TED-Ed

As a top spy trained in infiltration and safecracking, it’s up to you to steal the competition’s secret sauce recipe. Can you figure out where it's hidden? --One of the top chefs from Pasta Palace has been kidnapped by operatives from Burger Bazaar hoping to learn the location of their secret sauce recipe. Little do they know that a third party— Sausage Saloon— has sent you, their top spy, to take...

Dig into the science of how soap breaks down a coronavirus, and the effectiveness of hand sanitizer against a viral outbreak. --Your hands, up close, are anything but smooth. With peaks and valleys, folds and rifts, there are plenty of hiding places for a virus to stick. If you then touch your face, the virus can infect you. But there are two extraordinarily simple ways you can keep that from happ...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/should-we-eat-bugs-emma-bryce What's tasty, abundant and high in protein? Bugs! Although less common outside the tropics, entomophagy, the practice of eating bugs, was once extremely widespread throughout cultures. You may feel icky about munching on insects, but they feed about 2 billion people each day (Mmm, fried tarantulas). They also hold promise fo...

3D printing has grown in sophistication since the late 1970s; TED Fellow Skylar Tibbits is shaping the next development, which he calls 4D printing, where the fourth dimension is time. This emerging technology will allow us to print objects that then reshape themselves or self-assemble over time. Think: a printed cube that folds before your eyes, or a printed pipe able to sense the need to expand...

Join the Celtic druid Camma in her village as she conducts religious rites, serves as a healer, and mediates conflict between tribes.--As the sun rises in 55 BCE, Camma lays two pigeons on the altar at the center of her village. She wrings the birds’ necks and cuts them open to examine their entrails for divine messages. Camma is a druid. She conducts religious rites, serves as a judge, healer, an...

Explore the science of why opioids are addictive and what can be done to reverse the growing rates of addiction and overdose. If you or someone you know is struggling with opioid use in the United States, the Department of Health and Human Services operates a helpline (800-662-4357) and has a database of treatment facilities: https://www.hhs.gov/opioids/--In the 1980s and 90s, pharmaceutical compa...

As a young surgeon, Peter Attia felt contempt for a patient with diabetes. She was overweight, he thought, and thus responsible for the fact that she needed a foot amputation. But years later, Attia received an unpleasant medical surprise that led him to wonder: is our understanding of diabetes right? Could the precursors to diabetes cause obesity, and not the other way around? A look at how assum...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-do-we-smell-rose-evelethAn adult human can distinguish up to 10,000 odors. You use your nose to figure out what to eat, what to buy and even when it's time to take a shower. But how do the molecules in the air get translated into smells in your brain? Rose Eveleth charts the smelly journey through your olfactory epithelium and explains why scent can...

There is a corruption at the heart of American politics, caused by the dependence of Congressional candidates on funding from the tiniest percentage of citizens. That's the argument at the core of this blistering talk by legal scholar Lawrence Lessig. With rapid-fire visuals, he shows how the funding process weakens the Republic in the most fundamental way, and issues a rallying bipartisan cry tha...

In this 360° animation, explore the vibrant world of neon signs and learn the science of what makes them glow. --When the Hoover Dam was completed, it created a huge source of hydroelectric power and zapped a sleepy desert town to life: Las Vegas, Nevada. With the power supply from the dam, Las Vegas soon exploded with vibrant displays. The source of these dazzling lights was electrified neon gas....

Your smartphone may feel like a friend -- but a true friend would give you a smile once in a while. At TED2013, Keller Rinaudo demos Romo, the smartphone-powered mini robot who can motor along with you on a walk, slide you a cup of coffee across the table, and react to you with programmable expressions. Talk by Keller Rinaudo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join the Aztec midwife Xoquauhtli as she tends to her patients and honors the warrior goddess Teteoinnan at a festival ushering in the season of warfare.--The midwife Xoquauhtli has a difficult choice to make. She owes a debt to her patron Teteoinnan, the female warrior goddess at the center of the Aztec seasonal festival, who must be kept happy or she will bring bad luck. Xoquauhtli should partic...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-popularity-plight-and-poop-of-penguins-dyan-denapoliPenguins are odd birds. For one, they cannot fly (but they are amazing swimmers), and, contrary to popular belief, the majority of penguin populations live in warmer waters. But these beloved birds are in danger, with populations declining up to 90%. Dyan deNapoli explains the reasons behind the dec...

