TED Talks Daily
Episodes
How to motivate people to do good for others | Erez Yoeli
05 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
How can we get people to do more good: to go to the polls, give to charity, conserve resources or just generally act better towards others? MIT resear...
Confessions of a recovering micromanager | Chieh Huang
03 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Think about the most tired you've ever been at work. It probably wasn't when you stayed late or came home from a road trip -- chances are it was when ...
Color blind or color brave? | Mellody Hobson
01 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The subject of race can be very touchy. As finance executive Mellody Hobson says, it's a "conversational third rail." But, she says, that's exactly wh...
Me Too is a movement, not a moment | Tarana Burke
30 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In 2006, Tarana Burke was consumed by a desire to do something about the rampant sexual violence she saw in her community. She took out a piece of pap...
The story of Marvel's first queer Latina superhero | Gabby Rivera
29 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
With Marvel's "America Chavez," Gabby Rivera wrote a new kind of superhero -- one who can punch portals into other dimensions while also embracing her...
100 solutions to climate change | Chad Frischmann
28 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What if we took out more greenhouse gases than we put into the atmosphere? This hypothetical scenario, known as "drawdown," is our only hope of averti...
When technology can read minds, how will we protect our privacy? | Nita Farahany
27 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Tech that can decode your brain activity and reveal what you're thinking and feeling is on the horizon, says legal scholar and ethicist Nita Farahany....
The radical possibilities of man-made DNA | Floyd E. Romesberg
26 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Every cell that's ever lived has been the result of the four-letter genetic alphabet: A, T, C and G -- the basic units of DNA. But now that's changed....
What if we ended the injustice of bail? | Robin Steinberg
23 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
On any given night, more than 450,000 people in the United States are locked up in jail simply because they don't have enough money to pay bail. The s...
Elizabeth Gilbert shows up for ... everything
22 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Introducing The TED Interview, a new podcast hosted by head of TED Chris Anderson. As a writer, Elizabeth Gilbert is notorious for placing her heart s...
Where do your online returns go? | Aparna Mehta
21 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Do you ever order clothes online in different sizes and colors, just to try them on and then send back what doesn't work? Aparna Mehta used to do this...
How a fleet of wind-powered drones is changing our understanding of the ocean | Sebastien de Halleux
20 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Our oceans are unexplored and undersampled -- today, we still know more about other planets than our own. How can we get to a better understanding of ...
Is the world getting better or worse? A look at the numbers | Steven Pinker
17 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Was 2017 really the "worst year ever," as some would have us believe? In his analysis of recent data on homicide, war, poverty, pollution and more, ps...
How a long-forgotten virus could help us solve the antibiotics crisis | Alexander Belcredi
16 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Viruses have a bad reputation -- but some of them could one day save your life, says biotech entrepreneur Alexander Belcredi. In this fascinating talk...
A librarian's case against overdue book fines | Dawn Wacek
15 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Libraries have the power to create a better world; they connect communities, promote literacy and spark lifelong learners. But there's one thing that ...
Is civility a sham? | Teresa Bejan
14 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What exactly is civility, and what does it require? In a talk packed with historical insights, political theorist Teresa Bejan explains how civility h...
What to trust in a "post-truth" world | Alex Edmans
12 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Only if you are truly open to the possibility of being wrong can you ever learn, says researcher Alex Edmans. In an insightful talk, he explores how c...
What it's like to be Muslim in America | Dalia Mogahed
10 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When you look at Muslim scholar Dalia Mogahed, what do you see: A woman of faith? A scholar, a mom, a sister? Or an oppressed, brainwashed, potential ...
The case for a decentralized internet | Tamas Kocsis
09 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Who controls the internet? Increasingly, the answer is large corporations and governments -- a trend that's threatening digital privacy and access to ...
The global goals we've made progress on -- and the ones we haven't | Michael Green
08 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Are we delivering on the promises of the Sustainable Development Goals, the collection of 17 objectives set by the United Nations in 2015 that aims to...
