As dawn breaks over a moveable city of ten thousand yurts, Queen Boraqchin readies her kingdom for departure to their summer camping grounds. While her husband, the grandson of Genghis Khan, is out raiding, she juggles the duties of...

Princess Savitri was benevolent, brilliant, and bright. Her grace was known throughout the land, and many princes and merchants flocked to her family's palace to seek her hand in marriage. But upon witnessing her blinding splendor in...

Finding the right mate is no cakewalk -- but is it even mathematically likely? In a charming talk, mathematician Hannah Fry shows patterns in how we look for love, and gives her top three tips (verified by math!) for finding that special...

You may not know it yet, but AJ Jacobs is probably your cousin (many, many times removed). Using genealogy websites, he's been following the unexpected links that make us all, however distantly, related. His goal: to throw the world's...

Anna Komnene, daughter of Byzantine emperor Alexios, spent the last decade of her life creating a 500-page history of her father's reign called "The Alexiad." As a princess writing about her own family, she had to balance her loyalty to...

Think capitalism is broken? Try cooperativism, says co-op enthusiast and researcher Anu Puusa. She lays out how cooperatives -- businesses owned, operated and controlled by their members -- can both make money and have a positive...

In life's toughest moments, how do you go on living? Kate Bowler has been exploring this question ever since she was diagnosed with stage IV cancer at age 35. In a profound, heartbreaking and unexpectedly funny talk, she offers some...

Baritone thunder. Snarling winds. Consuming downpours. Okeechobee, the hurricane of 1928, forced many to flee their ruined communities. But for Janie Crawford, it inspired an unexpected homecoming. So begins Zora Neale Hurston's...

After many years of quietly changing the world, women are finally receiving recognition for contributions in STEM. Let’s celebrate these 5 groundbreaking women, and their contributions to the field of engineering

Mothers undeniably impact and shape history -- but their stories are often left out or misrepresented, says sociologist and author Anna Malaika Tubbs. This erasure limits policies to support mothers and their essential roles in society....

Today, there are many ways to conceive a child, thanks to assisted reproductive technologies like IVF and egg-freezing. But the law lags behind these advancements, says attorney Ellen Trachman, troubling parents-to-be with...

At the height of their power, infamous Caribbean pirates like Blackbeard and Henry Morgan commanded as many as 10 ships and several hundred men. But their stories pale next to the most successful pirate of all time, who commanded 1,800...

In this funny, casual talk from TEDx, writer Jenna McCarthy shares surprising research on how marriages (especially happy marriages) really work. One tip: Do not try to win an Oscar for best actress.

Psyche was born so beautiful that she was worshipped as a new incarnation of Venus, the goddess of love. But human lovers were too intimidated to approach her, and Apollo recommended her father abandon her on a crag where she would marry...

Formally or informally, human societies across place and time have made rules to bind and dissolve couples. The stakes of who can obtain a divorce, and why, have always been high. Divorce is a battlefield for some of society's most...

As a police officer, Jeremy Brewer interacts with individuals experiencing trauma and loss on a daily basis. Giving us a peek into this little-discussed aspect of the job, Brewer shares thoughtful insights on why respecting people's...

Once your smart devices can talk to you, who else are they talking to? Kashmir Hill and Surya Mattu wanted to find out -- so they outfitted Hill's apartment with 18 different internet-connected devices and built a special router to track...

In this deceptively simple 3-minute talk, Dr. Laura Trice muses on the power of the magic words "thank you" -- to deepen a friendship, to repair a bond, to make sure another person knows what they mean to you. Try it.

If you see something wrong in the workplace, what should you do? Business leader Angélique Parisot-Potter says you should speak up, even when it's scary. Sharing her personal experience of voicing concerns at work, she offers three...

Throughout her life, Rosa Parks repeatedly challenged racial violence and the prejudiced systems protecting its perpetrators. Her refusal to move to the back of a segregated bus ignited a boycott that lasted 381 days and helped transform...

Dolly Madison's journey begins in North Carolina, where she marries John Todd and later becomes a widow. She finds love again with James Madison, adapting to his political world. As First Lady, she excels in hosting events that promote...

Tracy Slater, a Jewish American writer in a mixed Jewish–Japanese family, tells the true story behind her book Together in Manzanar. It follows Elaine Buchman Yoneda, a Jewish American mother in 1942 who must decide whether to let the...

9/11/2001… Ground Zero… The Pentagon… Washington DC…What started out as one of the best days of Sarah Rudder’s life, earning a promotion from the Marine Corps, soon took a tragic turn when the ground shook from the...

United Through Reading is a non-profit that offers active duty military service members the opportunity to pre-record themselves reading books to their children at home. The program's mission is to keep the...