TED Talks Daily

Sunday Pick: Sci-fi writer Andy Weir doesn't love writing | from ReThinking with Adam Grant

12 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Andy Weir is the bestselling author of The Martian and Project Hail Mary. He’s known for weaving deep, carefully researched science into his novels,...

A whale’s-eye-view of the ocean | Eric Stackpole

11 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A hand-built camera with suction cups captured something no one had ever seen: two sperm whales communicating and swimming together in the deep ocean....

Talks to Motivate You Playlist (1/10): My year of saying yes to everything | Shonda Rhimes

10 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Shonda Rhimes, the titan behind Grey's Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder, is responsible for some 70 hours of television per season, an...

Talks to Motivate You Playlist (2/10): The three secrets of resilient people | Lucy Hone

10 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone experiences loss, but how do you cope with the tough moments that follow? Resilience researcher Lucy Hone shares three hard-won strategies fo...

Talks to Motivate You Playlist (3/10): Is perfectionism just procrastination in disguise? | Jon Youshaei

10 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What separates struggling artists from successful ones? Looking to creative geniuses like Mozart, Edison and Monet, video creator Jon Youshaei explain...

Talks to Motivate You Playlist (4/10): How to do laundry when you're depressed | KC Davis

10 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Ever had a hard time doing daily household tasks -- cooking, cleaning, laundry -- and felt like a terrible person for struggling in the first place? T...

Talks to Motivate You Playlist (5/10): Let your ambition light you up, not burn you out | Tarveen Forrester

10 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Burnout shouldn’t be the price of success, but setting boundaries at work is easier said than done. Tarveen Forrester, who oversees workplace cultur...

Talks to Motivate You Playlist (6/10): How to speak up — even when you don’t want to | Sarah Crawford-Bohl

10 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What stops you from speaking up when it matters most? Healthcare leader Sarah Crawford-Bohl offers a practical, compassionate framework to have diffic...

Talks to Motivate You Playlist (7/10): Let curiosity lead | Yara Shahidi

10 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Don't second-guess what "distracts" you, says actor-producer Yara Shahidi; that's your curiosity coming through. The star of hit shows like "black-ish...

Talks to Motivate You Playlist (8/10): How to discover your authentic self — at any age | Bevy Smith

10 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In a talk packed with wry wisdom, pop culture queen Bevy Smith shares hard-earned lessons about authenticity, confidence, mature success and why, if y...

Talks to Motivate You Playlist (9/10): Get comfortable with being uncomfortable | Luvvie Ajayi Jones

10 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Luvvie Ajayi Jones isn't afraid to speak her mind or to be the one dissenting voice in a crowd, and neither should you. "Your silence serves no one," ...

Talks to Motivate You Playlist (10/10): Why you should stop setting goals (yes, really) | Emmanuel Acho

10 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In athletics, in business, in life, everyone sets goals. But that's not the way to excel, according to former NFL player Emmanuel Acho, now an author ...

The anti-CEO playbook | Hamdi Ulukaya (re-release)

09 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Profit, money, shareholders: these are the priorities of most companies today. But at what cost? In an appeal to corporate leaders worldwide, Chobani ...

The single most important parenting strategy | Becky Kennedy (re-release)

08 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone loses their temper from time to time — but the stakes are dizzyingly high when the focus of your fury is your own child. Clinical psycholog...

The art and science of wine tasting | Qian Janice Wang

07 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

No two people taste wine the same way, and science is starting to show us why. Sensory scientist Qian Janice Wang explores why experts and beginners e...

The nurse who can smell Parkinson’s | Joy Milne

06 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What does Parkinson's smell like? Ask nurse Joy Milne. Born with a hypersensitive nose, she spent a lifetime learning to recognize diseases through th...

Sunday Pick: What to do when your beliefs are challenged (w/ Tenelle Porter) | from How to Be a Better Human

05 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Tenelle Porter’s job is to study humility. Specifically, intellectual humility, the idea that we might be wrong or mistaken about some of our belief...

Where joy hides and how to find it | Ingrid Fetell Lee (re-release)

04 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Cherry blossoms and rainbows, bubbles and googly eyes: Why do some things seem to create such universal joy? In this captivating talk, Ingrid Fetell L...

