TED Talks
Russell Foster: Why do we sleep?
Russell Foster is a circadian neuroscientist: He studies the sleep cycles of the brain. And he asks: What do we know about sleep? Not a lot, it turns out, for something we do with one-third of our lives. In this talk, Foster shares three...
TED Talks
Kay M. Tye: What investigating neural pathways can reveal about mental health
Neuroscientist Kay M. Tye investigates how your brain gives rise to complex emotional states like depression, anxiety or loneliness. From the cutting edge of science, she shares her latest findings -- including the development of a tool...
SciShow
What Neuroscience Can Learn from Meditation
Meditation methods and the scientific method are teaming up to explore some of the deepest questions about our existence and human nature.
TED Talks
Daniel Wolpert: The real reason for brains
Neuroscientist Daniel Wolpert starts from a surprising premise: the brain evolved, not to think or feel, but to control movement. In this entertaining, data-rich talk he gives us a glimpse into how the brain creates the grace and agility...
TED Talks
Joshua Foer: Feats of memory anyone can do
There are people who can quickly memorize lists of thousands of numbers, the order of all the cards in a deck (or ten!), and much more. Science writer Joshua Foer describes the technique -- called the memory palace -- and shows off its...
SciShow
Your Brain Once Had a Superpower. Could You Get It Back?
A lot of the adaptability of children's brains diminishes as they age. But researchers are looking for ways they might be able to restore some of that flexibility later in life.
TED Talks
Jane McGonigal: The game that can give you 10 extra years of life
When game designer Jane McGonigal found herself bedridden and suicidal following a severe concussion, she had a fascinating idea for how to get better. She dove into the scientific research and created the healing game, SuperBetter. In...
TED Talks
Peter Doolittle: How your "working memory" makes sense of the world
"Life comes at us very quickly, and what we need to do is take that amorphous flow of experience and somehow extract meaning from it." In this funny, enlightening talk, educational psychologist Peter Doolittle details the importance --...
TED Talks
Thomas Insel: Toward a new understanding of mental illness
Today, thanks to better early detection, there are 63% fewer deaths from heart disease than there were just a few decades ago. Thomas Insel, the director of the National Institute of Mental Health, wonders: Could we do the same for...
SciShow
The First Edible Bug Farm & The 9 Greatest Minds of 2014
SciShow News gives you the latest developments from the world of science, including some bug-number-crunching behind America's first edible-insect farm, and a look at the discoveries that won the 2014 Kavli Prize.
TED Talks
TED: How gratitude rewires your brain | Christina Costa
When a psychologist who studies well-being ends up with a brain tumor, what happens when she puts her own research into practice? Christina Costa goes beyond the "fight" narrative of cancer -- or any formidable personal journey -- to...
TED Talks
Michael Dickinson: How a fly flies
An insect's ability to fly is one of the greatest feats of evolution. Michael Dickinson looks at how a fruit fly takes flight with such delicate wings, thanks to a clever flapping motion and flight muscles that are both powerful and...
SciShow
How We Feel Pain, From Peppers to Pressure
We didn't understand how our bodies processed pain until recently. From hot peppers to slamming your hand in a drawer, recent research suggests that pain from various sources can be processed in a surprisingly similar way.
SciShow
Special Valentine Science!
Want to get your sweetheart something really special? Give them a mineral called fingerite, and then stare at them for a while! Find out why, in this Valentine's Day edition of SciShow News.
TED Talks
Wendy Chung: Autism — what we know (and what we don't know yet)
In this factual talk, geneticist Wendy Chung shares what we know about autism spectrum disorder — for example, that autism has multiple, perhaps interlocking, causes. Looking beyond the worry and concern that can surround a diagnosis,...
TED Talks
Tali Sharot: The optimism bias
Are we born to be optimistic, rather than realistic? Tali Sharot shares new research that suggests our brains are wired to look on the bright side -- and how that can be both dangerous and beneficial.
TED Talks
David Anderson: Your brain is more than a bag of chemicals
Modern psychiatric drugs treat the chemistry of the whole brain, but neurobiologist David Anderson has a more nuanced view of how the brain functions. He shares new research that could lead to targeted psychiatric medications -- that...
TED Talks
TED: To solve old problems, study new species | Alejandro Sanchez Alvarado
Nature is wonderfully abundant, diverse and mysterious -- but biological research today tends to focus on only seven species, including rats, chickens, fruit flies and us. We're studying an astonishingly narrow sliver of life, says...
SciShow
SciShow Talk Show: Dr. Amanda Duley, Brains, & Joy the Macaw
Dr. Amanda Duley of the spectrUM Discovery Area's BrainLab joins the show to share some of the activities that visitors of the lab get to experience and Jessi from Animal Wonders brings on Joy the blue-and-gold macaw.
TED Talks
Alex Wissner-Gross: A new equation for intelligence
Is there an equation for intelligence? Yes. It's F = T ∇ Sτ. In a fascinating and informative talk, physicist and computer scientist Alex Wissner-Gross explains what in the world that means.
TED Talks
Molly Crockett: Beware neuro-bunk
Brains are ubiquitous in modern marketing: Headlines proclaim cheese sandwiches help with decision-making, while a “neuro” drink claims to reduce stress. There’s just one problem, says neuroscientist Molly Crockett: The benefits of these...
TED Talks
TED: What will humans look like in 100 years? | Juan enriquez
We can evolve bacteria, plants and animals -- futurist Juan enriquez asks: Is it ethical to evolve the human body? In a visionary talk that ranges from medieval prosthetics to present day neuroengineering and genetics, enriquez sorts out...
TED Talks
Laurel Braitman: Depressed dogs, cats with OCD — what animal madness means for us humans
Behind those funny animal videos, sometimes, are oddly human-like problems. Laurel Braitman studies non-human animals who exhibit signs of mental health issues -- from compulsive bears to self-destructive rats to monkeys with unlikely...
TED Talks
Beau Lotto and Cirque du Soleil: How we experience awe -- and why it matters
Neuroscientist Beau Lotto conducted an ambitious study with Cirque du Soleil on the emotion of awe and its psychological and behavioral benefits. In this talk and live performance, he shares some of their findings -- and stands back as...