TED-Ed

Download a free audiobook version of "Astrophysics for People in a Hurry" 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/astrophysics-for-people-in-a-hurry--You’re cruising down the highway when all of a sudden endless rows of brake lights appear ahead. There’s n...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/my-glacier-cave-discoveries-eddy-cartayaSnow Dragon. Pure Imagination. Frozen Minotaur. These are the names Eddy Cartaya and his climbing partner Brent McGregor gave three glacier caves that they were the first to explore, caves that are morphing constantly thanks to warm water and warm air. At TEDYouth, Cartaya takes us inside these magical spaces where...

You use paper towels to dry your hands every day, but chances are, you're doing it wrong. In this enlightening and funny short talk, Joe Smith reveals the trick to perfect paper towel technique. (Filmed at TEDxConcordiaUPortland.)Talk by Joe Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is our reality a detailed computer simulation? And how can we know for sure? Explore the scientific and philosophical theories surrounding this debate. --All life on Earth— living and inanimate, microscopic and cosmic— is governed by mathematical laws with apparently arbitrary constants. And this opens up a question: If the universe is completely governed by these laws, couldn’t a powerful enough...

Explore the three strategies governments and communities can use to contain and end a pandemic, and find out which method is best.--Consider the following scenario: a highly infectious, sometimes deadly respiratory virus infects humans for the first time. It spreads rapidly worldwide, and the WHO declares a pandemic. The death toll starts to rise and everyone is asking the same question: when will...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/from-dna-to-silly-putty-the-diverse-world-of-polymers-jan-mattinglyYou are made of polymers, and so are trees and telephones and toys. A polymer is a long chain of identical molecules (or monomers) with a range of useful properties, like toughness or stretchiness -- and it turns out, we just can't live without them. Polymers occur both naturally -- our D...

Explore Dante Alighieri’s epic poem, “Divine Comedy,” a 3-part narrative that follows Dante’s journey for salvation through Hell.--“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here…” Inscribed above the Gate of Hell, this prophecy sets into motion an epic journey for salvation. Written over 10 years, Dante Alighieri’s three-part narrative poem “Divine Comedy” is both an allegorical imagining of the soul’s jour...

It's never easy to get across the magnitude of complex tragedies -- so when Brenda Brathwite's daughter came home from school asking about slavery, she did what she does for a living -- she designed a game. At TEDxPhoenix she describes the surprising effectiveness of this game, and others, in helping the player really understand the story. (Filmed at TEDxPhoenix.)Talk by Brenda Braithwaite. Learn...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-to-sequence-the-human-genome-mark-j-kielYour genome, every human's genome, consists of a unique DNA sequence of A's, T's, C's and G's that tell your cells how to operate. Thanks to technological advances, scientists are now able to know the sequence of letters that makes up an individual genome relatively quickly and inexpensively. Mark J. Kiel takes...

Follow Quexo, a Peruvian shaman, as he searches for cinnabar to complete a special ritual that will protect his village from winter storms.--The year is 1400 BCE. At the temple of the fisherman, the morning is unusually still and this is just the latest in a series of troubling signs for Quexo, the village shaman. The villagers live off the sea, but this year the winds have died and the fish have...

The adventure continues! Episode 2: Ethic and Hedge search for the leader of the Resistance. Can they solve the puzzles blocking their way? --This is episode 2 of our animated series “Think Like A Coder.” This 10-episode narrative follows a girl, Ethic, and her robot companion, Hedge, as they attempt to save the world. The two embark on a quest to collect three artifacts and must solve their way t...

Get to know the life and works of painter and sculptor Georgia O’Keeffe, whose art became a cornerstone of American Modernism. --Feeling disconnected from creating art within classical conventions, artist Georgia O’Keeffe began experimenting with abstract drawings that defied easy classification. Using the shapes and rhythms of nature to capture her internal world, these experiments became the cor...

