We all know that birds are incredibly smart, but some birds in Australia take things to the next level — they can intentionally start fires!

Necessity is the mother of invention, right? Well, not always. Steven Johnson shows us how some of the most transformative ideas and technologies, like the computer, didn't emerge out of necessity at all but instead from the strange...

A quantum computer isn't just a more powerful version of the computers we use today; it's something else entirely, based on emerging scientific understanding -- and more than a bit of uncertainty. Enter the quantum wonderland with TED...

Don't take the easy route! Instead, use this little trick to improve your writing -- let go of the words "good" and "bad," and push yourself to illustrate, elucidate and illuminate your world with language.

How do you rediscover a happier, more purpose-driven (and less productivity-obsessed) self in the wake of the pandemic? Quiz yourself alongside work futurist Dominic Price as he lays out a simple yet insightful four-part guide to...

Is outer space really the silent and lifeless place it's often depicted to be? Perhaps not. Astrophysicist and musician Matt Russo takes us on a journey through the cosmos, revealing the hidden rhythms and harmonies of planetary orbits....

Our lives depend on a world we can't see: the satellite infrastructure we use every day for information, entertainment, communication and so much more. But earth orbit isn't a limitless resource, and the problem of space debris will get...

Some parasites can hijack the brains of their victims and cause them to behave in strange ways, but how they do it, and do we humans need to be worried?

How many species are there on Earth? In biology, this is one of a fundamental question that we still don't have a very good answer for. Imagine if chemists didn't know all the elements of the periodic table, or if physicists didn't know...

Social entrepreneur Bernhard Kowatsch shares real-life examples of how a business approach focused on accelerating tech (like a blockchain-supported way to bring food to refugees or a machine that fortifies flour at small mills in...

From something as familiar as our bodies to things vast as the formation of galaxies, we can observe the process of self-assembly, or when unordered parts come together in an organized structure. Skylar Tibbits explains how we see...

Living things have engineered some pretty awesome materials, but I'm not sure anything measures up to spider silk. It's as strong, as stretchy, and as resilient than even humans' most advanced creations like Kevlar and steel. So how do...

Space might seem like an empty place, but the area surrounding Earth is constantly being bombarded by waves of charged particles released by the Sun: The solar wind. Luckily, thanks to Earth's swirling, molten core (and the magnetic...

Daniel Lismore's closet is probably a bit different than yours -- his clothes are constructed out of materials ranging from beer cans and plastic crystals to diamonds, royal silks and 2,000-year-old Roman rings. In this striking talk,...

Time travel is a staple of science fiction stories, but is it actually possible? It turns out nature does allow a way of bending time, an exciting possibility suggested by Albert Einstein when he discovered special relativity over one...

Compares and contrasts prokaryote cells and eukaryote cells before exploring organelle structures and functions! Video includes the modern cell theory and plant vs. animal cell comparisons. See table of contents by expanding video...

In this episode of Crash Course Film History, we talk about the development of the language of films by filmmakers like Edwin S. Porter and his films; Life of an American Fireman and The Great Train Robbery.

When you think of matrices as transforming space, rather than as grids of numbers, so much of linear algebra starts to make sense.

The sounds of the rainforest include: the chirps of birds, the buzz of cicadas, the banter of gibbons. But in the background is the almost-always present sound of a chainsaw, from illegal loggers. Engineer Topher White shares a simple,...

Hindsight bias skews our interpretation of events and information, making it seem like they were predictable or just not that surprising. This bias can cause some real problems, but the good news is, once you are aware of it, there are...

Your professor has accidentally stepped through a time portal in his physics lab. You’ve got just a minute to jump through before it closes and leaves him stranded in history. Your only way back is to grab enough colored nodules to...

"There's a flip side to everything," the saying goes, and in 2 minutes, Derek Sivers shows this is true in a few ways you might not expect.

Today we are talking about art and aesthetic appreciation. What makes something an artwork? Can art really be defined? Is aesthetic value is objective or subjective? Can taste be developed? How?

Understanding gravity can sometimes be a bit of a balancing act, much like the fundamental laws of physics and how they inform what it is exactly that Earth orbits.