TED-Ed

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-science-of-macaroni-salad-what-s-in-a-mixture-josh-kurzWhat's in macaroni salad? Break down the pasta, mayonnaise, vinegar, mustard, vegetables, etc., and you're left with a bunch of molecules. Josh Kurz uses a delicious recipe to exemplify three types of mixtures (solution, colloid and suspension), while reminding us that we're all made of the same...

Tamerlane was one of history’s greatest conquerors— but was he a great state builder or a bloodthirsty tyrant? You decide. --He was born in the 1330s in the Chaghatayid Khanate, formerly the Mongol Empire. On the steppe, he rose from a lowly sheep thief to become one of history’s greatest conquerors, uniting nearly all of Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Iran under his rule. But was he a great state...

Parkinson's disease affects 6.3 million people worldwide, causing weakness and tremors, but there's no objective way to detect it early on. Yet. Applied mathematician and TED Fellow Max Little is testing a simple, cheap tool that in trials is able to detect Parkinson's with 99 percent accuracy -- in a 30-second phone call. Talk by Max Little. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/ad...

Travel around the world to visit some of nature’s most incredible snakes: vipers, and find out which are the most dangerous.--As of 2021, there are 368 species of viper worldwide. The name comes from the term viviparity, which means giving birth to live young. Vipers are often highly venomous, with two hollow, extra long fangs that unfold into imposing weapons when the viper prepares to strike. So...

Rob Legato creates movie effects so good they (sometimes) trump the real thing. In this warm and funny talk, he shares his vision for enhancing reality on-screen in movies like Apollo 13, Titanic and Hugo. Talk by Rob Legato. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Explore the three major methods of machine learning, which allows computers to write their own rules to problem solve and process data.--Today, artificial intelligence helps doctors diagnose patients, pilots fly commercial aircraft, and city planners predict traffic. These AIs are often self-taught, working off a simple set of instructions to create a unique array of rules and strategies. So how e...

Puzzle through the ethical dilemma of a spouse accused of murder and decide: do you believe your spouse or the evidence?--You’re sitting on the couch, when you hear a knock on the door. The police have arrived to arrest your spouse— for murder. This accusation comes as a total shock, but their fingerprints were found on the murder weapon. Your spouse insists they’re innocent. Should you believe yo...

In her New Orleans neighborhood, artist and TED Fellow Candy Chang turned an abandoned house into a giant chalkboard asking a fill-in-the-blank question: "Before I die I want to ___." Her neighbors' answers -- surprising, poignant, funny -- became an unexpected mirror for the community. (What's your answer?) Talk by Candy Chang. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

View full lesson here: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/jon-bergmann-how-to-think-about-gravityDid you know that when you fall down, the earth falls up to meet you? Explore the counterintuitive equation that describes gravity. Lesson by Jon Bergmann, animation by TED-Ed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dig into the Greek myth of Persephone, who is abducted by Hades and is only allowed to leave the underworld every spring.--One day, Persephone was frolicking in a meadow with the nymph, Cyane. As they admired a flower, they noticed it tremble in the ground. Suddenly, the earth split, and a terrifying figure arose. It was Hades, god of the underworld. He wrenched Persephone from Cyane, dragged her...

Are we building skills the wrong way? Explore how having a wide range of experience can be better than early specialization.--There’s a common idea that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become great at something. From an early age, we are encouraged to choose our path, focus specifically, and start racking up those hours. But, what if these head starts aren’t helping us the way we think they d...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-s-the-definition-of-comedy-banana-addison-andersonWhat makes us giggle and guffaw? The inability to define comedy is its very appeal; it is defined by its defiance of definition. Addison Anderson riffs on the philosophy of Henri Bergson and Aristotle to elucidate how a definition draws borders while comedy breaks them down. Lesson by Addison Anderso...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-punishable-perils-of-plagiarism-melissa-huseman-d-annunzioFighting plagiarism is serious business. From brainchild-snatching to wholly quotables, plagiarists have plenty of wily ways to pass others' work off as their own -- and all of them are threats to original thinking. Melissa Huseman D'Annunzio imagines what would happen if a Department of Plagi...

