TED Talks Daily
Episodes
A Republican mayor's plan to replace partisanship with policy | GT Bynum
30 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Conventional wisdom says that to win an election, you need to play to your constituencies' basest, most divisive instincts. But as a candidate for may...
The new generation of computers is programming itself | Sebastian Thrun and Chris Anderson
30 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Educator and entrepreneur Sebastian Thrun wants us to use AI to free humanity of repetitive work and unleash our creativity. In an inspiring, informat...
Fashion has a pollution problem -- can biology fix it? | Natsai Audrey Chieza
29 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Natsai Audrey Chieza is a designer on a mission -- to reduce pollution in the fashion industry while creating amazing new things to wear. In her lab, ...
The future of good food in China | Matilda Ho
28 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Fresh food free of chemicals and pesticides is hard to come by in China: in 2016, the Chinese government revealed half a million food safety violation...
How we're using drones to deliver blood and save lives | Keller Rinaudo
28 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Keller Rinaudo wants everyone on earth to have access to basic health care, no matter how hard it is to reach them. With his start-up Zipline, he has ...
The science of cells that never get old | Elizabeth Blackburn
27 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What makes our bodies age ... our skin wrinkle, our hair turn white, our immune systems weaken? Biologist Elizabeth Blackburn shares a Nobel Prize for...
How to speak so that people want to listen | Julian Treasure
24 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever felt like you're talking, but nobody is listening? Here's Julian Treasure to help. In this useful talk, the sound expert demonstrates th...
An interview with the Queen of Creole Cuisine | Leah Chase
22 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Leah Chase's New Orleans restaurant Dooky Chase changed the course of American history over gumbo and fried chicken. During the civil rights movement,...
Activism needs introverts | Sarah Corbett
21 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
For the introverts among us, traditional forms activism like marches, protests and door-to-door canvassing can be intimidating and stressful. Take it ...
How Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google manipulate our emotions | Scott Galloway
21 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The combined market capitalization of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google is now equivalent to the GDP of India. How did these four companies come to i...
The hidden opportunities of the informal economy | Niti Bhan
20 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Niti Bhan studies business strategy for Africa's informal markets: the small shops and stands, skilled craftspeople and laborers who are the invisible...
Why do I make art? To build time capsules for my heritage | Kayla Briët
17 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Kayla Briët creates art that explores identity and self-discovery -- and the fear that her culture may someday be forgotten. She shares how she found...
How my dad's dementia changed my idea of death (and life) | Beth Malone
16 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
With warmth and grace, Beth Malone tells the deeply personal story of her dad's struggle with frontotemporal lobe dementia, and how it changed her ide...
How the military fights climate change | David Titley
15 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Military leaders have known for millennia that the time to prepare for a challenge is before it hits you, says scientist and retired US Navy officer D...
The Housing First approach to homelessness | Lloyd Pendleton
14 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What do you think would happen if you invited an individual with mental health issues who had been homeless for many years to move directly from the s...
How to talk (and listen) to transgender people | Jackson Bird
14 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Gender should be the least remarkable thing about someone, but transgender people are still too often misunderstood. To help those who are scared to a...
What I learned serving time for a crime I didn't commit | Teresa Njoroge
13 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In 2011, Teresa Njoroge was convicted of a financial crime she didn't commit -- the result of a long string of false accusations, increasing bribe att...
How judges can show respect | Victoria Pratt
10 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In halls of justice around the world, how can we ensure everyone is treated with dignity and respect? A pioneering judge in New Jersey, Victoria Pratt...
The biggest risks facing cities -- and some solutions | Robert Muggah
09 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
With fantastic new maps that show interactive, visual representations of urban fragility, Robert Muggah articulates an ancient but resurging idea: cit...
We should aim for perfection -- and stop fearing failure | Jon Bowers
09 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes trying your best isn't enough; when the situation demands it, you need to be perfect. For Jon Bowers, who runs a training facility for profe...
