Savage-Rumbaugh's work with bonobo apes, which can understand spoken language and learn tasks by watching, forces the audience to rethink how much of what a species can do is determined by biology -- and how much by cultural exposure.

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.

Join Rev. James Forbes at the dinner table of his Southern childhood, where his mother and father taught him what compassion really means day to day -- sharing with those who need love.

What do you think of people in poverty? Maybe what Jessica Jackley once did: "they" need "our" help, in the form of a few coins in a jar. The co-founder of Kiva.org talks about how her attitude changed -- and how her work with microloans...

Art historian Bahia Shehab has long been fascinated with the Arabic script for 'no.' When revolution swept through Egypt in 2011, she began spraying the image in the streets saying no to dictators, no to military rule and no to violence.

Matthew O’Reilly is a veteran emergency medical technician on Long Island, New York. In this talk, O’Reilly describes what happens next when a gravely hurt patient asks him: “Am I going to die?”

Here's a talk that could literally change your life. Which career should I pursue? Should I break up -- or get married?! Where should I live? Big decisions like these can be agonizingly difficult. But that's because we think about them...

As a young girl, photojournalist and TED Fellow Kitra Cahana dreamed about running away from home to live freely on the road. Now as an adult and self-proclaimed vagabond, she follows modern nomads into their homes -- boxcars, bus stops,...

With warmth and grace, Beth Malone tells the deeply personal story of her dad's struggle with frontotemporal lobe dementia, and how it changed how she thinks about death (and life). A moving talk about a daughter's love -- and of letting...

Chernobyl was the site of the world's worst nuclear accident and, for the past 27 years, the area around the plant has been known as the Exclusion Zone. And yet, a community of about 200 people live there -- almost all of them elderly...

Princess Savitri was benevolent, brilliant, and bright. Her grace was known throughout the land, and many princes and merchants flocked to her family's palace to seek her hand in marriage. But upon witnessing her blinding splendor in...

Today Emily Graslie of The Brain Scoop gives us the news about a couple of near- misses for our planet and an update on where astronomers think habitable life might be found in other star systems.

It turns out the name Boaty McBoatface didn't go to waste, and the submersible now bearing the name has returned from its first mission! Also, the diversity of frogs we see today may have arisen more recently than we previously thought!

Our society is in the midst of a social crisis, says op-ed columnist and author David Brooks: we're trapped in a valley of isolation and fragmentation. How do we find our way out? Based on his travels across the United States -- and his...

If you ever struggle to make decisions, here's a talk for you. Cognitive scientist Tom Griffiths shows how we can apply the logic of computers to untangle tricky human problems, sharing three practical strategies for making better...

What can an equation tell us about whether or not we're alone in the universe?

Paul Andersen explains how life has evolved and continues to evolve today. A brief discussion of artificial, natural and sexual selection is included. The beak of the finch is used to explain how directional selection is achieved.

Paul Andersen describes the process of ecological succession. During this process life reestablished itself after a disturbance. During primary success all of the material is removed including the soil. For example during a volcanic...

Have you ever doubted your abilities, feared you were going to be discovered as a "fraud"? That's called "impostor syndrome," and you're definitely not alone in feeling it, says entrepreneur and CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes. In this funny,...

Anger researcher Ryan Martin draws from a career studying what makes people mad to explain some of the cognitive processes behind anger -- and why a healthy dose of it can actually be useful. "Your anger exists in you ... because it...

Artist Tony Luciani was testing out a new camera when his 91-year-old mother, Elia, snuck into the background of his photos. The spontaneous images that resulted sparked a years-long collaboration, with Luciani documenting his mom's life...

Albert Einstein strongly disagreed with Niels Bohr when it came to Bohr's interpretation of quantum mechanics. Quantum entanglement settled the argument once and for all.

Urban planner Ryan Gravel shares the story of how his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, rallied to build a massive urban park that will transform an abandoned railroad track into 22 miles of public green space called the Atlanta BeltLine....

Storyteller Carmen Agra Deedy spins a funny, wise and luminous tale of parents and kids, starring her Cuban mother. Settle in and enjoy the ride -- Mama's driving!