TED-Ed

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/string-theory-and-the-hidden-structures-of-the-universe-clifford-johnsonWhat is everything made of? Thus far, we can break everything in the universe down to a few very small elementary particles. But they fit into strange patterns that are not understood. Some scientists believe that this is because we can go deeper - perhaps to simple vibrating strings...

Explore the prevailing scientific theory of why crooked teeth and impacted wisdom teeth are recent developments in human evolution.--According to the fossil record, ancient humans usually had straight teeth, complete with wisdom teeth. In fact, the dental dilemmas that fuel the demand for braces and wisdom teeth extractions today appear to be recent developments. So, what happened? While it’s near...

Get to know avant-garde music composer John Cage, whose work challenged the boundaries between music and noise.--In 1960, composer John Cage went on television to share his latest work. But rather than using traditional instruments, Cage appeared surrounded by household clutter, including a bathtub, ice cubes, a toy fish, a rubber duck, several radios, and performed “Water Walk.” Most people watch...

As you surf the Web, information is being collected about you. Web tracking is not 100% evil -- personal data can make your browsing more efficient; cookies can help your favorite websites stay in business. But, says Gary Kovacs, it's your right to know what data is being collected about you and how it affects your online life. He unveils a Firefox add-on to do just that. Talk by Gary Kovacs. Lear...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/animation-basics-the-optical-illusion-of-motion-ted-edHow do animators make still images come to life? Are the images really moving, or are they merely an optical illusion? TED-Ed takes you behind the scenes to reveal the secret of motion in movies. Lesson and animation by TED-Ed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trace the rise and fall of the Mughal Empire, which became one of the wealthiest and most powerful states in the early modern world.--Though he was descended from some of the world’s most successful conquerors, Babur struggled to gain a foothold among the many other ambitious princes in Central Asia. So he turned his attention to India, where his descendants stayed and built the Mughal Empire. Ste...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/dare-to-educate-afghan-girls-shabana-basij-rasikhImagine a country where girls must sneak out to go to school, with deadly consequences if they get caught learning. This was Afghanistan under the Taliban, and traces of that danger remain today. 22-year-old Shabana Basij-Rasikh runs a school for girls in Afghanistan. She celebrates the power of a family's...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/pavlovian-reactions-aren-t-just-for-dogs-benjamin-n-wittsDr. Ivan Pavlov's groundbreaking work revealed that a dog will respond to neutral stimuli, such as a bell, in the same way that it will respond to, say, mouth-watering food. This research is widely applicable beyond a dog's salivation. Benjamin N. Witts sketches a few situations in which people are...

Find out what expiration date labels on food actually mean, and discover ways communities and governments can lessen food waste. --Countries around the world waste huge amounts of food every year: roughly a fifth of food items in the US are tossed because consumers aren’t sure how to interpret expiration labels. But most groceries are still perfectly safe to eat past their expiration dates. If the...

Dig into why ethnic diversity is so important to medical research when creating new treatments and medicines for diseases.--While all humans share 99.9% of our DNA, differences in the remaining 0.1% hold important clues about the causes of diseases—and their potential treatments. The problem is, the genetics that researchers are combing through are heavily biased to those of people from European d...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/from-mach-20-glider-to-humming-bird-drone-regina-dugan"What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?" asks Regina Dugan, then director of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. In this breathtaking talk she describes some of the extraordinary projects -- a robotic hummingbird, a prosthetic arm controlled by thought, and, wel...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-search-for-other-planets-olivier-guyonBillions of stars. Billions of galaxies. A thousand years just to count all of the stars in our galaxy and then another thousand to count the galaxies in the universe. At TEDYouth 2012, Olivier Guyon examines the possibility of finding other planets within these astronomical numbers, some potentially rife with li...

