TED Talks
Sendhil Mullainathan: Solving social problems with a nudge
MacArthur winner Sendhil Mullainathan uses the lens of behavioral economics to study a tricky set of social problems -- those we know how to solve, but don't. We know how to reduce child deaths due to diarrhea, how to prevent...
TED Talks
Seth Berkley: HIV and flu -- the vaccine strategy
Seth Berkley explains how smart advances in vaccine design, production and distribution are bringing us closer than ever to eliminating a host of global threats -- from AIDS to malaria to flu pandemics.
TED Talks
Maryn McKenna: What do we do when antibiotics don't work any more?
Penicillin changed everything. Infections that had previously killed were suddenly quickly curable. Yet as Maryn McKenna shares in this sobering talk, we've squandered the advantages afforded us by that and later antibiotics....
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What is the biggest single-celled organism? - Murry Gans
The elephant is a creature of epic proportions -- and yet, it owes its enormity to more than 1,000 trillion microscopic cells. And on the epically small end of things, there are likely millions of unicellular species, yet there are very...
TED Talks
TED: How to design mosquitoes out of cities | Cameron Webb
As cities adopt greener, more sustainable designs, there's risk of a dangerous and unwelcome tenant moving in: mosquitoes. Researcher Cameron Webb explains what urban planners and the general public need to understand about mosquitoes --...
SciShow
The Male Biological Clock
Another aging rock star, another baby, does age have any affect on sperm, or are these little swimmers seemingly viable until death?
SciShow
Do You Need 10,000 Steps a Day?
There are a whole lot of people out there who have bought into the notion that, in order to be physically fit, you should aim for taking 10,000 steps a day. But where did this idea come from, and how did we all agree on this magical,...
TED Talks
TED: How gratitude rewires your brain | Christina Costa
When a psychologist who studies well-being ends up with a brain tumor, what happens when she puts her own research into practice? Christina Costa goes beyond the "fight" narrative of cancer -- or any formidable personal journey -- to...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The surprising link between stress and memory - Elizabeth Cox
You spend weeks studying for an important test. On the big day, you wait nervously as your teacher hands it out. You're working your way through, when you're asked to define "ataraxia." You know you've seen the word before, but your mind...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: What are mini brains? - Madeline Lancaster
Shielded by our thick skulls and swaddled in layers of protective tissue, the human brain is extremely difficult to observe in action. Luckily, scientists can use brain organoids - pencil-eraser-sized masses of cells that function like...
TED Talks
TED: How augmented reality could change the future of surgery | Nadine Hachach-Haram
If you're undergoing surgery, you want the best surgical team to collaborate on your case, no matter where they are. Surgeon and entrepreneur Nadine Hachach-Haram is developing a new system that helps surgeons operate together and train...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why do some people snore so loudly? | Alayna Vaughan
A leather mask that clamps the mouth shut. A cannonball sewn into a soldier's uniform. A machine that delivers sudden electrical pulses. These were all treatments for a problem that has haunted humanity for millennia: snoring. It might...
TED Talks
TED: Meet the scientist couple driving an mRNA vaccine revolution | Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci
As COVID-19 spread, BioNTech cofounders Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci had one goal: to make a safe, effective vaccine faster than ever before. In this illuminating conversation with head of TED Chris Anderson, the immunologists (and...
Be Smart
What's the Deadliest Animal in the World?
The world's deadliest animal may be closer than you think.
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How does your body know what time it is? - Marco A. Sotomayor
Being able to sense time helps us do everything from waking and sleeping to knowing precisely when to catch a ball that's hurtling towards us. And we owe all these abilities to an interconnected system of timekeepers in our brains. But...
TED Talks
Wendy Chung: Autism — what we know (and what we don't know yet)
In this factual talk, geneticist Wendy Chung shares what we know about autism spectrum disorder — for example, that autism has multiple, perhaps interlocking, causes. Looking beyond the worry and concern that can surround a diagnosis,...
SciShow
Editing Genes Inside the Human Body
We talk a lot about CRISPR and "designer babies" but the science of editing genes is varied and complex. This month, an adult man received billions of gene-editing viruses via an IV in an effort to treat a rare disease.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Learning from smallpox: How to eradicate a disease - Julie Garon and Walter A. Orenstein
For most of human history, we have sought to treat and cure diseases. But only in recent decades did it become possible to ensure that a particular disease never threatens humanity again. Julie Garon and Walter A. Orenstein detail how...
TED Talks
TED: What commercialization is doing to cannabis | Ben Cort
* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. In 2012, Colorado legalized cannabis and added to what has fast become a multibillion-dollar global industry for...
TED Talks
Mina Bissell: Experiments that point to a new understanding of cancer
For decades, researcher Mina Bissell pursued a revolutionary idea -- that a cancer cell doesn't automatically become a tumor, but rather, depends on surrounding cells (its microenvironment) for cues on how to develop. She shares the two...
SciShow
SciShow Quiz Show with Phil Plait
Hank squares off against Crash Course Astronomy host Phil Plait in our special Valentine’s/Old Timey Medicine edition of SciShow Quiz Show!
TED Talks
TED: A smart bra for better heart health | Alicia Chong Rodriguez
Could an everyday clothing item help protect your health? In this quick talk, TED Fellow Alicia Chong Rodriguez introduces us to a smart bra designed to gather real-time data on biomarkers like heartbeat, breath and temperature. Learn...
TED Talks
Gregory Petsko: The coming neurological epidemic
Biochemist Gregory Petsko makes a convincing argument that, in the next 50 years, we'll see an epidemic of neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer's, as the world population ages. His solution: more research into the brain and its...
TED Talks
TED: What the sugar coating on your cells is trying to tell you | Carolyn Bertozzi
Your cells are coated with sugars that store information and speak a secret language. What are they trying to tell us? Your blood type, for one -- and, potentially, that you have cancer. Chemical biologist Carolyn Bertozzi researches how...