TED Talks
Joseph Gordon-Levitt: How craving attention makes you less creative
Joseph Gordon-Levitt has gotten more than his fair share of attention from his acting career. But as social media exploded over the past decade, he got addicted like the rest of us -- trying to gain followers and likes only to be left...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: 4 things all great listeners know | TED-Ed
It's easy to tell when someone's not paying attention, but it can be surprisingly tricky to know what good listening looks like. Good listening is one of the most important things we can do to improve our relationships, develop our...
TED Talks
TED: My desperate journey with a human smuggler | Barat Ali Batoor
Photojournalist Barat Ali Batoor was living in Afghanistan -- until his risky work forced him to leave the country. But for Batoor, a member of a displaced ethnic group called the Hazara, moving home to Pakistan proved dangerous too. And...
Crash Course
Black Lives Matter: Crash Course Black American History #51
In the final episode of Crash Course Black American History, Clint Smith teaches you about the Black Lives Matter movement. We'll discuss some of the major events that contributed to the rise of BLM, including the deaths of Trayvon...
SciShow
Why Do We Talk To Dogs Like That
Why is it that every time you see an adorable puppy in the park or outside a cafe your voice suddenly jumps up about two octaves and you’re talking total gooey nonsense? If you watch this episode to find out, you can have a treat and...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What causes sleepwalking? | Emmanuel During
Mumbling fantastical gibberish; devouring blocks of cheese in the nude; peeing in places that aren't toilets; and jumping out of windows. These are all things people have reportedly done while sleepwalking, a behavior that can be...
TED Talks
TED: The world doesn't need more nuclear weapons | erika Gregory
Today nine nations collectively control more than 15,000 nuclear weapons, each hundreds of times more powerful than those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We don't need more nuclear weapons; we need a new generation to face the...
SciShow
Space Hype!
Sometimes science news is less about stuff that actually happened, as much as it is about people going "PAY ATTENTION TO ME" and space news is no exception. In fact this week there was probably as much hype as real news, all in the name...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: History's "worst" nun | Theresa A. Yugar
Juana Ramírez de Asbaje sat before a panel of prestigious theologians, jurists, and mathematicians. They had been invited to test Juana's knowledge with the most difficult questions they could muster. But she successfully answered every...
SciShow
Can Old Dogs Learn New Tricks?
I’t teach an old dog new tricks — but that saying might not be as trustworthy as you’d think.
SciShow
Factitious Disorder: Why People Fake Serious Illness
You might have faked being sick to avoid doing something unpleasant. However, for people with the factitious disorder, faking illness isn't quite so straightforward.
SciShow
How Pictures of Eyes Change the Way You Act
At some point, you may have noticed a poster or photo with eyes on it hanging somewhere public. What you probably didn't notice is the effect that picture has on your brain.
SciShow
Why We Don't Like to Wait
It can be frustrating to get stuck in line somewhere with no end to your wait in sight, but what about waiting is it that gets under our skin?
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why we love repetition in music - Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis
How many times does the chorus repeat in your favorite song? How many times have you listened to that chorus? Repetition in music isn't just a feature of Western pop songs, either; it's a global phenomenon. Why? Elizabeth Hellmuth...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How does your brain respond to pain? - Karen D. Davis
Everyone experiences pain -- but why do some people react to the same painful stimulus in different ways? And what exactly is pain, anyway? Karen D. Davis walks you through your brain on pain, illuminating why the "pain experience"...
SciShow
The Benefits of Being Easily Distracted
We place a lot of value on productivity, and being distracted can lower your performance on specific tasks. But it turns out that getting distracted once in a while can actually be a good thing!
TED Talks
David S. Rose: How to pitch to a VC
Thinking startup? David S. Rose's rapid-fire TED U talk on pitching to a venture capitalist tells you the 10 things you need to know about yourself -- and prove to a VC -- before you fire up your slideshow.
SciShow
How Swearing Can Help With Pain
If you've ever been chastised for erupting into profanity after stubbing your toe in the middle of the night, science has your back on this one.
TED Talks
TED: How boredom can lead to your most brilliant ideas | Manoush Zomorodi
Do you sometimes have your most creative ideas while folding laundry, washing dishes or doing nothing in particular? It's because when your body goes on autopilot, your brain gets busy forming new neural connections that connect ideas...
Be Smart
Pay Attention!
It seems like every week someone tells us how the internet and the digital age are overloading our brains. Sure, sometimes it feels like we're being fed more information than we can handle, that we're paying attention to the wrong...
TED Talks
TED: What happens in your brain when you pay attention? | Mehdi Ordikhani-Seyedlar
Attention isn't just about what we focus on -- it's also about what our brains filter out. By investigating patterns in the brain as people try to focus, computational neuroscientist Mehdi Ordikhani-Seyedlar hopes to build computer...
TED Talks
Sally Kohn: Don't like clickbait? Don't click
Doesn't it seem like a lot of online news sites have moved beyond reporting the news to openly inciting your outrage (and your page views)? News analyst Sally Kohn suggests - don't engage with news that looks like it just wants to make...
TED Talks
TED: The brain-changing benefits of exercise | Wendy Suzuki
What's the most transformative thing that you can do for your brain today? exercise! says neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki. Get inspired to go to the gym as Suzuki discusses the science of how working out boosts your mood and memory -- and...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How one scientist took on the chemical industry
In 1958, after receiving a letter describing the deaths of songbirds due to the pesticide known as DDT, Rachel Carson began an investigation into the misuse of chemicals and their toll on nature. In 1962, she published her findings in...