Confidence doesn’t come before action — it comes from taking action, says business leader Kat Cole, who worked her way up from waitress to CEO of a global health company. She presents a simple yet powerful practice called the "hot shot...

As one of the agency’s best employees, you’ve been selected as a finalist to take on a new top-secret mission. You’ve already shown your aptitude for surveillance and disguise, but the agency’s looking to test one last critical skill:...

When wildfires rage in California, incarcerated people are often on the front lines fighting the flames. TED Fellow Royal Ramey was one of them. He shares the story of how doing public service in prison inspired him to cofound the...

Farm labor is hot, backbreaking and dangerous work. To protect workers from extreme heat and workplace exploitation, farmworker Gerardo Reyes Chávez has teamed up with farm manager Jon Esformes for a unique partnership. Learn how their...

Organ transplants save lives, but they come with challenges: every minute a healthy donated organ is on ice increases risk. And even if things go perfectly, rejection of the organ is still possible. Cardiothoracic surgeon Abbas Ardehali...

In 1997, NASA bought a Boeing 747SP for what might be both a super cool and super absurd purpose. Turn it into SOFIA, a flying telescope.

Tomorrow is the annual Brain Clash — a decathlon of mental challenges, trivia competitions, and puzzles. Amir needs a smart and capable teammate and must choose between three people; all of different ages and talents. So, who should Amir...

We usually think of 'hacking' as a bad thing, but scientists are working on ways to hack the brain that will greatly benefit people with prosthetics, and maybe someday people with paralysis.

Nearly 40 percent of humanity lives near a coast -- and no two coasts are the same. How can these communities build resilience to the increasing risks of climate change? Climate advisor Dave Sivaprasad outlines how to tackle this complex...

What if we could solve the climate and housing crises at the same time? Financial institutions have pledged trillions to transform the economy and accelerate climate action -- but right now, that money is not flowing at the speed it...

Despite common belief, retirement takes more than financial planning. And while you may be beyond ready to go on permanent vacation, you also have to psychologically prepare for when the novelty wears off. Riley Moynes explains the four...

Battles have erupted at schools, school boards and library meetings across the country as parents, lawmakers and advocacy groups are debating books. The American Library Association documented more than 1,200 demands to censor books and...

Matt Resnik has helped changed the face of autism in his hometown. When he was diagnosed as a child, his parents poured their hearts into getting him therapy, even launching an organization, in hopes he would outgrow his challenges and...

Governing in a crisis like the novel coronavirus pandemic can define a presidency. What lessons does history have to offer as a guide? Judy Woodruff reports and talks to former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who was President Obama’s chief...

Until 2018, Florida was one of only a few states that banned felons from voting for life. But that year, a two-thirds majority of the state passed an initiative to restore voting eligibility to felons who had served their sentences. It...

The deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor have sparked a renewed dialogue on racism in America. Reform advocates want policy and institutional changes, but individuals are also asking how they can address their own...

For children in the U.S., unsupervised play is largely a pastime of previous generations. Hanna Rosin of The Atlantic writes about the consequences of guarding children from perceived dangers in her article, "The Overprotected Kid." Judy...

As war, terrorism and uncertainty pervade the globe, travelers are flocking to Iceland -- regarded as one of the safest nations on the planet. Fishing used to be the country's most profitable industry, but in recent years, tourism has...

What will become of humanity after spend a few hundred years on Mars? What will happen after a few thousand? Evolution has, and still is, shaping humanity in rather drastic ways. How long will humans stop being human and become Martian?

The pandemic forced the world to work together like never before and, with unprecedented speed, bore a new age of health and medical innovation. Physician-scientist Daniel Kraft explains how breakthroughs and advancements like...

economic growth is the defining challenge of our time; without it, political and social instability rises, human progress stagnates and societies grow dimmer. But, says economist Dambisa Moyo, dogmatic capitalism isn't creating the...

We think of fish as completely aquatic animals. But there are actually hundreds of fish species that are amphibious, meaning that they possess adaptations that enable them to survive on land. Once on land, however, they face suffocation,...

This week we’re exploring aerospace engineering and its two main fields: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. We’ll explore life & buoyancy, propulsion systems, and the challenges of managing the human body in space.

In this episode, we looked at food engineering. We explored how food’s capacity to spoil makes it a unique challenge from an engineering viewpoint. We saw how many branches of engineering come into play to process ingredients, ensure...