How I imitate nature's voices | Snow Raven (re-release)

03 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

You're about to hear the sounds of several different creatures — from the voice of one single musician. In a spellbinding talk and performance, sing...

I let DaddyGPT parent my kids. Here's what I learned | Stephen Remedios

02 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As the world races toward digital perfection, tech humanist Stephen Remedios tried to optimize the messiest and most imperfect of all human work: pare...

5 practical ways to take control of your life | Jim VandeHei

01 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

You can't control the world — but you can control you. That's the mantra that took Axios CEO Jim VandeHei, a once "unremarkably unremarkable 20-year...

Why I must come out | Geena Rocero (re-release)

31 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When fashion model Geena Rocero first saw a photo of herself in a bikini, "I thought ... you have arrived!" As she reveals, that's because she was bor...

Stress resets, the ultimate mental health hack | Jenny Taitz

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Why does one stressful event always seem to lead to another? It's because stress is contagious, says psychologist Jenny Taitz. But while stress might ...

Sunday Pick: Unsolicited Advice: How to handle layoffs with care | from Fixable

29 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When an organization lays people off , those who remain are often left scrambling to find their footing – and hold other people up – in an environ...

3 things I wish I knew when I was broke | Vivian Tu

28 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Finance doesn't have to feel like a foreign language. Wall Street trader-turned-financial educator Vivian Tu helps millions of people make sense of mo...

Why the world is still not built for women | Virginia Santy

27 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Design consultant Virginia Santy set out to create an office space built specifically for women, flipping the script on the subtle (and not-so-subtle)...

The magical, mesmerizing migration of monarch butterflies | Jaime Rojo (re-release)

26 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When monarch butterflies migrate, they produce one of the most iconic wildlife spectacles in the world — and provide us with an important indicator ...

My bank called in the middle of my TED Talk | Mike Albo

25 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In this TED Talk gone wrong, comedian Mike Albo receives an unexpected call from his bank. The result: a hilariously uncomfortable tour of his purchas...

3 ways to create a truly original design | Lope Gutierrez-Ruiz

24 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In a world where design trends are quietly converging — same color palettes, same typography, same illustration styles — how do you make work that...

Life on the frontlines of war reporting | Jane Ferguson (re-release)

23 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Covering global war stories can be hard and thankless — but it's critical work if the rest of us are to understand what's really going on in the wor...

Sunday Pick: 20th Anniversary celebration with renowned poets Eileen Myles, Elizabeth Alexander, Sarah Kay, and Amber Tamblyn | from Design Matters

22 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

For the 20th anniversary of Design Matters, Debbie Millman revisits conversations with renowned poets Eileen Myles, Elizabeth Alexander, Sarah Kay, an...

How to tune your inner voice | Rhonda Ross, Daniel Alexander Jones

21 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

To calm the storm inside your mind, you must first understand it. Singer and actress Rhonda Ross shares her theory of "emotional sovereignty" — the ...

Joy will find you — if you let it | David Larbi

20 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Author David Larbi recites a poem about the journey toward joy, reminding us of all the ways it can be found: having a conversation with a stranger, t...

The 6 eras of NBA fashion — from restrained to radical | Mitchell S. Jackson

19 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What are you wearing, and why? This is the question that writer and TED Fellow Mitchell S. Jackson asks as he unpacks the six eras of NBA style. Traci...

I taught rats to drive. They taught me to enjoy the ride | Kelly Lambert

18 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What can happy rats teach us about human joy? Behavioral neuroscientist Kelly Lambert describes how her team trained rats to drive tiny cars to earn t...

Is luck random — or can you cultivate it? | Christian Busch

17 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires destroyed his home and neighborhood, scientist Christian Busch encountered the opposite of serendipity: "zemblanit...

How to make transportation quieter, cleaner and cheaper | Doreen Orishaba

16 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When Doreen Orishaba helped build Africa’s first electric car in 2011, skeptics dismissed it as a “toy for the Western world.” Now she’s runni...

Sunday Pick: Margaret Atwood on what AI can’t replace | from ReThinking with Adam Grant

15 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Margaret Atwood is best known as the author of The Handmaid’s Tale, and she’s won a slew of awards for her novels, poetry collections, and childre...

