TED Talks
Don't fear superintelligent AI | Grady Booch
New tech spawns new anxieties, says scientist and philosopher Grady Booch, but we don't need to be afraid an all-powerful, unfeeling AI. Booch allays our worst (sci-fi induced) fears about superintelligent computers by explaining how...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why is Alzheimer’s disease so difficult to treat? | Krishna Sudhir
Around the world, millions of people have Alzheimer’s disease, a debilitating brain disorder that gradually destroys a person’s memory and other cognitive abilities. While doctors have studied Alzheimer’s for decades, conducting hundreds...
SciShow
Why Do We Rhyme?
Rhymes might seem frivolous, but there's scientific evidence for why we like them so much.
TED Talks
The counterintuitive way to be more persuasive | Niro Sivanathan
What's the best way to make a good point? Organizational psychologist Niro Sivanathan offers a fascinating lesson on the "dilution effect," a cognitive quirk that weakens our strongest cases -- and reveals why brevity is the true soul of...
TED Talks
Clay Shirky: Institutions vs. collaboration
In this prescient 2005 talk, Clay Shirky shows how closed groups and companies will give way to looser networks where small contributors have big roles and fluid cooperation replaces rigid planning.
TED Talks
TED: A memory scientist's advice on reporting harassment and discrimination | Julia Shaw
How do you turn a memory, especially one of a traumatic event, into hard evidence of a crime? Julia Shaw is working on this challenge, combining tools from memory science and artificial intelligence to change how we report workplace...
TED Talks
TED: Why teens confess to crimes they didn't commit | Lindsay Malloy
* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. Why do juveniles falsely confess to crimes? What makes them more vulnerable than adults to this shocking,...
TED Talks
TED: How to let go of being a "good" person -- and become a better person | Dolly Chugh
What if your attachment to being a "good" person is holding you back from actually becoming a better person? In this accessible talk, social psychologist Dolly Chugh explains the puzzling psychology of ethical behavior -- like why it's...
TED Talks
TED: Your words may predict your future mental health | Mariano Sigman
Can the way you speak and write today predict your future mental state, even the onset of psychosis? In this fascinating talk, neuroscientist Mariano Sigman reflects on ancient Greece and the origins of introspection to investigate how...
TED Talks
TED: How we can use light to see deep inside our bodies and brains | Mary Lou Jepsen
In a series of mind-bending demos, inventor Mary Lou Jepsen shows how we can use red light to see and potentially stimulate what's inside our bodies and brains. Taking us to the edge of optical physics, Jepsen unveils new technologies...
TED Talks
Helen Fisher: Why we love, why we cheat
Anthropologist Helen Fisher takes on a tricky topic – love – and explains its evolution, its biochemical foundations and its social importance. She closes with a warning about the potential disaster inherent in antidepressant abuse.
TED Talks
Vilayanur Ramachandran: The neurons that shaped civilization
Neuroscientist Vilayanur Ramachandran outlines the fascinating functions of mirror neurons. Only recently discovered, these neurons allow us to learn complex social behaviors, some of which formed the foundations of human civilization as...
TED Talks
Russell Foster: Why do we sleep?
Russell Foster is a circadian neuroscientist: He studies the sleep cycles of the brain. And he asks: What do we know about sleep? Not a lot, it turns out, for something we do with one-third of our lives. In this talk, Foster shares three...
TED Talks
Daniel Wolpert: The real reason for brains
Neuroscientist Daniel Wolpert starts from a surprising premise: the brain evolved, not to think or feel, but to control movement. In this entertaining, data-rich talk he gives us a glimpse into how the brain creates the grace and agility...
TED Talks
Joshua Foer: Feats of memory anyone can do
There are people who can quickly memorize lists of thousands of numbers, the order of all the cards in a deck (or ten!), and much more. Science writer Joshua Foer describes the technique -- called the memory palace -- and shows off its...
TED Talks
Jane McGonigal: The game that can give you 10 extra years of life
When game designer Jane McGonigal found herself bedridden and suicidal following a severe concussion, she had a fascinating idea for how to get better. She dove into the scientific research and created the healing game, SuperBetter. In...
TED Talks
Peter Doolittle: How your "working memory" makes sense of the world
"Life comes at us very quickly, and what we need to do is take that amorphous flow of experience and somehow extract meaning from it." In this funny, enlightening talk, educational psychologist Peter Doolittle details the importance --...
TED Talks
Richard Dawkins: Why the universe seems so strange
Biologist Richard Dawkins makes a case for "thinking the improbable" by looking at how the human frame of reference limits our understanding of the universe.
TED Talks
Michael Dickinson: How a fly flies
An insect's ability to fly is one of the greatest feats of evolution. Michael Dickinson looks at how a fruit fly takes flight with such delicate wings, thanks to a clever flapping motion and flight muscles that are both powerful and...
TED Talks
David Pizarro: The strange politics of disgust
What does a disgusting image have to do with how you vote? Equipped with surveys and experiments, psychologist David Pizarro demonstrates a correlation between your sensitivity to disgusting cues -- a photo of feces, an unpleasant odor...
SciShow
Special Valentine Science!
Want to get your sweetheart something really special? Give them a mineral called fingerite, and then stare at them for a while! Find out why, in this Valentine's Day edition of SciShow News.
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,...
TED Talks
The brain in love - Helen Fisher
* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. Why do we crave love so much, even to the point that we would die for it? To learn more about our very real, very...
TED Talks
Tali Sharot: The optimism bias
Are we born to be optimistic, rather than realistic? Tali Sharot shares new research that suggests our brains are wired to look on the bright side -- and how that can be both dangerous and beneficial.