TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The benefits of daydreaming | Elizabeth Cox
On a daily basis, you spend between a third and half of your waking hours daydreaming. That may sound like a huge waste of time, but scientists think it must have some purpose, or humans wouldn't have evolved to do so much of it. So,...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: What "Orwellian" really means - Noah Tavlin
If you've watched the news or followed politics, chances are you've heard the term Orwellian thrown around in one context or another. But have you ever stopped to think about what it really means, or why it's used so often? Noah Tavlin...
SciShow Kids
Why Do We Dream?
Jessi had the weirdest dream last night and wants to share with you why our brains make dreams.
TED Talks
Richard St. John: 8 secrets of success
Why do people succeed? Is it because they're smart? Or are they just lucky? Neither. Analyst Richard St. John condenses years of interviews into an unmissable 3-minute slideshow on the real secrets of success.
TED Talks
Haas&Hahn: How painting can transform communities
Artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn create community art by painting entire neighborhoods, and involving those who live there -- from the favelas of Rio to the streets of North Philadelphia. What's made their projects succeed? In this...
TED Talks
TED: Looking for a job? Highlight your ability, not your experience | Jason Shen
Very few of us hold jobs that line up directly with our past experiences or what we studied in college. Take TED Resident Jason Shen; he studied biology but later became a product manager at a tech company. In this quick, insightful talk...
TED Talks
Noreena Hertz: How to use experts -- and when not to
We make important decisions every day -- and we often rely on experts to help us decide. But, says economist Noreena Hertz, relying too much on experts can be limiting and even dangerous. She calls for us to start democratizing expertise...
TED Talks
Mary Lou Jepsen: Could future devices read images from our brains?
As an expert on cutting-edge digital displays, Mary Lou Jepsen studies how to show our most creative ideas on screens. And as a brain surgery patient herself, she is driven to know more about the neural activity that underlies invention,...
Be Smart
Why Are We The Only Humans Left?
In part 2 of our special series on human ancestry, we ask why we are the only surviving branch on the human evolutionary tree. Just 50,000-100,000 years ago, Earth was home to three or four separate human species, including our most...
TED Talks
TED: My seven species of robot -- and how we created them | Dennis Hong
Meet seven all-terrain robots -- like the humanoid, soccer-playing DARwIn and the cliff-gripping CLIMBeR -- built by Dennis Hong's robotics team at RoMeLa, based at Virginia Tech. Watch to the end for the five creative secrets to his...
TED Talks
Richard Baraniuk: The birth of the open-source learning revolution
In 2006, open-learning visionary Richard Baraniuk explains the vision behind Connexions (now called OpenStax), an open-source, online education system. It cuts out the textbook, allowing teachers to share and modify course materials...
SciShow
These 'Fossilized Brains' Might Not Be Brains At All
A new study calls the claims of fossilized brains into question, and another finds ichthyosaurs might have been bigger than our current champions, the blue whales.
TED Talks
Bill and Melinda Gates: Why giving away our wealth has been the most satisfying thing we've done
In 1993, Bill and Melinda Gates took a walk on the beach and made a big decision: to give their Microsoft wealth back to society. In conversation with Chris Anderson, the couple talks about their work at the Bill & Melinda Gates...
TED Talks
TED: How we can help young people build a better future | Henrietta Fore
* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. A massive generation of young people is about to inherit the world, and it's the duty of everyone to give them a...
TED Talks
TED: The secret language of letter design | Martina Flor
Look at the letters around you: on street signs, stores, restaurant menus, the covers of books. Whether you realize it or not, the letters are speaking to you, telling you something beyond the literal text -- that whatever they represent...
TED Talks
Risa Wechsler: The search for dark matter -- and what we've found so far
Roughly 85 percent of mass in the universe is "dark matter" -- mysterious material that can't be directly observed but has an immense influence on the cosmos. What exactly is this strange stuff, and what does it have to do with our...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What is imposter syndrome and how can you combat it? - Elizabeth Cox
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...
TED Talks
TED: The science of scent | Luca Turin
What's the science behind a sublime perfume? With charm and precision, biophysicist Luca Turin explains the molecular makeup -- and the art -- of a scent.
TED Talks
TED: TED's secret to great public speaking | Chris Anderson
There's no single formula for a great talk, but there is a secret ingredient that all the best ones have in common. TED curator Chris Anderson shares this secret -- along with four ways to make it work for you. Do you have what it takes...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How do you decide where to go in a zombie apocalypse? - David Hunter
Can geography save your life in case of, say, a zombie apocalypse? Understanding the push and pull factors that create geographic movement -- or how people, resources, and even ideas travel -- might help you determine the location that's...
SciShow
What Stephen Hawking Really Said About Black Holes
Hank explains the science behind recent reports that physics great Stephen Hawking said "there are no black holes." There are. They're just super complicated.
TED Talks
Arthur Potts Dawson: A vision for sustainable restaurants
If you've been in a restaurant kitchen, you've seen how much food, water and energy can be wasted there. Chef Arthur Potts-Dawson shares his very personal vision for drastically reducing restaurant, and supermarket, waste -- creating...
TED Talks
Richard St. John: Success is a continuous journey
In his typically candid style, Richard St. John reminds us that success is not a one-way street, but a constant journey. He uses the story of his business' rise and fall to illustrate a valuable lesson -- when we stop trying, we fail.
TED Talks
TED: How to disagree productively and find common ground | Julia Dhar
Some days, it feels like the only thing we can agree on is that we can't agree -- on anything. Drawing on her background as a world debate champion, Julia Dhar offers three techniques to reshape the way we talk to each other so we can...