Why you should keep a list of what makes you laugh | Chris Duffy

14 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The world is weird and hilarious — if you know where to look, says comedian Chris Duffy. In conversation with "TED Talks Daily" host Elise Hu, Duffy...

The sneaky language tricks cults use to influence you | Amanda Montell

13 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the age of social media and wellness trends, the comments section is as good as a cult compound, says linguist and cultural commentator Amanda Mont...

3 habits to practice curiosity — and escape your phone | Nayeema Raza

12 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

We're so entangled with our devices that online has started to feel more real than IRL, says journalist Nayeema Raza. As screens reshape how we connec...

The award for best comedy wildlife photo goes to... | Tom Sullam

11 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Where's the best free comedy show in town? Tom Sullam, cofounder of the annual Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, shares hilarious animal photos that...

What would your "deathbed self" tell you today? | Lauren Deeley

10 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What if the key to making better decisions today is getting to know the person you'll become tomorrow? Drawing on psychological research and real-life...

Do you talk to yourself? Here’s how to harness your inner voice | Ethan Kross (re-release)

09 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Your inner voice is a powerful tool for self-reflection and planning, but it can also trap you in negative thought loops — “chatter,” as psychol...

Sunday Pick: Interview: Aging, menopause, and rethinking fashion for comfort in midlife with Stacy London | from TED Health

08 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

“My lens around style doesn’t have anything to do with style anymore — it’s about physicality,” says stylist and fashion consultant Stacy Lo...

Love, intimacy and connection in the age of AI | Bryony Cole

07 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Relationships were never meant to be efficient, says sextech expert Bryony Cole, and yet AI companions are increasingly designed to be exactly that. A...

Conservation: a love story | Elsaphan Njora

06 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What if the key to saving nature isn't just about science or policy, but love? Love for the land, for the people who depend on it, for the world we le...

Fight for justice — even if you don't live to see it | Golriz Lucina

05 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Storyteller Golriz Lucina recounts how the historic sacrifice of Iranian 19th-century poet and mystic Táhirih planted the seeds for the "Woman, Life,...

4 relationship traps that lead to burnout | Eric Quintane

04 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Are your workplace relationships quietly burning you out? Drawing on large-scale research across industries, organizational behavior researcher Eric Q...

My year living with a robot | Emily Kate Genatowski

03 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine a robot moving into your home. How would it change your daily life? Historian Emily Kate Genatowski shares five eye-opening lessons from a yea...

The attack on Iran — why now? | Ian Bremmer

02 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On the morning of February 28, 2026, the US and Israel bombed several parts of Iran, including the Tehran compound of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Geo...

Sunday Pick: Matt Damon on solving one of the planet’s biggest problems, in partnership with Gary White | from ReThinking with Adam Grant

01 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Matt Damon is best known as the Hollywood icon from movies like Good Will Hunting and The Martian, but he has another passion offscreen: ensuring acce...

What to do when you’re told there’s nothing left to try | David Fajgenbaum and Kiah Williams

28 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What do you do when the world declares something impossible? When physician-scientist David Fajgenbaum was dying from a rare disease and social entrep...

The tiny organisms transforming farming | Karsten Temme

27 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What if the solution to feeding humanity has been hiding in the soil for millions of years? Bioengineer Karsten Temme discovered a remarkable answer t...

Jermaine Dupri on the art of making a hit | On the Spot

26 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Legendary music producer Jermaine Dupri pulls back the curtain on how hit songs really get made in TED’s rapid-fire Q&A format, “On the Spot.”...

The story you're not hearing about AI data centers | Ayșe Coskun

25 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The race to build smarter AI is crashing into a physical limitation: the power grid simply can't keep up with the energy demands of data centers. Comp...

The controversial climate tool funding real change | Sandeep Roy Choudhury

24 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

If a company plants trees to offset its pollution, is that climate progress — or is it greenwashing? Critics of carbon markets say it’s the latter...

A surprisingly effective way to fight misinformation | Dave Jorgenson

23 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What if the best defense against misinformation isn’t panic, but a punchline? Journalist and comedian Dave Jorgenson explores how misinformation has...

Sunday Pick: The science of raising kids (Part 2): How to raise healthy kids with Dr. Shari Barkin | from TED Health

22 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

From negotiating food choices to limiting screen time, raising healthy kids is complicated—but it doesn’t have to be, says pediatrician Dr. Shari ...

