Since its founding in 1851, the "New York Times" has published thousands of obituaries -- for heads of state, famous celebrities, even the inventor of the sock puppet. But only a small percentage of them chronicle the lives of women and...

Paula Stone Williams knew from a young age that she was transgender. But as she became a parent and prominent evangelical pastor, she feared that coming out would mean losing everything. In this moving, deeply personal talk, Paula and...

We may not be sure who’s behind it, but we can tell you that the Charlie Charlie Challenge doesn’t really work. Because physics.Very, very special thanks to Henry Reich of Minute Physics for helping with the content of this video.

(NOTE: This talk was given in 2010, and this field of science has developed quickly since then. Read "Criticisms & updates" below for more details.) Astronomer Dimitar Sasselov and his colleagues search for Earth-like planets that may,...

Ever wonder how Einstein proved E=mc2? This is how. Pi day (3.14) is Albert Einstein's Birthday! To celebrate, we'll explain 4 of his most groundbreaking papers from 1905, when he was just 26 years old

Exactly when and where did life on Earth begin? Scientists have long thought that it emerged three billion years ago in the ocean -- until astrobiologist Tara Djokic and her team made an unexpected discovery in the western Australian...

Refugee and immigrants rights attorney Melanie Nezer shares an urgently needed historical perspective on the crisis at the southern US border, showing how citizens can hold their governments accountable for protecting the vulnerable. "A...

In the early 1990s, a scandal rocked evolutionary biology: scientists discovered that songbirds -- once thought to be strictly monogamous -- engaged in what's politely called "extra-pair copulation." In this unforgettable biology lesson...

Flight is about to get a lot more personal, says aviation entrepreneur Rodin Lyasoff. In this visionary talk, he imagines a new golden age of air travel in which small, autonomous air taxis allow us to bypass traffic jams and...

What could you do with the world's smallest 3D printer? Klaus Stadlmann demos his tiny, affordable printer that could someday make customized hearing aids -- or sculptures smaller than a human hair.

Matthew O’Reilly is a veteran emergency medical technician on Long Island, New York. In this talk, O’Reilly describes what happens next when a gravely hurt patient asks him: “Am I going to die?”

*Yaaawwwwwn* Did just reading the word make you feel like yawning yourself? Known as contagious yawning, the reasons behind this phenomenon have been attributed to both the physiological and psychological. It's been observed in children...

An animated interpretation of Safia Elhillo's poem "To Make Use of Water"

We’ve made a lot of progress recently in curing two deadly diseases that have been difficult to treat!

This week in news, the Insight rover's Mole apparatus called it quits, and research reported their findings on the first ever observed intergalactic binaries.

This is the first-ever video of what we're calling the "hermit crab caterpillar"! We're pretty sure this strange caterpillar is a NEW SPECIES. We went to the Peruvian Amazon to see amazing things, but we never expected this :) But that...

Parkinson's disease affects 6.3 million people worldwide, causing weakness and tremors, but there's no objective way to detect it early on. Yet. Applied mathematician and TED Fellow Max Little is testing a simple, cheap tool that in...

What if our bodies could help grow new life after we die, instead of being embalmed and buried or turned to ash? Join Katrina Spade as she discusses "recomposition" -- a system that uses the natural decomposition process to turn our...

Storyteller Carmen Agra Deedy spins a funny, wise and luminous tale of parents and kids, starring her Cuban mother. Settle in and enjoy the ride -- Mama's driving!

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This video is about the international system of...

Hank tells us the outcome of the 2011 Green Flight Challenge and tells us why electric airplanes are the future of air travel.

You work at the college library. You're in the middle of a quiet afternoon when suddenly, a shipment of 1,280 books arrives. The books are in a straight line, but they're all out of order, and the automatic sorting system is broken. How...

The circumstances of our lives may matter less than how we see them, says Rory Sutherland. At TEDxAthens, he makes a compelling case for how reframing is the key to happiness.

Onstage at TED2012, Jack Choi demonstrates a powerful tool for training medical students: a stretcher-sized multi-touch screen of the human body that lets you explore, dissect and understand the body's parts and systems.