TED-Ed

TED-Ed

TED-Ed’s mission is to create lessons worth sharing. Feed and expand your curiosity with our award-winning animated shorts - published on YouTube and available with supplemental learning materials on ed.ted.com. Want to suggest an idea for a TED-Ed animation, nominate an educator or animator? Visit our website at: http://ed.ted.com/get_involved. Consider backing us on Patreon. By doing so, you directly support our nonprofit mission to create free, high-quality educational content: https://www.patreon.com/tededFor more information on using TED-Ed content for commercial purposes (e.g. employee l...

Author

TED-Ed

Category

Education

Latest episode

Jul 11, 2026

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Episodes

CERN's supercollider – Brian Cox 04.07.2026

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/brian-cox-on-cern-s-supercollider"Rock-star physicist" Brian Cox talks about his work on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Discussing the biggest of big science in an engaging and accessible way, Cox brings us along on a tour of the massive project. Talk by Brian Cox. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Uncovering the brain's biggest secret - Melanie E. Peffer 04.07.2026

Explore how a scientist and artist discovered how our brains transmit signals throughout the body, and laid the foundation for modern neuroscience.--In the 1860s, scientists believed they were on the verge of uncovering the brain’s biggest secret: how the brain’s signals travel through the body. They believed these impulses travelled uninterrupted along a massive web of tissue. But soon, a young a...

How did detectives unravel the case of the bloody fingerprints? - Theodore E. Yeshion 04.07.2026

Learn more at https://brilliant.org/TedEd--In 1902, detectives arrived at a grisly murder scene and found a shard of broken glass with several bloody fingerprints. They painstakingly searched the police station’s records and eventually found a match— a man who later confessed to the crime. Today, fingerprints remain one of the most common types of evidence in criminal courts. But just how reliable...

What is “normal” and what is “different”? - Yana Buhrer Tavanier 04.07.2026

Discover where our perception of what is normal comes from, and how it impacts the decisions we make.--The word “normal” is often used as a synonym for "typical," "expected," or even "correct." By that logic, most people should fit the description of normal. But time and time again, so-called normal descriptions of our bodies, minds, and perceptions have turned out to match almost no one. So what...

Imagining a sustainable future - Alex Steffen 04.07.2026

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/alex-steffen-sees-a-sustainable-futureWorldchanging.com founder Alex Steffen argues that reducing humanity's ecological footprint is especially vital now, as the western consumer lifestyle spreads to developing countries. Talk by Alex Steffen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can you unravel the mystery of Pandora's box? - Alex Rosenthal 04.07.2026

TED-Ed has launched its first ever physical game: Pandora's Legacy! Learn more and get your copy here: https://ed.ted.com/pandora--Pandora is having a decisively bad day. She didn’t set out to open the box; if anything she’d resisted with every ounce of her will. But her curiosity got the better of her, and a cavalcade of evils of every shape and size spilled out. Pandora knows her only chance to...

The economic injustice of plastic - Van Jones 04.07.2026

Van Jones lays out a case against plastic pollution from the perspective of social justice. Because plastic trash, he shows us, hits poor people and poor countries "first and worst," with consequences we all share no matter where we live and what we earn. In this powerful talk, he offers a few powerful ideas to help us reclaim our throwaway planet. (Filmed at TEDxGPGP.)Talk by Van Jones. Learn mor...

Pizza physics (New York-style) - Colm Kelleher 04.07.2026

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/pizza-physics-new-york-style-colm-kelleherPeople love eating pizza, but every style of pie has a different consistency. If "New York-style" -- thin, flat, and large -- is your texture of choice, then you've probably eaten a slice that was as messy as it was delicious. Colm Kelleher outlines the scientific and mathematical properties that make folding a s...

The fable of Medusa 04.07.2026

TED-Ed has launched its first ever physical game: Pandora's Legacy! Learn more and get your copy here: https://ed.ted.com/pandora--Medusa, transformed into a monstrous Gorgon by a wrathful Athena, sought refuge in a hidden cave. Time after time, would-be heroes journeyed to the cave to make their names by murdering Medusa— but fell to her gaze every time. Until another young man, Perseus, began hi...

Building a culture of success - Mark Wilson 04.07.2026

Teaching is both a science and an art, and many teachers around the world spend endless hours perfecting their professional practice. At TEDActive 2013, a few teachers from the United States offer some tricks of the trade they've learned (and continue to hone) along the way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why do cancer cells behave differently from healthy ones? - George Zaidan 04.07.2026

Dig into the science of how cancer cells grow, and why its rapid cell division is the disease’s strength— but also its weakness.--How do cancer cells grow? How does chemotherapy fight cancer (and cause negative side effects)? The answers lie in cell division. George Zaidan explains how rapid cell division is cancer's "strength" -- and also its weakness. Lesson by George Zaidan, animation by TED-Ed...

What causes dandruff, and how do you get rid of it? - Thomas L. Dawson 04.07.2026

Explore the head-scratching problem of dandruff, and find out why it happens, and how it can be treated.--On top of our heads, there is a type of yeast that lives and dines on all of our scalps. Feasting constantly, it’s in paradise. And in about half of the human population, its activity causes dandruff. So, why do some people have more dandruff than others? And how can it be treated? Thomas L. D...