How kids can help design cities | Mara Mintzer
07 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Adults tend to think of kids as "future citizens" -- their ideas and opinions will matter someday, just not today. But kids make up a quarter of the p...
How I accidentally changed the way movies get made | Franklin Leonard
07 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
How does Hollywood choose what stories get told on-screen? Too often, it's groupthink informed by a narrow set of ideas about what sells at the box of...
Why I have coffee with people who send me hate mail | Özlem Cekic
06 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Özlem Cekic's email inbox has been full of hate mail since 2007, when she won a seat in the Danish Parliament -- becoming the first female Muslim to ...
The case for curiosity-driven research | Suzie Sheehy
05 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Seemingly pointless scientific research can lead to extraordinary discoveries, says physicist Suzie Sheehy. In a talk and tech demo, she shows how man...
Science can answer moral questions | Sam Harris
03 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Questions of good and evil, right and wrong are commonly thought unanswerable by science. But Sam Harris argues that science can -- and should -- be a...
A memory scientist's advice on reporting harassment and discrimination | Julia Shaw
02 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
How do you turn a memory, especially one of a traumatic event, into hard evidence of a crime? Julia Shaw is working on this challenge, combining tools...
How to let go of being a "good" person -- and become a better person | Dolly Chugh
01 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What if your attachment to being a "good" person is holding you back from actually becoming a better person? In this accessible talk, social psycholog...
How tech companies deceive you into giving up your data and privacy | Finn Myrstad
31 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever actually read the terms and conditions for the apps you use? Finn Myrstad and his team at the Norwegian Consumer Council have, and it to...
Is war between China and the US inevitable? | Graham Allison
30 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Taking lessons from a historical pattern called "Thucydides's Trap," political scientist Graham Allison shows why a rising China and a dominant United...
What everyday citizens can do to claim power on the internet | Fadi Chehadé and Bryn Freedman
30 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Technology architect Fadi Chehadé helped set up the infrastructure that makes the internet work -- essential things like the domain name system and I...
How isolation fuels opioid addiction | Rachel Wurzman
29 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What do Tourette syndrome, heroin addiction and social media obsession all have in common? They converge in an area of the brain called the striatum, ...
Chemical scum that dream of distant quasars | David Deutsch
27 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Legendary scientist David Deutsch puts theoretical physics on the back burner to discuss a more urgent matter: the survival of our species. The first ...
How will we survive when the population hits 10 billion? | Charles C. Mann
26 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
By 2050, an estimated 10 billion people will live on earth. How are we going to provide everybody with basic needs while avoiding the worst impacts of...
My quest to defy gravity and fly | Elizabeth Streb
25 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Over the course of her fearless career, extreme action specialist Elizabeth Streb has pushed the limits of the human body. She's jumped through broken...
Let's call "revenge porn" what it is: digital domestic violence | Darieth Chisolm
24 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What can you do if you're the victim of revenge porn or cyberbullying? Shockingly little, says journalist and activist Darieth Chisolm, who found hers...
How we can help young people build a better future | Henrietta Fore
24 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A massive generation of young people is about to inherit the world, and it's the duty of everyone to give them a fighting chance for their futures, sa...
How nationalism and globalism can coexist | Wanis Kabbaj
23 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Why do we have to choose between nationalism and globalism, between loving our countries and caring for the world? In a talk with lessons for avowed n...
How conscious investors can turn up the heat and make companies change | Vinay Shandal
22 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In a talk that's equal parts funny and urgent, consultant Vinay Shandal shares stories of the world's top activist investors, showing how individuals ...
Your elusive creative genius | Elizabeth Gilbert
20 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses -- and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person "...
What does the universe sound like? A musical tour | Matt Russo
19 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Is outer space really the silent and lifeless place it's often depicted to be? Perhaps not. Astrophysicist and musician Matt Russo takes us on a journ...
The pharmacy of the future? Personalized pills, 3D printed at home | Daniel Kraft
18 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We need to change how we prescribe drugs, says physician Daniel Kraft: too often, medications are dosed incorrectly, cause toxic side effects or just ...
