Everyone has their own opinion as to whether or not aliens exist. But let's assume they do for a second and we wanted to let them know we're here!!!! How should we signal our species' existence through the expanse of space? There are a...

Graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister takes the audience on a whimsical journey through moments of his life that made him happy -- and notes how many of these moments have to do with good design.

It's been a year since astronomer Tabetha Boyaijan found strange signals coming from a star called KIC 8462852, aka Tabby's Star. Now, new research shows that it's even stranger than we thought. Plus, good news from spaceflight company...

For sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor, the ocean is more than a muse -- it's an exhibition space and museum. Taylor creates sculptures of human forms and mundane life on land and sinks them to the ocean floor, where they are subsumed by the...

Accepting his 2008 TED Prize, author Dave Eggers asks the TED community to personally, creatively engage with local public schools. With spellbinding eagerness, he talks about how his 826 Valencia tutoring center inspired others around...

Would you negotiate with someone you knew to be evil, to save lives? Samantha Power tells a story of a complicated hero, Sergio Vieira de Mello. This UN diplomat walked a thin moral line, negotiating with the world's worst dictators to...

While living and working as a marine biologist in Maldives, Charles Anderson noticed sudden explosions of dragonflies at certain times of year. He explains how he carefully tracked the path of a plain, little dragonfly called the globe...

What if super speed wasn't just the stuff of epic comic book stories? Is it scientifically possible to be super speedy? In this series, Joy Lin tackles six superpowers and reveals just how scientifically realistic they can be to us mere...

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?

Ron Finley plants vegetable gardens in South Central LA -- in abandoned lots, traffic medians, along the curbs. Why? For fun, for defiance, for beauty and to offer some alternative to fast food in a community where "the drive-thrus are...

Filmmaker Deborah Scranton talks about and shows clips from her documentary The War Tapes, which puts cameras in the hands of soldiers fighting in Iraq.

Artist Neil Harbisson was born completely color blind, but these days a device attached to his head turns color into audible frequencies. Instead of seeing a world in grayscale, Harbisson can hear a symphony of color -- and yes, even...

At this school in Tokyo, five-year-olds cause traffic jams and windows are for Santa to climb into. Meet: the world's cutest kindergarten, designed by architect Takaharu Tezuka. In this charming talk, he walks us through a design process...

This week, an update on Dawn's rendezvous with Ceres, a changing of the guard on the ISS, and a viewer's guide to this year's solar eclipse!

We make millions of online purchases daily, but who (or what) actually puts our items into packages? In this talk, Mick Mountz weaves a fascinating, surprisingly robot-filled tale of what happens inside a warehouse.

Paul Andersen describes his philosophy for group size.<br/>
One is for learning, active a<br/>nd private.
Two is for teachi<br/>ng, it goes both ways.
Three <br/>is for working, the jobs divided.
Four is for nothing but wasting the days.

When Allison Hunt found out that she needed a new hip -- and that Canada’s national health care system would require her to spend nearly 2 years on a waiting list (and in pain) -- she took matters into her own hands.

Your friend just tagged you in 17 photos on Facebook but you swear those photos lie about your weight. Is the camera playing tricks with your eyes?

Journalist Carl Honore believes the Western world's emphasis on speed erodes health, productivity and quality of life. But there's a backlash brewing, as everyday people start putting the brakes on their all-too-modern lives.

Snakes aren’t just muscle-y danger noodles. They're extremely diverse, and some have really weird, unique adaptations that we could all probably appreciate a little more.

Despite computers barely being a thing when she was born, Valerie Thomas knew that she was cut out for the tech world, pushed until she got there, and contributed to some hugely important technologies that many of us could not live without.

For the past 200 years, the gallery has been the home of new and cutting-edge art, a place where the art community can come together and share new ideas. In the era of the internet, however, you can view remarkable art from the comfort...

Storyteller Carmen Agra Deedy spins a funny, wise and luminous tale of parents and kids, starring her Cuban mother. Settle in and enjoy the ride -- Mama's driving!

Exorings are pretty elusive, but we’ve already found what might be the first set of exorings, and if we find more, we’ll have a treasure trove of new information.