TED-Ed

Practice more problem-solving at https://brilliant.org/TedEd/Solution to bonus riddle: https://brilliant.org/TedEdTrollParadox/Uploaded 20-12-18You and your brother have discovered another realm and set off exploring the new wonderful world. Along the way, you see a troll catching creatures in an enormous net. The troll agrees to release the creatures if you can come up with a statement that is bo...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-did-dogs-teach-humans-about-diabetes-duncan-c-fergusonUploaded 28-08-14Diabetes 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 Our treatment of it, however, is more recent and was originally made possible with the help of man's best friend.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 countless lives through the discovery of insulin...

Sign up for our newsletter and never miss an animation: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletterUploaded 03-01-19View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-history-of-the-world-according-to-cats-eva-maria-geiglIn ancient times, wildcats were fierce carnivorous hunters. And unlike dogs, who have undergone centuries of selective breeding, modern cats are genetically very similar to ancient cats. How did...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-happens-when-you-remove-the-hippocampus-sam-keanUploaded 26-08-14When Henry Molaison (now widely known as H.M.) cracked his skull in an accident, he began blacking out and having seizures. In an attempt to cure him, daredevil surgeon Dr. William Skoville removed H.M.'s hippocampus. Luckily, the seizures did go away — but so did his long-term memory!...

Sign up for our newsletter and never miss an animation: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletterUploaded 07-01-19View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-thor-got-his-hammer-scott-a-mellorLoki the mischief-maker, writhes in Thor’s iron grip. The previous night, he’d snuck up on Thor’s wife and shorn off her beautiful hair. To fix what he’d done, Loki rushes to the dwarves and tricks them into making...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/feedback-loops-how-nature-gets-its-rhythms-anje-margriet-neutelUploaded 25-08-14While feedback loops are a bummer at band practice, they are essential in nature. What does nature’s feedback look like, and how does it build the resilience of our world? Anje-Margriet Neutel describes some common positive and negative feedback loops, examining how an ecosys...

Explore the possibility of surviving a nuclear explosion and dig into a scientifically supported plan of action in case of a detonation. Uploaded 08-01-19--Nuclear weapons are some of the most powerful tools of destruction on Earth, and the full scope of a nuclear detonation is almost unimaginable. However, there is a scientifically supported plan of action that could save thousands of lives. What...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-can-schrodinger-s-cat-teach-us-about-quantum-mechanics-josh-samaniUploaded 21-08-14The classical physics that we encounter in our everyday, macroscopic world is very different from the quantum physics that governs systems on a much smaller scale (like atoms). One great example of quantum physics’ weirdness can be shown in the Schrödinger's cat thoug...

Sign up for our newsletter and never miss an animation: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletterUploaded 10-01-19View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/can-you-solve-the-multiplying-rabbits-riddle-alex-gendlerAfter years of experiments, you’ve finally created the pets of the future – nano-rabbits! They’re tiny, they’re fuzzy ... and they multiply faster than the eye can see. But a rival lab has sabotag...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-do-tornadoes-form-james-spannUploaded 19-08-14Tornadoes are the most violent storms on Earth, with wind velocities that can exceed 200 miles per hour. How do these terrifying cyclones form? Meteorologist James Spann sheds light on the lifespan of tornadoes as they go from supercell thunderstorms to terrible twisters before eventually dissolving back...

Sign up for our newsletter and never miss an animation: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletterUploaded 14-01-19View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-truth-about-electroconvulsive-therapy-ect-helen-m-farrellIn 1982, a young nurse was suffering from severe, unrelenting depression. She couldn’t work, socialize or concentrate. One controversial treatment changed everything: after two courses of elec...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-past-present-and-future-of-the-bubonic-plague-sharon-n-dewitteUploaded 18-08-14The bubonic plague, which killed around 1/5 of the world’s population in the 14th century, is still around today -- but it now claims only a few thousand lives each year. How did that number shrink so drastically? Sharon N. DeWitte investigates the causes and effects of th...

