TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The infinite life of pi - Reynaldo Lopes
The ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter is always the same: 3.14159 and on and on (literally!) forever. This irrational number, pi, has an infinite number of digits, so we'll never figure out its exact value no matter how...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why doesn't the Leaning Tower of Pisa fall over? | Alex Gendler
In 1990, the Italian government enlisted top engineers to stabilize Pisa's famous Leaning Tower. There'd been many attempts during its 800 year history, but computer models revealed the urgency of their situation. The tower would topple...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Why are fish fish-shaped? - Lauren Sallan
In tropical seas, flying fish leap out of the water, gliding for up to 200 meters, before dipping back into the sea. In the Indo-Pacific, a hunting sailfish swims up to 110 kilometers per hour. These feats are made possible by a fish's...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The case against "good" and "bad" - Marlee Neel
Don't take the easy route! Instead, use this little trick to improve your writing -- let go of the words "good" and "bad," and push yourself to illustrate, elucidate and illuminate your world with language.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Are there universal expressions of emotion? | Sophie Zadeh
The 40 or so muscles in the human face can be activated in different combinations to create thousands of expressions. But do these expressions look the same and communicate the same meaning around the world regardless of culture? Is one...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Diagnosing a zombie: Brain and behavior - Tim Verstynen & Bradley Voytek
How are different brain stimulations involved with human behaviors--and how can observing a zombie help us understand the brain? In the second part of the Diagnosing Zombies series, two scientists continue to ponder the erratic behaviors...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Can you solve the secret sauce riddle? | Alex Gendler
One of the top chefs from Pasta Palace has been kidnapped by operatives from Burger Bazaar hoping to learn the location of their secret sauce recipe. Little do they know that a third party— Sausage Saloon— has sent you, their top spy, to...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why does your voice change as you get older? - Shaylin A. Schundler
The human voice is capable of incredible variety and range. As we age, our bodies undergo two major changes which explore that range. So how exactly does our voice box work, and what causes these shifts in speech? Shaylin A. Schundler...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Tomás Chor: Turbulence: one of the great unsolved mysteries of physics
You're on an airplane when you feel a sudden jolt. Outside your window nothing seems to be happening, yet the plane continues to rattle you and your fellow passengers as it passes through turbulent air in the atmosphere. What exactly is...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What does the liver do? - Emma Bryce
There's a factory inside you that weighs about 1.4 kilograms and runs for 24 hours a day. It's your liver: the heaviest organ in your body, which simultaneously acts as a storehouse, a manufacturing hub, and a processing plant. Emma...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Pavlovian reactions aren't just for dogs - Benjamin N. Witts
Dr. Ivan Pavlov's groundbreaking work revealed that a dog will respond to neutral stimuli, such as a bell, in the same way that it will respond to, say, mouth-watering food. This research is widely applicable beyond a dog's salivation....
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Alex Gendler: Why should you read "Crime and Punishment"?
What drives someone to kill in cold blood? What goes through the murderer's mind? And what kind of a society breeds such people? Over 150 years ago Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky took these questions up in what would become one of the...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How do US Supreme Court justices get appointed? - Peter Paccone
There's a job out there with a great deal of power, pay, prestige, and near-perfect job-security. And there's only one way to be hired: get appointed to the US Supreme Court. But how do US Supreme Court Justices actually get that honor?...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Would you weigh less in an elevator? - Carol Hedden
What happens when you jump in a moving elevator? Do you weigh more when you're going up and less when you're going down? Carol Hedden explores the relationship between gravity, weight, and relative motion, using a moving elevator to...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: New Colossus by Emma Lazarus
An animated interpretation of Emma Lazarus' poem "New Colossus"
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How does the Nobel Peace Prize work? - Adeline Cuvelier and Toril Rokseth
Among the top prestigious awards in the world, the Nobel Peace Prize has honored some of the most celebrated and revered international figures and organizations in history. But how does the nomination process work? And who exactly is...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The power of creative constraints - Brandon Rodriguez
Imagine you were asked to invent something new. It could be whatever you want, made from anything you choose, in any shape or size. That kind of creative freedom sounds so liberating, doesn't it?
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The physics of the "hardest move" in ballet - Arleen Sugano
In the third act of "Swan Lake", the Black Swan pulls off a seemingly endless series of turns, bobbing up and down on one pointed foot and spinning around and around and around thirty-two times. How is this move - which is called a...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Why do we cry? The three types of tears - Alex Gendler
Whether we cry during a sad movie, while chopping onions, or completely involuntarily, our eyes are constantly producing tears. Alex Gendler tracks a particularly watery day in the life of Iris (the iris) as she cycles through basal,...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Everything you need to know to read "The Canterbury Tales" - Iseult Gillespie
A portly Miller, barely able to sit on his horse, rambles on about the flighty wife of a crotchety old carpenter and the scholar she takes as her lover. This might sound like a bawdy joke, but it's part of one of the most esteemed works...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How your digestive system works - Emma Bryce
Constantly churning inside of you, the digestive system performs a daily marvel: it transforms your food into the vital nutrients that sustain your body and ensure your survival. Emma Bryce traces food's nine-meter-long, 40-hour journey...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What's that ringing in your ears? | Marc Fagelson
Tinnitus has been bothering humanity since Ancient Babylon, plaguing everyone from Leonardo da Vinci to Charles Darwin. Today, roughly one in seven people worldwide experiences this auditory sensation. So what exactly is tinnitus, and...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The unexpected math behind Van Gogh's "Starry Night" - Natalya St. Clair
Physicist Werner Heisenberg said, "When I meet God, I am going to ask him two questions: why relativity? And why turbulence? I really believe he will have an answer for the first." As difficult as turbulence is to understand...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How one scientist averted a national health crisis - Andrea Tone
In 1960, Frances Kelsey was one of the Food and Drug Administration's newest recruits. Before the year was out, she would begin a fight that would save thousands of lives - though no one knew it at the time. Andrea Tone explains how...