TED Talks
Chuck Murry: Can we regenerate heart muscle with stem cells?
The heart is one of the least regenerative organs in the human body -- a big factor in making heart failure the number one killer worldwide. What if we could help heart muscle regenerate after injury? Physician and scientist Chuck Murry...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why do you get a fever when you're sick? | Christian Moro
There are many mysteries around fever, but we do know that all mammals, some birds and even a few invertebrate and plant species feel fever's heat. It has persisted for over 600 million years of evolution. But it has a significant cost:...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How does laser eye surgery work? | Dan Reinstein
In 1948, Spanish ophthalmologist Jose Ignacio Barraquer Moner was fed up with glasses. He wanted a solution for blurry vision that fixed the eye itself, without relying on external aids. The surgery he eventually devised was called...
TED Talks
TED: Good news in the fight against pancreatic cancer | Laura Indolfi
Anyone who has lost a loved one to pancreatic cancer knows the devastating speed with which it can affect an otherwise healthy person. TED Fellow and biomedical entrepreneur Laura Indolfi is developing a revolutionary way to treat this...
TED-Ed
Ugly History: The US syphilis experiment | Susan M. Reverby
Afflicting nearly 1 in 10 Americans, syphilis was ravaging the U.S. in the 1930s. Many doctors believed syphilis affected Black and white patients differently, and the Public Health Service launched an experiment to investigate,...
TED Talks
TED: A new way to study the brain's invisible secrets | Ed Boyden
Neuroengineer ed Boyden wants to know how the tiny biomolecules in our brains generate emotions, thoughts and feelings -- and he wants to find the molecular changes that lead to disorders like epilepsy and Alzheimer's. Rather than...
TED Talks
TED: Could we treat spinal cord injuries with asparagus? | Andrew Pelling
Take a mind-blowing trip to the lab as TED Senior Fellow Andrew Pelling shares his research on how we could use fruits, vegetables and plants to regenerate damaged human tissues -- and develop a potentially groundbreaking way to repair...
TED Talks
TED: How cancer cells communicate -- and how we can slow them down | Hasini Jayatilaka
When cancer cells are closely packed together in a tumor, they're able to communicate with each other and coordinate their movement throughout the body. What if we could interrupt this process? In this accessible talk about cutting-edge...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How the COVID-19 vaccines were created so quickly | Kaitlyn Sadtler and Elizabeth Wayne
In the 20th century, most vaccines took over a decade to research, test, and produce. But the vaccines for COVID-19 were cleared for emergency use in less than 11 months. The secret behind this speed is a medical technology that's been...
TED Talks
TED: The pharmacy of the future? Personalized pills, 3D printed at home | Daniel Kraft
We need to change how we prescribe drugs, says physician Daniel Kraft: too often, medications are dosed incorrectly, cause toxic side effects or just don't work. In a talk and concept demo, Kraft shares his vision for a future of...
TED Talks
Siddhartha Mukherjee: Soon we'll cure diseases with a cell, not a pill
Current medical treatment boils down to six words: Have disease, take pill, kill something. But physician Siddhartha Mukherjee points to a future of medicine that will transform the way we heal.
TED Talks
Molly Stevens: A new way to grow bone
What does it take to regrow bone in mass quantities? Typical bone regeneration -- wherein bone is taken from a patient’s hip and grafted onto damaged bone elsewhere in the body -- is limited and can cause great pain just a few years...
TED Talks
TED: Why genetic research must be more diverse | Keolu Fox
Ninety-six percent of genome studies are based on people of european descent. The rest of the world is virtually unrepresented -- and this is dangerous, says geneticist and TED Fellow Keolu Fox, because we react to drugs differently...
TED Talks
TED: How digital DNA could help you make better health choices | Jun Wang
What if you could know exactly how food or medication would impact your health -- before you put it in your body? Genomics researcher Jun Wang is working to develop digital doppelgangers for real people; they start with genetic code, but...
TED Talks
Fatima AlZahra'a Alatraktchi: To detect diseases earlier, let's speak bacteria's secret language
Bacteria "talk" to each other, sending chemical information to coordinate attacks. What if we could listen to what they were saying? Nanophysicist Fatima AlZahra'a Alatraktchi invented a tool to spy on bacterial chatter and translate...
TED Talks
Mark Kendall: Demo: A needle-free vaccine patch that's safer and way cheaper
One hundred sixty years after the invention of the needle and syringe, we're still using them to deliver vaccines; it's time to evolve. Biomedical engineer Mark Kendall demos the Nanopatch, a one-centimeter-by-one-centimeter square...
TED Talks
Sandeep Jauhar: How your emotions change the shape of your heart
"A record of our emotional life is written on our hearts," says cardiologist and author Sandeep Jauhar. In a stunning talk, he explores the mysterious ways our emotions impact the health of our hearts -- causing them to change shape in...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Philip A. Chan: How close are we to eradicating HIV?
The world is getting closer to achieving one of the most important public health goals of our time: eradicating HIV. And to do this, we won't even have to cure the disease. We simply have to stop HIV from being transmitted until...
TED Talks
TED: What if we eliminated one of the world's oldest diseases? | Caroline Harper
Thousands of years ago, ancient Nubians drew pictures on tomb walls of a terrible disease that turns the eyelids inside out and causes blindness. This disease, trachoma, is still a scourge in many parts of the world today -- but it's...
TED Talks
Leila Pirhaji: The medical potential of AI and metabolites
Many diseases are driven by metabolites -- small molecules in your body like fat, glucose and cholesterol -- but we don't know exactly what they are or how they work. Biotech entrepreneur and TED Fellow Leila Pirhaji shares her plan to...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How does chemotherapy work? | Hyunsoo Joshua No
During World War I, scientists were trying to develop an antidote to the poisonous yellow cloud known as mustard gas. They discovered the gas was irrevocably damaging the bone marrow of affected soldiers. This gave the scientists an...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How to 3D print human tissue | Taneka Jones
There are currently hundreds of thousands of people on transplant lists, waiting for critical organs like kidneys, hearts and livers that could save their lives. Unfortunately, there aren't enough donor organs available to fill that...
TED Talks
TED: How CRISPR lets us edit our DNA | Jennifer Doudna
Geneticist Jennifer Doudna co-invented a groundbreaking new technology for editing genes, called CRISPR-Cas9. The tool allows scientists to make precise edits to DNA strands, which could lead to treatments for genetic diseases ... but...
TED Talks
TED: Every day you live, you impact the planet | Jane Goodall
Legendary primatologist Jane Goodall says that humanity's survival depends on conservation of the natural world. In conversation with head of TED Chris Anderson, she tells the story of her formative days working with chimpanzees, how she...