Why wildfires have gotten worse -- and how we can stop them | Paul Hessburg
07 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Megafires, individual fires that burn more than 100,000 acres, are on the rise in the western United States -- the direct result of unintentional yet ...
I survived a terrorist attack. Here's what I learned | Gill Hicks
07 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Gill Hicks's story is one of compassion and humanity, emerging from the ashes of chaos and hate. A survivor of the London terrorist bombings on July 7...
For the love of birds | Washington Wachira
06 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
From the glorious crested guinea fowl to the adulterous African jacana to vultures that can pick a zebra carcass cleanin 30 minutes, Washington Wachir...
How we can end sexual harassment at work | Gretchen Carlson
06 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
When Gretchen Carlson spoke out about her experience of workplace sexual harassment, it inspired women everywhere to take their power back and tell th...
The global learning crisis -- and what to do about it | Amel Karboul
03 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The most important infrastructure we have is educated minds, says former Tunisian government minister Amel Karboul. Yet too often large investments go...
Sci-fi stories that imagine a future Africa | Nnedi Okorafor
01 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"My science fiction has different ancestors -- African ones," says writer Nnedi Okorafor. In between excerpts from her "Binti" series and her novel "L...
How to win at evolution and survive a mass extinction | Lauren Sallan
31 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Congratulations! By being here, alive, you are one of history's winners -- the culmination of a success story four billion years in the making. The ot...
Can we stop climate change by removing CO2 from the air? | Tim Kruger
31 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Could we cure climate change? Geoengineering researcher Tim Kruger wants to try. He shares one promising possibility: using natural gas to generate el...
The future of storytelling | Shonda Rhimes and Cyndi Stivers
30 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"We all feel a compelling need to watch stories, to tell stories ... to discuss the things that tell each one of us that we are not alone in the world...
We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads | Zeynep Tufekci
27 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We're building an artificial intelligence-powered dystopia, one click at a time, says technosociologist Zeynep Tufekci. In an eye-opening talk, she de...
The awful logic of land mines -- and an app that helps people avoid them | Carlos Bautista
26 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Fifty years of armed conflict in Colombia has left the countryside riddled with land mines that maim and kill innocent people who happen across them. ...
How we'll earn money in a future without jobs | Martin Ford
26 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Machines that can think, learn and adapt are coming -- and that could mean that we humans will end up with significant unemployment. What should we do...
Want a more innovative company? Hire more women | Rocío Lorenzo
25 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Are diverse companies really more innovative? Rocío Lorenzo and her team surveyed 171 companies to find out -- and the answer was a clear yes. In a t...
Why I risked my life to expose a government massacre | Anjan Sundaram
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
A war zone can pass for a mostly peaceful place when no one is watching, says investigative journalist and TED Fellow Anjan Sundaram. In this short, i...
The world doesn't need more nuclear weapons | Erika Gregory
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Today nine nations collectively control more than 15,000 nuclear weapons, each hundreds of times more powerful than those dropped on Hiroshima and Nag...
Want kids to learn well? Feed them well | Sam Kass
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What can we expect our kids to learn if they're hungry or eating diets full of sugar and empty of nutrients? Former White House Chef and food policyma...
The lies we tell pregnant women | Sofia Jawed-Wessel
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"When we tell women that sex isn't worth the risk during pregnancy, what we're telling her is that her sexual pleasure doesn't matter ... that she in ...
A better way to talk about love | Mandy Len Catron
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In love, we fall. We're struck, we're crushed, we swoon. We burn with passion. Love makes us crazy and makes us sick. Our hearts ache, and then they b...
If a story moves you, act on it | Sisonke Msimang
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Stories are necessary, but they're not as magical as they seem, says writer Sisonke Msimang. In this funny and thoughtful talk, Msimang questions our ...
Art made of the air we breathe | Emily Parsons-Lord
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Emily Parsons-Lord re-creates air from distinct moments in Earth's history -- from the clean, fresh-tasting air of the Carboniferous period to the sod...
