TED Talks
TED: Shape-shifting tech will change work as we know it | Sean Follmer
What will the world look like when we move beyond the keyboard and mouse? Interaction designer Sean Follmer is building a future with machines that bring information to life under your fingers as you work with it. In this talk, check out...
TED Talks
TED: A life-saving invention that prevents human stampedes | Nilay Kulkarni
every three years, more than 30 million Hindu worshippers gather for the Kumbh Mela in India, the world's largest religious gathering, in order to wash away their sins. With massive crowds descending on small cities and towns, stampedes...
TED Talks
Chris Bangle: Great cars are great art
American designer Chris Bangle explains his philosophy that car design is an art form in its own right, with an entertaining -- and ultimately moving -- account of the BMW Group's Deep Blue project, intended to create the SUV of the future.
TED Talks
Jeff Bezos: The electricity metaphor for the web's future
The dot-com boom and bust is often compared to the Gold Rush. But Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos says it's more like the early days of the electric industry.
SciShow
Helping Build the Internet: Valerie Thomas | Great Minds
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.
TED Talks
Donald Sadoway: The missing link to renewable energy
What's the key to using alternative energy, like solar and wind? Storage -- so we can have power on tap even when the sun's not out and the wind's not blowing. In this accessible, inspiring talk, Donald Sadoway takes to the blackboard to...
TED Talks
Thom Mayne: How architecture can connect us
Architect Thom Mayne has never been one to take the easy option, and this whistle-stop tour of the buildings he's created makes you glad for it. These are big ideas cast in material form.
TED Talks
Leah Buechley: How to "sketch" with electronics
Designing electronics is generally cumbersome and expensive -- or was, until Leah Buechley and her team at MIT developed tools to treat electronics just like paper and pen. In this talk from TEDYouth 2011, Buechley shows some of her...
TED Talks
TED: Meet the dazzling flying machines of the future | Raffaello D'Andrea
When you hear the word "drone," you probably think of something either very useful or very scary. But could they have aesthetic value? Autonomous systems expert Raffaello D'Andrea develops flying machines, and his latest projects are...
TED Talks
Alex Steffen: The route to a sustainable future
Worldchanging.com founder Alex Steffen argues that reducing humanity’s ecological footprint is incredibly vital now, as the western consumer lifestyle spreads to developing countries.
TED Talks
Saul Griffith: Everyday inventions
Inventor and MacArthur fellow Saul Griffith shares some innovative ideas from his lab -- from "smart rope" to a house-sized kite for towing large loads.
TED Talks
Woody Norris: Hypersonic sound and other inventions
Woody Norris shows off two of his inventions that use sound in new ways, including the Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD. He talks about his untraditional approach to inventing and education, because, as he puts it: "Almost nothing has...
TED Talks
Robert Full: The secrets of nature's grossest creatures, channeled into robots
How can robots learn to stabilize on rough terrain, walk upside down, do gymnastic maneuvers in air and run into walls without harming themselves? Robert Full takes a look at the incredible body of the cockroach to show what it can teach...
TED Talks
Kevin Surace: Eco-friendly drywall
Kevin Surace suggests we rethink basic construction materials -- such as the familiar wallboard -- to reduce the huge carbon footprint generated by the manufacturing and construction of our buildings. He introduces EcoRock, a clean,...
TED Talks
Mick Ebeling: The invention that unlocked a locked-in artist
The nerve disease ALS left graffiti artist TEMPT paralyzed from head to toe, forced to communicate blink by blink. In a remarkable talk at TEDActive, entrepreneur Mick Ebeling shares how he and a team of collaborators built an...
TED Talks
TED: An Internet without screens might look like this | Tea uglow
Designer Tea uglow is creating a future in which humanity's love for natural solutions and simple tools can coexist with our need for information and the devices that provide us with it. "Reality is richer than screens," she says. "We...
TED Talks
TED: Can we build AI without losing control over it? | Sam Harris
Scared of superintelligent AI? You should be, says neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris -- and not just in some theoretical way. We're going to build superhuman machines, says Harris, but we haven't yet grappled with the problems...
TED-Ed
A brief history of toilets | Francis de los Reyes
On sunny days, citizens of ancient Rome could be found exchanging news and gossip while attending to more urgent business at the public latrines. Today, most cultures consider trips to the restroom to be a more private occasion. But even...
TED Talks
TED: The radical possibilities of man-made DNA | Floyd E. Romesberg
Every cell that's ever lived has been the result of the four-letter genetic alphabet: A, T, C and G -- the basic units of DNA. But now that's changed. In a visionary talk, synthetic biologist Floyd E. Romesberg introduces us to the first...
TED Talks
Bunker Roy: Learning from a barefoot movement
In Rajasthan, India, an extraordinary school teaches rural women and men -- many of them illiterate -- to become solar engineers, artisans, dentists and doctors in their own villages. It's called the Barefoot College, and its founder,...
TED Talks
Amos Winter: The cheap all-terrain wheelchair
How do you build a wheelchair ready to blaze through mud and sand, all for under $200? MIT engineer Amos Winter guides us through the mechanics of an all-terrain wheelchair that's cheap and easy to build -- for true accessibility -- and...
TED Talks
Ipsita Dasgupta: To challenge the status quo, find a "co-conspirator"
In a complex and changing world, how can we make sure unconventional people and their ideas thrive? Business executive Ipsita Dasgupta introduces the concept of "co-conspirators" -- people willing to bend or break the rules to challenge...
TED Talks
Jane Chen: A warm embrace that saves lives
In the developing world, access to incubators is limited by cost and distance, and millions of premature babies die each year. TED Fellow Jane Chen shows an invention that could keep millions of these infants warm -- a design that's...
TED Talks
TED: What's it like to be a robot? | Leila Takayama
We already live among robots: tools and machines like dishwashers and thermostats so integrated into our lives that we'd never think to call them that. What will a future with even more robots look like? Social scientist Leila Takayama...