TED-Ed
TED-ED: Why should you read Tolstoy's "War and Peace"? - Brendan Pelsue
"War and Peace." A tome. A slog. The sort of book you shouldn't read in bed because if you fall asleep it could give you a concussion. Right? Only partly. "War and Peace" is a long book, sure, but it's also a thrilling examination of...
Be Smart
The Physics of Space Battles
How scientifically accurate is your favorite sci-fi space battle?
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Beware of nominalizations (AKA zombie nouns) - Helen Sword
Few mistakes sour good writing like nominalizations, or, as Helen Sword likes to call them, zombie nouns. Zombie nouns transform simple and straightforward prose into verbose and often confusing writing. Keep your nouns away from...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Leonora Neville: The princess who rewrote history
Anna Komnene, daughter of Byzantine emperor Alexios, spent the last decade of her life creating a 500-page history of her father's reign called "The Alexiad." As a princess writing about her own family, she had to balance her loyalty to...
TED Talks
Freeman Dyson: Let's look for life in the outer solar system
Physicist Freeman Dyson suggests that we start looking for life on the moons of Jupiter and out past Neptune, in the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud. He talks about what such life would be like -- and how we might find it.
TED Talks
TED: A Saudi woman who dared to drive | Manal al-Sharif
There's no actual law against women driving in Saudi Arabia. But it's forbidden. Two years ago, Manal al-Sharif decided to encourage women to drive by doing so -- and filming herself for YouTube. Hear her story of what happened next.
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
Feisal Abdul Rauf: Lose your ego, find your compassion
Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf combines the teachings of the Qur'an, the stories of Rumi, and the examples of Muhammad and Jesus, to demonstrate that only one obstacle stands between each of us and absolute compassion -- ourselves.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The Myth of Hercules: 12 labors in 8-bits - Alex Gendler
Hercules - son of Zeus and champion of humankind - stricken with a temporary curse of madness, has just committed the most unspeakable crime imaginable. Seeking to atone for the deaths of his family, Hercules must complete twelve...
TED Talks
TED: Chasms | Asali DeVan Ecclesiastes
Writer and activist Asali DeVan Ecclesiastes lights up the stage with a powerful poem about hope, truth and the space between who we are and who we want to be.
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...
SciShow
Hank Meets a Giant Squid and Other News
Hank is back in the studio and is very excited to be able again to share news of the universe with you, including his encounter with a giant squid, an English king discovered under a parking lot, new pyramids discovered in Africa, and...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The rise and fall of the Celtic warriors | Philip Freeman
One summer evening in 335 BCE, Alexander the Great was resting by the Danube River when a band of strangers approached his camp. Alexander had never seen anything like these tall, fierce-looking warriors with huge golden neck rings and...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How the Normans changed the history of Europe - Mark Robinson
In the year 1066, 7,000 Norman infantry and knights sailed in warships across the English Channel. Their target: England, home to more than a million people . Around the same period of time, other groups of Normans were setting forth all...
Crash Course
World War II, A War for Resources: Crash Course World History
In which John Green teaches you about World War II, and some of the causes behind the war. In a lot of ways, WWII was about resources, and especially about food. The expansionist aggression of both Germany and Japan were in a lot of ways...
MinuteEarth
Why Are There Dangerous Ingredients in Vaccines
Want to learn more about the topic in this week's video? Here are some key words/phrases to get your googling started: -adjuvant: substance added to a vaccine to enhance the body's immune response and increase the vaccine's efficacy...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The Romans flooded the Colosseum for sea battles - Janelle Peters
Starting in 80 CE, residents of Rome and visitors from across the Roman Empire would fill the stands of the Colosseum to see gladiators duel, animals fight and chariots race around the arena. And for the grand finale, water poured into...
Crash Course
The US Constitution, 3 5, and the Slave Trade Clause Crash Course Black American History
The drafting and adoption of the United States Constitution recalled many of the high ideals of liberty and freedom that were espoused during the Revolutionary War. But the compromises that were made to get all of the new states on board...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The rise and fall of the Lakota Empire | Pekka Hämäläinen
In 1776, a powerful empire was born in North America. The Lakotas had reached the Black Hills, the most sacred place and most coveted buffalo hunting grounds in the western plains. Located in what is now South Dakota, control of the...
Crash Course
Ragnarok: Crash Course World Mythology
Ragnarok! It's the end of the world, Norse style. It's got everything you want in an apocalypse. Earthquakes, destruction, armies of the dead, a giant evil wolf, giants with flaming swords, and a kind of happy ending. It's got it all....
Crash Course
Napoleon Bonaparte: Crash Course European History
We try not to get into too much great man history here at Crash Course, but we have to admit: Napoleon Bonaparte is a pretty big deal. Join us as we track the rise, further rise, fall, rise, fall, mortal fall, and posthumous rise of...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What happened to the lost Kingdom of Kush? | Geoff Emberling
Along the Nile River, in what is now northern Sudan, lay the ancient civilization of Kush. Though they were once conquered by a powerful neighbor, the kings and queens of Kush would go on to successfully challenge two of the most...
Crash Course
World War I Battlefields: Crash Course European History
Europe's system of alliances and centuries-old tensions erupted into war in August of 1914. This week on Crash Course Euro, we're talking about the military history of World War I, and taking a look at the broad strokes of how the war...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The battle of the Greek tragedies - Melanie Sirof
The world of modern theater owes its roots to the tragedians of Ancient Greece. As far back as the 5th Century BCE, actors and playwrights were entertaining the masses with intriguing stories. Melanie Sirof unveils the ancient theatrical...