TED Talks Daily

Does venting actually help you cool off, or does it just add fuel to the fire? Social psychologist Jennifer Parlamis busts common myths about anger, showing how curiosity — not catharsis — can keep you calm. Discover the surprising science behind anger management and four practical tools for building stronger relationships from a researcher who’s rethinking Freud, one deep breath at a time. Hosted...

What if ending food insecurity meant ditching charity models that haven’t been updated since the 1960s? Dion Dawson, TED Fellow and founder of Dion’s Chicago Dream, shares how he turned a spontaneous idea for giving back to his community into a thriving social enterprise, delivering top-quality produce to thousands of Chicago households every week and reaching a million dollars in revenue in just...

The real lever of a meaningful life isn’t intelligence or hustle — it’s personal agency, says Cate Hall, former Supreme Court attorney and once the world’s top-ranked female poker player. Sharing her journey from the throes of addiction to leading a multibillion-dollar foundation, Hall shares tactical wisdom for increasing your ability to see and act on life's hidden degrees of freedom, showing ho...

In an enchanting talk and performance, singer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Yijia Tu traces a path from the world’s biggest stages to a family lullaby passed down through the generations, showing how music carries memory across centuries and cultures. Blending East Asian folk traditions into modern sound, she shows how honoring tradition isn’t worshiping ashes — it’s keeping the fire alive...

Are you unemployed, or just an entrepreneur who doesn’t know it yet? Drawing on a decade of experience building a social platform that connects self-employed pioneers in the informal economy, social entrepreneur Anuj Tanna unpacks three surprising levers — from identity shifts to “jungle‑gym” career paths — that could help you pick up the mindset and moves you need to spot opportunity, build trust...

Common knowledge is the secret engine of social life, letting us coordinate everything from meet-ups to markets to international diplomacy. In this fascinating talk, experimental cognitive scientist Steven Pinker explores its momentous impact, threading together stories of why autocrats fear blank signs, why central bankers mumble and why saying the quiet part out loud can wreck a friendship. With...

In this season of WorkLife, we’re pairing each of our regular episodes with a companion interview to do a deeper dive into the topic. This is the deeper dive for our episode on how to say no. Linda Babcock is a professor emerita of economics at Carnegie Mellon and co-author of “The No Club,” a club of people who help each other set boundaries. Linda and Adam share some of their personal struggles...

Growing up in the public eye, multi-hyphenate creator Bryce Dallas Howard experienced the familiar pressure to share her life with the world on social media. But with her mother's steadfast guidance, Howard learned to set personal boundaries and savor the beauty of private moments. In this personal talk, she draws on three generations of family wisdom to remind us that "a private life makes a publ...

Struggling communities don’t need handouts — they need bold new ways to root wealth. Meet Molly Hemstreet — a TED Fellow, Southern Appalachia native and cofounder of worker support network the Industrial Commons — who’s flipping the script on generational poverty by turning textile waste into $9-per-pound yarn and factory workers into business owners. Discover how her long-haul approach is rebuild...

What makes music “real” — is it the instruments, the voice, the creator’s intention or something else entirely? Dustin Ballard, the creative force behind the viral channel “There I Ruined It,” explores the weird, wonderful and sometimes unsettling ways AI is reshaping music. With fiddle solos and AI-powered mashups of your favorite songs, he invites us to ask: Are new tools fostering creativity, o...

With humor and hard science, obstetrician and gynecologist Jaime Seeman reveals why building muscle is one of the best ways to combat women’s top health risks. Learn the truth behind three weightlifting myths that prevent women from getting serious about strength training — and why your future self will thank you for picking up those dumbbells. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more infor...

Clean energy visionary Lei Zhang loves the Gobi Desert — the most Mars-like place on Earth. Why? Because of the promise it holds to provide the free, abundant solar and wind energy to fuel humanity’s next leap forward. Sharing the story behind one of the world’s largest green hydrogen projects, Zhang shows how Earth’s harshest landscapes could unlock more energy reserves than the world consumes to...

