TED Talks Daily

The internet was created to connect us, yet many people feel more alone than ever. Reddit cofounder and CEO Steve Huffman explores how social media rewards performance over participation — and offers a timely case for an internet built like a city, with thriving online "neighborhoods" that make space for real human connection. Ready to find your community? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy fo...

Imagine if one day, your quiet neighborhood came alive with a steady hum… and it never went away? All throughout the United States, data centers are popping up next door and in your backyards. These buildings guzzle millions of water, cause noise pollution, and are raising homeowners’ utility bills. In this first episode of a four-part miniseries, Sherrell interviews environmental health scientist...

Silvana Konermann and the team at Arc Institute are trying to crack one of science's most difficult problems: why complex diseases like Alzheimer's and cancer remain so stubbornly unsolvable, even as research advances. Her solution is a universal “virtual cell” — an AI model trained on a billion biological experiments that can read the language of human cells, predict what's going wrong and reveal...

What if the secret to a happy relationship isn’t following the rules, but rewriting them? In this refreshing talk, couples therapist Stephanie R. Yates-Anyabwile explores why letting go of traditional societal expectations of romantic relationships — like sharing the same routines or even, in some cases, living together — can help couples embrace their individuality, reduce conflict and build stro...

Can conflict actually bring you and your partner closer? It depends on how you fight, say Julie and John Gottman, the world's leading relationship scientists. They share why the way couples fight can predict the future of their relationships — and show how anybody can transform conflict into an opportunity for deeper connection and understanding. This episode originally aired in 2024. Hosted on Ac...

Sex is as much mental as it is physical -- and imagination is the most powerful tool we have to expand our personal agency and capacity for pleasure, says sexual wellness storyteller Gina Gutierrez. The founder of audio-erotica company Dipsea, Gutierrez creates immersive audio stories designed to open up space to explore your desires and fantasies on your terms. She shares some tips to inspire you...

Love is a tool for revolutionary change and a path toward inclusivity and understanding for the LGBTQ+ community. Married activists Tiq and Kim Katrin have imagined their marriage -- as a transgender man and cis woman -- a model of possibility for people of every kind. With infectious joy, Tiq and Kim question our misconceptions about who they might be and offer a vision of an inclusive, challengi...

We tend to consider romantic partners and family ties to be our most important relationships, but deep friendships can be just as meaningful. In a perspective-shifting talk, author Rhaina Cohen introduces us to the people unsettling norms by choosing a friend as a life partner — and shows why we're all better off recognizing there's more than one kind of significant other. This episode originally...

14-year-old student Miles Wu is obsessed with origami, transforming everyday scraps of paper into unexpected creations. In a joyful talk, he explores the ancient art form — from making Christmas ornaments and pigeons to folding patterns that can hold 10,000 times their weight — and shows all the possibilities hiding inside a single piece of paper. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more in...

Community Notes on X started with a wild idea: Instead of tech companies deciding what's true, what if you let people fact-check each other? Jay Baxter and Keith Coleman, who helped build the crowdsourced system adding context to misleading posts, discuss how the program reduces viral misinformation — and why people across the political spectrum trust it. In conversation with TED guest curator Aud...

Passion doesn't drive work — fascination does, says venture capitalist and author Bill Gurley. Drawing on years of research into the lives of high achievers, he shows why obsessive, lifelong learning is the real engine of career excellence. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2009, marine biologist Sylvia Earle stood on the TED stage and made a wish: to build a global network of "Hope Spots" and protect the ocean before it's too late. Seventeen years later, she's back to report on what's happened since — and the picture is both more urgent and more hopeful than you might expect. From 100,000 fur seals saved from near-extinction to coral reefs rebuilt clam by clam, E...

In celebration of Pride Month, we’re revisiting conversations with accomplished LGBTQ+ guests—Carol Leifer, Paul Tazewell, Sonya Passi, Leisha Hailey, and Kate Moennig—about the journeys that led them to fulfilling professional lives and the influences that shaped who they are today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does it look like when a city becomes a laboratory for innovation? His Excellency Khalfan Belhoul, CEO of the Dubai Future Foundation, explains why Dubai is cutting the bureaucratic red tape to experiment with big ideas in everything from AI and emerging tech to finance and climate solutions. The future, he says, depends on those willing to test it. (This conversation is hosted by TED's Whitn...

Philanthropy disruptor Sara Lomelin thinks communities can build power through collective giving, or what she calls “giving circles”: groups of people with shared values who come together to make change, strengthen their social fabric and help diverse solutions get funded. Learn the four steps to start a thriving giving circle in your community -- and see how thousands of people worldwide are alre...

Coaches kept telling Maxwell Pearce to stick to the fundamentals. Good thing he didn't listen. A Harlem Globetrotter and artist, he went on to build a global reputation for gravity-defying dunks and a theory that the same playful rule-breaking is what powers progress in every field. In this joyful talk, he makes the case that play isn't the opposite of serious work — it's the secret ingredient beh...

tid127921tid When filmmaker Desiree Akhavan told her Iranian immigrant parents she was in love with a woman, she knew they would object. She explains why it's worth the risk to let people get to know the real you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you want to live in a world where people read, novelist Ann Patchett has news for you: it's your job to help create that reality. Tracing her path from a chance airport encounter through a career writing iconic novels and opening a beloved independent bookstore, she makes the case that reading isn't a private pleasure but a civic act that builds empathy, sustains a "long-format brain" and pulls...

Larz May has spent a decade building digital wellness programs for young people, and she's discovered something quietly radical: the smartphone doom loop of screen dependence and anxiety isn't inevitable, and joy (not restriction) is the way out. She makes the case for a different relationship with technology — starting with swapping screens for some analog fun. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priv...

On today's "Sunday Pick" on TED Talks Daily, we're bring you an episode from the TED Podcast ReThinking with Adam Grant . You probably know Kristen Bell as the star behind characters like Veronica Mars, Princess Anna from Frozen , and Eleanor from The Good Place . In this episode, Adam sits down with Kristen live at BetterUp’s Uplift leadership summit to examine how she’s learning to overcome her...

Control is an illusion — and the leaders who chase it are holding their teams back. Workplace culture expert Jessica Kriegel explores the tactic that leaders who want to achieve extraordinary results should try instead. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Humans aren't just social — we're ultrasocial, wired like bees and ants for deep connection. So what happens when smartphones take over childhood, tablets replace textbooks and AI companies infiltrate our kids’ lives? Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out three principles of technoskepticism — and explains why, two years after sounding the alarm in “The Anxious Generation,” he's more concern...

Drones aren't just weapons of war; they're becoming first responders, infrastructure inspectors and guardians of the grid. Adam Bry, who leads the top drone manufacturer in the US, shows how autonomous drones are transforming emergency response and public safety — from detecting faulty power lines and preventing wildfires to catching crime in real time. During his talk, he demos the technology liv...

Mark Rober spent years trying to land a rover on Mars. Now, the former NASA engineer turned science YouTuber with millions of subscribers is launching a new mission: to teach the next generation of big problem solvers. That's why he's spending 60 million dollars to build a STEM curriculum kids actually want. With squirrel obstacle courses, giant lasers and elephant toothpaste explosions, who would...

What if the path to peace starts with self-interest? After four decades inside some of the world's most dangerous conflict zones, mediator Hiba Qasas has learned that most peacebuilding efforts get it wrong from the start. She makes a provocative case that conciliation shouldn't begin with empathy — and reveals how leading with shared incentives brought hundreds of Israeli and Palestinian leaders...