With just a few lines, cartoons can say so much with so little. In a moving talk, cartoonist Navied Mahdavian shares his process for distilling huge concepts into drawings on the page — and shows how his work helped him grieve the death...

We can't know if or how animals understand death, but behavioral changes in some species could mean they experience something similar to human grief.

What happens when personal grief collides with your professional life? Drawing on her experience as the CEO of a crisis management firm and a hospice chaplain, Meredith Wilson Parfet breaks down the reality of grief — at work and beyond...

Born to a sea nymph and a king, and trained by the legendary centaur Chiron, Achilles was a demigod destined for greatness. When Greece declared war on Troy, Achilles knew the war was written into his destiny. With horses born from the...

As a death doula, or someone who supports dying people and their loved ones, Alua Arthur spends a lot of time thinking about the end of life. In a profound talk that examines our brief, perfectly human time on this planet, she asks us to...

In 2018, an orca called Tahlequah gave birth. But her daughter died within an hour. Tahlequah, however, didn't leave her body. Over the next 17 days and 1,600 kilometers, she kept it afloat atop her own. By altering her feeding and...

The Five Stages of Grief show up in media everywhere from The Simpsons to Robot Chicken, but scientists have long been working on better ways to think about grief.

When we think of how we respond to outbreaks, we often think of physical things like vaccines or medicines, but there is another factor that is just as critical to understand: culture! Culture determines how we collaborate and use the...

When we experience loss, grief travels with us everywhere -- even work. What can companies do to support grieving employees? Sharing his own story of unimaginable heartbreak, Tilak Mandadi offers three ways organizations can cultivate a...

Objectively, some shows end with rough final acts, but we are finding that this isn’t the only factor in our discontent. Unsatisfactory finales also reflect common types of relationships we build with fictional characters.

Joe brings in a few friends to look at death in the animal kingdom.

From mourning orcas to distressed elephants, biological anthropologist Barbara J. King has witnessed grief and love across the animal kingdom. In this eye-opening talk, she explains the evidence behind her belief that many animals...

An animated interpretation of Andrea Gibson's poem "The Nutritionist"

The only thing as powerful as our grief is the love we have for those we've lost, says photographer Caroline Catlin. In this meditation on the intersection of life and death, Catlin shares how her personal journey with loss drove her to...

We can't know if or how animals understand death, but behavioral changes in some species could mean they experience something similar to human grief.

Paula Stone Williams knew from a young age that she was transgender. But as she became a parent and prominent evangelical pastor, she feared that coming out would mean losing everything. In this moving, deeply personal talk, Paula and...

We all have some displeasing memories from the past that still make our blood boil. Why are those grudges so hard to let go of?

Exposing what life looks like in Afghanistan after a 20-year US occupation and the Taliban's stunning and rapid takeover, TED Fellow and documentary photographer Kiana Hayeri captures harrowing glimpses and multifaceted realities of a...

The world is a living tapestry ... As the weave of life is torn apart in one place, the threads unravel in another, says author and physics professor Vandana Singh, acknowledging humanity's interconnectedness with the planet -- and the...

Please Note: This episode contains post-mortem photographs: those of people taken after their death. If you would prefer not to see those images, please feel welcome to look away from the screen at 0:17 to 0:27 and listen...

Do you know what you want when you die? Do you know how you want to be remembered? In a candid, heartfelt talk about a subject most of us would rather not discuss, Michelle Knox asks each of us to reflect on our core values around death...

In a talk that's by turns heartbreaking and hilarious, writer and podcaster Nora McInerny shares her hard-earned wisdom about life and death. Her candid approach to something that will, let's face it, affect us all, is as liberating as...

The Five Stages of Grief show up in media everywhere from The Simpsons to Robot Chicken, but scientists have long been working on better ways to think about grief.

Vegan chef (and head chef of TED Countdown Summit) Derek Sarno is on a mission to unleash the mighty power of plants, creating nutritious food from mushrooms and vegetables that's full of texture and flavor -- and good for the planet. He...