TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why don't perpetual motion machines ever work? - Netta Schramm
Perpetual motion machines - devices that can do work indefinitely without any external energy source - have captured many inventors' imaginations because they could totally transform our relationship with energy. There's just one...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What did dogs teach humans about diabetes? - Duncan C. Ferguson
Diabetes has a history dating back to Ancient Greece. Our treatment of it, however, is more recent and was originally made possible with the help of man's best friend. Due to physiological traits shared with humans, dogs have saved...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Ancient Rome’s most notorious doctor - Ramon Glazov
Learn about the Greek physician and philosopher Galen of Pergamon, whose experiments and discoveries changed medicine. -- In the 16th century, an anatomist named Andreas Vesalius made a shocking discovery: the most famous human anatomy...
TED-Ed
How do wind turbines work? | Rebecca J. Barthelmie and Sara C. Pryor
Every 24 hours, wind generates enough kinetic energy to produce roughly 35 times more electricity than humanity uses each day. And unlike coal or oil, this resource is totally renewed each day. So how can we harness this incredible...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: History's deadliest colors - J. V. Maranto
When radium was first discovered, its luminous green color inspired people to add it into beauty products and jewelry. It wasn't until much later that we realized that radium's harmful effects outweighed its visual benefits....
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: From pacifist to spy: WWII’s surprising secret agent - Shrabani Basu
Learn about the life of World War II spy Noor Inayat Khan and how she worked with the French Resistance to build the network that defeated the Nazis. -- In May 1940, with the German army ready to occupy Paris, Noor Inayat Khan was faced...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Notes of a native son: the world according to James Baldwin - Christina Greer
James Baldwin was an American novelist and social critic whose essays in “Notes of a Native Son” explored race, sex and class distinctions. -- In the 1960s, the FBI amassed almost 2,000 documents in an investigation into one of America’s...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Can the ocean run out of oxygen? | Kate Slabosky
For most of the year, the Gulf of Mexico is teeming with marine life, from tiny crustaceans to massive whales. But every summer, disaster strikes. Around May, animals begin to flee the area. And soon, creatures that can't swim or can't...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The microbial jungles all over the place (and you) - Scott Chimileski and Roberto Kolter
As we walk through our daily environments, we're surrounded by exotic creatures that are too small to see with the naked eye. We usually imagine these microscopic organisms, or microbes, as asocial cells that float around by themselves....
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The rise and fall of the medieval Islamic Empire | Petra Sijpesteijn and Birte Kristiansen
In the 7th century CE, the prophet Muhammad united the people of the Arabian Peninsula through the formation of Islam. Over the next 30 years, caliphs conquered vast areas beyond Arabia, including their mighty neighbors the Persians and...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What is phantom traffic and why is it ruining your life? - Benjamin Seibold
You’re cruising down the highway when all of a sudden endless rows of brake lights appear ahead. There’s no accident, no stoplight, no change in speed limit, or narrowing of the road. So why is there so much traffic? It's due to a...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The dust bunnies that built our planet - Lorin Swint Matthews
Investigate the theories surrounding cosmic dust bunnies and discover how the tiny particles could hold the key to the formation of life on Earth. -- Consider the spot where you’re sitting. Travel backwards in time and it might’ve been...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Distorting Madonna in Medieval art - James Earle
After Rome was destroyed, people were wary of attachment to physical beauty. As Christianity gained traction, Romans instead began to focus on the metaphysical beauty of virtue, and art began to follow suit. James Earle discusses how...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The life cycle of a pair of jeans | Madhavi Venkatesan
The first pairs of jeans were designed for durability; denim was constructed as a sturdy weave worn by sailors and miners. But over the course of the 20th century, as the demand for jeans has gone up, their durability has gone down....
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why isn’t the Netherlands underwater?
In January 1953, a tidal surge shook the North Sea. The titanic waves flooded the Dutch coastline, killing almost 2,000 people. 54 years later, a similar storm threatened the region. But this time, they were ready. This was thanks to a...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Can you solve the control room riddle? - Dennis Shasha
As your country's top spy, you must infiltrate the headquarters of the evil syndicate, find the secret control panel, and deactivate their death ray. But your reconnaissance team is spotty, and you have only limited information about the...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The scientific origins of the Minotaur - Matt Kaplan
The myth of the Minotaur tells the story of an enraged beast forever wandering the corridors of a damp labyrinth, filled with a rage so intense that its deafening roar shakes the earth. But is this story just fiction, or an attempt of...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Is this the most successful animal ever? | Nigel Hughes
Prevailing for around 270 million years and encompassing more than 20,000 distinct species, trilobites are some of the most successful lifeforms in Earth's history. When they sprung into existence, they were among the most diverse and...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The bug that poops candy | George Zaidan
Aphids can reproduce incredibly fast: they can make 20 new generations within a single season. And that means lots of poop. Some aphid populations can produce hundreds of kilograms of poop per acre— making them some of the most prolific...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What’s the smallest thing in the universe? - Jonathan Butterworth
If you were to take a coffee cup, and break it in half, then in half again, and keep carrying on, where would you end up? Could you keep on going forever? Or would you eventually find a set of indivisible building blocks out of which...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The uncertain location of electrons - George Zaidan and Charles Morton
The tiny atoms that make up our world are made up of even tinier protons, neutrons and electrons. Though the number of protons determines an atom's identity, it's the electrons -- specifically, their exact location outside the nucleus --...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The secret messages of Viking runestones | Jesse Byock
With their navigational skills and advanced longships, the Vikings sustained their seafaring for over 300 years. But for all their might, they left few monuments. Instead, fragments of stone, bark and bone found in the sites of ancient...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How quantum mechanics explains global warming - Lieven Scheire
You've probably heard that carbon dioxide is warming the Earth. But how exactly is it doing it? Lieven Scheire uses a rainbow, a light bulb and a bit of quantum physics to describe the science behind global warming.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The fundamentals of space-time: Part 2 - Andrew Pontzen and Tom Whyntie
Light always travels at a speed of 299,792,458 meters per second. But if you're in motion too, you're going to perceive it as traveling even faster -- which isn't possible! In this second installment of a three-part series on space-time,...