TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why aren't we only using solar power? - Alexandros George Charalambides
Solar power is cheaper and more sustainable than our current coal-fueled power plants, so why haven't we made the switch? The real culprits here are the clouds, which make solar power difficult to control. Alexandros George Charalambides...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: A brief history of cannibalism - Bill Schutt
Human cannibalism is a lot more common than you might think. Dive into its complex history and see its uses in medicine, cultural rituals and in times of survival. -- 15th century Europeans believed they had hit upon a miracle cure: a...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Three ways the universe could end - Venus Keus
Our universe started with the Big Bang, but how will it end? Explore cosmologists’ three possible scenarios: the Big Crunch, the Big Freeze and the Big Rip. -- We know about our universe’s past: the Big Bang theory predicts that all...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Dennis Shasha: Can you solve the stolen rubies riddle?
Townspeople are demanding that a corrupt merchant's collection of 30 rubies be confiscated to reimburse the victims of his schemes. The king announces that the fine will be determined through a game of wits between the merchant and the...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Could a breathalyzer detect cancer? - Julian Burschka
How is it that a breathalyzer can measure the alcohol content in someone’s blood, hours after they had their last drink, based on their breath alone? And could we use this same technology to detect disease by analyzing a person’s breath,...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why do buildings fall in earthquakes? - Vicki V. May
Earthquakes have always been a terrifying phenomenon, and they've become more deadly as our cities have grown - with collapsing buildings posing one of the largest risks. But why do buildings collapse in an earthquake? And how can it be...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Which animal has the best eyesight? | Thomas W. Cronin
The animal kingdom boasts an incredible diversity of eyes. Some rotate independently while others have squiggly-shaped pupils. Some have protective lids, others squirt blood. But which creature has the best sight? Which sees best in the...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The Earth's age in measurements you can understand - Joshua M. Sneideman
The Earth is 4.6 billion years old -- but how can humans relate to a number so colossal, and where do we fit on the geologic timeline? Comparing the Earth's lifetime to one calendar year, events like the extinction of dinosaurs and...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Questions no one knows the answers to - Chris Anderson
In the first of a new TED-Ed series designed to catalyze curiosity, TED Curator Chris Anderson shares his boyhood obsession with quirky questions that seem to have no answers.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Einstein's miracle year - Larry Lagerstrom
As the year 1905 began, Albert Einstein faced life as a "failed" academic. Yet within the next twelve months, he would publish four extraordinary papers, each on a different topic, that were destined to radically transform our...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why don't poisonous animals poison themselves? - Rebecca D. Tarvin
Thousands of animal species use toxic chemicals to defend themselves from predators. Snakes have blood clotting compounds in their fangs, the bombardier beetle has corrosive liquid in its abdomen and jellyfish have venomous, harpoon-like...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How to see more and care less: The art of Georgia O'Keeffe | Iseult Gillespie
Feeling disconnected from creating art within classical conventions, artist Georgia O'Keeffe began experimenting with abstract drawings that defied easy classification. Using the shapes and rhythms of nature to capture her internal...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Are naked mole rats the strangest mammals? - Thomas Park
What mammal has the social life of an insect, the cold-bloodedness of a reptile, and the metabolism of a plant? Bald and buck-toothed, naked mole rats may not be pretty, but they are extraordinary. Thomas Park explains how mole rats'...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The past, present and future of the bubonic plague - Sharon N. DeWitte
The bubonic plague, which killed around 1/5 of the world's population in the 14th century, is still around today -- but it now claims only a few thousand lives each year. How did that number shrink so drastically? Sharon N. DeWitte...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Feedback loops: How nature gets its rhythms - Anje-Margriet Neutel
While feedback loops are a bummer at band practice, they are essential in nature. What does nature's feedback look like, and how does it build the resilience of our world? Anje-Margriet Neutel describes some common positive and negative...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How do steroids affect your muscles— and the rest of your body? | Anees Bahji
Steroids. They've caused global scandals. They're banned in most athletic competitions. Yet the same properties that help elite athletes and bodybuilders improve performance also make steroids valuable for treating many illnesses and...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The true cost of gold | Lyla Latif
In 2020, Mali produced over 71 tons of gold— an amount worth billions of dollars. But Mali saw only $850 million dollars from that gold. And this situation isn't unique: a number of other gold-rich countries in Africa aren't seeing the...
TED-Ed
These salamanders snack on each other (but don't die) | Luis Zambrano
Axolotls are one of science's most studied animals. Why, you ask? These extraordinary salamanders are masters of regeneration: they can flawlessly regenerate body parts ranging from amputated limbs and crushed spines to parts of their...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The tale of the doctor who defied Death
A husband and wife were in despair. The woman had just given birth to their 13th child, and the growing family was quickly running out of food and money. Wandering into the woods, the father encountered a skeletal figure with sunken eyes...
TED-Ed
The life cycle of a cup of coffee | A.J. Jacobs
How many people does it take to make a cup of coffee? For many of us, all it takes is a short walk and a quick pour. But this simple staple is the result of a globe-spanning process whose cost and complexity are far greater than you...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How to make your writing funnier - Cheri Steinkellner
Did you ever notice how many jokes start with _Did you ever notice?" And what's the deal with "What's the deal?" There's a lot of funny to be found simply by noticing the ordinary, everyday things you don't ordinarily notice every day....
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What is Alzheimer's disease? - Ivan Seah Yu Jun
Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, affecting over 40 million people worldwide. And though it was discovered over a century ago, scientists are still grappling for a cure. Ivan Seah Yu Jun describes how Alzheimer's...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The mystery of motion sickness - Rose Eveleth
Although one third of the population suffers from motion sickness, scientists aren't exactly sure what causes it. Like the common cold, it's a seemingly simple problem that's still without a cure. And if you think it's bad on a long...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Sajan Saini: How do self-driving cars "see"?
It's late, pitch dark and a self-driving car winds down a narrow country road. Suddenly, three hazards appear at the same time. With no human at the wheel, the car uses smart eyes, sensors that'll resolve these details all in a...