For as long as humans have had lice, we’ve fought hard to get rid of them. Nit combs, the fine-tooth brushes used to remove lice and their sticky eggs, have been found among the ancient remains of cultures across the globe. Today it’s...

As one of the agency’s best employees, you’ve been selected as a finalist to take on a new top-secret mission. You’ve already shown your aptitude for surveillance and disguise, but the agency’s looking to test one last critical skill:...

Of all Shakespeare’s plays, perhaps none is stranger than “Macbeth”— a parable on power rife with supernatural elements. But according to texts from the 11th century, this tragedy has its roots in reality. What’s more, other accounts...

Mount Teide is one of the world’s largest active volcanoes, and there may be a way to use the basalt rock inside it to save humanity. Obviously, destroying an ancient volcano would cause catastrophic and unpredictable ecological fallout....

The clock is ticking on social media giant TikTok, which faces a nationwide ban in the United States unless its parent company, ByteDance, sells it by January 19. Social media theorist Clay Shirky unpacks why the US is trying to ban...

Agriculture is key to solving the climate crisis, but most farmers don’t have the financial incentive to switch to more eco-friendly practices, says banker and farmer Berry Marttin. He explores how improving the systems around carbon and...

While doom and gloom may wake people up, joy keeps them in the fight, says drag queen and environmentalist Pattie Gonia. With humor, creativity and a dress made of thrifted shower curtains and upcycled pink flamingo pool floaties, Pattie...

When anxiety rears its head, we often just want it to go away. Clinical psychologist David H. Rosmarin asks us to consider instead the positive role anxiety can play in our lives, sharing four practical steps to transform it from your...

No substance has been as constant an ally to insidious scheming as arsenic, the so-called “king of poisons.” In its chemically pure form, it isn’t much of a threat because our bodies don’t absorb it well; it’s when arsenic combines with...

When reading "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," most readers visualize the queen’s croquet game play out in their heads. A few might see the scene in vivid detail. However, a small fraction of readers have a drastically different...

Actor and writer Natasha Rothwell takes the stage for “On the Spot,” TED’s rapid-fire Q&A format. Answering a stream of unexpected questions, she dishes on everything from creativity and representation in TV to love, the first “pinch me”...

In 1935, researchers found that after removing the frontal lobes of two chimps, they no longer experienced frustration or anxiety. Neurologist Egas Moniz believed that replicating this in humans could cure mental illness— leading to one...

Lots of languages and species are going extinct, but because others keep getting found or described, the official counts of languages and species are still increasing.

A person’s genes alone don’t tell us enough about how to most effectively treat their cancer.

Sewers are a great way to make pooping safe, but they’re not always the right solution because they require specific resources that many places just don’t have.

Many animal species stuff themselves with toxic chemicals for protection, which forces them to use a handful of distinct strategies to avoid becoming victims of their own weapons.

Electric eels can emit some of the largest shocks in the animal kingdom - but why don't they shock themselves?

The Grand Canyon is super-wide and super-deep, which might make you think that the Colorado River, which carved it, is particularly old or powerful. Or at least that's what I thought.

It seems wild that some animals basically trade in their bodies for new ones during their lifetime, but it's actually really common – and it makes a lot of sense.

Many crustaceans from all sorts of starting points evolve to end up looking similar, likely due to outside pressures. That’s sort of like what happens with YouTube videos.

We've long known that animal pollination is an important way plants reproduce on land, but we're only just finding out animals also pollinate plants underwater.

The average human, in theory, eats 3 spiders a year. If you're not eating them and I'm not eating them, who is?

Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo is home to a legendary lightning storm that has been going on for over 500 years.

You might think the most dangerous thing that can happen at a beach is a shark attack, or that the scariest thing might be a tsunami - but instead, rip currents kill more beachgoers than all other causes combined.