TED Talks
Juan Enriquez: The age of genetic wonder
Gene-editing tools like CRISPR enable us to program life at its most fundamental level. But this raises some pressing questions: If we can generate new species from scratch, what should we build? Should we redesign humanity as we know...
TED Talks
Débora Mesa Molina: Stunning buildings made from raw, imperfect materials
What would it take to reimagine the limits of architecture? Débora Mesa Molina offers some answers in this breathtaking, visual tour of her work, showing how structures can be made with overlooked materials and unconventional methods --...
TED Talks
TED: The social animal | David Brooks
Columnist David Brooks unpacks new insights into human nature from the cognitive sciences -- insights with massive implications for economics and politics as well as our own self-knowledge. In a talk full of humor, he shows how you can't...
SciShow
5 Things That Make You a Mosquito Magnet
Every summer it seems like there’s that one person who always gets a lot of mosquito bites. But what makes people mosquito magnets?
Crash Course Kids
Big Changes in the Big Forest
What do beavers, termites, and prairie dogs have in common? They all change their environments! Last time we talked about how humans change their environments, but humans are animals and all animals change their environments just by...
TED Talks
Naomi Klein: Addicted to risk
Days before this talk, journalist Naomi Klein was on a boat in the Gulf of Mexico, looking at the catastrophic results of BP's risky pursuit of oil. Our societies have become addicted to extreme risk in finding new energy, new financial...
TED Talks
Guy-Philippe Goldstein: How cyberattacks threaten real-world peace
Nations can now attack other nations with cyber weapons: silent strikes on another country's computer systems, power grids, dams that leave no trace behind. (Think of the Stuxnet worm.) Guy-Philippe Goldstein shows how cyberattacks can...
SciShow
News | Where Did Domesticated Horses Come From?
New information has helped us understand where domestic horses came from. And by counting some tree rings, researchers were able to find evidence of Norse presence in the Americas in 1021 CE.
TED Talks
TED: Why Africa needs community-led conservation | Resson Kantai Duff
Conservation efforts in Africa have typically been led by "parachute conservationists" -- outsiders who drop in thinking they have all the answers, hire locals to implement them and then disappear. But conservationist Resson Kantai Duff...
Be Smart
Nature's Living Fireworks
Nearly all life on Earth is ultimately powered by light. But many creatures have learned how to make their own. This week we investigate the beautiful phenomenon of bioluminescence. From blinking fireflies on summer nights to glowing...
TED Talks
TED: Nature is everywhere -- we just need to learn to see it | emma Marris
How do you define "nature?" If we define it as that which is untouched by humans, then we won't have any left, says environmental writer emma Marris. She urges us to consider a new definition of nature -- one that includes not only...
TED Talks
TED: Drawings that show the beauty and fragility of earth | Zaria Forman
Zaria Forman's large-scale compositions of melting glaciers, icebergs floating in glassy water and waves cresting with foam explore moments of transition, turbulence and tranquility. Join her as she discusses the meditative process of...
SciShow
What Do We Know About T Cells and COVID-19 Immunity? | SciShow News
There's another theory about the Covid-19 pandemic going around, and while it is pretty cool, it's not exactly the solution some are suggesting it might be.
SciShow
Diary of a Citizen Scientist with Sharman Apt Russell
Sharman Apt Russell talks about her experiences with citizen science and Jessi from Animal Wonders joins the show with Fluffy the Chilean Rose Tarantula. Chapters View all SHARMAN APT RUSSELL Author & Citizen Scientist 0:18 TIGER BEETLE...
TED Talks
TED: The missing 96 percent of the universe | Claire Malone
We've misplaced the building blocks of the cosmos -- and particle physicists like Claire Malone are on a mission to find them. Despite scientists hitting a "major snag" in uncovering what exactly makes up dark matter and dark energy, she...
TED Talks
Nick Veasey: Exposing the invisible
Nick Veasey shows outsized X-ray images that reveal the otherworldly inner workings of familiar objects -- from the geometry of a wildflower to the anatomy of a Boeing 747. Producing these photos is dangerous and painstaking, but the...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Why should you read Virgil's "Aeneid"? - Mark Robinson
In 19 BC, the Roman poet Virgil suffered heatstroke and died on his journey back to Italy. On his deathbed, he thought about the manuscript he had been working on for over ten years, an epic poem called the "Aeneid." Unsatisfied with the...
TED Talks
TED: A forgotten Space Age technology could change how we grow food | Lisa Dyson
We're heading for a world population of 10 billion people -- but what will we all eat? Lisa Dyson rediscovered an idea developed by NASA in the 1960s for deep-space travel, and it could be a key to reinventing how we grow food.
TED Talks
TED: To solve old problems, study new species | Alejandro Sanchez Alvarado
Nature is wonderfully abundant, diverse and mysterious -- but biological research today tends to focus on only seven species, including rats, chickens, fruit flies and us. We're studying an astonishingly narrow sliver of life, says...
SciShow
Why Don't We Just Nuke Hurricanes?
Hurricanes are just made up of clouds and wind moving in a certain pattern…so could we use a nuclear weapon to disrupt that wind enough to stop them?
TED Talks
Li Wei Tan: The fascinating science of bubbles, from soap to champagne
In this whimsical talk and live demo, scientist Li Wei Tan shares the secrets of bubbles -- from their relentless pursuit of geometric perfection to their applications in medicine and shipping, where designers are creating more efficient...
SciShow
Robots Inspired By Animals
Learn about the robots inspired by animals with Hank! Chapters View all ROBOTS ARE JUST MACHINES DESIGNED TO ACCOMPLISH ATASK 0:31 THERE'S A LOT MORE TO FLYING THAN JUST FLAPPING WINGS 1:08 MAPPING SYSTEMS TEND TO BE COMPLICATED,...