Crash Course
Why is There Uneven Access to Food? Crash Course Geography
Food insecurity, or the lack of access to enough nutritious food, is a complex problem. In the 21st century, even with all of our advances in technology, access to food is still uneven. Today we're going to look at the diffusion of food...
TED Talks
TED: How I turned a deadly plant into a thriving business | Achenyo Idachaba
The water hyacinth may look like a harmless, even beautiful flowering plant -- but it's actually an invasive aquatic weed that clogs waterways, stopping trade, interrupting schooling and disrupting everyday life. In this scourge, green...
TED Talks
Ernesto Sirolli: Want to help someone? Shut up and listen!
When most well-intentioned aid workers hear of a problem they think they can fix, they go to work. This, Ernesto Sirolli suggests, is naïve. In this funny and impassioned talk, he proposes that the first step is to listen to the people...
TED Talks
Mohammad Modarres: Why you should shop at your local farmers market
The average farmer in America makes less than 15 cents of every dollar on a product that you purchase at a store. They feed our communities, but farmers often cannot afford the very foods they grow. In this actionable talk, social...
SciShow
Fritz Haber: Great Minds
Hank introduces us to the brilliant and heartless Fritz Haber, a great mind who is considered "the father chemical warfare," but who also made discoveries and innovations that helped lead to the Green Revolution which is credited with...
TED Talks
Jonathan Trent: Energy from floating algae pods
Call it "fuel without fossils": Jonathan Trent is working on a plan to grow new biofuel by farming micro-algae in floating offshore pods that eat wastewater from cities. Hear his team's bold vision for Project OMEGA (Offshore Membrane...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The dark history of bananas | John Soluri
In December 1910, the exiled former leader Manuel Bonilla boarded a borrowed yacht and set sail for Honduras in hopes of reclaiming power by whatever means necessary. Bonilla had a powerful backer: the notorious organization known...
TED Talks
Noah Wilson-Rich: Every city needs healthy honey bees
Bees have been rapidly and mysteriously disappearing from rural areas, with grave implications for agriculture. But bees seem to flourish in urban environments -- and cities need their help, too. Noah Wilson-Rich suggests that urban...
TED Talks
Marcel Dicke: Why not eat insects?
Marcel Dicke makes an appetizing case for adding insects to everyone's diet. His message to squeamish chefs and foodies: delicacies like locusts and caterpillars compete with meat in flavor, nutrition and eco-friendliness.
TED Talks
Sara-Jane Dunn: The next software revolution: programming biological cells
The cells in your body are like computer software: they're "programmed" to carry out specific functions at specific times. If we can better understand this process, we could unlock the ability to reprogram cells ourselves, says...
TED Talks
TED: Why Africa must become a center of knowledge again | Olufemi Taiwo
How can Africa, the home to some of the largest bodies of water in the world, be said to have a water crisis? It doesn't, says Olufemi Taiwo -- it has a knowledge crisis. Taiwo suggests that lack of knowledge on important topics like...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How corn conquered the world | Chris A. Kniesly
Corn currently accounts for more than one tenth of our global crop production. And over 99% of cultivated corn is the exact same type: Yellow Dent #2. This means that humans grow more Yellow Dent #2 than any other plant on the planet. So...
TED Talks
TED: Got millet? How marketing could improve the lives of African farmers | Zoë Karl-Waithaka
From "got milk?" to "avocados from Mexico," marketing influences what you eat more than you may realize. But despite the known power of food marketing, farmers in Africa are more likely to receive funding for seed and fertilizer than...
TED Talks
TED: Climate change is becoming a problem you can taste | Amanda Little
Our food systems have not been designed to adapt to major disruptions like climate change, says environmental journalist Amanda Little. In this eye-opening talk, she shows how the climate crisis could devastate our food supply -- and...
Crash Course
Water and Classical Civilizations: Crash Course World History 222
In which John Green teaches you about water! So, we talk about resources a lot on Crash Course, and today is no exception. It turns out people can't live without water, which means it's absolutely necessary for civilization. Today John...
TED Talks
Mohamed Hijri: A simple solution to the coming phosphorus crisis
There's a farming crisis no one is talking about: The world is running out of phosphorus, an essential element that's a key component of DNA and the basis of cellular communication. As biologist Mohamed Hijri shows, all roads of this...
TED Talks
TED: A forgotten ancient grain that could help Africa prosper | Pierre Thiam
Forget quinoa. Meet fonio, an ancient "miracle grain" native to Senegal that's versatile, nutritious and gluten-free. In this passionate talk, chef Pierre Thiam shares his obsession with the hardy crop and explains why he believes that...
TED Talks
TED: A transparent, easy way for smallholder farmers to save | Anushka Ratnayake
A safe space to save money is life-changing -- especially for the 60 million smallholder farmers in West Africa (the majority being women) who often live on less than two dollars a day. Poverty fighter Anushka Ratnayake introduces her...
TED Talks
TED: This computer will grow your food in the future | Caleb Harper
What if we could grow delicious, nutrient-dense food, indoors anywhere in the world? Caleb Harper, director of the Open Agriculture Initiative at the MIT Media Lab, wants to change the food system by connecting growers with technology....
TED Talks
TED: Why a free and fair internet is more vital than ever | Priscilla Chomba-Kinywa
Without the internet, how would you have coped with the pandemic -- from work and school, to maintaining your closest relationships? In the digital age, reliance on the internet is so common and seems ubiquitous, yet billions of people...
SciShow
The Disappearing Monarch and the Oldest Mammal on Earth
SciShow News starts the new year off with unusual animal news, including a crisis for the iconic monarch butterfly, and new research into what makes bowhead whales the longest-living mammals on Earth.
TED Talks
TED: The "greenhouse-in-a-box" empowering farmers in India | Sathya Raghu Mokkapati
For smallholder farmers in India, agriculture has long been an unreliable source of income -- crops that flourish one season can fail the next, thanks to heat, pests and disease. But climate risk is now making the profession nearly...