TED-Ed

Get to know the story of Shajar Al-Durr, who was born enslaved and rose to become the ruler of Egypt.--The year is 1249 CE. King Louis IX is sailing the Nile, threatening to overthrow the sultan and capture Egypt. Egypt’s commanders ask the sultan’s wife, Shajar Al-Durr, to report this news to the injured sultan. But they don’t know the truth: the sultan is dead, and she is secretly ruling in his...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-business-logic-of-sustainability-ray-andersonAt his carpet company, Ray Anderson has increased sales and doubled profits while turning the traditional "take / make / waste" industrial system on its head. In a gentle, understated way, he shares a powerful vision for sustainable commerce. Talk by Ray Anderson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit me...

Discover the groundbreaking environmental work of Rachel Carson, whose book “Silent Spring” explores how human actions threaten the balance of nature. --In 1958, after receiving a letter describing the deaths of songbirds due to the pesticide known as DDT, Rachel Carson began an investigation into the misuse of chemicals and their toll on nature. In 1962, she published her findings in “Silent Spri...

Learn about the Greek physician and philosopher Galen of Pergamon, whose experiments and discoveries changed medicine.--In the 16th century, an anatomist named Andreas Vesalius made a shocking discovery: the most famous human anatomy texts in the world were wrong. While Vesalius knew he was right, announcing the errors would mean challenging Galen of Pergamon. Who was this towering figure? And why...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-tribes-we-lead-seth-godinSeth Godin argues the Internet has ended mass marketing and revived a human social unit from the distant past: tribes. Founded on shared ideas and values, tribes give ordinary people the power to lead and make big change. He urges us to do so. Talk by Seth Godin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dig into the benefits of practicing gratitude in your everyday life, and discover how being thankful can impact your happiness.--Many people would say the connection between happiness and gratefulness is very simple: when you are happy, you are grateful. But think again. Is it really the happy people that are grateful? Quite a number of people have everything that it would take to be happy, and th...

Trace the history of Chinese characters, and find out how this writing system has changed and evolved over thousands of years.--According to legend, in the 27th century BCE, the Yellow Emperor of China charged his historian, Cangjie, to develop a system of writing. Sitting alongside a riverbank, Cangjie noted the imagery that surrounded him. From this, he created the first Chinese characters. So,...

Travel back in time to ancient Mesopotamia and meet Enheduanna, a high priestess and the world’s first author.--4,300 years ago in ancient Sumer, the most powerful person in the city of Ur was banished to wander the vast desert. Her name was Enheduanna, and by the time of her exile, she had written forty-two hymns and three epic poems— and Sumer hadn’t heard the last of her. Who was this woman, an...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-history-of-marriage-alex-gendlerA white, puffy dress. Eternal love. A joint tax return. Marriage means something different to everyone and has changed over time and across cultures. Alex Gendler traces the history of getting hitched, providing insights on polygamy, same-sex unions and even marriage between the dead and the living. Lesson by Alex Gend...

In this accessible talk from TEDxBoston, Richard Resnick shows how cheap and fast genome sequencing is about to turn health care (and insurance, and politics) upside down. (Filmed at TEDxBoston.)Talk by Richard Resnick. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What would happen if we could generate power from our windowpanes? In this moving talk, entrepreneur Justin Hall-Tipping shows the materials that could make that possible, and how questioning our notion of 'normal' can lead to extraordinary breakthroughs. Talk by Justin Hall-Tipping. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get to know Pablo Neruda, one of the most celebrated poets of the 20th century and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.--A romantic and a revolutionary, Pablo Neruda was one of the most celebrated poets of the 20th century, but also one of the most accessible and controversial. Originally written in Spanish, his poems often use straightforward language and everyday experience to create lasting...