5 transformational policies for a prosperous and sustainable world | Johan Rockström
17 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In a talk about how we can build a robust future without wrecking the planet, sustainability expert Johan Rockström debuts the Earth3 model -- a new ...
The key to a better malaria vaccine | Faith Osier
16 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The malaria vaccine was invented more than a century ago -- yet each year, hundreds of thousands of people still die from the disease. How can we impr...
Let's protect the oceans like national parks | David Lang
15 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
You don't have to be a scientist to help protect the world's oceans, says underwater drone expert and TED Fellow David Lang -- in fact, ordinary citiz...
How whistle-blowers shape history | Kelly Richmond Pope
12 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Fraud researcher and documentary filmmaker Kelly Richmond Pope shares lessons from some of the most high-profile whistle-blowers of the past, explaini...
What baby boomers can learn from millennials at work -- and vice versa | Chip Conley
11 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
For the first time ever, we have five generations in the workplace at the same time, says entrepreneur Chip Conley. What would happen if we got intent...
What Americans agree on when it comes to health | Rebecca Onie
10 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We may not be as deeply divided as we think -- at least not when it comes to health, says Rebecca Onie. In a talk that cuts through the noise, Onie sh...
3 ways to create a space that moves you, from a Broadway set designer | David Korins
09 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
You don't have to work on Broadway to design a set, says creative director David Korins -- you can be the set designer of any space in your life. Shar...
How cryptocurrency can help startups get investment capital | Ashwini Anburajan
09 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We're living in a golden era of innovation, says entrepreneur Ashwini Anburajan -- but venture capital hasn't evolved to keep up, and startups aren't ...
How I climbed a 3,000-foot vertical cliff -- without ropes | Alex Honnold
08 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine being by yourself in the dead center of a 3,000-foot vertical cliff -- without a rope to catch you if you fall. For professional rock climber ...
The secrets of spider venom | Michel Dugon
05 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Spider venom can stop your heart within minutes, cause unimaginable pain -- and potentially save your life, says zoologist Michel Dugon. As a tarantul...
3 ways to advocate for a more inclusive workplace | Melinda Epler
04 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We're taught to believe that hard work and dedication will lead to success, but that's not always the case. Gender, race, ethnicity, religion, disabil...
Why being nice to your coworkers is good for business | Christine Porath
03 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Looking to get ahead in your career? Start by being nice to your coworkers, says leadership researcher Christine Porath. In this science-backed talk, ...
What doctors should know about gender identity | Kristie Overstreet
02 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Kristie Overstreet is on a mission to ensure that the transgender community gets their health care needs met. In this informative, myth-busting talk, ...
How we can make energy more affordable for low-income families | DeAndrea Salvador
02 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Every month, millions of Americans face an impossible choice: pay for energy to power their homes, or pay for basic needs like food and medicine. TED ...
3 lessons on decision-making from a poker champion | Liv Boeree
01 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Is it better to be lucky or good? Should we trust our gut feelings or rely on probabilities and careful analysis when making important decisions? In t...
How to speak up for yourself | Adam Galinsky
28 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Speaking up is hard to do, even when you know you should. Learn how to assert yourself, navigate tricky social situations and expand your personal pow...
How to build a thriving music scene in your city | Elizabeth Cawein
27 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
How does a city become known as a "music city"? Publicist Elizabeth Cawein explains how thriving music scenes make cities healthier and happier and sh...
What happened when we tested thousands of abandoned rape kits in Detroit | Kym Worthy
26 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In 2009, 11,341 untested rape kits -- some dating back to the 1980s -- were found in an abandoned warehouse once used by the the Detroit police to sto...
How police and the public can create safer neighborhoods together | Tracie Keesee
25 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We all want to be safe, and our safety is intertwined, says Tracie Keesee, cofounder of the Center for Policing Equity. Sharing lessons she has learne...
