TED-Ed

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-is-glass-transparent-mark-miodownikIf you look through your glasses, binoculars or a window, you see the world on the other side. How is it that something so solid can be so invisible? Mark Miodownik melts the scientific secret behind amorphous solids. Lesson by Mark Miodownik, animation by Provincia Studio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit me...

Learn about the life of World War II spy Noor Inayat Khan and how she worked with the French Resistance to build the network that defeated the Nazis.--In May 1940, with the German army ready to occupy Paris, Noor Inayat Khan was faced with a difficult choice: stand on the sidelines or join the Allied forces fighting the Nazis. After witnessing the devastation across Europe, she travelled to Englan...

Discover how the English Channel Tunnel was built and the engineering challenges of building a 200 kilometer long tunnel underwater.--Flanked by two powerful nations, the English Channel has long been one of the world’s most important maritime passages. Yet for most of its history, crossing was a dangerous prospect. Engineers proposed numerous plans for spanning the gap, including a design for an...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-pangaea-pop-up-michael-molina/The supercontinent Pangaea, with its connected South America and Africa, broke apart 200 million years ago. But the continents haven't stopped shifting -- the tectonic plates beneath our feet (in Earth's two top layers, the lithosphere and the asthenosphere) are still traveling at about the rate your fingernails grow. Mi...

Autonomous cars are coming -- and they're going to drive better than you. Chris Gerdes reveals how he and his team are developing robotic race cars that can drive at 150 mph while avoiding every possible accident. And yet, in studying the brainwaves of professional racing drivers, Gerdes says he has gained a new appreciation for the instincts of professional drivers. (Filmed at TEDxStanford.)Talk...

Discover the science of how viruses can jump from one species to another and the deadly epidemics that can result from these pathogens.--At a Maryland country fair in 2017, farmers reported feverish hogs with inflamed eyes and running snouts. While farmers worried about the pigs, the department of health was concerned about a group of sick fairgoers. Soon, 40 of these attendees would be diagnosed...

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-percentage-of-your-brain-do-you-use-richard-e-cytowicTwo thirds of the population believes a myth that has been propagated for over a century: that we use only 10% of our brains. Hardly! Our neuron-dense brains have evolved to use the least amount of energy while carrying the most information possible -- a feat that requires the entire brain. Richard E. Cytowic debun...

Download a free audiobook version of "Why We Sleep" 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/why-we-sleep--Working in Vienna at the turn of the 20th century, he began his career as a neurologist before pioneering the discipline of psychoanalysis, and his in...

Practice more problem-solving at https://brilliant.org/TedEd/ --According to legend, once every thousand years a host of sea monsters emerges from the depths to demand tribute from the floating city of Atlantartica. As the ruler of the city, you’d always dismissed the stories… until today, when they rose out of the roiling waters, surrounded your city and demanded a ransom of pearls. Can you figur...

Get to know the unique properties of quantum computers and the obstacles that have prevented this theoretical technology from becoming a reality. --Quantum computers could eventually outstrip the computational limits of classical computers. They rely on the behavior of atomic and subatomic particles, whose quantum states are incredibly fragile and easily destroyed— which is why this technology rem...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/want-to-be-an-activist-start-with-your-toys-mckenna-popeMcKenna Pope's younger brother loved to cook, but he worried about using an Easy-Bake Oven -- because it was a toy for girls. So at age 13, Pope started an online petition for the American toy company Hasbro to change the pink-and-purple color scheme on the classic toy and incorporate boys into its...

You might have a 5-year plan, but what about a 200-year plan? Artist Raghava KK has set his eyes on an ultra-long-term horizon; at TEDxSummit, he shows how it helps guide today's choices and tomorrow's goals -- and encourages you to make your own 200-year plan too. Talk by Raghava KK. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-earth-s-age-in-measurements-you-can-understand-joshua-m-sneidemanThe Earth is 4.6 billion years old -- but how can humans relate to a number so colossal, and where do we fit on the geologic timeline? Comparing the Earth's lifetime to one calendar year, events like the extinction of dinosaurs and Columbus setting sail took place relatively recently. J...

