TED Talks
Laura Boykin: How we're using DNA tech to help farmers fight crop diseases
Nearly 800 million people worldwide depend on cassava for survival -- but this critical food source is under attack by entirely preventable viruses, says computational biologist and TED Senior Fellow Laura Boykin. She takes us to the...
TED Talks
TED: A feminist reimagining of Kenya's public transport | Naomi Mwaura
Kenya's minibuses -- known as "matatus" -- offer a convenient, affordable and colorful way for people to get around. But they also pose safety risks and accessibility issues for many of their passengers, especially women. Bringing a...
TED Talks
Shabana Basij-Rasikh: Dare to educate Afghan girls
Imagine a country where girls must sneak out to go to school, with deadly consequences if they get caught learning. This was Afghanistan under the Taliban, and traces of that danger remain today. 22-year-old Shabana Basij-Rasikh runs a...
TED Talks
TED: On tennis, love and motherhood | Serena Williams and Gayle King
Twenty-three Grand Slam titles later, tennis superstar Serena Williams sits down with journalist Gayle King to share a warm, mischievous conversation about her life, love, wins and losses -- starting with the story of how she...
TED Talks
Anna Deavere Smith: Four American characters
Writer and actor Anna Deavere Smith gives life to author Studs Terkel, convict Paulette Jenkins, a Korean shopkeeper and a bull rider, excerpts from her solo show "On the Road: A Search for American Character."
TED Talks
Ory Okolloh: How I became an activist
Ory Okolloh tells the story of her life and her family -- and how she came to do her heroic work reporting on the doings of Kenya's parliament.
TED Talks
Stefana Broadbent: How the Internet enables intimacy
We worry that IM, texting, Facebook are spoiling human intimacy, but Stefana Broadbent's research shows how communication tech is capable of cultivating deeper relationships, bringing love across barriers like distance and workplace rules.
TED Talks
TED: My escape from North Korea | Hyeonseo Lee
As a child growing up in North Korea, Hyeonseo Lee thought her country was "the best on the planet." It wasn't until the famine of the 90s that she began to wonder. She escaped the country at 14, to begin a life in hiding, as a refugee...
Crash Course
The Eagle Huntress: Crash Course Film Criticism
During our Film History and Production series, we talked about how Film is an "Illusion of Reality." That filmmakers use shots, cuts, and narrative structure to trick us into believing what we're seeing. But, what happens when that...
TED Talks
TED: Stories from a home for terminally ill children | Kathy Hull
To honor and celebrate young lives cut short, Kathy Hull founded the first freestanding pediatric palliative care facility in the United States, the George Mark Children's House. Its mission: to give terminally ill children and their...
TED Talks
Liza Donnelly: Drawing on humor for change
New Yorker cartoonist Liza Donnelly shares a portfolio of her wise and funny cartoons about modern life -- and talks about how humor can empower women to change the rules.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The Myth of Hercules: 12 labors in 8-bits - Alex Gendler
Hercules - son of Zeus and champion of humankind - stricken with a temporary curse of madness, has just committed the most unspeakable crime imaginable. Seeking to atone for the deaths of his family, Hercules must complete twelve...
Crash Course
Theories of Gender: Crash Course Sociology
Why is gender even a thing? To answer that, we’re going back to our three sociological paradigms and how each school of thought approaches gender theory. We’ll look at the structural functionalist view that gender is a way of organizing...
TED Talks
TED: What it's like to be a war refugee | Zarlasht Halaimzai
Living under the constant threat of violence has a lasting effect -- even after you escape from danger, says writer and refugee advocate Zarlasht Halaimzai. One of the millions of people worldwide who have been forcibly displaced by...
TED Talks
TED: A boat carrying 500 refugees sunk at sea. The story of two survivors | Melissa Fleming
Aboard an overloaded ship carrying more than 500 refugees, a young woman becomes an unlikely hero. This single, powerful story, told by Melissa Fleming of the UN's refugee agency, gives a human face to the sheer numbers of human beings...
TED Talks
TED: The hidden role informal caregivers play in health care | Scott Williams
Once a cared-for patient and now a caregiver himself, Scott Williams highlights the invaluable role of informal caregivers -- those friends and relatives who, out of love, go the extra mile for patients in need. From personal care to...
SciShow
The Tiny Molecule Responsible for Startle Syndrome
Flinching in response to an unexpected loud noise might not be pleasant, but it's also not a problem for most people. For one family, however, getting startled would cause their bodies to go stiff and fall.
TED Talks
Elizabeth Lesser: Take "the Other" to lunch
There's an angry divisive tension in the air that threatens to make modern politics impossible. Elizabeth Lesser explores the two sides of human nature within us (call them "the mystic" and "the warrior”) that can be harnessed to elevate...
TED Talks
TED: What I learned as a prisoner in North Korea | Euna Lee
In March 2009, North Korean soldiers captured journalist Euna Lee and her colleague Laura Ling while they were shooting a documentary on the border with China. The courts sentenced them to 12 years of hard labor, but American diplomats...
TED Talks
TED: How loss helped one artist find beauty in imperfection | Alyssa Monks
Painter Alyssa Monks finds beauty and inspiration in the unknown, the unpredictable and even the awful. In a poetic, intimate talk, she describes the interaction of life, paint and canvas through her development as an artist, and as a...
TED Talks
TED: The little problem I had renting a house | James A. White Sr.
Fifty-three years ago, James A. White Sr. joined the US Air Force. But as an African American man, he had to go to shocking lengths to find a place for his young family to live nearby. He tells this powerful story about the lived...
TED Talks
TED: The life-changing power of assistive technologies | Jane Velkovski
This chair is my legs -- this chair is my life, says accessibility champion Jane Velkovski, who uses a wheelchair after being diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). With clarity and poise, he shares how his first motorized...
TED Talks
TED: Immigrant voices make democracy stronger | Sayu Bhojwani
In politics, representation matters -- and that's why we should elect leaders who reflect their country's diversity and embrace its multicultural tapestry, says Sayu Bhojwani. Through her own story of becoming an American citizen, the...
TED Talks
TED: I grew up in the Westboro Baptist Church. Here's why I left | Megan Phelps-Roper
What's it like to grow up within a group of people who exult in demonizing ... everyone else? Megan Phelps-Roper shares details of life inside America's most controversial church and describes how conversations on Twitter were key to her...