Find out how students can share their ideas as TED Talks here: http://bit.ly/2zpAQUcUploaded 15-01-19View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-myth-of-pandora-s-box-iseult-gillespiePandora was the first mortal woman, breathed into being by Hephaestus, god of fire. The gods gave her gifts of language, craftsmanship and emotion. From Zeus she received two gifts: the trait of curiosity and a h...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-do-you-know-you-exist-james-zuckerUploaded 14-08-14How do you know you’re real? Is existence all just a big dream? Has some mad scientist duped us into simply believing that we exist? James Zucker investigates all of these questions (and more) in this mind-boggling tribute to René Descartes’s "Meditations on First Philosophy."Lesson by James Zucker,...

Sign up for our newsletter and never miss an animation: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletterUploaded 17-01-19View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-mongolian-queen-anne-f-broadbridgeAs dawn breaks over a moveable city of ten thousand yurts, Queen Boraqchin readies her kingdom for departure to their summer camping grounds. While her husband, the grandson of Genghis Khan, is ou...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-optical-illusions-trick-your-brain-nathan-s-jacobsUploaded 12-08-14Optical illusions are images that seem to trick our minds into seeing something different from what they actually are. But how do they work? Nathan S. Jacobs walks us through a few common optical illusions and explains what these tricks of the eye can tell us about how our brains asse...

Sign up for our newsletter and never miss an animation: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletterUploaded 22-01-19View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-should-you-read-fahrenheit-451-iseult-gillespieRay Bradbury’s novel imagines a world where books are banned- and possessing, let alone reading them, is forbidden. The protagonist, Montag, is a fireman responsible for destroying what remains. The sto...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-secret-lives-of-baby-fish-amy-mcdermottUploaded 11-08-14Coral reef fish, like the yellow tang surgeonfish, begin life in a fascinating and weird way – as tiny floating larvae! These babies are capable of drifting thousands of miles on ocean currents, far from the reefs where they were born. Amy McDermott describes how these tiny trekkers travel acros...

Explore the science of the groundbreaking technology for editing genes, called CRISPR- Cas9, and how the tool could be used to cure diseases. Uploaded 24-01-19--From the smallest single-celled organism to the largest creatures on Earth, every living thing is defined by its genes. With recent advancements, scientists can change an organism’s fundamental features in record time using gene editing to...

Explore how bacteria become resistant to antibiotics and turn into superbugs, and what scientists are doing to stop it. Uploaded 07-08-14--Right now, you are inhabited by trillions of microorganisms. Many of these bacteria are harmless (or even helpful!), but there are a few strains of ‘super bacteria’ that are pretty nasty -- and they’re growing resistant to our antibiotics. Why is this happening...

You’re a vampire hunter entering the enemy’s lair. Can you outsmart this tricky brainteaser and vanquish the vampires? Uploaded 28-01-19--You’ve stealthily descended into the darkness of a vampire cave, setting a sequence of mirrors as you go. When the sun reaches the right angle in the sky, a beam of light will ricochet along the mirrors, strike a diffuser, and illuminate the great chamber where...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-s-hidden-among-the-tallest-trees-on-earth-wendell-oshiroUploaded 05-08-14When Stephen Sillett was a boy, he took to the forests of Pennsylvania with his brother and grandmother. Looking up into the dense branches and leaves, his curiosity was piqued: What was hidden up there? Wendell Oshiro tells the story of an adult Sillett's bold (if not a little...

Find out why Flannery O’Connor, an American novelist, is known as a master of the grotesque in Southern Gothic literature. Uploaded 29-01-19--Flannery O’Connor scribbled tales of outcasts, intruders and misfits staged in the world she knew best: the American South. She was a master of the grotesque, but her work pushed beyond the purely ridiculous and frightening to reveal the variety and nuance o...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-nurdles-quest-for-ocean-domination-kim-preshoffUploaded 04-08-14Nurdles are the tiny, factory-made pellets that form the raw material for every plastic product that we use, from toys to toothbrushes. And while they look pretty harmless on land, they can really wreak havoc on our oceans. Kim Preshoff details the nurdles' quest for ocean domination, sh...

Dive into the science of ocean currents (including the Global Conveyor Belt current), and find out how climate change affects them. Uploaded 31-01-19--In 1992, a cargo ship carrying bath toys got caught in a storm. Shipping containers washed overboard, and the waves swept 28,000 rubber ducks and other toys into the North Pacific. But they didn’t stick together -- the ducks have since washed up all...