TED Talks
Seth Berkley: The troubling reason why vaccines are made too late ... if they're made at all
It seems like we wait for a disastrous disease outbreak before we get serious about making a vaccine for it. Seth Berkley lays out the market realities and unbalanced risks behind why we aren't making vaccines for the world's biggest...
TED Talks
Alanna Shaikh: How I'm preparing to get Alzheimer's
When faced with a parent suffering from Alzheimer's, most of us respond with denial ("It won't happen to me") or extreme efforts at prevention. But global health expert and TED Fellow Alanna Shaikh sees it differently. She's taking three...
TED Talks
Nikolai Begg: A tool to fix one of the most dangerous moments in surgery
Surgeons are required every day to puncture human skin before procedures — with the risk of damaging what's on the other side. In a fascinating talk, find out how mechanical engineer Nikolai Begg is using physics to update an important...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: 3 ways to end a virus | TED-Ed
Viruses are wildly successful organisms. There are about 100 million times as many virus particles on Earth as there are stars in the observable universe. Even so, viruses can and do go extinct. So, what is the possibility of the virus...
TED Talks
Carl June: A "living drug" that could change the way we treat cancer
Carl June is the pioneer behind CAR T-cell therapy: a groundbreaking cancer treatment that supercharges part of a patient's own immune system to attack and kill tumors. In a talk about a breakthrough, he shares how three decades of...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Jeff Leek and Lucy McGowan: This one weird trick will help you spot clickbait
Health headlines are published every day, sometimes making opposite claims from each other. There can be a disconnect between broad, attention-grabbing headlines and the often specific, incremental results of the medical research they...
TED Talks
TED: The brain may be able to repair itself -- with help | Jocelyne Bloch
Through treating everything from strokes to car accident traumas, neurosurgeon Jocelyne Bloch knows the brain's inability to repair itself all too well. But now, she suggests, she and her colleagues may have found the key to neural...
TED Talks
Bright Simons: To help solve global problems, look to developing countries
To address the problem of counterfeit goods, African entrepreneurs like Bright Simons have come up with innovative and effective ways to confirm products are genuine. Now he asks: Why aren't these solutions everywhere? From...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What is consciousness? - Michael S. A. Graziano
Explore the theories of human consciousness and the science of how your brain works to create a conscious experience. -- Patient P.S. suffered a stroke that damaged the right side of her brain, leaving her unaware of everything on her...
TED Talks
Pawan Sinha: How brains learn to see
Pawan Sinha details his groundbreaking research into how the brain's visual system develops. Sinha and his team provide free vision-restoring treatment to children born blind, and then study how their brains learn to interpret visual...
TED Talks
Abraham Verghese: A doctor's touch
Modern medicine is in danger of losing a powerful, old-fashioned tool: human touch. Physician and writer Abraham Verghese describes our strange new world where patients are merely data points, and calls for a return to the traditional...
TED Talks
TED: Why civilians suffer more once a war is over | Margaret Bourdeaux
In a war, it turns out that violence isn't the biggest killer of civilians. What is? Illness, hunger, poverty -- because war destroys the institutions that keep society running, like utilities, banks, food systems and hospitals....
TED Talks
TED: We can start winning the war against cancer | Adam de la Zerda
Learn about the latest advances in the war against cancer from Stanford researcher Adam de la Zerda, who's working on some cutting-edge techniques of his own. using a remarkable imaging technology that illuminates cancer-seeking gold...
SciShow
The Truth About Dog Years (Your Pupper Is Older Than You Think!)
You might have heard that one year in a dog’s life is equivalent to seven in a human’s. But it turns out that the real ratio is both higher AND lower—depending on your dog’s current age.
TED Talks
TED: A new superweapon in the fight against cancer | Paula Hammond
Cancer is a very clever, adaptable disease. To defeat it, says medical researcher and educator Paula Hammond, we need a new and powerful mode of attack. With her colleagues at MIT, Hammond engineered a nanoparticle one-hundredth the size...
TED Talks
TED: A new weapon in the fight against superbugs | David Brenner
Since the widespread use of antibiotics began in the 1940s, we've tried to develop new drugs faster than bacteria can evolve -- but this strategy isn't working. Drug-resistant bacteria known as superbugs killed nearly 700,000 people last...
SciShow
Why Do Some Shots Make Your Arm Hurt So Much?
From MMR boosters to tetanus, you'll probably get a lot of shots in your life. And one thing you might notice is that some of them don't feel like much, but some of them can make your arm reallllly sore! Why is that?
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Could one vaccine protect against everything? | TED-Ed
There's a vaccine being developed now that would protect you against every strain of the flu— even ones that don't exist yet. But influenza is constantly mutating, so is a universal vaccine even possible? And how do you design a vaccine...
Be Smart
Should You Be Worried About Zika?
Mosquitos have been dangerous for, well... forever. So what's new about Zika?
SciShow
The Man Who Tried to Give Himself An Ulcer... For Science
In 1984, Dr. Barry Marshall had a theory about ulcers that he couldn't convince the science community of. So, he took matters into his own hands... or stomach, and infected himself with a potentially deadly bacterium.
SciShow
High-Tech Masks: The Future of Face Coverings
Masks do wonders to stop the spread of infection and inhalation of harmful particles, and some new technology can make them both more effective and easier to clean.
TED Talks
Romina Libster: The power of herd immunity
How do vaccines prevent disease -- even among people too young to get vaccinated? It's a concept called "herd immunity," and it relies on a critical mass of people getting their shots to break the chain of infection. Health researcher...
TED Talks
Christopher deCharms: A look inside the brain in real time
Neuroscientist and inventor Christopher deCharms demonstrates a new way to use fMRI to show brain activity -- thoughts, emotions, pain -- while it is happening. In other words, you can actually see how you feel.
TED Talks
Michael Specter: The danger of science denial
Vaccine-autism claims, "Frankenfood" bans, the herbal cure craze: All point to the public's growing fear (and, often, outright denial) of science and reason, says Michael Specter. He warns the trend spells disaster for human progress.