TED Talks
Colin Grant: How our stories cross over
Colin Grant has spent a lifetime navigating the emotional landscape between his father’s world and his own. Born in England to Jamaican parents, Grant draws on stories of shared experience within his immigrant community -- and reflects...
TED Talks
TED: A sci-fi vision of love from a 318-year-old hologram | Monica Byrne
Science fiction writer Monica Byrne imagines rich worlds populated with characters who defy our racial, social and gender stereotypes. In this performance, Byrne appears as a hologram named Pilar, transmitting a story of love and loss...
TED Talks
TED: How I became part sea urchin | Catherine Mohr
As a young scientist, Catherine Mohr was on her dream scuba trip -- when she put her hand right down on a spiny sea urchin. While a school of sharks circled above. What happened next? More than you can possibly imagine. Settle in for...
TED Talks
Seth Godin: How to get your ideas to spread
In a world of too many options and too little time, our obvious choice is to just ignore the ordinary stuff. Marketing guru Seth Godin spells out why, when it comes to getting our attention, bad or bizarre ideas are more successful than...
TED Talks
Julia Sweeney: Letting go of God
When two young Mormon missionaries knock on Julia Sweeney's door one day, it touches off a quest to completely rethink her own beliefs, in this excerpt from Sweeney's solo show "Letting Go of God."
TED Talks
Malcolm Gladwell: Choice, happiness and spaghetti sauce
"Tipping Point" author Malcolm Gladwell gets inside the food industry's pursuit of the perfect spaghetti sauce -- and makes a larger argument about the nature of choice and happiness.
TED Talks
Tyler Cowen: Be suspicious of simple stories
Like all of us, economist Tyler Cowen loves a good story. But in this intriguing talk, he asks us to step away from thinking of our lives -- and our messy, complicated irrational world -- in terms of a simple narrative.
TED Talks
Eve Ensler: Happiness in body and soul
Eve Ensler, creator of "The Vagina Monologues," shares how a discussion about menopause with her friends led to talking about all sorts of sexual acts onstage, waging a global campaign to end violence toward women and finding her own...
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
Rives: A story of mixed emoticons
Rives tells a typographical fairy tale that's short and bittersweet ;)
TED Talks
Sarah Kaminsky: My father the forger
Sarah Kaminsky tells the extraordinary story of her father Adolfo and his activity during World War II -- using his ingenuity and talent for forgery to save lives.
TED Talks
Ric Elias: 3 things I learned while my plane crashed
Ric Elias had a front-row seat on Flight 1549, the plane that crash-landed in the Hudson River in New York in January 2009. What went through his mind as the doomed plane went down? At TED, he tells his story publicly for the first time.
TED Talks
TED: The press trampled on my privacy. Here's how I took back my story | Kate Stone
After a horrific accident put her in the tabloid headlines, Kate Stone found a way to take control of her narrative -- and help prevent others from losing their privacy, too. Learn how she reclaimed her story in this personal talk...
TED Talks
Abha Dawesar: Life in the "digital now"
One year ago, Abha Dawesar was living in blacked-out Manhattan post-Sandy, scrounging for power to connect. As a novelist, she was struck by this metaphor: Have our lives now become fixated on the drive to digitally connect, while we...
TED Talks
Shimon Schocken: What a bike ride can teach you
Computer science professor Shimon Schocken is also an avid mountain biker. To share the life lessons he learned while riding, he began an outdoor program with Israel's juvenile inmates and was touched by both their intense difficulties...
TED Talks
Joshua Prager: In search of the man who broke my neck
When Joshua Prager was 19, a devastating bus accident left him a hemiplegic. He returned to Israel twenty years later to find the driver who turned his world upside down. In this mesmerizing tale of their meeting, Prager probes deep...
TED Talks
Tracy Chevalier: Finding the story inside the painting
When Tracy Chevalier looks at paintings, she imagines the stories behind them: How did the painter meet his model? What would explain that look in her eye? Why is that man ... blushing? She shares three stories inspired by portraits,...
TED Talks
TED: How I climbed a 3,000-foot vertical cliff -- without ropes | Alex Honnold
Imagine being by yourself in the dead center of a 3,000-foot vertical cliff -- without a rope to catch you if you fall. For professional rock climber Alex Honnold, this dizzying scene marked the culmination of a decade-long dream. In a...
TED Talks
Janine Shepherd: A broken body isn't a broken person
Cross-country skier Janine Shepherd hoped for an Olympic medal -- until she was hit by a truck during a training bike ride. She shares a powerful story about the human potential for recovery. Her message: you are not your body, and...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Love vs. Honor: The Irish myth of Diarmuid's betrayal | Iseult Gillespie
Gráinne, princess of Tara and bride-to-be, was furious. She had thought she was betrothed to a young soldier, bold and brilliant enough to be her equal. Yet it soon became clear she was expected to marry Fionn, a warrior far past his...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The myth of the original star-crossed lovers | Shannon Zhao
In the court of the Jade Emperor, a young princess had a special skill: she could pluck clouds from the sky and spin them into the softest robes. But her craft was the same day after day, and she longed for new inspiration. So the Queen...
TED Talks
America Ferrera: My identity is a superpower -- not an obstacle
Hollywood needs to stop resisting what the world actually looks like, says actor, director and activist America Ferrera. Tracing the contours of her career, she calls for more authentic representation of different cultures in media --...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The tragic myth of the Sun God's son | Iseult Gillespie
Every morning, Helios unleashed his golden chariot, and set out across the sky. As the Sun God transformed dawn into day, he thought of his son, Phaethon, below. To prove to Phaethon that he was truly his father, Helios decided to grant...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The Taino myth of the cursed creator | Bill Keegan
Before the world of humans began, there was the world of the gods. Four brothers wandered this celestial realm. One day, the brothers snuck into a spirit's house and spotted a giant gourd hanging in the corner. But as they tried to look...