TED Talks Daily

You can't just "find" motivation, says scientist Ayelet Fishbach — you have to learn how to motivate yourself. She shares a handful of tips backed by 20 years of motivation research, offering surprisingly simple wisdom on how to optimize your goals, set yourself up for success and avoid the tempting calls of procrastination. (This episode originally aired in 2024.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/p...

Do you feel like work is taking over your life? Guy Winch is a psychologist and author of the book Mind Over Grind: How to Break Free When Work Hijacks Your Life. In this episode, Anne sits down with Guy at the annual TED conference in Vancouver to discuss the insidious ways work can follow you home and how to set boundaries to avoid burnout. They dig into the harmful effects of after-hours rumina...

Political scientist Ian Bremmer has access to the rooms, conversations and world leaders who make the news of the day. So how does he stay on top of everything that’s going on? In conversation with TED’s Helen Walters, Bremmer opens up about how he thinks about sources, how he avoids getting spun — and what we can all do to think more clearly about the news. (This interview was recorded on May 20,...

AI artist Mick Mahler has a counterintuitive take: the more powerful the machines get, the less the technology actually matters. Showing delightful examples of his own art, from jazz-playing spiders to a Kafka-inspired beetle film, he explains how creators can use new technology to serve their vision (not replace it). The real question — the one that separates meaningful work from AI slop — is the...

Multihyphenate entertainer Keke Palmer has mastered the art of performing — on stage and off. But she realized the skills that carried her family out of poverty might be the very thing keeping her trapped. In this powerful talk, she unpacks the hidden cost of hyper-functioning and what it really means to stop acting and start living. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Streaming media gives us access to everything instantly, but at what cost? Music professor Tom Rizzuto traces the history of physical media — from CDs and vinyl to bone music (Soviet-era records pressed onto discarded X-rays) and the near-loss of "Nosferatu" — making the case that art shouldn't just live in the cloud. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are wired for connection, and yet many of us spend most of our lives avoiding it, says behavioral scientist Nicholas Epley. Drawing on decades of research into happiness, loneliness and well-being, he reveals why we consistently underestimate how receptive others are to connecting — and invites us to seize the small moments that lead to a more social life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...

Welcome to Club Reality, where no matter what life throws at you, the music never stops. In this talk and performance, musician ELEW shares his path from jazz pianist to DJ — and the unexpected philosophy he finds in both. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today's "Sunday Pick" on TED Talks Daily, we bring you an episode from TED Podcast TEDHealth. Does eating local honey help reduce your allergies through microexposure to local pollen? How effective is at-home allergies test? And why do so many Olympic athletes have asthma? These are some of the questions raised in today’s conversation with host Shoshana Ungerleider and her guest, immunologist D...

One month before the Rio Olympics, runner Alexi Pappas couldn't hit her splits in practice. She was begging her watch to change its mind. Then her coach told her to take it off — and shared the best advice she's ever received. That single piece of wisdom led her to break a national record and changed how she chases her goals, carrying her through ultramarathons, a memoir and three films. Bad days...

Most managers give feedback. Few give feedback that actually works. Drawing on her background in psychology and executive coaching, Renee St Jacques breaks down what so many well-intentioned leaders get wrong — and introduces a three-part framework to help teams rebuild trust and perform at their best. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Deep tech entrepreneur D. Scott Phoenix spent years building AI — now, he believes we're on the cusp of a profound merger between humans and machines. Reframing the AI debate through the lens of evolutionary biology, he shifts the question from whether we should fear or embrace AI to whether we understand what's at stake if we get it wrong. Hear his provocative case for why we need to "eat the AI....

Leadership expert Melissa M. Mikus breaks down why most workplace friction isn't about personality clashes or bad intentions — it's about not knowing how to effectively communicate. Her solution? A small, visible and easy tweak that anyone can implement right away. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Creator Maya Higa is on a mission to use the internet to build the next generation of conservationists. Her virtual education center, Alveus Sanctuary, is one of the most-watched sanctuaries on Earth, with dozens of rescued animals and cameras livestreaming to a community of millions inspired to help protect the wildlife. Visit with Bean the Hawk, Winnie the Moo and more — and see what the future...

What if we could solve the problem of fatal car accidents? Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana joins TED's Sal Khan to explore why fully autonomous vehicles (where you never have to touch the wheel) are more than a tech novelty — they could help end the dangerous status quo. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most of us assume data-driven people make data-driven decisions. Not quite. Adam Grant has built a career helping others think more clearly — but when it comes to his own career, the most important calls he’s made didn’t have clear data behind them. So how did he decide? In this first episode of WorkLife with Molly Graham, Adam joins Molly to talk about how he actually navigates uncertainty — the...

Success in your career looks different for everyone — but no matter your industry, you'll need to take risks. Company and community builder Molly Graham took to the TED stage two years ago to share three key skills to learn before jumping off a metaphorical cliff, outlining a path off the corporate ladder and into true professional and personal growth -- and these key skills are more relevant toda...

When is the last time you did absolutely nothing for 10 whole minutes? Not texting, talking or even thinking? Mindfulness expert Andy Puddicombe describes the transformative power of doing just that: Refreshing your mind for 10 minutes a day, simply by being mindful and experiencing the present moment. (No need for incense or sitting in uncomfortable positions.) (This episode originally aired in 2...

In November 2025, Neal Kumar Katyal was asked to do what no US Supreme Court litigator had ever done: convince the justices to strike down a sitting president's signature initiative. After enlisting the help of four unlikely coaches — and one secret weapon he hasn't told anyone about until now — he walked into the courtroom ready for anything. What he discovered about winning and connecting might...

Mothers undeniably impact and shape history -- but their stories are often left out or misrepresented, says sociologist and author Anna Malaika Tubbs. This erasure limits policies to support mothers and their essential roles in society. Citing the remarkable lives of Alberta King, Louise Little and Berdis Baldwin (the mothers of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and James Baldwin, respectively), T...

You know it's important to take care of your physical and mental health. But what about your social health? Social scientist Kasley Killam shows how feeling a sense of belonging and connection has concrete benefits to your overall health — and explains why it may be the missing key to living a longer and happier life. This episode originally aired in 2025. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy fo...

Former senior US national security official Miles Taylor shares a personal account that raises a broader civic concern: the growing cost of dissent in American public life. Drawing on his experience inside government and living the consequences of speaking openly, he says that the real threat to US democracy isn't the politicians or hard-liners — it's the two-thirds of Americans who don’t speak up...

What if your hardest emotional challenges could be solved by talking to a stranger? A person who has gone through the exact same situation or something very similar. That’s the premise of Proxy, a podcast that investigates your niche emotional conundrums with host Yowei Shaw. In this episode, Yowei and Chris talk about the power of knowing you’re not the only person going through something, howeve...

What do you hear when you sit in silence? For artist Rose B. Simpson, that question is the beginning of all art. She comes from a line of ceramic artists stretching back generations and, as part of her multidisciplinary work, she also builds custom lowrider cars. (If that sounds like a contradiction, that's kind of the point.) In conversation with "Design Matters" podcast host Debbie Millman, Simp...

We see consciousness in AI the same way we see faces in clouds, says neuroscientist Anil Seth. He explores the all-too-human tendency to project inner life onto machines that are brilliant mimics, not sentient beings, and gives a definitive answer to the urgent question: Will AI ever gain consciousness? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.