TED-Ed

In this well-argued talk, Timothy Bartik makes the macro-economic case for preschool education -- and explains why you should be happy to invest in it, even if you don't have kids that age (or kids at all). The economic benefits of well-educated kids, it turns out, go well beyond the altruistic. (Filmed at TEDxMiamiUniversity.) Talk by Timothy Bartik. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaph...

Download a free audiobook version of "The Richest Man in Babylon" and support TED-Ed's nonprofit mission: https://www.audible.com/ted-edCheck out our full book recommendation: https://shop.ed.ted.com/products/the-richest-man-in-babylon--In the 1600s, the Dutch East India Company employed hundreds of ships to trade goods around the globe. In order to fund their voyages, the company turned to privat...

View full lesson: Not all scientific studies are created equal - David H. Schwartz Every day, we are bombarded by attention grabbing headlines that promise miracle cures to all of our ailments -- often backed up by a "scientific study." But what are these studies, and how do we know if they are reliable? David H. Schwartz dissects two types of studies that scientists use, illuminating why you shou...

Dive into Lewis Carroll’s epic nonsense poem, “Jabberwocky” from his novel "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There."--As Alice wanders through the dreamscape of Looking-Glass Land in Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There," she happens across a book written in an unintelligible language. Inside, she discovers an epic poem filled with nonsense, fearsom...

Discover how scientists are analyzing compounds in the breath to create a versatile breathalyzer capable of detecting disease.--How is it that a breathalyzer can measure the alcohol content in someone’s blood, hours after they had their last drink, based on their breath alone? And could we use this same technology to detect disease by analyzing a person’s breath, without having to use more invasiv...

Dive into Albert Camus’ philosophy of the absurd, and explore the question: if the world is meaningless, could our lives still hold value? --Albert Camus grew up surrounded by violence. His homeland of Algeria was mired in conflict. He lost his father in World War I. Seeing World War II's devastation, Camus grew despondent. What was the meaning behind all this endless bloodshed and suffering? And...

Get to know the story of Rasputin, known as the “Mad Monk,” who was assassinated for his involvement with the Russian monarchy.--On a night in 1916, Russian aristocrats set a plot of assassination into motion. If all went as planned, a man would be dead by morning, though others had already tried and failed. The monarchy was on the brink of collapse, and they believed this man was the single cause...

You can use your smartphone to find a local ATM, but what if you need a defibrillator? Lucien Engelen shows us online innovations that are changing the way we save lives, including a crowdsourced map of local defibrillators. (Filmed at TEDxMaastricht.)Talk by Lucien Engelen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discover the history and symbolism of Pablo Picasso’s powerful anti-war mural, “Guernica,” rendered in his signature Cubist style.--In 1937, in one of the worst civilian casualties of the Spanish Civil War, Fascist forces bombed the village of Guernica in Northern Spain. For Pablo Picasso, the tragedy sparked a frenzied period of work in which he produced a massive anti-war mural, titled “Guernica...

In this funny, casual talk from TEDx, writer Jenna McCarthy shares surprising research on how marriages (especially happy marriages) really work. One tip: Do not try to win an Oscar for best actress. (Filmed at TEDxAmericanRiviera.)Talk by Jenna McCarthy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-tsunamis-work-alex-gendlerThe immense swell of a tsunami can grow up to 100 feet, hitting speeds over 500 mph -- a treacherous combination for anyone or anything in its path. Alex Gendler details the causes of these towering terrors and explains how scientists are seeking to reduce their destruction in the future. Lesson by Alex Gendler, animation by...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-most-groundbreaking-scientist-you-ve-never-heard-of-addison-andersonSeventeenth-century Danish geologist Nicolas Steno earned his chops at a young age, studying cadavers and drawing anatomic connections between species. Steno made outsized contributions to the field of geology, influencing Charles Lyell, James Hutton and Charles Darwin. Addison Ander...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/speech-acts-constative-and-performative-colleen-glenney-boggsWhen are words just words, and when do words force action? Linguist J.L. Austin divided words into two categories: constatives (words that describe a situation) and performatives (words that incite action). For instance, is a "No running" sign describing your gait, or are you not running becaus...

