TED Talks
TED: Let's scan the whole planet with LiDAR | Chris Fisher
We have archives of films, newspapers, even seeds -- what if we could make one for the entire surface of the earth? Drawing on his experience mapping an ancient city in the Honduran jungle, archaeologist Chris Fisher makes the case for...
TED Talks
Phil Plait: How to defend Earth from asteroids
What's six miles wide and can end civilization in an instant? An asteroid -- and there are lots of them out there. With humor and great visuals, Phil Plait shows us all the ways asteroids can kill us (yipes), and what we must do to avoid...
TED Talks
Edi Rama: Take back your city with paint
Make a city beautiful, curb corruption. Edi Rama took this deceptively simple path as mayor of Tirana, Albania, where he instilled pride in his citizens by transforming public spaces with colorful designs.
SciShow
Our Alarmingly Close Shave with an Asteroid
How often do we miss asteroids like 2017 OO1, and what are astronomers doing to limit their impact? Meanwhile, distant icy worlds might not look as promising in our search for extraterrestrial life as scientists once thought.
TED Talks
TED: Immigrant voices make democracy stronger | Sayu Bhojwani
In politics, representation matters -- and that's why we should elect leaders who reflect their country's diversity and embrace its multicultural tapestry, says Sayu Bhojwani. Through her own story of becoming an American citizen, the...
TED Talks
Eddi Reader: "Kiteflyer's Hill"
Singer/songwriter Eddi Reader performs "Kiteflyer's Hill," a tender look back at a lost love. With Thomas Dolby on piano.
Crash Course
World War II Civilians and Soldiers: Crash Course European History
Our look at World War II continues with a closer examination of just how the war impacted soldiers in the field, and the people at home. For many of the combatants, the homefront and the warfront were one and the same. The war disrupted...
Crash Course
Aliens, Time Travel, and Dresden -Slaughterhouse-Five Part I: Crash Course Literature 212
In which John Green teaches you about Kurt Vonnegut's most famous novel, Slaughterhouse-Five. Vonnegut wrote the book in the Vietnam era, and it closely mirrors his personal experiences in World War II, as long as you throw out the time...
TED Talks
Erricka Bridgeford: How Baltimore called a ceasefire
In one day, in one city, in one neighborhood -- what if everyone put their guns down? Erricka Bridgeford is a peacemaker who wants to stop the murders and violence in her hometown of Baltimore. So she helped organize the Baltimore...
SciShow
Why We’re Bad at Guessing Other People’s Motives
Reading someone’s mind is an impossible task, but even just guessing at why they do the things they do is a lot harder than it might seem.
SciShow
Our Boats Are Changing the Tide
We often think of the ocean’s tide as a simple rise and fall, connected to the motion of the Moon. But on any given shore, the reality is much more complex and oceanic scientists have realized recently that there’s another, more...
SciShow
This Is Your Brain on GPS
Researchers have revealed a potentially life-saving rapid blood type test, and does using GPS to get around make your brain lazy?
TED Talks
Ben Wellington: How we found the worst place to park in New York City -- using big data
City agencies have access to a wealth of data and statistics reflecting every part of urban life. But as data analyst Ben Wellington suggests in this entertaining talk, sometimes they just don't know what to do with it. He shows how a...
Curated Video
Civil Engineering: Crash Course Engineering #2
We’re beginning our engineering journey with a tour through the major branches. Today Shini explains the facets of civil engineering, including structural and construction engineering, city planning, transportation, and sanitation.
TED Talks
Wanjira Mathai: 3 ways to uproot a culture of corruption
Corruption is a constant threat in Kenya, says social entrepreneur Wanjira Mathai -- and to stop it there (or anywhere else), we need to intervene early. Following the legacy of her mother, political activist and Nobel Prize recipient...
TED Talks
Kiran Sethi: Kids, take charge
Kiran Bir Sethi shows how her groundbreaking Riverside School in India teaches kids life's most valuable lesson: "I can." Watch her students take local issues into their own hands, lead other young people, even educate their parents.
TED Talks
TED: The city planting a million trees in two years | Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr
Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone, is on a mission to plant a million trees over the next two years, increasing vegetation in her city by fifty percent while shoring up eroding riverbanks and increasing biodiversity....
TED Talks
TED: A friendly, autonomous robot that delivers your food | Ali Kashani
Meet the friendly robot that could deliver your next burrito. Ali Kashani introduces us to Postmates' autonomous delivery robot and explains how it could help reduce carbon emissions and free up valuable real estate in cities everywhere....
TED Talks
Dan Barasch: A park underneath the hustle and bustle of New York City
Dan Barasch and James Ramsey have a crazy plan — to create a park, filled with greenery, underneath New York City. The two are developing the Lowline, an underground greenspace the size of a football field. They're building it in a...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Dissecting Botticelli's Adoration of the Magi - James Earle
The scene of the three wise men offering gifts to a newborn Jesus was widely painted during the Renaissance era, so how did painter Sandro Botticelli create a version that's still well known today? James Earle describes who and what set...
TED Talks
Smruti Jukur Johari: What if the poor were part of city planning?
Almost a billion people worldwide live in informal communities and slums, often without basic infrastructure like clean water, toilets or adequate roads. Urban planner Smruti Jukur Johari breaks down myths about these communities and...
TED Talks
Mikko Hypponen: Fighting viruses, defending the net
It's been 25 years since the first PC virus (Brain A) hit the net, and what was once an annoyance has become a sophisticated tool for crime and espionage. Computer security expert Mikko Hyppönen tells us how we can stop these new viruses...
TED Talks
TED: The world doesn't need more nuclear weapons | erika Gregory
Today nine nations collectively control more than 15,000 nuclear weapons, each hundreds of times more powerful than those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We don't need more nuclear weapons; we need a new generation to face the...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The murder of ancient Alexandria's greatest scholar - Soraya Field Fiorio
Dive into the life of one of Ancient Rome’s most powerful figures, Hypatia of Alexandria, a renowned scholar and political advisor to the city's leaders. -- In the city of Alexandria in 415 CE, the bishop and the governor were in a...