The circumstances of our lives may matter less than how we see them, says Rory Sutherland. At TEDxAthens, he makes a compelling case for how reframing is the key to happiness. (Filmed at TEDxAthens.)Talk by Rory Sutherland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-makes-us-feel-good-about-our-work-dan-arielyWhat motivates us to work? Contrary to conventional wisdom, it isn't just money. But it's not exactly joy either. It seems that most of us thrive by making constant progress and feeling a sense of purpose. Behavioral economist Dan Ariely presents two eye-opening experiments that reveal our unexpected and n...

Hans Rosling had a question: Do some religions have a higher birth rate than others -- and how does this affect global population growth? Speaking at the TEDxSummit in Doha, Qatar, he graphs data over time and across religions. With his trademark humor and sharp insight, Hans reaches a surprising conclusion on world fertility rates. Talk by Hans Rosling. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit meg...

An animated poem exploring how the Covid-19 pandemic has reminded us of the importance of living in harmony with nature. #WorldEnvironmentDay--As millions around the world shelter at home, the smog melts away, the birds sing, and the waters run clear. What if we used this moment in our lives and in history as an opportunity to jumpstart the rebirth and rewilding of our planet when we go back to wo...

How can factors like inflation, supply and demand, and interest rates trigger recessions? Learn the economic basics of modern markets.--For millennia, the people of Britain had been using bronze to make tools and jewelry, and as a currency for trade. But around 800 BCE, that began to change: the value of bronze declined, causing social upheaval and an economic crisis— what we would call a recessio...

Dig into the science of how ancestry DNA tests work, their accuracy, and why tracing ancestry is so complicated. --Two sisters take the same DNA test. The results show that one sister is 10% French, the other 0%. Both sisters share the same two parents, and therefore the same set of ancestors. So how can one be 10% more French than the other? Tests like these rely on our DNA to answer questions ab...

Bruce Feiler has a radical idea: To deal with the stress of modern family life, go agile. Inspired by agile software programming, Feiler introduces family practices which encourage flexibility, bottom-up idea flow, constant feedback and accountability. One surprising feature: Kids pick their own punishments. Talk by Bruce Feiler. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fifteen-year-old Tavi Gevinson had a hard time finding strong female, teenage role models -- so she built a space where they could find each other. At TEDxTeen, she illustrates how the conversations on sites like Rookie, her wildly popular web magazine for and by teen girls, are putting a new, unapologetically uncertain and richly complex face on modern feminism. (Filmed at TEDxTeen.)Talk by Tavi...

What does your chair say about what you value? Designer Sebastian Deterding shows how our visions of morality and what the good life is are reflected in the design of objects around us. (Filmed at TEDxHogeschoolUtrecht.)Talk by Sebastian Deterding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Explore the science of bioprinting, a type of 3D printing that uses bioink, a printable material that contains living cells. --There are currently hundreds of thousands of people on transplant lists, waiting for critical organs like kidneys, hearts and livers that could save their lives. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough donor organs available to fill that demand. What if, instead of waiting, we...

SETI researcher Seth Shostak bets that we will find extraterrestrial life in the next twenty-four years, or he'll buy you a cup of coffee. At TEDxSanJoseCA, he explains why new technologies and the laws of probability make the breakthrough so likely -- and forecasts how the discovery of civilizations far more advanced than ours might affect us here on Earth. (Filmed at TEDxSanJoseCA.)Talk by Seth...

Dive into four different voting systems: plurality, instant runoff, tactical, and the Condorcet method, and find out which is fairest. --Imagine we want to build a new space port at one of four recently settled Martian bases, and are holding a vote to choose its location. Of the 100 colonists on Mars, 42 live on West Base, 26 on North Base, 15 on South Base, and 17 on East Base. Assuming that ever...

What can economists learn from linguists? Behavioral economist Keith Chen introduces a fascinating pattern from his research: that languages without a concept for the future -- "It rain tomorrow," instead of "It will rain tomorrow" -- correlate strongly with high savings rates. Talk by Keith Chen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices