Cutting methane is the single fastest, most effective opportunity to reduce climate change risks in the near term, says atmospheric scientist Ilissa Ocko. That's because, unlike carbon dioxide, methane's warming power doesn't come from a...

This video focuses on general functions of biomolecules. The biomolecules: carbs, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids, can all can have important functions in the body. However, this video is not giving human dietary guidelines and...

Thanks to X-ray telescopes, scientists in the 1970s found the first real evidence that black holes actually existed, and astronomer Andrew Fabian has used X-ray research to unlock incredible mysteries ever since, including a giant sound...

Like Egypt, Sumer, and Mesoamerica, ancient China represents a hydraulic civilization—one that maintained its population by diverting rivers to aid in irrigation—and one that developed writing thousands of years ago. Today, we’re going...

Why are all the gas stations, cafes and restaurants in one crowded spot? As two competitive cousins vie for ice-cream-selling domination on one small beach, discover how game theory and the Nash Equilibrium inform these retail hotspots.

Lots of things go crazy in a woman's body when she's pregnant, but Hank tells you about three cool phenomena you might not have heard about. You'll want to thank your mom when you find out what they are!

I have cerebral palsy. I shake all the time, Maysoon Zayid announces at the beginning of this exhilarating, hilarious talk. (Really, it's hilarious.) "I'm like Shakira meets Muhammad Ali." With grace and wit, the Arab-American comedian...

Right now, experts say a vaccine for COVID-19 is a year or more away. But as far away as it sounds, it’s only within the realm of possibility because scientists are speeding up the vaccine development process in surprising ways.

Ants are practically everywhere, and some creatures have found it beneficial to blend in with this crowd rather than stick out.

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Researchers think they may have found a new way to study planets after they've been "buried" in a star! Astronomers are also officially acknowledging the discovery of a distant body with a thousand-year orbit and an adorable nickname.

We know the universe will continue to expand forever, so now we can begin to complete the first Friedmann equation, and determine the shape and geometry of our universe. At first glance, it would seem that the equation doesn't quite add...

A new and more circularly proof of a famous infinite product for pi.

Today on Crash Course Astronomy, Phil dives into some very dark matters. The stuff we can actually observe in the universe isn’t all there is. Galaxies and other large structures in the universe are created and shifted by a force we...

Halla Tómasdóttir managed to take her company Audur Capital through the eye of the financial storm in Iceland by applying 5 traditionally "feminine" values to financial services. At TEDWomen, she talks about these values and the...

It's been said that when an elder dies, it's as if a library is burned. Anthropologist Elizabeth Lindsey, a National Geographic Fellow, collects the deep cultural knowledge passed down as stories and lore.

When a squirrel chewed through a cable and knocked him offline, journalist Andrew Blum started wondering what the Internet was really made of. So he set out to go see it -- the underwater cables, secret switches and other physical bits...

It sounds counterintuitive, but by 2030, many of the world's largest economies will have more jobs than adult citizens to do those jobs. In this data-filled -- and quite charming -- talk, human resources expert Rainer Strack suggests...

Pot Theft (A Radiolab Adventure)

This year, scientists have had a chance to study something pretty mind-boggling: a comet that came from outside of our solar system.

Fraud researcher and documentary filmmaker Kelly Richmond Pope shares lessons from some of the most high-profile whistle-blowers of the past, explaining how they've shared information that has shaped society -- and why they need our...

In a poetic, personal talk, TED Fellow Katlego Kolanyane-Kesupile examines the connection between her modern queer lifestyle and her childhood upbringing in a rural village in Botswana. "In a time where being brown, queer, African and...

In 2011, the US Armed Forces still had a ban on women in combat -- but in that year, a Special Operations team of women was sent to Afghanistan to serve on the front lines, to build rapport with locals and try to help bring an end to the...

Actor Thandie Newton tells the story of finding her "otherness" -- first, as a child growing up in two distinct cultures, and then as an actor playing with many different selves. A warm, wise talk, fresh from stage at TEDGlobal 2011.

In the deep, dark ocean, many sea creatures make their own light for hunting, mating and self-defense. Bioluminescence expert Edith Widder was one of the first to film this glimmering world. At TED2011, she brings some of her glowing...