What triggered the decline of one of history's most powerful empires? - Mostafa Minawi 04.07.2026

Trace the fall of the Ottoman Empire, which lasted nearly 600 years until their defeat in World War I as part of the Central Powers.--Under cover of darkness in 1909, Sultan Abdulhamid II left Istanbul – bringing an end to his reign. For almost six centuries, his family had ruled the Ottoman Empire, spanning regions in North Africa, southeastern Europe, and the Middle East. But the end of this dyn...

Why doesn't everyone have a jetpack? - Richard Browning 03.07.2026

Explore the physics of how jetpacks fly, and discover the technology that allows pilots to maneuver the engines.--In 1961, Yuri Gagarin piloted a spacecraft in humanity’s first manned space flight. A week later, Bell Aerosystems debuted a gas-powered rocket pack that could fly 35 meters in 13 seconds. Unfortunately, engineers knew this short flight was all the rocket pack could muster. So why was...

What constitutes a hero? - Matthew Winkler 03.07.2026

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-makes-a-hero-matthew-winklerWhat trials unite not only Harry Potter or Frodo Baggins but many of literature's most interesting heroes? And what do ordinary people have in common with these literary heroes? Matthew Winkler takes us step-by-step through the crucial events that make or break a hero. Lesson by Matthew Winkler, animation by Kirill Yerets...

Is this the most disgusting parasite? - Niko Zlotnik 03.07.2026

Get to know the parasite known as the tongue-eating louse, which eats the tongue of a fish and then takes its place permanently.--The infamous tongue-eating louse is one of nearly 400 species belonging to a family of fish parasites. Some latch onto their host’s head, others suck blood from fish gills, and others still burrow into fish flesh. But the Cymothoa exigua goes specifically for fish tongu...

Why do we have to wear sunscreen? - Kevin P. Boyd 03.07.2026

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-do-we-have-to-wear-sunscreen-kevin-p-boydYou already know that a trip to the beach can give you a nasty sunburn, but the nitty gritty of sun safety is actually much more complex. Wrinkle-causing UVA rays and burn-inducing UVB's can pose a serious risk to your health (and good looks). So what can you do? Kevin P. Boyd makes the case to slap on some ph...

Overcoming the scientific divide - Aaron Reedy 03.07.2026

Teaching is both a science and an art, and many teachers around the world spend endless hours perfecting their professional practice. At TEDActive 2013, a few teachers from the United States offer some tricks of the trade they've learned (and continue to hone) along the way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Let's chat about sex - John Bohannon and Black Label Movement 03.07.2026

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/let-s-talk-about-sex-john-bohannon-and-black-label-movementWhat would you tell your younger self about sex if you could? (Starting with the big question: Why does it exist in the first place?) Mixing talk and dance, John Bohannon and Black Label Movement explore why sex exists -- and implore adults to talk honestly to the kids in their lives about the co...

The cunning tactic behind sports betting apps - Shannon Odell 03.07.2026

Dig into the strategies employed by sports betting apps to keep you gambling, and how these tactics can cause addictive behavior.--Sports gambling has become more popular than ever. Mobile apps make it easier to place bets anywhere or anytime, especially for young people who make up the fastest-growing demographic. And the sports betting apps work just like the games in a casino— built to ensure t...

Cutting-edge art (with a sense of humor) - Aparna Rao 03.07.2026

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/aparna-rao-high-tech-art-with-a-sense-of-humorArtist and TED Fellow Aparna Rao reimagines the familiar in surprising, often humorous ways. With her collaborator Soren Pors, Rao creates high-tech art installations -- a typewriter that sends emails, a camera that tracks you through the room only to make you invisible on screen -- that put a playful spin on...

The satisfying math of folding origami - Evan Zodl 03.07.2026

Dig into the mathematical rules and patterns of folding origami, the ancient Japanese art of paper folding. --Origami, which literally translates to “folding paper,” is a Japanese practice dating back to at least the 17th century. In origami, a single, traditionally square sheet of paper can be transformed into almost any shape, purely by folding. The same simple concepts yield everything from a p...

How much does it cost to charter a private plane? - Rachel Yang 03.07.2026

Look into the financial and environmental costs of taking a private jet, and find out what can be done to reduce aviation emissions.--Across 2023 and 2024, one internationally renowned musician flew their private jet 396 times in 365 days. Figures like this aren’t uncommon among the world’s richest jetsetters— in fact, this frequent flier probably isn’t even the celebrity you’re thinking of. So, w...

The myth of Narcissus and Echo - Iseult Gillespie 03.07.2026

Download a free audiobook version of “Atlas of the Heart“ and support TED-Ed's nonprofit mission: https://www.audible.com/ted-ed--One day, Echo was drifting through the woods and fell in love with a handsome young hunter named Narcissus. Cursed by Hera to only repeat the last words spoken by another, Echo was unable to converse with him and was soon cruelly rejected. Heartbroken, she died. Seeing...

The genesis of a word - Deb Roy 03.07.2026

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/deb-roy-the-birth-of-a-wordMIT researcher Deb Roy wanted to understand how his infant son learned language -- so he wired up his house with video cameras to catch every moment (with exceptions) of his son's life, then parsed 90,000 hours of home video to watch "gaaaa" slowly turn into "water." This astonishing, data-rich research has deep implications fo...

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