Dig into the science of coronaviruses and find out how they cause diseases such as SARS, MERS, and COVID-19. --For almost a decade, scientists chased the source of a deadly new virus through China’s tallest mountains and most isolated caverns. They finally found it in the bats of Shitou Cave. The virus in question was a coronavirus that caused an epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or S...

Download a free audiobook version of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" and support TED-Ed's nonprofit mission: https://www.audible.com/ted-edCheck out our full book recommendation: https://shop.ed.ted.com/collections/ted-ed-book-recommendations/products/kalevala--After a skirmish at sea and long days of being battered by waves, Väinämöinen— a powerful bard as old as the world its...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/shakespearean-dating-tips-anthony-john-petersBeyond giving the world dozens of English language masterpieces and inventing countless words (including the word countless), William Shakespeare, ever the overachieving bard, especially had a way with the romantic turn of phrase. Anthony John Peters explains why Shakespeare's coy use of metaphor was so effect...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-true-story-of-true-gina-cookeThe older the word, the longer (and more fascinating) the story. With roots in Old English, 'true' shares etymological ancestors with words like betroth and truce...but also with the word tree. In fact, trees have been metaphors for steadfastness and faithfulness for as long as the word true has defined the same qualities...

Human beings have been campaigning against inequality and poverty for 3,000 years. But this journey is accelerating. Bono "embraces his inner nerd" and shares inspiring data that shows the end of poverty is in sight ... if we can harness the momentum. Talk by Bono. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dig into Arundhati Roy’s “The God of Small Things,” and follow the story of fraternal twins whose lives are destroyed by society’s “Love Laws.” --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 lover is murdered. Th...

Dig into two testing techniques for viruses: PCR tests to diagnose an infection and immunoassays to detect antibodies. --A new virus emerges and spreads like wildfire. In order to contain it, researchers must first collect data about who’s been infected. Two main viral testing techniques are critical: one tells you if you have the virus and the other shows if you’ve already had it. So, how exactly...

The shape, contents and future of the universe are all intricately related. We know that it's mostly flat; we know that it's made up of baryonic matter (like stars and planets), but mostly dark matter and dark energy; and we know that it's expanding constantly, so that all stars will eventually burn out into a cold nothingness. But is there any beauty in this dark ending? Animation by Giant Animat...

Practice more problem-solving at https://brilliant.org/TedEd/--The evil wizard MoldeVort has been trying to kill you for years, and today it looks like he’s going to succeed. But your friends are on their way, and if you can survive until they arrive, they should be able to help stop him. Can you keep MoldeVort trapped long enough for help to arrive? Dan Finkel shows how. Lesson by Dan Finkel, dir...

Follow two astronauts into outer space to explore time dilation and Einstein’s theory of relativity through the Twin Paradox thought experiment. --On their 20th birthday, identical twin astronauts volunteer for an experiment. Terra will remain on Earth, while Stella will board a spaceship. Stella’s ship will travel to visit a star that is 10 light-years away, then return to Earth. As they prepare...

At Camp Diva, Angela Patton works to help girls and fathers stay connected and in each others' lives. But what about girls whose fathers can't be there -- because they're in jail? Patton tells the story of a very special father-daughter dance. (Filmed at TEDxWomen)Talk by Angela Patton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A skyrocketing demand for food means that agriculture has become the largest driver of climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental destruction. At TEDxTC Jonathan Foley shows why we desperately need to begin "terraculture" -- farming for the whole planet. (Filmed at TEDxTC.)Talk by Jonathan Foley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices