TED Talks Daily

How I'm bringing queer pride to my rural village | Katlego Kolanyane-Kesupile

14 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In a poetic, personal talk, TED Fellow Katlego Kolanyane-Kesupile examines the connection between her modern queer lifestyle and her childhood upbring...

The incredible potential of flexible, soft robots | Giada Gerboni

14 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Robots are designed for speed and precision -- but their rigidity has often limited how they're used. In this illuminating talk, biomedical engineer G...

How to get empowered, not overpowered, by AI | Max Tegmark

13 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Many artificial intelligence researchers expect AI to outsmart humans at all tasks and jobs within decades, enabling a future where we're restricted o...

What we'll learn about the brain in the next century | Sam Rodriques

12 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In this imaginative talk, neurobiologist Sam Rodriques takes us on a thrilling tour of the next 100 years in neuroscience. He envisions strange (and s...

The journey through loss and grief | Jason B. Rosenthal

12 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In her brutally honest, ironically funny and widely read meditation on death, "You May Want to Marry My Husband," the late author and filmmaker Amy Kr...

The discoveries awaiting us in the ocean's twilight zone | Heidi M. Sosik

08 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

What will we find in the twilight zone: the vast, mysterious, virtually unexplored realm hundreds of meters below the ocean's surface? Heidi M. Sosik ...

Inside the fight against Russia's fake news empire | Olga Yurkova

07 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

When facts are false, decisions are wrong, says editor and TED Fellow Olga Yurkova. To stop the spread of fake news, she and a group of journalists la...

Let's turn the high seas into the world's largest nature reserve | Enric Sala

06 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

What if we could save the fishing industry and protect the oceans at the same time? Marine ecologist Enric Sala shares his bold plan to safeguard the ...

What if we replaced politicians with randomly selected people? | Brett Hennig

05 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

If you think democracy is broken, here's an idea: let's replace politicians with randomly selected people. Author and activist Brett Hennig presents a...

The critical role librarians play in the opioid crisis | Chera Kowalski

05 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Public libraries have always been about more than just books -- and their mission of community support has taken on new urgency during the current opi...

Why theater is essential to democracy | Oskar Eustis

04 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Truth comes from the collision of different ideas, and theater plays an essential role in showing us that truth, says legendary artistic director Oska...

How we can turn the cold of outer space into a renewable resource | Aaswath Raman

01 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

What if we could use the cold darkness of outer space to cool buildings on earth? In this mind-blowing talk, physicist Aaswath Raman details the techn...

How vultures can help solve crimes | Lauren Pharr

31 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Can a bird that symbolizes death help the living catch criminals? In this informative and accessible talk, forensic anthropologist Lauren Pharr shows ...

What gardening taught me about life | tobacco brown

31 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Gardens are mirrors of our lives, says environmental artist tobacco brown, and we must cultivate them with care to harvest their full beauty. Drawing ...

How we'll become cyborgs and extend human potential | Hugh Herr

30 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Humans will soon have new bodies that forever blur the line between the natural and synthetic worlds, says bionics designer Hugh Herr. In an unforgett...

A teen scientist's invention to help wounds heal | Anushka Naiknaware

29 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Working out of her garage, Anushka Naiknaware designed a sensor that tracks wound healing, becoming the youngest winner (at age 13) of the Google Scie...

This simple test can help kids hear better | Susan Emmett

29 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Children who live in rural areas can have a hard time getting to the doctor -- much less to an audiologist's clinic for expensive, complex tests to ch...

How to talk to veterans about the war | Wes Moore

28 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Wes Moore joined the US Army to pay for college, but the experience became core to who he is. In this heartfelt talk, the paratrooper and captain—wh...

Comics belong in the classroom | Gene Yang

25 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Comic books and graphic novels belong in every teacher's toolkit, says cartoonist and educator Gene Luen Yang. Set against the backdrop of his own wit...

How to start a conversation about suicide | Jeremy Forbes

24 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Is there someone in your life dealing with anxiety, depression or thoughts of suicide -- but is too ashamed to talk about it? Jeremy Forbes saw this h...

How to turn a group of strangers into a team | Amy Edmondson

24 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Business school professor Amy Edmondson studies "teaming," where people come together quickly (and often temporarily) to solve new, urgent or unusual ...

How I made friends with reality | Emily Levine

23 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

With her signature wit and wisdom, Emily Levine meets her ultimate challenge as a comedian/philosopher: she makes dying funny. In this personal talk, ...

The shocking danger of mountaintop removal -- and why it must end | Michael Hendryx

22 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Research investigator Michael Hendryx studies mountaintop removal, an explosive type of surface coal mining used in Appalachia that comes with unexpec...

