How is the US going to reach net zero by 2050? That's the question Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, director of the Office of Science for the US Department of Energy, is urgently trying to answer. She shares the thinking behind what her team is...

In a blistering talk, Nobel Laureate Al Gore looks at the two main obstacles to climate solutions and gives his view of how we might actually solve the environmental crisis in time. You won't want to miss his searing indictment of fossil...

Fifteen years ago, Uruguay was experiencing an energy crisis brought on by its reliance on fossil fuels; today, the nation produces 98 percent of its electricity from renewable sources (and even exports extra energy to neighboring...

The power sector generates the electricity that sustains modern life -- but it's also the number one contributor to climate change. We need a swift and equitable shift to renewable energy, says 2023 Audacious Project grantee and...

Climate change doesn't care about ideological divides, says policy analyst and China expert Changhua Wu. Here's what she says the US can learn from the progress China has made on the clean energy revolution -- and why collaboration...

While studying inequality and social mobility, Richard Reeves made a surprising discovery: in some countries, like the US and UK, boys are drastically lagging behind girls across many academic measures. He explains why these struggles in...

In the US, youth in foster care are nearly twice as likely as war veterans to suffer from PTSD. Placed in foster care at just 11 months old, 2023 Audacious Project grantee Sixto Cancel experienced the faults of the system firsthand. Now,...

In 2009, five Kenyan people took a petition to the British Prime Minister. They claimed they endured human rights abuses in the 1950s, while Kenya was under British colonial rule, and demanded reparations. They had no documentary...

Nearly 40 percent of humanity lives near a coast -- and no two coasts are the same. How can these communities build resilience to the increasing risks of climate change? Climate advisor Dave Sivaprasad outlines how to tackle this complex...

What if we could solve the climate and housing crises at the same time? Financial institutions have pledged trillions to transform the economy and accelerate climate action -- but right now, that money is not flowing at the speed it...

Conservation champion and TED Fellow Adjany Costa is on a mission to empower Indigenous communities. Instead of imposing pre-designed policy and plans on local people, she says, conservation efforts should center those who know the land...

When the world goes fully electric, what happens to the cars, tools and livelihoods that rely on fossil fuels? Civil engineer and environmental sociologist Emily Grubert visualizes what a clean energy future will look like, outlining the...

Several crises are set to define the next century -- but journalist Aaron Bastani believes we have the technological ability to meet our biggest challenges and create unprecedented levels of prosperity for all. He shows how we could get...

When you report an emergency in the US, police, firefighters or paramedics answer the call. What if mental health professionals responded, too? Colorado State Representative Leslie Herod shares a straightforward and research-backed...

Hard work, resilience and grit lead to success, right? This narrative pervades the way we think, says economist Darrick Hamilton, but the truth is that our chances at economic security have less to do with what we do and more to do with...

We have the right to demand budgets to be equitable, to be fair, says economist Maja Bosnic. One way to get there is to make them gender-responsive. With examples from the nearly 80 countries around the world already factoring gender...

Why are we so deadlocked on climate, and what would it take to overcome the seemingly insurmountable barriers to progress? Policy entrepreneur TED Halstead proposes a transformative solution based on the conservative principles of free...

More than a billion people worldwide, mostly children, do not have a legal identity. In many countries, this means they can't get access to vital services like health care and education, says legal identity expert Kristen Wenz. She...

economic growth is the defining challenge of our time; without it, political and social instability rises, human progress stagnates and societies grow dimmer. But, says economist Dambisa Moyo, dogmatic capitalism isn't creating the...

A decade ago, uS law said human genes were patentable -- which meant patent holders had the right to stop anyone from sequencing, testing or even looking at a patented gene. Troubled by the way this law both harmed patients and created a...

The pandemic brought into sharp focus the crisis in caregiving in the United States, which woefully under provides support for parents. Activist and Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani has a proposal to address that -- something she...

The real reason you buy insurance may have as much to do with pleasing your psyche as it does protecting your wallet. Behavioral psychologist Orit Tykocinski explores the connection between insurance and the reality-distorting risks of...

Will we do whatever it takes to fight climate change? Back in 2008, following the global financial crisis, governments across the world adopted a "whatever it takes" commitment to monetary recovery, issuing $250 billion worth of...

Iran and Israel: two nations with tense relations that seem existentially at odds. But for all their antagonistic rhetoric, there is a recent hidden history of collaboration, even friendship. In an informative talk, Trita Parsi shows how...