I grew up in the Westboro Baptist Church. Here's why I left | Megan Phelps-Roper
24 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What’s it like to grow up within a group of people who exult in demonizing ... everyone else? Megan Phelps-Roper shares details of life inside Ameri...
How I became part sea urchin | Catherine Mohr
21 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
As a young scientist, Catherine Mohr was on her dream scuba trip -- when she put her hand right down on a spiny sea urchin. While a school of sharks c...
Why museums are returning cultural treasures | Chip Colwell
20 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Archaeologist and curator Chip Colwell collects artifacts for his museum, but he also returns them to where they came from. In a thought-provoking tal...
How we could teach our bodies to heal faster | Kaitlyn Sadtler
20 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What if we could help our bodies heal faster and without scars, like Wolverine in X-Men? TED Fellow Kaitlyn Sadtler is working to make this dream a re...
Why the hospital of the future will be your own home | Niels van Namen
19 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Nobody likes going to the hospital, whether it's because of the logistical challenges of getting there, the astronomical costs of procedures or the al...
The press trampled on my privacy. Here's how I took back my story | Kate Stone
18 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
After a horrific accident put her in the tabloid headlines, Kate Stone found a way to take control of her narrative -- and help prevent others from lo...
Why we choke under pressure -- and how to avoid it | Sian Leah Beilock
18 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When the pressure is on, why do we sometimes fail to live up to our potential? Cognitive scientist and Barnard College president Sian Leah Beilock rev...
Your fingerprints reveal more than you think | Simona Francese
17 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Our fingerprints are what make us unique -- but they're also home to a world of information hidden in molecules that reveal our actions, lifestyles an...
3 ways to make better decisions -- by thinking like a computer | Tom Griffiths
14 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
If you ever struggle to make decisions, here's a talk for you. Cognitive scientist Tom Griffiths shows how we can apply the logic of computers to unta...
How to create a world where no one dies waiting for a transplant | Luhan Yang
13 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
For nearly half a century, scientists have been trying to create a process for transplanting animal organs into humans, a theoretical dream that could...
How I'm using LEGO to teach Arabic | Ghada Wali
13 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
After a visit to a European library in search of Arabic and Middle Eastern texts turned up only titles about fear, terrorism and destruction, Ghada Wa...
How can we do the most good for the world? | Will MacAskill
12 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Of all the problems facing humanity, which should we focus on solving first? In a compelling talk about how to make the world better, moral philosophe...
Did the global response to 9/11 make us safer? | Benedetta Berti
11 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
If we want sustainable, long-term security to be the norm in the world, it's time to radically rethink how we can achieve it, says TED Fellow and conf...
A new way to fund health care for the most vulnerable | Andrew Bastawrous
10 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In 2011, eye surgeon Andrew Bastawrous developed a smartphone app that brings quality eye care to remote communities, helping people avoid losing thei...
How AI could compose a personalized soundtrack to your life | Pierre Barreau
10 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Meet AIVA, an artificial intelligence that has been trained in the art of music composition by reading more than 30,000 of history's greatest scores. ...
A love letter to realism in a time of grief | Mark Pollock and Simone George
07 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When faced with life's toughest circumstances, how should we respond: as an optimist, a realist or something else? In an unforgettable talk, explorer ...
Let's launch a satellite to track a threatening greenhouse gas | Fred Krupp
06 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When we talk about greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide gets the most attention -- but methane, which often escapes unseen from pipes and wells, has a far...
3 ways businesses can fight sex trafficking | Nikki Clifton
06 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Sex buying doesn't just happen late at night on street corners in the shady part of town -- it also happens online, in the middle of the workday, usin...
What commercialization is doing to cannabis | Ben Cort
05 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In 2012, Colorado legalized cannabis and added to what has fast become a multibillion-dollar global industry for all things weed-related: from vape pe...
How data is helping us unravel the mysteries of the brain | Steve McCarroll
04 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Geneticist Steve McCarroll wants to make an atlas of all the cells in the human body so that we can understand in precise detail how specific genes wo...
