TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Jabberwocky: One of literature's best bits of nonsense | Lewis Carroll
As Alice wanders through the dreamscape of Looking-Glass Land in Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There," she happens across a book written in an unintelligible language. Inside, she discovers an epic poem...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Did Shakespeare write his plays? - Natalya St. Clair and Aaron Williams
Some people question whether Shakespeare really wrote the works that bear his name _ or whether he even existed at all. Could it be true that the greatest writer in the English language was as fictional as his plays? Natalya St. Clair...
Crash Course
Tragedy Lessons from Aristotle: Crash Course Theater #3
Aristotle. He knows a lot, right? And if you choose to believe Aristotle, then you must believe all the mechanics of tragedy that Mike is about to lay on you. This week, we're looking at Aristotle's rules for the basic elements of...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What do all languages have in common? | Cameron Morin
Language is endlessly variable. Each of us can come up with an infinite number of sentences in our native language, and we're able to do so from an early age— almost as soon as we start to communicate in sentences. How is this possible?...
MinuteEarth
Why Are Adults Bad At New Languages?
Learning a new language as an adult is harder than doing so as a child because adults usually aren’t as invested and often use the wrong strategies.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Does grammar matter? - Andreea S. Calude
It can be hard sometimes, when speaking, to remember all of the grammatical rules that guide us when we're writing. When is it right to say the dog and mec and when should it be the dog and I? Does it even matter? Andreea S. Calude dives...
TED Talks
Suzanne Talhouk: Don't kill your language
More and more, English is a global language; speaking it is perceived as a sign of being modern. But -- what do we lose when we leave behind our mother tongues? Suzanne Talhouk makes an impassioned case to love your own language, and to...
Crash Course
Netflix & Chill: Crash Course Philosophy
Last week we talked about language and meaning. Today, Hank explores some of the things that complicate meaning and how we get around that. We’ll explain conversational implicature, the cooperative principle, and the four main maxims of...
Crash Course
Race, Ethnicity, and the Cultural Landscape: Crash Course Geography
Sometimes culture can seem invisible like when we're surrounded by signals that tell us we're with others who are like us, but if we live or travel somewhere where the traits that define social norms are not our traits, culture can...
TED Talks
TED: The brain in your gut | Heribert Watzke
Did you know you have functioning neurons in your intestines -- about a hundred million of them? Food scientist Heribert Watzke tells us about the "hidden brain" in our gut and the surprising things it makes us feel.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Is math discovered or invented? - Jeff Dekofsky
Would mathematics exist if people didn't? Did we create mathematical concepts to help us understand the world around us, or is math the native language of the universe itself? Jeff Dekofsky traces some famous arguments in this ancient...
SciShow Kids
Birds that Talk!
Birds can communicate with each other in lots of ways, but some types of birds can learn human words! But just because they learn human words, does that mean that they can understand them?
TED Talks
Jamila Lyiscott: 3 ways to speak English
Jamila Lyiscott is a “tri-tongued orator;” in her powerful spoken-word essay “Broken English,” she celebrates — and challenges — the three distinct flavors of English she speaks with her friends, in the classroom and with her parents. As...
TED Talks
Marcus du Sautoy: Symmetry, reality's riddle
The world turns on symmetry -- from the spin of subatomic particles to the dizzying beauty of an arabesque. But there's more to it than meets the eye. Here, Oxford mathematician Marcus du Sautoy offers a glimpse of the invisible numbers...
Crash Course
Symbols, Values & Norms: Crash Course Sociology
What exactly is culture? This week we’re going to try to answer that, and explain the difference between material and non-material culture. We’ll look at three things that make up culture: symbols, values and beliefs, and norms. We’ll...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What color is Tuesday? Exploring synesthesia - Richard E. Cytowic
How does one experience synesthesia -- the neurological trait that combines two or more senses? Synesthetes may taste the number 9 or attach a color to each day of the week. Richard E. Cytowic explains the fascinating world of entangled...
TED Talks
David Peterson: Why language is humanity's greatest invention
Civilization rests upon the existence of language, says language creator David Peterson. In a talk that's equal parts passionate and hilarious, he shows how studying, preserving and inventing new languages helps us understand our...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Aphasia: The disorder that makes you lose your words - Susan Wortman-Jutt
Language is an essential part of our lives that we often take for granted. But, if the delicate web of language networks in your brain became disrupted by stroke, illness, or trauma, you could find yourself truly at a loss for words....
Crash Course
India: Crash Course History of Science
You might have recognized the names of some of the Greek natural philosophers. They were individuals with quirky theories, and we have records about them. But they weren’t the only people making knowledge back in the day. Today, Hank...
SciShow
Should You Stop Saying 'Like' and 'Um'?
Y’know lots of people say you shouldn’t use, like...filler words, but uh, should you really like, stop using them?
SciShow
Are Colors Real?
The sky is blue, but according to whom? Could the rules of our language affect the way we perceive color?
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Where do new words come from? - Marcel Danesi
There are over 170,000 words currently in use in the English language. Yet every year, about a thousand new words are added to the Oxford English Dictionary. Where do they come from, and how do they make it into our everyday lives?...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: What makes a poem a poem? - Melissa Kovacs
What exactly makes a poem - a poem? Poets themselves have struggled with this question, often using metaphors to approximate a definition. Is a poem a little machine? A firework? An echo? A dream? Melissa Kovacs shares three recognizable...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: All the World's a Stage by William Shakespeare
An animated interpretation of William Shakespeare's poem "All the World's a Stage"