Money for international development rarely makes it to the people it intends to help, says Faisal Saeed Al Mutar, the founder of Ideas Beyond Borders. Highlighting the inefficiencies of the current system, he proposes a new model for aid...

Climate change doesn't just melt ice caps, it also fuels conflict, corruption and division worldwide, explains TED Fellow and journalist Peter Schwartzstein. From droughts in Syria to rising seas in Bangladesh, he explores how climate...

Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Neandertals were thought to have been…primitive. Unintelligent, hunched-over cavemen, for lack of a better word. But the discoveries made in that Iraqi cave provided some of the earliest...

Iran and Israel: two nations with tense relations that seem existentially at odds. But for all their antagonistic rhetoric, there is a recent hidden history of collaboration, even friendship. In an informative talk, Trita Parsi shows how...

Difficult emotions can get under your skin if you're not careful. Sport and performance consultant Jessica Woods calls this the "jumping cholla effect," inspired by a sneaky kind of cactus that detaches and burrows its spines into...

A clay cylinder covered in Akkadian cuneiform script, damaged and broken, the Cyrus Cylinder is a powerful symbol of religious tolerance and multi-culturalism. In this enthralling talk Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum,...

In April 2003, just as American troops began rolling into Baghdad, a shell smashed into the building author and war correspondent Jean-Paul Mari was reporting from. There he had a face-to-face encounter with death, beginning his...

After fighting overseas, 92 percent of American veterans say they want to continue their service. Meanwhile, one after another, natural disasters continue to wreak havoc worldwide. What do these two challenges have in common? In telling...

When General Stanley McChrystal started fighting al Qaeda in 2003, information and secrets were the lifeblood of his operations. But as the unconventional battle waged on, he began to think that the culture of keeping important...

Something is very wrong with the news industry. Trust in the media has hit an all-time low; we're inundated with sensationalist stories, and consistent, high-quality reporting is scarce, says journalist Lara Setrakian. She shares three...

We've made incredible advances in technology in recent years, but too often it seems only certain fortunate people can benefit. Engineer Krista Donaldson introduces the ReMotion knee, a prosthetic device for above-knee amputees, many of...

* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright talks bluntly about politics and diplomacy, making the case that...

As a democratic revolution led by tech-empowered young people sweeps the Arab world, Wadah Khanfar, the head of Al Jazeera, shares a profoundly optimistic view of what's happening in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and beyond -- at this powerful...

In this image-filled talk, Yann Arthus-Bertrand displays his three most recent projects on humanity and our habitat -- stunning aerial photographs in his series "The Earth From Above," personal interviews from around the globe featured...

Four-star general Stanley McChrystal shares what he learned about leadership over his decades in the military. How can you build a sense of shared purpose among people of many ages and skill sets? By listening and learning -- and...

In the fog of war, civilian casualties often go uncounted. Artist Matt Kenyon, whose recent work memorialized the names and stories of US soldiers killed in the Iraq war, decided he should create a companion monument, to the Iraqi...

Wes Moore joined the US Army to pay for college, but the experience became core to who he is. In this heartfelt talk, the paratrooper and captain -- who went on to write "The Other Wes Moore" -- explains the shock of returning home from...

Alisa Miller, head of Public Radio International, talks about why -- though we want to know more about the world than ever -- the media is actually showing us less. Eye-opening stats and graphs.

I'm scared of spiders. I'm not afraid to admit it. I love them in a scientific sense, or from a "let me look at you from way over here" sense, but that's as close as I get. Here's a look at the science of why some of us are afraid of...

By analyzing raw data on violent incidents in the Iraq war and others, Sean Gourley and his team claim to have found a surprisingly strong mathematical relationship linking the fatality and frequency of attacks.

History's first empire rose out of a hot, dry landscape, without rainfall to nourish crops, without trees or stones for building. In spite of all this, its inhabitants built the world's first cities, with monumental architecture and...

A remarkable award-winning film from Iraq. We've had a journalist in Samarra in Iraq, in the heart of the Sunni triangle, the epicentre of resistance to the American military presence, close to where Saddam was found in his hole. This...

Located in the southwest of Asia, Saudi Arabia forms a geographic and cultural bridge between the three continents of Asia, Africa, and Europe. As the world's 47th-largest country, Saudi Arabia is comprised of five geographical regions....

Saudi Arabia is a relatively young country, less than a century old. Learn about the political-religious alliance formed in the eighteenth century that provided the framework for Saudi expansion and remains the basis of its dynastic...