Your mobile phone, computer and game console have a bloody past — tied to tantalum mining, which funds the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Drawing on his personal story, activist and refugee Bandi Mbubi gives a stirring call to action. (Filmed at TEDxExeter.) Talk by Bandi Mbubi. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robots and algorithms are getting good at jobs like building cars, writing articles, translating -- jobs that once required a human. So what will we humans do for work? Andrew McAfee walks through recent labor data to say: We ain't seen nothing yet. But then he steps back to look at big history, and comes up with a surprising and even thrilling view of what comes next. (Filmed at TEDxBoston.) Talk...

Get to know the Greek myth of Cadmus, who unknowingly killed Ares’ serpent and faced the wrath and retribution of the gods.--When Cadmus walked the Earth, just a few generations separated him from his divine ancestors. From atop Mount Olympus, they scrutinized and meddled with mortals like himself. Cadmus was a skilled warrior and heir to the Phoenician throne, but he wouldn’t stay in the gods’ fa...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-legislation-that-birthed-the-republican-party-ben-labaree-jrYou may think that things are heated in Washington today, but the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 had members of Congress so angry they pulled out their weapons -- and formed the Republican Party. The issues? Slavery and states' rights, which led the divided nation straight into the Civil War. B...

Dig into the science of how heat pumps both heat and cool a home, and find out the benefits and drawbacks of this technology.--Typically, with any piece of technology, you pump one unit of energy in and you get about one out. That’s just the first law of thermodynamics: energy has to be conserved. But there’s a piece of technology called a heat pump, where for every bit of energy you put in, you g...

Human cannibalism is a lot more common than you might think. Dive into its complex history and see its uses in medicine, cultural rituals and in times of survival. --15th century Europeans believed they had hit upon a miracle cure: a remedy for epilepsy, hemorrhage, bruising, nausea and virtually any other medical ailment. It was a brown powder known as “mumia,” and was made by grinding up mummifi...

Timothy Prestero thought he'd designed the perfect incubator for newborns in the developing world -- but his team learned a hard lesson when it failed to go into production. A manifesto on the importance of designing for real-world use, rather than accolades. (Filmed at TEDxBoston.) Talk by Timothy Prestero. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/eli-the-eel-a-mysterious-migration-james-prosekThey're slippery. They're slithery. And while they totally look like underwater snakes, eels are, in fact, unique fish that can breathe through their skin and even survive out of water. James Prosek tracks the life journey of Eli the Anguilla eel as she (yes, she) travels her mysterious "backward" migration...

Discover what we know— and don’t know— about the symptoms, causes, and treatments of schizophrenia. --Schizophrenia was first identified more than a century ago, but we still don’t know its exact causes. It remains one of the most misunderstood and stigmatized illnesses today. So what do we actually know about its symptoms, causes, and treatments? Anees Bahji investigates. Lesson by Anees Bahji, d...

Dig into the incredible engineering of the Netherlands’ Delta Works— the most sophisticated flood prevention system in the world. --In January 1953, a tidal surge shook the North Sea. The titanic waves flooded the Dutch coastline, killing almost 2,000 people. 54 years later, a similar storm threatened the region. But this time, they were ready. This was thanks to a massive, interlocking system kno...

Check out the fascinating science behind the evolution of the turtle shell, over 260 million years in the making. --Modern turtle shells are almost as diverse as the turtles themselves. Sea turtles have flatter, lighter shells for gliding through the water. Land-dwelling tortoises have domed shells that can slip free of predators’ jaws. Leatherback turtles have shells without the ring of bone arou...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-one-teenager-unearthed-baseball-s-untold-history-cam-perronTeenager Cam Perron loved baseball, so he began writing letters to the veteran players on his baseball cards. He only wanted autographs, but eventually acquired something even richer: the often unsung history of the Negro leagues. After hearing the stories, Cam took it upon himself to help fo...

Dive into the life of one of Ancient Rome’s most powerful figures, Hypatia of Alexandria, a renowned scholar and political advisor to the city's leaders.--In the city of Alexandria in 415 CE, the bishop and the governor were in a fight. It started with a disagreement over the behavior of a militia of monks, and ended with an accusation of witchcraft leveled against one of the most powerful figures...