Craft curator Nora Atkinson takes us on a trip to Nevada's Black Rock Desert to see the beautifully designed and participatory art of Burning Man, revealing how she discovered there what's often missing from museums: curiosity and...

Craig Venter and team make a historic announcement: they've created the first fully functioning, reproducing cell controlled by synthetic DNA. He explains how they did it and why the achievement marks the beginning of a new era for science.

In which John Green teaches you about Beloved by Toni Morrison. I'll warn you up front, this book is something of a downer. That's because it deals with subjects like slavery, the death of a child, a potential haunting, and a bunch of...

Today we’re going to take a closer look at cities, examine how these large complex structures are organized, and identify patterns and differences in land use around the world. We'll begin with a quick recap of Central Place Theory, then...

Our planet is full of beautiful places, but it’s also full of wonderfully weird places. We've put together some of our favorite episodes about our planet’s weirdest lakes!

Hank shares three cool discoveries in space science, including a celestial crucible of phosphorous, noble gases found in a supernova, and plumes of water vapor on Europa.

In 1986, a prospecting crew in southern Romania was looking for a good place to build a geothermal power plant, when they accidentally discovered one of the oddest caves of all...

Today, NASA announced that there is...occasionally...flowing, liquid water on the surface of Mars. What?!

In 1688, in Pennsylvania, a group of four men created the Germantown Petition, which made the case that slavery was immoral, and that it was inconsistent with Christian beliefs in general, and Quaker beliefs specifically. While the...

In which Hank and John Green teach you about life on Earth. They won't be giving advice on how life should be lived, because this is a history series. Instead, they'll teach you about the earliest forms of life on Earth, and some of the...

Paul Andersen explains how variation is created within a cell. He starts by showing how molecular variation can increase fitness at the local level. He explains how an additional chlorophyll molecule allows plants to absorb more light...

The path that products take to get onto store shelves doesn’t always leave the best impact on the environment. But with green chemistry, chemists have found ways to make the production of some items safer for both people and the planet.

How exactly does gender work? It's not just about our chromosomes, says biologist Karissa Sanbonmatsu. In a visionary talk, she shares new discoveries from epigenetics, the emerging study of how DNA activity can permanently change based...

Fresh food free of chemicals and pesticides is hard to come by in China: in 2016, the Chinese government revealed half a million food safety violations in just nine months. In the absence of safe, sustainable food sources, TED Fellow...

Can we create new life out of our digital universe? Craig Venter asks. His answer is "yes" -- and pretty soon. He walks through his latest research and promises that we'll soon be able to build and boot up a synthetic chromosome. NOTE:...

In which John Green teaches you about the life and death of one of history's great explorers, Captain James Cook of the British Navy. He charted large swaths of the Pacific ocean, laid claim to Australia and New Zealand, and died a...

In 1925, Frida Kahlo was on her way home from school in Mexico City when the bus she was riding collided with a streetcar. She suffered near-fatal injuries and her disability became a major theme in her paintings. Over the course of her...

A perfumer from Ancient Babylon named Tapputi-Belatekallim is possibly history's first recorded chemist, and some of the techniques she used are still in practice today.

Albert Camus grew up surrounded by violence. His homeland of Algeria was mired in conflict. He lost his father in World War I. Seeing World War II's devastation, Camus grew despondent. What was the meaning behind all this endless...

Terry Moore found out he'd been tying his shoes the wrong way his whole life. In the spirit of TED, he takes the stage to share a better way.

This week on Crash Course Mythology, Mike is teaching you about the archetypes that are often associated with male divinities. We're going to talk about Fathers & Sons, Kings & Judges, Saviors & Sages, Shamans, Tricksters, and Lords of...

Hydrothermal vents are some of the most extreme environments on the planet. But in 2000, scientists discovered a vent unlike any other, one that spews white smoke and is 10 times older. And some think it may help us understand how all...

From calories to sleep, there always seems to be something we're not doing right. Luckily scientists have looked into this and come up with some helpful advice to keep us happy and healthy.

While herpes viruses cause harmful or annoying afflictions like chickenpox and cold sores, there’s also evidence it can help your immune system fight unrelated attackers.