Buildings that blend nature and city | Jeanne Gang
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
A skyscraper that channels the breeze ... a building that creates community around a hearth ... Jeanne Gang uses architecture to build relationships. ...
Where is cybercrime really coming from? | Caleb Barlow
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Cybercrime netted a whopping $450 billion in profits last year, with 2 billion records lost or stolen worldwide. Security expert Caleb Barlow calls ou...
What we don't know about Europe's Muslim kids | Deeyah Khan
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
As the child of an Afghan mother and Pakistani father raised in Norway, Deeyah Khan knows what it's like to be a young person stuck between your commu...
Help discover ancient ruins -- before it's too late | Sarah Parcak
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Sarah Parcak uses satellites orbiting hundreds of miles above Earth to uncover hidden ancient treasures buried beneath our feet. There's a lot to disc...
My son was a Columbine shooter. This is my story | Sue Klebold
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Sue Klebold is the mother of Dylan Klebold, one of the two shooters who committed the Columbine High School massacre, murdering 12 students and a teac...
Our story of rape and reconciliation | Thordis Elva and Tom Stranger
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In 1996, Thordis Elva shared a teenage romance with Tom Stranger, an exchange student from Australia. After a school dance, Tom raped Thordis, after w...
4 ways to make a city more walkable | Jeff Speck
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Freedom from cars, freedom from sprawl, freedom to walk your city! City planner Jeff Speck shares his "general theory of walkability" -- four planning...
What it's like to be a parent in a war zone | Aala El-Khani
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
How do parents protect their children and help them feel secure again when their homes are ripped apart by war? In this warm-hearted talk, psychologis...
How racism harms pregnant women -- and what can help | Miriam Zoila Pérez
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Racism is making people sick -- especially black women and babies, says Miriam Zoila Pérez. The doula turned journalist explores the relationship bet...
How to practice safe sexting | Amy Adele Hasinoff
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Sexting, like anything that's fun, runs its risks -- but a serious violation of privacy shouldn't be one of them. Amy Adele Hasinoff looks at problema...
3 ways to fix a broken news industry | Lara Setrakian
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Something is very wrong with the news industry. Trust in the media has hit an all-time low; we're inundated with sensationalist stories, and consisten...
How jails extort the poor | Salil Dudani
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Why do we jail people for being poor? Today, half a million Americans are in jail only because they can't afford to post bail, and still more are lock...
The racial politics of time | Brittney Cooper
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Cultural theorist Brittney Cooper examines racism through the lens of time, showing us how historically it has been stolen from people of color, resul...
A few ways to fix a government | Charity Wayua
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Charity Wayua put her skills as a cancer researcher to use on an unlikely patient: the government of her native Kenya. She shares how she helped her g...
The data behind Hollywood's sexism | Stacy Smith
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Where are all the women and girls in film? Social scientist Stacy Smith analyzes how the media underrepresents and portrays women -- and the potential...
This app makes it fun to pick up litter | Jeff Kirschner
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The earth is a big place to keep clean. With Litterati -- an app for users to identify, collect and geotag the world's litter -- TED Resident Jeff Kir...
What I learned from 2,000 obituaries | Lux Narayan
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Lux Narayan starts his day with scrambled eggs and the question: "Who died today?" Why? By analyzing 2,000 New York Times obituaries over a 20-month p...
Stories from a home for terminally ill children | Kathy Hull
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
To honor and celebrate young lives cut short, Kathy Hull founded the first freestanding pediatric palliative care facility in the United States, the G...
To raise brave girls, encourage adventure | Caroline Paul
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Gutsy girls skateboard, climb trees, clamber around, fall down, scrape their knees, get right back up -- and grow up to be brave women. Learn how to s...
Why women should tell the stories of humanity | Jude Kelly
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
For many centuries (and for many reasons) critically acclaimed creative genius has generally come from a male perspective. As theater director Jude Ke...
