The Protestant Reformation didn't exactly begin with Martin Luther, and it didn't end with him either. Reformers and monarchs changed the ways that religious and state power were organized throughout the 16th and early 17th centuries....

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...

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...

This week, we're going to Italy for a Renaissance. The Middle Ages are over, and it's time to talk about the flourishing of art and humanism across Europe. Painting, sculpture, music, architecture, and plays with fart jokes were all...

Taking inspiration from nature, architect Ma Yansong designs breathtaking buildings that break free from the boxy symmetry of so many modern cities. His exuberant and graceful work -- from a pair of curvy skyscrapers that "dance" with...

On this Crash Course in World Mythology, Mike Rugnetta is teaching you about floods and deluges, specifically in China. In Chinese myth, flood stories pretty much all revolve around a guy named Yu the Great, or Yu the Engineer. In the...

Today, we're going to talk about board games, but instead of trying to trace their histories, which we've already covered a bit of in ep2 on ancient games, we're going to look really closely at just two board games - Monopoly and The...

Public health activities are all the ways society coordinates to deliver better health to people. That may sound super broad, and it is, so in this episode of Crash Course Outbreak Science, we'll take a look at public health works to...

The roadmap to ending pollution from transportation is here, says electrification advocate Monica Araya. In conversation with head of TED Chris Anderson, Araya introduces Drive Electric: a global campaign to retire the polluting internal...

TED talks about tips for reclaiming your peace of mind online | Naomi Shimada

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...

Human cannibalism is a lot more common than you might think. Dive into its complex history and see its uses in medicine, cultural rituals and in times of survival. -- 15th century Europeans believed they had hit upon a miracle cure: a...

You don't have to be a professional scientist to make a contribution to our collective knowledge. Today, we look at several projects that have benefitted from the power of citizen science!

We don’t know what causes non-hereditary Parkinson's disease, but researchers have recently identified a gene that might help shed some light on those cases. And another paper suggests that the impact we're having on the frequency of...

Passionate scientists constantly have revolutionary ideas, but when they seem too good to be true, they usually are.

How is it that a breathalyzer can measure the alcohol content in someone’s blood, hours after they had their last drink, based on their breath alone? And could we use this same technology to detect disease by analyzing a person’s...

Radiation sickness been portrayed in movies and television for more than 50 years. And those portrayals vary a lot. But if there’s one thing pretty much all these portrayals have in common, it’s that they get radiation sickness wrong—at...

The first time you visit a new doctor, they’ll probably ask you about your family history - but it turns out that family history doesn’t tell you everything about the risks that can be hidden in your genes.

How do con artists manage to scam millions? Why do people choose to follow great leaders, or horrible ones? How do CEOs get better deals in the boardroom? Influence. In this episode of Crash Course Business, Evelyn chats to us about what...

In an engaging, insightful conversation, criminal justice reformer Nick Turner breaks down the ways the US criminal legal system perpetuates centuries-old racial and economic inequality. He joins TED current affairs curator Whitney...

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.

Selma tells the story of Martin Luther King Jr. and one of the greatest non-violent protests in U.S. history. Ava DuVernay directs this historical drama that captured hearts and minds but also made us ask some questions about historical...

Dr. Who is one of the longest running TV shows on the BBC, and it's got a huge fandom surrounding it, called Whovians. And while it might not seem like, Whovianism, might just be religion! Whovians, like other passionate fan cultures,...