The new American Dream | Courtney E. Martin
03 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
For the first time in history, the majority of American parents don't think their kids will be better off than they were. This shouldn't be a cause fo...
Let's get honest about our money problems | Tammy Lally
31 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Struggling to budget and manage finances is common -- but talking honestly and openly about it isn't. Why do we hide our problems around money? In thi...
A new way to think about the transition to motherhood | Alexandra Sacks
30 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When a baby is born, so is a mother -- but the natural (and sometimes unsteady) process of transition to motherhood is often silenced by shame or misd...
How I went from child refugee to international model | Halima Aden
30 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Halima Aden made history when she became the first hijab-wearing model on the cover of Vogue magazine. Now she returns to Kenya's Kakuma Refugee Camp ...
How China is (and isn't) fighting pollution and climate change | Angel Hsu
29 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
China is the world's biggest polluter -- and now one of its largest producers of clean energy. Which way will China go in the future, and how will it ...
A rare galaxy that's challenging our understanding of the universe | Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil
28 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What's it like to discover a galaxy -- and have it named after you? Astrophysicist and TED Fellow Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil lets us know in this quick talk...
How art can shape America's conversation about freedom | Dread Scott
27 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this quick talk, visual artist Dread Scott tells the story of one of his most transgressive art installations, which drew national attention for it...
Don't fear superintelligent AI | Grady Booch
24 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
New tech spawns new anxieties, says scientist and philosopher Grady Booch, but we don't need to be afraid an all-powerful, unfeeling AI. Booch allays ...
Don't fail fast -- fail mindfully | Leticia Gasca
23 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We celebrate bold entrepreneurs whose ingenuity led them to success, but what happens to those who fail? Far too often, they bury their stories out of...
How to get serious about diversity and inclusion in the workplace | Janet Stovall
22 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine a workplace where people of all colors and races are able to climb every rung of the corporate ladder -- and where the lessons we learn about ...
To transform child welfare, take race out of the equation | Jessica Pryce
21 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this eye-opening talk about the impact of race and neighborhood on foster-care decisions, social worker Jessica Pryce shares a promising solution t...
Why the "wrong side of the tracks" is usually the east side of cities | Stephen DeBerry
21 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What do communities on the social, economic and environmental margins have in common? For one thing, they tend to be on the east sides of cities. In t...
How women in rural India turned courage into capital | Chetna Gala Sinha
20 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When bankers refused to serve her neighbors in rural India, Chetna Gala Sinha did the next best thing: she opened a bank of her own, the first ever fo...
How urban spaces can preserve history and build community | Walter Hood
17 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Can public spaces both reclaim the past and embrace the future? Landscape architect Walter Hood has explored this question over the course of an iconi...
How cancer cells communicate -- and how we can slow them down | Hasini Jayatilaka
16 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When cancer cells are closely packed together in a tumor, they're able to communicate with each other and coordinate their movement throughout the bod...
What a scrapyard in Ghana can teach us about innovation | DK Osseo-Asare
16 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In Agbogbloshie, a community in Accra, Ghana, people descend on a scrapyard to mine electronic waste for recyclable materials. Without formal training...
Why I fight for the education of refugee girls (like me) | Mary Maker
15 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
After fleeing war-torn South Sudan as a child, Mary Maker found security and hope in the school at Kenya's Kakuma Refugee Camp. Now as a teacher of yo...
The little risks you can take to increase your luck | Tina Seelig
14 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Luck is rarely a lightning strike, isolated and dramatic -- it's much more like the wind, blowing constantly. Catching more of it is easy but not obvi...
How teachers can help kids find their political voices | Sydney Chaffee
14 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Social justice belongs in our schools, says educator Sydney Chaffee. In a bold talk, she shows how teaching students to engage in activism helps them ...
Who belongs in a city? | OluTimehin Adegbeye
10 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Underneath every shiny new megacity, there's often a story of communities displaced. In this moving, poetic talk, OluTimehin Adegbeye details how gove...