What it's like to be the child of immigrants | Michael Rain

22 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Rain is on a mission to tell the stories of first-generation immigrants, who have strong ties both to the countries they grew up in and their ...

Where joy hides and how to find it | Ingrid Fetell Lee

21 May 2018

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 Pakistani women are taking the internet back | Nighat Dad

17 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

TED Fellow Nighat Dad studies online harassment, especially as it relates to patriarchal cultures like the one in her small village in Pakistan. She t...

The age-old sharing economies of Africa -- and why we should scale them | Robert Neuwirth

17 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

From rides to homes and beyond, we're sharing everything these days, with the help of digital tools. But as modern and high-tech as the sharing econom...

Scientists must be free to learn, to speak and to challenge | Kirsty Duncan

16 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

"You do not mess with something so fundamental, so precious, as science," says Kirsty Duncan, Canada's first Minister of Science. In a heartfelt, insp...

The Problem with All-Stars

15 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The Butler Bulldogs have a habit of shocking college basketball fans by beating top teams with far more talent. How do they do it? Adam Grant joins th...

The doctors, nurses and aid workers rebuilding Syria | Rola Hallam

15 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Local humanitarians are beacons of light in the darkness of war, says humanitarian aid entrepreneur and TED Fellow Rola Hallam. She's working to help ...

The truth about unwanted arousal | Emily Nagoski

11 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Sex educator Emily Nagoski breaks down one of the most dangerous myths about sex and introduces us to the science behind arousal nonconcordance: when ...

What it's like to be a transgender dad | LB Hannahs

10 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

LB Hannahs candidly shares the experience of parenting as a genderqueer individual -- and what it can teach us about authenticity and advocacy. "Authe...

Confessions of a depressed comic | Kevin Breel

09 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kevin Breel didn't look like a depressed kid: team captain, at every party, funny and confident. But he tells the story of the night he realized that ...

A playful solution to the housing crisis | Sarah Murray

08 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Frustrated by her lack of self-determination in the housing market, Sarah Murray created a computer game that allows home buyers to design a house and...

How Baltimore called a ceasefire | Erricka Bridgeford

08 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In one day, in one city, in one neighborhood -- what if everyone put their guns down? Erricka Bridgeford is a peacemaker who wants to stop the murders...

What it takes to be racially literate | Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi

07 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Over the last year, Priya Vulchi and Winona Guo traveled to all 50 US states, collecting personal stories about race and intersectionality. Now they'r...

To design better tech, understand context | Tania Douglas

03 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

What good is a sophisticated piece of medical equipment to people in Africa if it can't handle the climate there? Biomedical engineer Tania Douglas sh...

It's time for the law to protect victims of gender violence | Laura L. Dunn

02 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

To make accountability the norm after gender violence in the United States, we need to change tactics, says victims’ rights attorney and TED Fellow ...

How a male contraceptive pill could work | John Amory

01 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Andrologist John Amory is developing innovative male contraception that gives men a new option for taking responsibility to prevent unintended pregnan...

Why tech needs the humanities | Eric Berridge

01 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

If you want to build a team of innovative problem-solvers, you should value the humanities just as much as the sciences, says entrepreneur Eric Berrid...

TBD | Glen Henry

26 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Glen Henry got his superpowers through fatherhood. After leaving behind a job he hated and a manager he didn't get along with, he went to work for an ...

How work kept me going during my cancer treatment | Sarah Donnelly

26 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

When lawyer Sarah Donnelly was diagnosed with breast cancer, she turned to her friends and family for support -- but she also found meaning, focus and...

A woman's fury holds lifetimes of wisdom | Tracee Ellis-Ross

25 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The global collection of women's experiences can no longer be ignored, says actress and activist Tracee Ellis Ross. In a candid, fearless talk, she de...

Visions of Africa's future, from African filmmakers | Dayo Ogunyemi

24 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

By expanding boundaries, exploring possibilities and conveying truth, films have helped change Africa's reality (even before "Black Panther"). Dayo Og...

War and what comes after | Clemantine Wamariya

24 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Clemantine Wamariya was six years old when the Rwandan Civil War forced her and her sister to flee their home in Kigali, leaving their parents and eve...

SpaceX's plan to fly you across the globe in 30 minutes | Gwynne Shotwell

23 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

What's up at SpaceX? Engineer Gwynne Shotwell was employee number seven at Elon Musk's pioneering aerospace company and is now its president. In conve...

The "dead zone" of the Gulf of Mexico | Nancy Rabalais

18 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Ocean expert Nancy Rabalais tracks the ominously named "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico -- where there isn't enough oxygen in the water to support li...

