TED Talks
Bandi Mbubi: Demand a fair trade cell phone
Your mobile phone, computer and game console have a bloody past — tied to tantalum mining, which funds the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Drawing on his personal story, activist and refugee Bandi Mbubi gives a stirring call...
TED Talks
Irwin Redlener: How to survive a nuclear attack
The face of nuclear terror has changed since the Cold War, but disaster-medicine expert Irwin Redlener reminds us the threat is still real. He looks at some of history's farcical countermeasures and offers practical advice on how to...
TED-Ed
The rise of the Ottoman Empire | Mostafa Minawi
In the late 13th century, Osman I established a small principality sandwiched between a crumbling Byzantine Empire and a weakened Sultanate of the Seljuk of Rum, in what is now Turkey. In just a few generations, this territory had...
TED Talks
TED: The secret to effective nonviolent resistance | Jamila Raqib
We're not going to end violence by telling people that it's morally wrong, says Jamila Raqib, executive director of the Albert einstein Institution. Instead, we must find alternative ways to conduct conflict that are equally powerful and...
TED Talks
David Rothkopf: How fear drives American politics
Does it seem like Washington has no new ideas? Instead of looking to build the future, it sometimes feels like the US political establishment happily retreats into fear and willful ignorance. Journalist David Rothkopf lays out a few of...
TED Talks
TED: The real harm of the global arms trade | Samantha Nutt
In some parts of the world, it's easier to get an automatic rifle than a glass of clean drinking water. Is this just the way it is? Samantha Nutt, doctor and founder of the international humanitarian organization War Child, explores the...
TED Talks
The music of a war child - Emmanuel Jal
* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. For five years, young Emmanuel Jal fought as a child soldier in the Sudan. Rescued by an aid worker, he's become an...
TED Talks
Malcolm Gladwell: The unheard story of David and Goliath
It's a classic underdog tale: David, a young shepherd armed only with a sling, beats Goliath, the mighty warrior. The story has transcended its biblical origins to become a common shorthand for unlikely victory. But, asks Malcolm...
TED Talks
Julia Bacha: Pay attention to nonviolence
In 2003, the Palestinian village of Budrus mounted a 10-month-long nonviolent protest to stop a barrier being built across their olive groves. Did you hear about it? Didn't think so. Brazilian filmmaker Julia Bacha asks why we only pay...
TED Talks
Janine di Giovanni: What I saw in the war
Reporter Janine di Giovanni has been to the worst places on Earth to bring back stories from Bosnia, Sierra Leone and most recently Syria. She tells stories of human moments within large conflicts -- and explores that shocking transition...
TED Talks
Chris Domas: The 1s and 0s behind cyber warfare
Chris Domas is a cybersecurity researcher, operating on what's become a new front of war, "cyber." In this engaging talk, he shows how researchers use pattern recognition and reverse engineering (and pull a few all-nighters) to...
TED Talks
TED: The risky politics of progress | Jonathan Tepperman
Global problems such as terrorism, inequality and political dysfunction aren't easy to solve, but that doesn't mean we should stop trying. In fact, suggests journalist Jonathan Tepperman, we might even want to think riskier. He traveled...
TED Talks
TED: The biology of our best and worst selves | Robert Sapolsky
* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. How can humans be so compassionate and altruistic -- and also so brutal and violent? To understand why we do what...
TED Talks
Karima Bennoune: When people of Muslim heritage challenge fundamentalism
Karima Bennoune shares four powerful stories of real people fighting against fundamentalism in their own communities — refusing to allow the faith they love to become a tool for crime, attacks and murder. These personal stories humanize...
TED Talks
TED: Why I put myself in danger to tell the stories of Gaza | Ameera Harouda
When Ameera Harouda hears the sounds of bombs or shells, she heads straight towards them. "I want to be there first because these stories should be told," says Gaza's first female "fixer," a role that allows her to guide journalists into...
TED Talks
TED: Why civilians suffer more once a war is over | Margaret Bourdeaux
In a war, it turns out that violence isn't the biggest killer of civilians. What is? Illness, hunger, poverty -- because war destroys the institutions that keep society running, like utilities, banks, food systems and hospitals....
TED Talks
Melissa Fleming: Let's help refugees thrive, not just survive
Today's refugee crisis is the biggest since World War II, and it's growing. When this talk was given, 50 million people had been forcefully displaced from their homes by conflict and war; now the number is 65.3 million. There were 3...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The last chief of the Comanches and the fall of an empire | Dustin Tahmahkera
Late one night in 1871, a group of riders descended on a sleeping army camp, stole about 70 horses, and disappeared. Led by a young chief named Quanah Parker, the raid was the latest in a long series of altercations along the Texas...
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
Sarah Kaminsky: My father the forger
Sarah Kaminsky tells the extraordinary story of her father Adolfo and his activity during World War II -- using his ingenuity and talent for forgery to save lives.
TED Talks
Bobby Ghosh: Why global jihad is losing
Throughout the history of Islam, says journalist Bobby Ghosh, there have been two sides to jihad: one, internal, a personal struggle to be better, the other external. A small minority has appropriated the second meaning, using it as an...
TED Talks
TED: What it's like to be a war refugee | Zarlasht Halaimzai
Living under the constant threat of violence has a lasting effect -- even after you escape from danger, says writer and refugee advocate Zarlasht Halaimzai. One of the millions of people worldwide who have been forcibly displaced by...
TED Talks
Josette Sheeran: Ending hunger now
Josette Sheeran, the head of the UN's World Food Program, talks about why, in a world with enough food for everyone, people still go hungry, still die of starvation, still use food as a weapon of war. Her vision: "Food is one issue that...
Crash Course
Foreign Policy: Crash Course Government and Politics
Today Craig finishes up our series on U.S. Government and Politics by talking about both the least and most important aspect of government: foreign policy. Foreign policy is important because it has the potential to affect the largest...