Beautiful new words to describe obscure emotions | John Koenig
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
John Koenig loves finding words that express our unarticulated feelings -- like "lachesism," the hunger for disaster, and "sonder," the realization th...
A burial practice that nourishes the planet | Caitlin Doughty
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Here's a question we all have to answer sooner or later: What do you want to happen to your body when you die? Funeral director Caitlin Doughty explor...
What young women believe about their own sexual pleasure | Peggy Orenstein
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Why do girls feel empowered to engage in sexual activity but not to enjoy it? For three years, author Peggy Orenstein interviewed girls ages 15 to 20 ...
Lifelike simulations that make real-life surgery safer | Peter Weinstock
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Critical care doctor Peter Weinstock shows how surgical teams are using a blend of Hollywood special effects and 3D printing to create amazingly lifel...
Asking for help is a strength, not a weakness | Michele L. Sullivan
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We all go through challenges -- some you can see, most you can't, says Michele L. Sullivan. In a talk about perspective, Sullivan shares stories full ...
Why civilians suffer more once a war is over | Margaret Bourdeaux
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In a war, it turns out that violence isn't the biggest killer of civilians. What is? Illness, hunger, poverty -- because war destroys the institutions...
Who would the rest of the world vote for in your country's election? | Simon Anholt
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Wish you could vote in another country's election? Simon Anholt unveils the Global Vote, an online platform that lets anybody, anywhere in the world, ...
A young inventor's plan to recycle Styrofoam | Ashton Cofer
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
From packing peanuts to disposable coffee cups, each year the US alone produces some two billion pounds of Styrofoam -- none of which can be recycled....
Addiction is a disease. We should treat it like one | Michael Botticelli
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Only one in nine people in the United States gets the care and treatment they need for addiction and substance abuse. A former Director of National Dr...
Know your worth, and then ask for it | Casey Brown
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Your boss probably isn't paying you what you're worth -- instead, they're paying you what they think you're worth. Take the time to learn how to shape...
How to take a picture of a black hole | Katie Bouman
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
At the heart of the Milky Way, there's a supermassive black hole that feeds off a spinning disk of hot gas, sucking up anything that ventures too clos...
How racism makes us sick | David R. Williams
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Why does race matter so profoundly for health? David R. Williams developed a scale to measure the impact of discrimination on well-being, going beyond...
3 ways to plan for the (very) long term | Ari Wallach
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We increasingly make decisions based on short-term goals and gains -- an approach that makes the future more uncertain and less safe. How can we learn...
How do you build a sacred space? | Siamak Hariri
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
To design the Bahá'í Temple of South America, architect Siamak Hariri focused on illumination -- from the temple's form, which captures the movement...
How radio telescopes show us unseen galaxies | Natasha Hurley-Walker
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Our universe is strange, wonderful and vast, says astronomer Natasha Hurley-Walker. A spaceship can't carry you into its depths (yet) -- but a radio t...
A video game to cope with grief | Amy Green
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
When Amy Green's young son was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor, she made up a bedtime story for his siblings to teach them about cancer. What result...
How I learned to read -- and trade stocks -- in prison | Curtis "Wall Street" Carroll
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Financial literacy isn't a skill -- it's a lifestyle. Take it from Curtis "Wall Street" Carroll. As an incarcerated individual, Carroll knows the powe...
How fake news does real harm | Stephanie Busari
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
On April 14, 2014, the terrorist organization Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok, Nigeria. Around the world, the c...
On tennis, love and motherhood | Serena Williams and Gayle King
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Twenty-three Grand Slam titles later, tennis superstar Serena Williams sits down with journalist Gayle King to share a warm, mischievous conversation ...
Behind the lies of Holocaust denial | Deborah Lipstadt
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"There are facts, there are opinions, and there are lies," says historian Deborah Lipstadt, telling the remarkable story of her research into Holocaus...