View full lesson here: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-the-size-of-your-screen-matters-brian-gervaseWatching a movie at home isn't quite the same experience as seeing it at a movie theater -- but why? Learn how changes in aspect ratio affect every film, and why your television might not be delivering the whole picture. Lesson by Brian Gervase, animation by Andrei Feheregyhazi. Learn more about your...

Explore the science of bone lengthening surgery, and discover the benefits and limitations of this still-developing technology.--Differences in leg length can emerge for various reasons, from genetic and hormonal conditions to injuries that impact bone growth. But while we still don’t know exactly what degree of difference causes health issues, doctors have made great strides in figuring out how t...

View the full lesson here: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/michael-mitchell-a-clever-way-to-estimate-enormous-numbersHave you ever tried to guess how many pieces of candy there are in a jar? Or tackled a mindbender like: "How many piano tuners are there in Chicago?" Physicist Enrico Fermi was very good at problems like these -- learn how he used the power of 10 to make amazingly fast estimations of big...

Discover the incredible ways elephants use their trunks to sense and communicate information and emotion. --As a breeze blows through the savannah, a snake-shaped tube stretches into the air and scans the horizon like a periscope. But it’s not seeing— it’s sniffing. Containing no bones and an estimated 40,000 muscles, an elephant trunk is one of the most versatile tools in the animal kingdom. Chas...

Explore how our bodies change and age over time, and the three common markers scientists use to measure aging.--If you want to learn a tree’s age, you can count their rings. When it comes to humans, scientists have yet to find any visible traits that mark our age with the same specificity. But in the past few decades, they’ve discovered small, invisible markers hidden within the body that do chang...

Dig into the genetic adaptations of cockroaches, and find out what makes it so hard to get rid of these tenacious creatures.--In ancient Egypt, there was a spell that declared, “Be far from me, O vile cockroach.” Thousands of years later, we’re still trying to oust these insects. But from poison traps to brandished slippers, cockroaches seem to weather just about everything we throw at them. So, w...

View full lesson here: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/daniel-dulek-how-big-is-a-mole-not-the-animal-the-other-oneThe word "mole" suggests a small, furry burrowing animal to many. But in this lesson, we look at the concept of the mole in chemistry. Learn the incredible magnitude of the mole--and how something so big can help us calculate the tiniest particles in the world. Lesson by Daniel Dulek, animat...

Learn more at https://brilliant.org/TedEd--In 1980, philosopher John Searle developed a thought experiment in response to AI advancement at the time. His aim was to interrogate whether a programmed computer has cognitive states, and asked: if a computer looks like it understands something, does that mean it actually understands the way a human does? Charles Wallace and Dan Kwartler explore whether...

Explore the ways that lead exposure can harm the human body, and why this toxic element can be found in so many products.--Lead is a metallic element that’s distributed across Earth’s crust. When it enters the human body, it can disrupt many critical processes that span various systems, producing a diverse set of symptoms. So, just how bad is lead for human health? And if it’s really that dangerou...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-to-take-a-great-picture-carolina-molinariHave you ever looked at your camera and wondered what all of those buttons actually do? For manual photography, the aperture, shutter speed and ISO sensitivity can all be manipulated to get just the right amount of light. Carolina Molinari suggests the best exposure for an action photo, a stunning portrait or...

Practice more problem-solving at https://brilliant.org/TedEd--As Numberland’s best detective, you thought you’d seen it all. But the desiccated corpses of prominent natural numbers have been showing up all over the city. A lockdown is ordered from sundown to sunrise, and it’s still not enough to stop what can only be described as a vampiric feeding frenzy. Can you figure out why the citizens of Nu...

View full lesson here: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/scott-kennedy-how-to-prove-a-mathematical-theoryEuclid of Alexandria revolutionized the way that mathematics is written, presented or thought about, and introduced the concept of mathematical proofs. Discover what it takes to move from a loose theory or idea to a universally convincing proof. Lesson by Scott Kennedy, animation by Karrot Animation. L...