Why pursuing happiness makes you ... less happy | Emily Esfahani Smith

21 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Drawing on clinical research and psychological studies, writer and psychologist Emily Esfahani Smith shows why pursuing meaning — the experience of ...

How to turn off work thoughts during your free time | Guy Winch (re-release)

20 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Feeling burned out? You may be spending too much time ruminating about your job, says psychologist Guy Winch. Learn how to stop worrying about tomorro...

How to be a great listener | Maegan Stephens, Nicole Lowenbraun

19 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever left a meeting thinking: everyone talked, but nothing was achieved? Chances are that people were listening to each other, just not in th...

What you know that AI doesn’t | Priyanka Vergadia

18 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

AI is good at seeing patterns, but it’s humans who figure out what to do next, says technologist Priyanka Vergadia. She shares three stories of huma...

Why I want to bring lions back to my village | Seif Hamisi

17 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As a child in rural Kenya, conservationist Seif Hamisi fell asleep to the sound of lions outside his village. Today, the lions are gone, mirroring a c...

The new science of eyewitness memory | John Wixted

16 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

We've built a legal system that distrusts eyewitness memory — backed by cautionary science and high-profile exonerations. John Wixted, a leading psy...

Sunday Pick: How to find true love (w/ Francesca Hogi) | from How to Be a Better Human

15 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Love coach Francesca Hogi is dedicated to helping daters find “lasting love in the midst of a broken dating culture.” In this episode, Francesca s...

The AI-generated intimacy crisis | Bryony Cole

14 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Tonight, millions of people will go to bed and whisper to an AI companion. But what are we giving up when we fall in love with machines? Sextech exper...

The doctor on a mission to build a healthier South Sudan | Yohanis Riek

13 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Yohanis Riek went from herding cattle and fighting as a child soldier to becoming the first doctor in his community in South Sudan. He shares his jour...

The pressure that makes Olympians perform worse | Dominique Condo

12 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Why do we celebrate appearance over ability in sports? Performance scientist Dominique Condo explores why so many elite female athletes — women with...

How competition is stifling AI breakthroughs | Llion Jones

11 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Llion Jones cowrote "Attention Is All You Need," the seminal paper that introduced the transformer — the architecture that launched the generative A...

The 6 essential ingredients of loving relationships | Sara Nasserzadeh

10 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

How do you build a lifetime of love? After analyzing 450 couples across more than 40 countries, relational psychotherapist Sara Nasserzadeh discovered...

The brilliance of bridges and roads that repair themselves | Mark Miodownik

09 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Your skin heals after a scratch. What if our roads, bridges and cities could self-repair after getting damaged, too? Scientist and engineer Mark Miodo...

Sunday Pick: The Truth About "The Zone" (with Steph Curry) | Good Sport

08 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When it comes to sports, is there anything more evocative -- and elusive -- than "the zone"? That mythical place an athlete goes to where focus is las...

A songwriting battle with my AI clone | Jason "Poo Bear" Boyd, Elise Hu

07 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As AI tools get better at making music, will there be a time when machines move people more than musicians? Putting that question to the test, legenda...

A different way to measure success in health care | Andrew Bastawrous

06 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

After building a smartphone app to bring eye care to millions of people in remote areas, eye surgeon and TED Fellow Andrew Bastawrous confronted a new...

Will AI take your job in the next 10 years? Wrong question | Vinciane Beauchene

05 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As AI agents take over more tasks at work, the question isn’t whether or not humans matter — it’s how we make our impact count. Leadership exper...

How a dung beetle inspired a better AI model | Nanjira Sambuli

04 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

There's a common African proverb: "When elephants fight, it's the grass that suffers." Policy researcher Nanjira Sambuli says we must apply this think...

1 thing you can do today to be happier | Sonja Lyubomirsky

03 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Can anyone become happier? Psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky studies this question in her lab, doing experiments on "happiness interventions" to see what...

In defense of hip-hop | Roland Fryer

02 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Hip-hop often gets blamed for its controversial lyrics. What if there was a way to actually measure its impact on people's lives? Analyzing 40 years' ...