What would Immanuel Kant say about a fender bender? In a surprisingly funny trip through the teachings of some of history's great philosophers, TV writer and producer Michael Schur (from hit shows like "The Office" and "The Good Place") talks through how to confront life's moral dilemmas -- and shows how understanding ethical theories can help you make better, kinder decisions. This episode origin...

Ai Weiwei joins to discuss his new memoir “1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows,” depicting a century-long epic tale of China told through a story of his family. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When technologist Luis von Ahn was building the popular language-learning platform Duolingo, he faced a big problem: Could an app designed to teach you something ever compete with addictive platforms like Instagram and TikTok? He explains how Duolingo harnesses the psychological techniques of social media and mobile games to get you excited to learn — all while spreading access to education across...

Cartoonist Liana Finck's drawings hold our hands through life's predicaments, big and small: dating, breakups, what to make for dinner, how to leave a party without being rude, how to think about our relationship with God. In a funny, moving talk, she shares some of her drawings and shows how she uses creativity to navigate false starts and cluelessness in the search for belonging. This episode or...

Before algorithms ruled our feeds, the internet was a mess — glitchy, chaotic and full of unexpected magic. Internet culture writer Michael Sun reflects on the wild digital world of the 2000s — and makes a funny, wry case for why we need to reclaim its spontaneity, weirdness and genuine connection. From niche Facebook groups to loading music onto your iPod, it might be time to borrow from the past...

With a genius combination of smart tech, local food and bold partnerships, Wawira Njiru and her nonprofit Food4Education have gone from serving 25 children in a makeshift kitchen to becoming a cornerstone of Kenya’s school meals system, delivering half a million meals every day. Hear her plan to feed a million kids daily in Kenya by 2030 — and two million more across Africa — as she offers a bluep...

Maps have long helped us understand the world — now, they can help us shape it. Digital cartographer Peter Wilczynski introduces the Living Globe: a real-time, data-rich digital twin of Earth that fuses satellite imagery, sensor data and AI. Watch for a glimpse of the future of maps — and learn how these new tools can help us build the future without wrecking the planet. Hosted on Acast. See acast...

How did a small, economically vulnerable country become a trailblazer in sustainable industry? Clean economy builder James Mnyupe explores how Namibia is teaming up with partners from around the world to turn sun, wind and water into green hydrogen — a key ingredient in fueling everything from clean steel to eco-friendly transportation. Discover how this bold blueprint is creating jobs, cutting ca...

Are you feeling overwhelmed, uninspired, or burned out at work? In this special Unsolicited Advice episode, Anne and Frances are getting ready for summer by tackling the importance of rest and the power of intention. They offer unexpected tips and tricks for recovering from constant stress, owning what you need to feel alive and engaged, and creating an experience of work that unleashes your ambit...

"You don't predict the future -- you imagine the future," says sci-fi writer Charlie Jane Anders. In a talk that's part dream, part research-based extrapolation, she takes us on a wild, speculative tour of the delights and challenges the future may hold -- and shows how dreaming up weird, futuristic possibilities empowers us to construct a better tomorrow. This episode originally aired October 14,...

The rapidly evolving field of protein design is revealing solutions to some of the world’s greatest problems, whether it's blocking a virus, breaking down a pollutant or creating brand-new materials. In conversation with TED’s Whitney Pennington Rodgers, biochemist David Baker explores his team’s Nobel Prize-winning work using AI to design new proteins with functions never before seen in nature —...

In this urgent talk, political scientist Heni Ozi Cukier analyzes the social, economic, political and military conditions that preceded the last two world wars, revealing how historical patterns and today’s geopolitical shifts may be pointing us in a dangerously familiar direction. Connecting past and present, he challenges us to recognize the warning signs — and act before it’s too late. Hosted o...

As a film and television director, Barry Sonnenfeld had millions of dollars riding on his ability to get his cast and crew to play along — and much of what he learned along the way applies to everyday life. Here, he shares nine bits of wisdom and whimsy gleaned from 40 years in entertainment. So the next time you encounter a screaming bully, you too will know what to do. Hosted on Acast. See acast...