Trace the history of anesthesia from the 3rd century to today, and explore how doctors performed surgery before anesthetic drugs.--The quest for anesthetics that could induce unconsciousness and enable more meticulous surgeries began around the early 3rd century CE. Before anesthesia was widely used, patients had to consciously endure every moment of surgery. So, what methods did doctors use befor...

Explore the history of the toilet and how waste management has evolved from from ancient Mesopotamia to modern day.--On sunny days, citizens of ancient Rome could be found exchanging news and gossip while attending to more urgent business at the public latrines. Today, most cultures consider trips to the restroom to be a more private occasion. But even when going alone, our shared sewage infrastru...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/a-giant-bubble-for-debate-liz-dillerHow do you make a great public space inside a not-so-great building? Liz Diller shares the story of creating a welcoming, lighthearted (even, dare we say it, sexy) addition to the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC. (From The Design Studio session at TED2012, guest-curated by Chee Pearlman and David Rockwell.)Talk by L...

Dig into the history of the Papal Schism, which caused a split in the Catholic Church while 3 popes vied for supremacy. --For almost two millennia, the Pope has been a figure of supreme spiritual authority for Catholics around the world. But in the late 14th century, Catholics found themselves with not one, not two, but three popes. Where did this plethora of popes come from? And who among them wa...

Dig into the phenomenon of face pareidolia, which is the tendency of our brains to see faces in everyday objects.--Imagine opening a bag of chips, only to find Santa Claus looking back at you. Or turning a corner to see a building smiling at you. Humans see faces in all kinds of mundane objects, but these faces aren’t real— they're illusions due to a phenomenon known as face pareidolia. So why exa...

Coding isn't just for computer whizzes, says Mitch Resnick of MIT Media Lab -- it's for everyone. In a fun, demo-filled talk Resnick outlines the benefits of teaching kids to code, so they can do more than just "read" new technologies -- but also create them. (Filmed at TEDxBeaconStreet.)Talk by Mitch Resnick. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is there more than one universe? In this visually rich, action-packed talk, Brian Greene shows how the unanswered questions of physics (starting with a big one: What caused the Big Bang?) have led to the theory that our own universe is just one of many in the "multiverse."Talk by Brian Greene. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dig into geoengineering, which uses technology to manipulate Earth’s environments to counteract climate change.--In 1815, Mount Tambora erupted and its emissions spread across the globe, blotting out the sun for almost an entire year. This wreaked havoc on agriculture, leading to famines all across the Northern hemisphere. It was the year without summer— one of the darkest periods in human history...

Witness the clash of mythology’s speediest supernaturals in an epic race and find out which creature is the fastest.--It’s time for the Myth Olympics: the eternal arena in which creatures and deities compete for glory. Almost every mythical tradition claims one creature as the fastest— from goddesses who run like the wind to creatures who outstrip every captor. So, who will emerge victorious in a...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-much-does-a-video-weigh-michael-stevensWhat color is a mirror? How much does a video weigh? Michael Stevens, creator of the popular educational YouTube channel Vsauce, spends his day asking quirky questions like these. In this talk he shows how asking the right -- seemingly silly -- questions can make incredibly effective lessons. Talk by Michael Ste...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/hans-rosling-shows-the-best-stats-you-ve-ever-seenYou've never seen data presented like this. With the drama and urgency of a sportscaster, statistics guru Hans Rosling debunks myths about the so-called "developing world."Talk by Hans Rosling. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dig into the psychological benefits of positive self-talk, and find out when it can become problematic.--Being caught talking to yourself can feel embarrassing, and some people even stigmatize this behavior as a sign of mental instability. But decades of research show that talking to yourself is completely normal; most if not all of us engage in some form of self-talk every day. So why do we talk...

Our medical systems are broken. Doctors are capable of extraordinary (and expensive) treatments, but they are losing their core focus: actually treating people. Doctor and writer Atul Gawande suggests we take a step back and look at new ways to do medicine -- with fewer cowboys and more pit crews. Talk by Atul Gawande. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices