How often do you see the true beauty of the night sky? TED Fellow Lucianne Walkowicz shows how light pollution is ruining the extraordinary -- and often ignored -- experience of seeing directly into space.

You may have seen posts online warning you about the dangers of eating burnt toast, but how much will that actually affect your health?

Before entering the world of financial journalism, Gillian Tett was a cultural anthropologist who studied how the past influences our present thoughts and behaviors. In an entertaining talk, she shows how you can use an anthropological...

We can all play a role in the climate movement by tapping into our skills, resources and networks in ways that bring us satisfaction, says climate leader Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. She suggests drawing a Venn diagram to map these...

Air travel opens our eyes to the world, but it also comes at a high cost to the environment. Piloting us into a future of green aviation, innovator Ryah Whalen shares three ways to lower the industry's carbon footprint through smarter...

Curious why you can't donate platelets after taking aspirin? Wonder no more!

SciShow News explains the science behind the latest efforts to stop the spread of ebola: including airport screenings, treatments for patients, and developments in the search for a vaccine.

Don't panic! But you should really know about antibiotic-resistant bacteria, aka super bugs. They're here, and they're doing very well, thank you. SciShow explains what they are, how they're getting around our best drugs,...

when the pyramids were built, the ancient Egyptians hadn't invented the wheel, developed bronze tools, or discovered pi. How were they able to stack two million stone blocks, each weighing more than two tons, into precise geometric...

How is the chemical energy of gasoline transformed into kinetic energy of a moving car? And where does that kinetic energy go when the car crashes into something and stops moving?

Sometimes it's hard to know what statistics are worthy of trust. But we shouldn't count out stats altogether ... instead, we should learn to look behind them. In this delightful, hilarious talk, data journalist Mona Chalabi shares handy...

At the Harbour School in Hong Kong, TED Senior Fellow Cesar Harada teaches citizen science and invention to the next generation of environmentalists. He's moved his classroom into an industrial mega-space where imaginative kids work with...

When you cut into a nice, juicy steak what's all that liquid that pours out? Is it blood? It looks like blood. ...it's not blood.

Michael Tubbs is the youngest mayor in American history to represent a city with more than 100,000 people -- and his policies are sparking national conversations. In this rousing talk, he shares how growing up amid poverty and violence...

Plants are amazing machines -- for millions of years, they've taken carbon dioxide out of the air and stored it underground, keeping a crucial check on the global climate. Plant geneticist Joanne Chory is working to amplify this special...

Even after writing eleven books and winning several awards, Maya Angelou couldn't escape the doubt that she hadn't earned her accomplishments. This feeling of fraudulence is extremely common. Why can't so many of us shake feelings that...

A free press -- papers, magazines, radio, TV, blogs -- is the backbone of any true democracy (and a vital watchdog on business). Sasa Vucinic, a journalist from Belgrade, talks about his new fund, which supports media by selling "free...

Jacek Utko is an extraordinary Polish newspaper designer whose redesigns for papers in Eastern Europe not only win awards, but increase circulation by up to 100%. Can good design save the newspaper? It just might.

Rather than demo another new technology, Tom Wujec reaches back to one of our earliest but most ingenious devices -- the astrolabe. With thousands of uses, from telling time to mapping the night sky, this old tech reminds us that the...

Julian Treasure says our increasingly noisy world is gnawing away at our mental health -- even costing lives. He lays out an 8-step plan to soften this sonic assault (starting with those cheap earbuds) and restore our relationship with...

Combining projection mapping and a pop-up book, Marco Tempest tells the visually arresting story of Nikola Tesla -- called "the greatest geek who ever lived" -- from his triumphant invention of alternating current to his penniless last...

We believe we should work hard in order to be happy, but could we be thinking about things backwards? In this fast-moving and very funny talk, psychologist Shawn Achor argues that, actually, happiness inspires us to be more productive.

Young poet, educator and activist Malcolm London performs his stirring poem about life on the front lines of high school. He tells of the "oceans of adolescence" who come to school "but never learn to swim," of "masculinity mimicked by...

Scientists have been researching whether or not antibodies from COVID-19 patients might help those infected with the virus, and one study has found promising results, in a llama.