There's no shame in taking care of your mental health | Sangu Delle
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
When stress got to be too much for TED Fellow Sangu Delle, he had to confront his own deep prejudice: that men shouldn't take care of their mental hea...
A summer school kids actually want to attend | Karim Abouelnaga
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In the US, most kids have a very long summer break, during which they forget an awful lot of what they learned during the school year. This "summer sl...
A tribute to nurses | Carolyn Jones
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Carolyn Jones spent five years interviewing, photographing and filming nurses across America, traveling to places dealing with some of the nation's bi...
A climate solution where all sides can win | Ted Halstead
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Why are we so deadlocked on climate, and what would it take to overcome the seemingly insurmountable barriers to progress? Policy entrepreneur Ted Hal...
Walking as a revolutionary act of self-care | T. Morgan Dixon and Vanessa Garrison
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"When black women walk, things change," say T. Morgan Dixon and Vanessa Garrison, the founders of the health nonprofit GirlTrek. They're on a mission ...
Poverty isn't a lack of character; it's a lack of cash | Rutger Bregman
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"Ideas can and do change the world," says historian Rutger Bregman, sharing his case for a provocative one: guaranteed basic income. Learn more about ...
Why I speak up about living with epilepsy | Sitawa Wafula
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Once homebound by epilepsy, mental health advocate Sitawa Wafula found her strength in writing about it. Now, she advocates for others who are yet to ...
Don't fear intelligent machines. Work with them | Garry Kasparov
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We must face our fears if we want to get the most out of technology -- and we must conquer those fears if we want to get the best out of humanity, say...
Am I not human? A call for criminal justice reform | Marlon Peterson
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
For a crime he committed in his early twenties, the courts sentenced Marlon Peterson to 10 years in prison -- and, as he says, a lifetime of irrelevan...
What it's like to be a woman in Hollywood | Naomi McDougall-Jones
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What we see in movies matters: it affects our hobbies, our career choices, our emotions and even our identities. Right now, we don't see enough women ...
I don't want children -- stop telling me I'll change my mind | Christen Reighter
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
One in five women in the United States will not have a biological child, and Christen Reighter is one of them. From a young age, she knew she didn't k...
A pro wrestler's guide to confidence | Mike Kinney
23 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
You are more than you think you are, says former pro wrestler Mike Kinney -- you just have to find what makes you unique and use it to your advantage....
The powerful stories that shaped Africa | Gus Casely-Hayford
20 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In the vast sweep of history, even an empire can be forgotten. In this wide-ranging talk, Gus Casely-Hayford shares origin stories of Africa that are ...
A precise, three-word address for every place on earth | Chris Sheldrick
19 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
With what3words, Chris Sheldrick and his team have divided the entire planet into three-meter squares and assigned each a unique, three-word identifie...
Portraits that transform people into whatever they want to be | Uldus Bakhtiozina
19 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
With her gorgeous, haunting photographs, artist Uldus Bakhtiozina documents dreams, working with daily life as she imagines it could be. She creates e...
The new age of corporate monopolies | Margrethe Vestager
18 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Margrethe Vestager wants to keep European markets competitive -- which is why, on behalf of the EU, she's fined Google $2.8 billion for breaching anti...
We can hack our immune cells to fight cancer | Elizabeth Wayne
17 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
After decades of research and billions spent in clinical trials, we still have a problem with cancer drug delivery, says biomedical engineer Elizabeth...
What's hidden under the Greenland ice sheet? | Kristin Poinar
17 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Greenland ice sheet is massive, mysterious -- and melting. Using advanced technology, scientists are revealing its secrets for the first time, and...
How I became an entrepreneur at 66 | Paul Tasner
16 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It's never too late to reinvent yourself. Take it from Paul Tasner -- after working continuously for other people for 40 years, he founded his own sta...
3 fears about screen time for kids -- and why they're not true | Sara DeWitt
12 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We check our phones upwards of 50 times per day -- but when our kids play around with them, we get nervous. Are screens ruining childhood? Not accordi...