TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why do women have periods?
A handful of species on Earth share a seemingly mysterious trait: a menstrual cycle. We're one of the select few mammals on Earth that menstruate, and we also do it more than any other animal, even though it's a waste of nutrients, and...
Crash Course
Max Weber & Modernity: Crash Course Sociology
This week we are wrapping up our overview of sociology’s core frameworks and founding theorists with a look Max Weber and his understanding of the modern world. We’ll explore rationalization and the transition from traditional to modern...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Would winning the lottery make you happier? - Raj Raghunathan
Imagine winning a multi-million dollar lottery tomorrow. If you're like many of us, you'd be ecstatic, unable to believe your good luck. But would that joy still be there a few years later? Raj Raghunathan describes a phenomenon called...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The myth of Prometheus - Iseult Gillespie
Before the creation of humanity, the Greek gods won a great battle against a race of giants called the Titans. Most Titans were destroyed or driven to the eternal hell of Tartarus. But the Titan Prometheus, whose name means foresight,...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The history of Tea - Shunan Teng
Tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world after water __ and from sugary Turkish Rize tea to salty Tibetan butter tea, there are almost as many ways of preparing the beverage as there are cultures on the globe. Where did this...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The myth of Cupid and Psyche - Brendan Pelsue
Psyche was born so beautiful that she was worshipped as a new incarnation of Venus, the goddess of love. But human lovers were too intimidated to approach her, and Apollo recommended her father abandon her on a crag where she would marry...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why tragedies are alluring - David E. Rivas
The story goes something like this: A royal, rich, or righteous individual - who is otherwise a lot like us - makes a mistake that sends his or her life spiraling into ruin. It's the classic story arc for a Greek tragedy, and we love it...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: A brief history of banned numbers - Alessandra King
They say the pen is mightier than the sword, and authorities have often agreed. From outlawed religious tracts and revolutionary manifestos to censored and burned books, we know the potential power of words to overturn the social order....
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Why should you read Virginia Woolf? - Iseult Gillespie
How best can we understand the internal experience of alienation? In both her essays and her fiction, Virginia Woolf shapes the slippery nature of subjective experience into words, while her characters frequently lead inner lives that...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Why should you read "Macbeth"? - Brendan Pelsue
There's a play so powerful that an old superstition says its name should never be uttered in a theater. A play that begins with witchcraft and ends with a bloody, severed head. A play filled with riddles, prophecies, nightmare visions,...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: A brief history of numerical systems - Alessandra King
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 0. With just these ten symbols, we can write any rational number imaginable. But why these particular symbols? Why ten of them? And why do we arrange them the way we do? Alessandra King gives a brief history...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The genius of Marie Curie - Shohini Ghose
Marie Sk_odowska Curie's revolutionary research laid the groundwork for our understanding of physics and chemistry, blazing trails in oncology, technology, medicine, and nuclear physics, to name a few. But what did she actually do?...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The fascinating history of cemeteries - Keith Eggener
Spindly trees, rusted gates, crumbling stone, a solitary mourner: these things come to mind when we think of cemeteries. But not long ago, many burial grounds were lively places, with gardens and crowds of people -- and for much of human...
Crash Course
Formal Organizations: Crash Course Sociology
Today we are exploring the world of formal organizations. We’ll go back to the historical process of rationalization and its impact on organizations in the form of bureaucracy and then discuss how organizations change in response to...
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-Ed
TED-ED: History through the eyes of the potato - Leo Bear-McGuinness
Baked or fried, boiled or roasted, as chips or fries; at some point in your life you've probably eaten a potato. But potatoes have played a much more significant role in our history than just that of the dietary staple we have come to...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Should we eat bugs? - Emma Bryce
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...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How the Normans changed the history of Europe - Mark Robinson
In the year 1066, 7,000 Norman infantry and knights sailed in warships across the English Channel. Their target: England, home to more than a million people . Around the same period of time, other groups of Normans were setting forth all...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How aspirin was discovered - Krishna Sudhir
4000 years ago, the ancient Sumerians made a surprising discovery: if they scraped the bark off a particular kind of tree and ate it, their pain disappeared. Little did they know that what they'd found was destined to influence the...
Crash Course
How We Got Here: Crash Course Sociology
So we know that sociology is the study of society, but what exactly *is* a society? Today we’re going to find out. We’ll look at Gerhard Lenski's classification of societies into five types, and the technological changes that turn one...
Crash Course
Harriet Martineau Gender Conflict Theory Crash Course Sociology
Today we’re exploring another branch of conflict theory: gender conflict theory, with a look at sociology’s forgotten founder, Harriet Martineau. We’ll also discuss the three waves of feminism, as well as intersectionality.
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How interpreters juggle two languages at once - Ewandro Magalhaes
Language is complex, and when abstract or nuanced concepts get lost in translation, the consequences may be catastrophic. Given the complexities of language and cultural exchange, how do these epic miscommunications not happen all the...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The real story behind Archimedes' Eureka! - Armand D'Angour
When you think of Archimedes' Eureka moment, you probably imagine a man in a bathtub, right? As it turns out, there's much more to the story. Armand D'Angour tells the story of Archimedes' biggest assignment -- an enormous floating...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: History vs. Richard Nixon - Alex Gendler
The president of the United States of America is often said to be one of the most powerful positions in the world. But of all the US presidents accused of abusing that power, only one has left office as a result. Does Richard Nixon...