Sunday Pick: How to think critically about history — and why it matters (w/ David Ikard)

01 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever recalled a story only to have someone point out "that's not how it went"? Well, what happens when what we misrepresent are our historica...

The language you're fluent in — but forgot how to hear | Louis VI

31 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What if the calm you feel when you hear birdsong isn't a coincidence, but ancient evolutionary wiring ... a signal that once meant safety? Musical eco...

Why can't we better prepare for extreme weather? | Catherine Nakalembe

30 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Thanks to advanced technology, we can now see droughts and crop failures months before they hit. So why are millions of people still going hungry? TED...

What literally every K-pop song sounds like | Charlene Kaye

29 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Want to become a K-pop superstar? Comedian and musician Charlene Kaye lays out the formula for breaking through in just a few easy steps, from rapping...

What happened when I started scoring my life every day | Chris Musser

28 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Can you measure a "good life?" Management consultant Chris Musser set out to answer this question for himself, developing a daily tracker to monitor p...

The purity test that's killing clean energy | Riddhima Yadav

27 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Why is it taking so long to finance the climate transition? After years working with the world's largest wealth funds and banks, finance innovator Rid...

Are you spending your money wisely? | Wolfgang Schnellbaecher

26 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Drawing on his experience negotiating million-dollar deals for global brands, procurement expert Wolfgang Schnellbaecher distills the tricks of the wo...

Sunday Pick: Unsolicited Advice: How to get your mojo back at work

25 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Are you feeling overwhelmed, uninspired, or burned out at work? In this special Unsolicited Advice episode, Anne and Frances are getting ready for sum...

How to power the world 24/7 — without oil | Cindy Taff

24 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Deep beneath the Earth sits 50,000 times more energy than all the world's fossil fuel reserves, but accessing it requires using the same controversial...

What I learned from cooking my way across a continent | Dieuveil Malonga

23 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Chef and TED Fellow Dieuveil Malonga traveled to nearly every country in Africa, tasting flavors straight from farms and local kitchens, to learn abou...

How I found resilience as my life fell apart | Jane Marie Chen

22 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Entrepreneur and TED Fellow Jane Marie Chen started a company that created a low-cost portable incubator for premature babies in underserved communiti...

How to raise kids who can handle hard things | Kathryn Hecht

21 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Could exposing kids to their fears help them thrive later on in life? Exploring the science of exposure therapy, pediatric psychologist Kathryn Hecht ...

3 possible futures for AI — which will we choose? | Alvin W. Graylin, Manoush Zomorodi

20 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

After decades working in technology across both the US and China, Alvin W. Graylin sees three possible paths for the future of AI: one where tech gian...

The missing piece in climate action (it's not what you think) | Yi Li

19 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When entrepreneur Yi Li cofounded Farmworks, she set out to build 1,000 climate-smart farms across Kenya, complete with dams, irrigation and organic f...

Sunday Pick: Interview: What happens to your brain without any social contact? with Dr. Vivek Murthy

18 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, TED Health host Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider invites Dr. Vivek Murthy, the 19th and 21st Surgeon General of the United States, to discuss...

The art (and science) of stop-motion animation | Brian McLean

17 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

You’re invited into the world of stop-motion animation, where design and engineering collide to create fan-favorite films. Visual effects artist Bri...

The brilliance of bacteria (and how they combat waste) | Patricia Aymà Maldonado

16 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Bacteria are the most incredible creatures on Earth, says biotechnologist and TED Fellow Patricia Aymà Maldonado. She presents a groundbreaking techn...

Would you take a pill that made you love everyone? | Meghan Sullivan

15 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What if the secret to a good life isn't just what you achieve but how deeply you love? Drawing on wisdom from Aristotle, Jesus and modern social psych...

Let's build AI data centers in space | Philip Johnston

14 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

AI is setting up residence in the final frontier, says technologist Philip Johnston. He shares the incredible work being undertaken to build data cent...

Can you picture things in your mind? I can't | Alex Rosenthal

13 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Picture this: a rocket ship crash-lands on a planet, and an alien approaches the spacecraft. What do you see in your mind when you visualize this scen...

What gets lost when we treat conversations like transactions | Khaya Dlanga

12 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The most powerful stories are the ones told simply to connect with each other, says author Khaya Dlanga. Through humorous anecdotes and moving memorie...