TED-Ed

Dig into the ancient manuscripts, scrolls, and books of Timbuktu— and find out why they’ve been hidden for centuries. --On the edge of the vast Sahara desert, citizens snuck out of the city of Timbuktu and took to the wilderness. They buried chests in the desert sand, hid them in caves, and sealed them in secret rooms. Inside these chests was a treasure more valuable than gold: the city’s ancient...

Dig into the burden of proof fallacy, which assumes that something is true unless proven false and relies on arguments from ignorance.--It’s 1950. Anti-communist sentiment in the United States is at an all-time high. Senator Joseph McCarthy claims he has a list of communists who are influencing government policy. He makes his first accusation without providing any legitimate evidence, yet the sena...

Discover how scientists are using light and integrated photonics technology to create medical devices that can diagnose illness.--It’s an increasingly common sight in hospitals around the world: a nurse measures our height, weight, blood pressure, and attaches a glowing plastic clip to our finger. Suddenly, a digital screen reads out the oxygen level in our bloodstream. How did that happen? Sajan...

Learn how Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, and how the antibiotic has changed medicine and the treatment of infections. --In 1928, scientist Alexander Fleming returned to his lab and found something unexpected: a colony of mold growing on a Petri dish he’d forgotten to place in his incubator. And around this colony of mold was a zone completely and surprisingly clear of bacteria. What was...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/lee-hotz-inside-an-antarctic-time-machineScience columnist Lee Hotz describes a remarkable project at WAIS Divide, Antarctica, where a hardy team are drilling into ten-thousand-year-old ice to extract vital data on our changing climate. Robert Lee Hotz is the science columnist for the Wall Street Journal, where he writes about cutting-edge research on cl...

Learn about the science of stem cells and how these incredible, transforming cells could lead to personalized medicine for individual bodies.--Is personalized medicine for individual bodies in our future? Possibly -- with the use of stem cells, undifferentiated cells with the power to become any tissue in our bodies. Craig A. Kohn describes the role of these incredible, transforming cells and how...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/janet-echelman-taking-imagination-seriouslyJanet Echelman found her true voice as an artist when her paints went missing -- which forced her to look to an unorthodox new art material. Now she makes billowing, flowing, building-sized sculpture with a surprisingly geeky edge. A transporting 10 minutes of pure creativity. Talk by Janet Echelman. Learn more...

Dive into the most popular milks— dairy, almond, soy and oat— to find out which is healthiest for you and for the planet.--If you go to the store in search of milk, there are a dizzying number of products to choose from. There’s dairy milk, but also plant-based products such as almond, soy, and oat milks. So which milk is actually best for you? And which uses the fewest resources and produces the...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/pixar-the-math-behind-the-movies-tony-deroseThe folks at Pixar are widely known as some of the world's best storytellers and animators. They are perhaps less recognized as some of the most innovative math whizzes around. Pixar Research Lead Tony DeRose delves into the math behind the animations, explaining how arithmetic, trigonometry and geometry help b...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-is-love-brad-troegerIs love a signal winding through your neural pathways? A cliche? A cult? Love is easy to compare but difficult to define, maybe because we're fundamentally biased; we try to define love while falling in or out of it. And love feels differently to every person who feels it, but this subjective emotion has evolutionary explanations...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-true-power-of-the-performing-arts-ben-cameronArts administrator and live-theater fan Ben Cameron looks at the state of the live arts -- asking: How can the magic of live theater, live music, live dance compete with the always-on Internet? In his talk, he offers a bold look forward. (Filmed at TEDxYYC.) Talk by Ben Cameron. Learn more about your ad ch...

How can trees help in the fight against climate change? Dig into the efforts to rebuild damaged ecosystems and reduce carbon emissions.--Today humanity produces more than 1,400 tons of carbon every minute. To combat climate change, we need to reduce fossil fuel emissions, and draw down excess CO2 to restore the balance of greenhouse gases. Like all plants, trees consume atmospheric carbon through...

