. In this mesmerizing tour of bridges old and new, Firth explores the potential for innovation and variety...
TED Talks
TED: How teachers can help kids find their political voices | Sydney Chaffee
Social justice belongs in our schools, says educator Sydney Chaffee. In a bold talk, she shows how teaching students to engage in activism helps them build important academic and life skills -- and asks us to rethink how we can use...
TED Talks
Charles Hazlewood: Trusting the ensemble
Conductor Charles Hazlewood talks about the role of trust in musical leadership -- then shows how it works, as he conducts the Scottish Ensemble onstage. He also shares clips from two musical projects: the opera "U-Carmen eKhayelitsha"...
TED Talks
TED: How to fix a broken education system ... without any more money | Seema Bansal
Seema Bansal forged a path to public education reform for 15,000 schools in Haryana, India, by setting an ambitious goal: by 2020, 80 percent of children should have grade-level knowledge. She's looking to meet this goal by seeking...