An animated interpretation of Denice Frohman's poem "Accents"--Watch an interview with the poet here: https://youtu.be/MbA7hvrDneoThis animation is part of our series, "There's a Poem for That," which features animated interpretations of poems both old and new that give language to some of life's biggest feelings. Check out the full series here: http://bit.ly/TEDEdTheresAPoemForThatPoem by Denice...

Practice more problem-solving at https://brilliant.org/TedEd/ -- After years of war, the world’s kingdoms have come to an agreement. Every five years, teams representing the elves, goblins, and treefolk will compete in a grand tournament of dragon jousting. You have the important job of recording the scores for the inaugural tournament. But, you overslept and the games are already underway. Can yo...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/climate-change-earth-s-giant-game-of-tetris-joss-fongThere's a game of Tetris happening on a global scale: The playing space is planet Earth, and all those pesky, stacking blocks represent carbon dioxide -- a greenhouse gas that is piling up ever more rapidly as we burn the fossil fuels that run our cars, factories and power plants. Joss Fong outlines ho...

We have all changed someone's life -- usually without even realizing it. In this funny talk, Drew Dudley calls on all of us to celebrate leadership as the everyday act of improving each other's lives. (Filmed at TEDxToronto.)Talk by Drew Dudley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Download a free audiobook version of "Sapiens" and support TED-Ed's nonprofit mission: https://www.audible.com/ted-ed Check out our full book recommendation: https://shop.ed.ted.com/collections/ted-ed-book-recommendations/products/sapiens--In the past 3,000 years, many populations have evolved genetic adaptations to their local environments. People in Siberia and the high arctic are uniquely adapt...

Dig into the science of how a single genetic mutation alters the structure of hemoglobin and leads to sickle-cell disease.--What shape are your cells? Squishy cylinders? Jagged zig-zags? You might not spend a lot of time thinking about the bodies of these building blocks, but microscopically, small variations can have huge consequences. And while some adaptations change these shapes for the better...

Where are the baby dinosaurs? In a spellbinding talk paleontologist Jack Horner describes how slicing open fossil skulls revealed a shocking secret about some of our most beloved dinosaurs. (Filmed at TEDxVancouver.)Talk by Jack Horner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/kabuki-the-people-s-dramatic-art-amanda-mattesThe Japanese dance and theater art of kabuki, derived from the word kabuku, meaning "out of the ordinary," can be traced back to the streets of seventeenth-century Kyoto. Kabuki became a dramatic art for the common people, with its use of makeup and facial expressions rather than masks, as well as a playful t...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/are-elvish-klingon-dothraki-and-na-vi-real-languages-john-mcwhorterWhat do Game of Thrones' Dothraki, Avatar's Na'vi, Star Trek's Klingon and LOTR's Elvish have in common? They are all fantasy constructed languages, or conlangs. Conlangs have all the delicious complexities of real languages: a high volume of words, grammar rules, and room for messiness a...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-to-track-a-tornado-karen-kosibaAtmospheric scientist Karen Kosiba studies how tornadoes form and do damage. Getting measurements near the surface of these twisters is difficult, though, and driving into them is a practice mostly reserved for the big screen. In this TEDYouth Talk, Kosiba describes how she and her team use observations and modeling to...

Sebastian Wernicke thinks every TED Talk can be summarized in six words. In this talk, he shows how to do just that -- and less. (Filmed at TEDxZurich.)Talk by Sebastian Wernicke. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The adventure ends! Episode 10: Can Ethic make it to the World Machine and stop Hedge from covering the world in a giant maze? --This is episode 10 of our animated series “Think Like A Coder.” This 10-episode narrative follows a girl, Ethic, and her robot companion, Hedge, as they attempt to save the world. The two embark on a quest to collect three artifacts and must solve their way through a ser...