Test your wits with a set of hypothetical health studies and find out just how good you are at spotting clickbait.--Health headlines are published every day, sometimes making opposite claims from each other. There can be a disconnect between broad, attention-grabbing headlines and the often specific, incremental results of the medical research they cover. So how can you avoid being misled by grabb...

Dig into the history of the construction of the iconic Brooklyn Bridge and how John Roebling designed a hybrid suspension system to build it. --In the mid-19th century, suspension bridges were collapsing all across Europe. Their industrial cables frayed and snapped under the weight of their decks. So when German American engineer John Roebling proposed building the largest and most expensive suspe...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/rnai-slicing-dicing-and-serving-your-cells-alex-dainisRNA, the genetic messenger, makes sure the DNA recipe gives your cells exactly what they ordered. But sometimes that means inhibiting some other RNA that got the recipe wrong. This process is called RNA interference (RNAi), and it acts as a self-correcting system within the complicated genetic kitchen...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-fundamentals-of-space-time-part-1-andrew-pontzen-and-tom-whyntieSpace is where things happen. Time is when things happen. And sometimes, in order to really look at the universe, you need to take those two concepts and mash them together. In this first lesson of a three-part series on space-time, hilarious hosts Andrew Pontzen and Tom Whyntie go throu...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-game-layer-on-top-of-the-world-seth-priebatschBy now, we're used to letting Facebook and Twitter capture our social lives on the web -- building a "social layer" on top of the real world. In his talk, Seth Priebatsch looks at the next layer in progress: the "game layer," a pervasive net of behavior-steering game dynamics that will reshape education a...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/jane-chen-a-warm-embrace-that-saves-livesIn the developing world, access to incubators is limited by cost and distance, and millions of premature babies die each year. TED Fellow Jane Chen shows an invention that could keep millions of these infants warm -- a design that's safe, portable, low-cost and life-saving. Talk by Jane Chen. Learn more about your...

This riddle was created in partnership with Brilliant. Practice more problem solving here: https://brilliant.org/TedEd/ --Someone has tripped the magical alarms in the Element Temple. When you and the other monks arrive on the scene, you know you have a disaster on your hands. Four young apprentices broke into the temple’s inner chamber to steal the sacred element crystals. But when the alarm went...

Can we end HIV? Find out how medications like PrEP are helping to prevent the transmission and spread of HIV, and possibly leading to its eradication. --The world is getting closer to achieving one of the most important public health goals of our time: eradicating HIV. And to do this, we won’t even have to cure the disease. We simply have to stop HIV from being transmitted until eventually it fizz...

Learn the history of Viking runes, the ancient Norse language of symbols that make up an alphabet called the futhark.--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 settlements provide the keys to their culture...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/a-trip-through-space-to-calculate-distance-heather-tunnellImagine two aliens racing across outer space to their moon. Who can we deem the fastest alien? With DIRT -- or the equation Distance = Rate x Time -- we can calculate their rates, using the distance they traveled and the time they took. Heather Tunnell explains how to use this helpful equation to...

Follow the legend of Parvati, the Hindu mother of the natural world, as she disappears from Earth and reemerges as Annapurna, the goddess of food. --Historically, the union between Shiva and Parvati was a glorious one: a sacred combination which brought fertility and connection to all living things. Yet a rift had grown between these two forces. Setting out to prove the importance of her work, Par...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/dead-stuff-the-secret-ingredient-in-our-food-chain-john-c-mooreWhen you picture the lowest levels of the food chain, you might imagine herbivores happily munching on lush, living green plants. But this idyllic image leaves out a huge (and slightly less appetizing) source of nourishment: dead stuff. John C. Moore details the "brown food chain," explaining...

Explore the strategies employed by trolls and learn how disinformation campaigns are launched— and how to stop them.--Your town is holding a mayoral election and the stakes have never been higher. You suspect one of the candidates will begin pushing false information to swing the election. As the cybersecurity expert, your job is to inoculate the townspeople against false information. First, you m...