TED Talks
TED: The mystery box | J.J. Abrams
J.J. Abrams traces his love for the unseen mystery –- a passion that's evident in his films and TV shows, including Lost, Star Trek and the upcoming Star Wars VII -- back to its magical beginnings.
TED Talks
Jim Toomey: Learning from Sherman the shark
Cartoonist Jim Toomey created the comic strip Sherman's Lagoon, a wry look at underwater life starring Sherman the talking shark. As he sketches some of his favorite sea creatures live onstage, Toomey shares his love of the ocean and the...
TED Talks
Doug Roble: Digital humans that look just like us
In an astonishing talk and tech demo, software researcher Doug Roble debuts "DigiDoug": a real-time, 3-D, digital rendering of his likeness that's accurate down to the scale of pores and wrinkles. Powered by an inertial motion capture...
TED Talks
James Howard Kunstler: The ghastly tragedy of the suburbs
In James Howard Kunstler's view, public spaces should be inspired centers of civic life and the physical manifestation of the common good. Instead, he argues, what we have in America is a nation of places not worth caring about.
TED Talks
ShaoLan: Learn to read Chinese ... with ease!
For foreigners, learning to speak Chinese is a hard task. But learning to read the beautiful, often complex characters of the Chinese written language may be less difficult. ShaoLan walks through a simple lesson in recognizing the ideas...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Can love and independence coexist? | Tanya Boucicaut
Baritone thunder. Snarling winds. Consuming downpours. Okeechobee, the hurricane of 1928, forced many to flee their ruined communities. But for Janie Crawford, it inspired an unexpected homecoming. So begins Zora Neale Hurston's...
TED Talks
Shereen El Feki: Pop culture in the Arab world
Shereen El Feki shows how some Arab cultures are borrowing trademarks of Western pop culture -- music videos, comics, even Barbie -- and adding a culturally appropriate twist. The hybridized media shows how two civilizations, rather than...
TED Talks
Ed Ulbrich: How Benjamin Button got his face
Ed Ulbrich, the digital-effects guru from Digital Domain, explains the Oscar-winning technology that allowed his team to digitally create the older versions of Brad Pitt's face for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."
TED Talks
Jennifer Lin: Improvising on piano, aged 14
Pianist and composer Jennifer Lin gives a magical performance, talks about the process of creativity and improvises a moving solo piece based on a random sequence of notes.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Should you trust your first impression? - Peter Mende-Siedlecki
You can't help it; sometimes, you just get a bad feeling about someone that's hard to shake. So, what's happening in your brain when you make that critical (and often lasting) first judgment? Peter Mende-Siedlecki shares the social...
PBS
Can Dungeons & Dragons Make You Confident & Successful?
There are some deeply ingrained stereotypes about Dungeons & Dragons, and those stereotypes usually begin and end with people shouting "NERD!!!" But the reality of the D&D universe is a whole lot more complex. Rather than being an escape...
SciShow
10 Ridiculous Scientific Names
There aren't as many rules to naming a scientific discovery as you might think-- and that has led to some pretty outrageous names. Chapters HALORUBRUM CHAOVIATOR 1:10 OSEDAX MUCOFLORIS 1:43 HETEROPODA DAVIDBOWIE 2:58 SCAPTIA BEYONCEAE...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why should you read Kurt Vonnegut? - Mia Nacamulli
Kurt Vonnegut found the tidy, satisfying arcs of many stories at odds with reality, and he set out to explore the ambiguity between good and bad fortune in his own novels. He tried to make sense of human behavior by studying the shapes...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why should you read Flannery O’Connor? - Iseult Gillespie
Find out why Flannery O’Connor, an American novelist, is known as a master of the grotesque in Southern Gothic literature. -- Flannery O’Connor scribbled tales of outcasts, intruders and misfits staged in the world she knew best: the...
SciShow
Is Everyone A Little Bit Racist? - Implicit Bias
Many companies have offered diversity trainings to teach their employees about implicit biases. But what does that mean, and is it really helping anything?
Crash Course
Aristotle & Virtue Theory: Crash Course Philosophy
This week we explore final ethical theory in this unit: Aristotle’s virtue theory. Hank explains the Golden Mean, and how it exists as the midpoint between vices of excess and deficiency. We’ll also discuss moral exemplars, and introduce...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Alex Gendler: Why should you read "Crime and Punishment"?
What drives someone to kill in cold blood? What goes through the murderer's mind? And what kind of a society breeds such people? Over 150 years ago Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky took these questions up in what would become one of the...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Everything you need to know to read "The Canterbury Tales" - Iseult Gillespie
A portly Miller, barely able to sit on his horse, rambles on about the flighty wife of a crotchety old carpenter and the scholar she takes as her lover. This might sound like a bawdy joke, but it's part of one of the most esteemed works...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why should you read "Don Quixote"? - Ilan Stavans
Mounting his skinny steed, Don Quixote charges an army of giants. It is his duty to vanquish these behemoths in the name of his beloved lady, Dulcinea. There's only one problem: the giants are merely windmills. What is it about this tale...
TED-Ed
Why should you read Toni Morrison's "Beloved"? | Yen Pham
Two tiny handprints stamped into a cake. A mirror that shatters without warning. A trail of cracker crumbs strewn along the floor. Everyone at 124 Bluestone Road knows their home is haunted— but there's no mystery about the spirit...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why should you read "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy? | Laura Wright
Set in a small town in India, "The God of Small Things" revolves around fraternal twins Rahel and Estha, who are separated for 23 years after the fateful hours in which their cousin drowns, their mother's affair is revealed, and her...
Crash Course
Dissecting The Camera: Crash Course Film Production
Sometimes the most intimidating part of making a movie is that little box of concentrated technology called "The Camera." But, FEAR NOT! In this episode of Crash Course Film Production, Lily helps us dissect the basics of modern movie...
Crash Course
Designing the World of Film: Crash Course Film Production
Literally, ‘mise-en-scene’ means “placing on stage.” But in film, mise-en-scene encompasses everything the camera is capturing. The artists and crafts-people who work in Production Design, Wardrobe, and Hair and Makeup are responsible...
TED Talks
TED: How to preserve your private life in the age of social media | Bryce Dallas Howard
Growing up in the public eye, multi-hyphenate creator Bryce Dallas Howard experienced the familiar pressure to share her life with the world on social media. But with her mother's steadfast guidance, Howard learned to set personal...