A bug in the superconductor system has trapped your team in 11 separate dimensions. Can you get them back home safely? --It was a normal Tuesday at the superconductor, until a bug in the system caused your team to be trapped in 11 separate dimensions. Fortunately, there’s a half-finished experimental teleportation robot that may be able to get you all home... if you can figure out how to work it....

Discover how the notorious art forger Han van Meegeren tricked the world— and the Nazis— with his counterfeit Vermeer paintings.--It was one of the strangest trials in Dutch history. The defendant in a 1947 case was an art forger who had counterfeited millions of dollars worth of paintings. But he wasn’t arguing his innocence— in fact, his life depended on proving that he had committed fraud. Who...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/animation-basics-the-art-of-timing-and-spacing-ted-edExpert timing and spacing is what separates a slide show from a truly amazing animation. TED-Ed demonstrates, by manipulating various bouncing balls, how the smallest adjustments from frame to frame can make all the difference. Lesson and animation by TED-Ed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit meg...

Follow the entwined destinies of Kafka and Nakata in Haruki Murakami’s mind-bending novel “Kafka on the Shore.”--Desperate to escape his tyrannical father and the family curse he feels doomed to repeat, Haruki Murakami’s teenage protagonist renames himself “Kafka” after his favorite author and runs away from home. So begins “Kafka on the Shore”— an epic literary puzzle filled with time travel, hid...

Prompted by the Encyclopaedia Britannica ending its print publication, performance poet Rives resurrects a game from his childhood. Speaking at the TEDxSummit in Doha, Rives takes us on a charming tour through random (and less random) bits of human knowledge: from Chimborazo, the farthest point from the center of the Earth, to Ham the Astrochimp, the first chimpanzee in outer space. Talk by Rives....

What causes the sensation of déjà vu? Dive into the theories and psychology that could explain why you’re having that feeling… again. --You might have felt it -- the feeling that you've experienced something before, but, in reality, the experience is brand new. There are over 40 theories that attempt to explain the phenomenon of déjà vu. Michael Molina explains how neuroimaging and cognitive psych...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-fast-are-you-moving-right-now-tucker-hiatt"How fast are you moving?" seems like an easy question, but it's actually quite complicated -- and perhaps best answered by another question: "Relative to what?" Even when you think you're standing still, the Earth is moving relative to the Sun, which is moving relative to the Milky Way, which is...you get th...

Join the Cossack soldier Stepan as he tries to keep order in the battalion and help his people regain their independence. --The year is 1676, and a treaty has officially ended hostilities between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire. Despite a serene sunset on the Dnipro river, the mood is tense for the Zaporozhian Cossacks. Renowned as one of Europe’s most formidable military...

Follow alcohol on its journey through the body to find out how it causes drunkenness and why it affects people differently. -- Ethanol: this molecule, made of little more than a few carbon atoms, is responsible for drunkenness. Often simply referred to as alcohol, ethanol is the active ingredient in alcoholic beverages. So how exactly does it cause drunkenness, and why does it have dramatically di...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/biodiesel-the-afterlife-of-oil-natascia-radiceHow could you dispose of your cooking oil when you're done cooking? The easiest thing to do might be to pour it down your drain -- but if you save it up and send it to a processing plant, it can gain useful new life as biodiesel, a biodegradable energy source which can run in diesel engines instead of refined...

Meet Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, and follow his journey to the Realm of the Dead and his fierce battle to escape the underworld.--The Monkey King, a legendary troublemaker hatched from stone and schooled in divine magic, had stolen the Dragon Lord’s most treasured weapon: a magical staff. Returning to his kingdom to show off his treasure to his tribe of warrior monkeys, he finds himself caught in...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-higgs-field-explained-don-lincolnOne of the most significant scientific discoveries of the early 21st century is surely the Higgs boson, but the boson and the Higgs Field that allows for that magic particle are extremely difficult to grasp. Don Lincoln outlines an analogy that all of us can appreciate, starring a large dinner party, a raucous group o...