TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How do kidney transplants work? | Alexander H. Toledo
In 1954, Joseph Murray attempted a type of kidney swap that no doctor had tried before. The surgery was a success, and the patient would go on to live with the transplanted organ thanks to one key factor: it came from his identical twin....
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Can you solve the trickster god riddle? | Alex Rosenthal
Ragnarok has been raging for far too long; many gods and heroes have fallen, and the rest can barely stand. Loki, his bright eyes dimmed by exhaustion, asks to meet. He proposes that you and he settle the conflict with a game atop a...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The real reason polio is so dangerous | Dan Kwartler
In 1952, polio was everywhere: killing or paralyzing roughly half a million people annually. Yet just 10 years later, paralytic polio cases in the US dropped by 96% and we were on track to get rid of polio for good. But in recent years,...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The curse of the monkey's paw | Iseult Gillespie
Sergeant-Major Morris regaled his friends with epic tales from faraway lands— until one asked about an artifact the Sergeant had alluded to. Slowly, he produced the object: a mummified monkey’s paw. He explained that a holy man had...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Ugly History: The Armenian Genocide | Ümit Kurt
When an Armenian resistance movement began to form in the 19th century, Sultan Abdul Hamid II took decisive action. He led the Hamidian Massacres— a relentless campaign of violence that killed over 150,000 Armenians. These massacres were...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: 3 reasons why medications are so expensive in the US | Kiah Williams
A century after its discovery, insulin remain essential in treating diabetes, and has a relatively low production cost, with a vial generally costing less than $6 to make. But those in the US pay on average 10 times more than those in...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The dungeon master's riddle | Alex Rosenthal
Yet another party of adventurers has broken into your lair to slay your minions and steal your treasures. Judging by the trail of destruction, you’re up against a fighter, a rogue, and a cleric. The first two won’t be a problem for a...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why don’t companies want you to repair your stuff? | Aaron Perzanowski
Today, some companies are working hard to prevent consumers from repairing products on their own. In many cases, repair can only be done by the original manufacturer, if at all. With limited repair options available, we end up buying new...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The real tale of the Monkey King in Heaven | Ji Hao
While his disciples loved their roguish leader, Sun Wukong’s misadventures had spread chaos throughout the land. The Jade Emperor, watching from his throne in Heaven, decided he would no longer stand by as this monkey wreaked havoc...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Greek mythology’s greatest warrior | Iseult Gillespie
Born to a sea nymph and a king, and trained by the legendary centaur Chiron, Achilles was a demigod destined for greatness. When Greece declared war on Troy, Achilles knew the war was written into his destiny. With horses born from the...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: This mushroom will kill you before you know what’s happening | Michael Beug
Humans have known about the toxicity of death cap mushrooms for millennia. Yet they continue to pose a significant threat to unsuspecting foragers and mushroom hunters throughout the world. Today, death caps are responsible for more than...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Are there any places on Earth with no bugs? | Charles Wallace
Insects are the world’s most numerous and diverse animals. Even where you’d least expect them in some of Earth’s most extreme environments, there they are. From a scalding volcano, parched desert, to a frigid glacier, insects are living...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why did people wear powdered wigs? | Stephanie Honchell Smith
Wigs date at least as far back as ancient Egypt, where well-regarded hairdressers crafted them into intricate styles. And under certain ancient Roman dynasties, women’s wigs became particularly ornate. Yet it wasn’t until Louis XIII...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What are those colors you see when you rub your eyes? | Paul CJ Taylor
In the 1600s, Isaac Newton conducted a series of experiments to better understand the lights and colors that sometimes appear when your eyes are closed. If you’ve ever sat around an evening campfire or unintentionally glanced at the Sun,...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Is safety worth the loss of privacy? | Sarah Stroud and Michael Vazquez
Your government has introduced a plan to address record-breaking rates of traffic tickets and deadly hovercar accidents. They propose assigning “driver credit scores” to every citizen, but would need to install cameras and microphones in...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why is Alzheimer’s disease so difficult to treat? | Krishna Sudhir
Around the world, millions of people have Alzheimer’s disease, a debilitating brain disorder that gradually destroys a person’s memory and other cognitive abilities. While doctors have studied Alzheimer’s for decades, conducting hundreds...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What staying up all night does to your brain | Anna Rothschild
You’re just one history final away from a relaxing spring break. But you still have so much to study! You decide to follow in the footsteps of many students before you, and pull an all-nighter. So, what happens to your brain when you...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The world’s longest-burning fires | Emma Bryce
In 1997, a fire began in Indonesia that would rage for almost a year. Despite being one of the largest fires in recorded history, for months at a time it burned without a flame. This might sound like a uniquely freaky fire, but it’s...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How do heat waves affect your body? | Carolyn Beans
In many parts of the world heat waves are happening more often with greater intensity and for longer durations. By 2050, Earth’s mid-latitudes could be experiencing extreme heat between 90 and 180 days a year, with tropical regions...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The tech that seems to break the laws of physics | Anna Rothschild
Typically, with any piece of technology, you pump one unit of energy in and you get about one out. That’s just the first law of thermodynamics: energy has to be conserved. But there’s a piece of technology called a heat pump, where for...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How could so many people support Hitler? | Joseph Lacey
Philosopher Hannah Arendt was a German Jew who dedicated herself to understanding how the Nazi regime came to power, and more specifically, how it inspired so many atrocities. She believed the true conditions behind the unprecedented...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why don't "tough" and "dough" rhyme? | Arika Okrent
Spelling reformers have been advocating for changes to make English spelling more intuitive and less irregular. One example of its messiness: take the “g-h” sound from “enough,” the “o” sound from “women” and the “t-i” sound from...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Can you solve the basketball robot riddle? | Dan Katz
You’ve spent months creating a basketball-playing robot, the Dunk-O-Matic, and you’re excited to demonstrate its capabilities. Until you read an advertisement: “See the Dunk-O-Matic face human players and automatically adjust its skill...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Scientists are obsessed with this lake | Nicola Storelli and Daniele Zanzi
In the millions of years since oxygen began saturating Earth’s oceans and atmosphere, most organisms have evolved to rely on this gas. However, there are some places where oxygen-averse microorganisms like those from Earth’s earliest...