TED-Ed

When the son of the president of a desperately poor country starts buying mansions and sportscars on an official monthly salary of $7,000, Charmian Gooch suggests, corruption is probably somewhere in the picture. In a blistering, eye-opening talk (and through several specific examples), she details how global corruption trackers follow the money -- to some surprisingly familiar faces. Talk by Char...

Explore the history of IQ tests; how they measure a person’s intelligence and the ways they have been used to justify scientifically baseless ideologies. --In 1905, psychologists Alfred Binet and Théodore Simon designed a test for children who were struggling in school in France. Designed to determine which children required individualized attention, their method formed the basis of the modern IQ...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-to-build-a-fictional-world-kate-messnerWhy is J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy so compelling? How about The Matrix or Harry Potter? What makes these disparate worlds come alive are clear, consistent rules for how people, societies -- and even the laws of physics -- function in these fictional universes. Author Kate Messner offers a few tric...

Explore the wonderfully bizarre life of the sea cucumber, and discover the essential role they play in keeping ocean ecosystems healthy.--Is it a fuzzy sock? An overripe banana? A moldy tube of toothpaste? No! In fact, it’s a humble sea cucumber: a brainless, fleshy form surrounding a digestive tract, and bookended by a mouth and an anus. And while it might look odd, its daily toil paves the way f...

More and more people worldwide are living in countries not considered their own. Writer Pico Iyer -- who himself has three or four "origins" -- meditates on the meaning of home, the joy of traveling and the serenity of standing still. Talk by Pico Iyer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dive into Salman Rushdie’s masterpiece, “Midnight’s Children,” a work of magical realism that deals with India’s transition from British colonialism to independence.--It begins with a countdown. A woman goes into labor as the clock ticks towards midnight. Across India, people wait for the declaration of independence after nearly 200 years of British rule. At the stroke of midnight, an infant and t...

Check out our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/tededView full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-sugar-affects-the-brain-nicole-avenaWhen you eat something loaded with sugar, your taste buds, your gut and your brain all take notice. This activation of your reward system is not unlike how bodies process addictive substances such as alcohol or nicotine -- an overload of sugar spikes dopamine...

Get to know the story of Sojourner Truth, a woman born into slavery who became known as a powerful orator and outspoken activist. --Isabella Baumfree was born into slavery in late 18th century New York. Fleeing bondage with her youngest daughter, she renamed herself Sojourner Truth and embarked on a legendary speaking tour. She became known as an electrifying orator and her speeches impacted thous...

Trace the storied history of the game of chess, from its origins in 7th century India to the computer software we use today. --The attacking infantry advances, their elephants already having broken the defensive line. The king tries to retreat, but the enemy flanks him from the rear. Escape is impossible. This isn’t a real war— nor is it just a game. Over the 1,500 years of its existence, chess ha...

There's no actual law against women driving in Saudi Arabia. But it's forbidden. Two years ago, Manal al-Sharif decided to encourage women to drive by doing so -- and filming herself for YouTube. Hear her story of what happened next. Talk by Manal al-Sharif. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-to-fossilize-yourself-phoebe-a-cohenYou can aspire to great things in life, but how about in death? Could you be one of the world's greatest fossils many years from now? To ensure being found by a future paleontologist, you'll need to die in a highly specific way (think within tree sap or on the bottom of the ocean floor), and nature takes care of th...

Dig into how the infamous Salem Witch Trials began and why they remain a cautionary tale of the dangers of groupthink and scapegoating.--You’ve been accused of a crime you did not commit. It’s impossible to prove your innocence. If you insist that you’re innocent anyway, you’ll likely be found guilty and executed. But if you confess, apologize, and implicate others, you’ll go free. This was the ch...

As a top spy trained in infiltration and safecracking, it’s up to you to steal the competition’s secret sauce recipe. Can you figure out where it's hidden? --One of the top chefs from Pasta Palace has been kidnapped by operatives from Burger Bazaar hoping to learn the location of their secret sauce recipe. Little do they know that a third party— Sausage Saloon— has sent you, their top spy, to take...

Dig into the science of how soap breaks down a coronavirus, and the effectiveness of hand sanitizer against a viral outbreak. --Your hands, up close, are anything but smooth. With peaks and valleys, folds and rifts, there are plenty of hiding places for a virus to stick. If you then touch your face, the virus can infect you. But there are two extraordinarily simple ways you can keep that from happ...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/should-we-eat-bugs-emma-bryce What's tasty, abundant and high in protein? Bugs! Although less common outside the tropics, entomophagy, the practice of eating bugs, was once extremely widespread throughout cultures. You may feel icky about munching on insects, but they feed about 2 billion people each day (Mmm, fried tarantulas). They also hold promise fo...

3D printing has grown in sophistication since the late 1970s; TED Fellow Skylar Tibbits is shaping the next development, which he calls 4D printing, where the fourth dimension is time. This emerging technology will allow us to print objects that then reshape themselves or self-assemble over time. Think: a printed cube that folds before your eyes, or a printed pipe able to sense the need to expand...

Join the Celtic druid Camma in her village as she conducts religious rites, serves as a healer, and mediates conflict between tribes.--As the sun rises in 55 BCE, Camma lays two pigeons on the altar at the center of her village. She wrings the birds’ necks and cuts them open to examine their entrails for divine messages. Camma is a druid. She conducts religious rites, serves as a judge, healer, an...

Explore the science of why opioids are addictive and what can be done to reverse the growing rates of addiction and overdose. If you or someone you know is struggling with opioid use in the United States, the Department of Health and Human Services operates a helpline (800-662-4357) and has a database of treatment facilities: https://www.hhs.gov/opioids/--In the 1980s and 90s, pharmaceutical compa...

As a young surgeon, Peter Attia felt contempt for a patient with diabetes. She was overweight, he thought, and thus responsible for the fact that she needed a foot amputation. But years later, Attia received an unpleasant medical surprise that led him to wonder: is our understanding of diabetes right? Could the precursors to diabetes cause obesity, and not the other way around? A look at how assum...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-do-we-smell-rose-evelethAn adult human can distinguish up to 10,000 odors. You use your nose to figure out what to eat, what to buy and even when it's time to take a shower. But how do the molecules in the air get translated into smells in your brain? Rose Eveleth charts the smelly journey through your olfactory epithelium and explains why scent can...

There is a corruption at the heart of American politics, caused by the dependence of Congressional candidates on funding from the tiniest percentage of citizens. That's the argument at the core of this blistering talk by legal scholar Lawrence Lessig. With rapid-fire visuals, he shows how the funding process weakens the Republic in the most fundamental way, and issues a rallying bipartisan cry tha...

In this 360° animation, explore the vibrant world of neon signs and learn the science of what makes them glow. --When the Hoover Dam was completed, it created a huge source of hydroelectric power and zapped a sleepy desert town to life: Las Vegas, Nevada. With the power supply from the dam, Las Vegas soon exploded with vibrant displays. The source of these dazzling lights was electrified neon gas....

Your smartphone may feel like a friend -- but a true friend would give you a smile once in a while. At TED2013, Keller Rinaudo demos Romo, the smartphone-powered mini robot who can motor along with you on a walk, slide you a cup of coffee across the table, and react to you with programmable expressions. Talk by Keller Rinaudo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join the Aztec midwife Xoquauhtli as she tends to her patients and honors the warrior goddess Teteoinnan at a festival ushering in the season of warfare.--The midwife Xoquauhtli has a difficult choice to make. She owes a debt to her patron Teteoinnan, the female warrior goddess at the center of the Aztec seasonal festival, who must be kept happy or she will bring bad luck. Xoquauhtli should partic...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-popularity-plight-and-poop-of-penguins-dyan-denapoliPenguins are odd birds. For one, they cannot fly (but they are amazing swimmers), and, contrary to popular belief, the majority of penguin populations live in warmer waters. But these beloved birds are in danger, with populations declining up to 90%. Dyan deNapoli explains the reasons behind the dec...