The harm reduction model of drug addiction treatment | Mark Tyndall

18 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Why do we still think that drug use is a law-enforcement issue? Making drugs illegal does nothing to stop people from using them, says public health e...

A printable, flexible, organic solar cell | Hannah Bürckstümmer

17 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Unlike the solar cells you're used to seeing, organic photovoltaics are made of compounds that are dissolved in ink and can be printed and molded usin...

What's missing in the global debate over refugees | Yasin Kakande

16 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In the ongoing debate over refugees, we hear from everyone -- from politicians who pledge border controls to citizens who fear they'll lose their jobs...

How the arts help homeless youth heal and build | Malika Whitley

11 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Malika Whitley is the founder of ChopArt, an organization for homeless teens focused on mentorship, dignity and opportunity through the arts. In this ...

How a team of chefs fed Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria | Jose Andres

10 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

After Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in 2017, chef José Andrés traveled to the devastated island with a simple idea: to feed the hungry. Millions o...

The Standing Rock resistance and our fight for indigenous rights | Tara Houska

09 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Still invisible and often an afterthought, indigenous peoples are uniting to protect the world's water, lands and history -- while trying to heal from...

How I use the drum to tell my story | Kasiva Mutua

06 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In this talk-performance hybrid, drummer, percussionist and TED Fellow Kasiva Mutua shares how she's breaking the taboo against female drummers in Ken...

Should we create a solar shade to cool the earth? | Danny Hillis

05 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In this perspective-shifting talk, Danny Hillis prompts us to approach global issues like climate change with creative scientific solutions. Taking a ...

To eliminate waste, we need to rediscover thrift | Andrew Dent

04 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

There's no such thing as throwing something away, says Andrew Dent -- when you toss a used food container, broken toy or old pair of socks into the tr...

My $500 house in Detroit -- and the neighbors who helped me rebuild it | Drew Philp

03 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In 2009, journalist and screenwriter Drew Philp bought a ruined house in Detroit for $500. In the years that followed, as he gutted the interior and r...

Math can help uncover cancer's secrets | Irina Kareva

03 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Irina Kareva translates biology into mathematics and vice versa. She writes mathematical models that describe the dynamics of cancer, with the goal of...

How we can teach computers to make sense of our emotions | Raphael Arar

02 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

How can we make AI that people actually want to interact with? Raphael Arar suggests we start by making art. He shares interactive projects that help ...

Our fight for disability rights -- and why we're not done yet | Judith Heumann

30 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Four decades ago, Judith Heumann helped to lead a groundbreaking protest called the Section 504 sit-in -- in which disabled-rights activists occupied ...

Why I choose humanism over faith | Leo Igwe

29 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

As a humanist, Leo Igwe doesn't believe in divine intervention -- but he does believe in the power of human beings to alleviate suffering, cure diseas...

The role of faith and belief in modern Africa | Ndidi Nwuneli

29 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Ndidi Nwuneli has advice for Africans who believe in God -- and Africans who don't. To the religious, she advises against using God to outsource respo...

Academic research is publicly funded -- why isn't it publicly available? | Erica Stone

28 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In the US, your taxes fund academic research at public universities. Why then do you need to pay expensive, for-profit journals for the results of tha...

How fungi recognize (and infect) plants | Mennat El Ghalid

27 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Each year, the world loses enough food to feed half a billion people to fungi, the most destructive pathogens of plants. Mycologist and TED fellow Men...

How quantum physics can make encryption stronger | Vikram Sharma

27 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

As quantum computing matures, it's going to bring unimaginable increases in computational power along with it -- and the systems we use to protect our...

What if we paid doctors to keep people healthy? | Matthias Mullenbeck

26 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

What if we incentivized doctors to keep us healthy instead of paying them only when we're already sick? Matthias Müllenbeck explains how this radical...

The human stories behind mass incarceration | Eve Abrams

23 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The United States locks up more people than any other country in the world, says documentarian Eve Abrams, and somewhere between one and four percent ...

Dear billionaire, I give you a D-minus

22 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In most workplaces, criticizing your boss is a great way to lose your job. At Bridgewater Associates, you can be fired for NOT criticizing your boss. ...

Need a new idea? Start at the edge of what is known | Vittorio Loreto

22 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

"Where do great ideas come from?" Starting with this question in mind, Vittorio Loreto takes us on a journey to explore a possible mathematical scheme...

For survivors of Ebola, the crisis isn't over | Soka Moses

21 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In 2014, as a newly trained physician, Soka Moses took on one of the toughest jobs in the world: treating highly contagious patients at the height of ...

A new rite of passage for later in life | Bob Stein

20 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

We use rituals to mark the early stages of our lives, like birthdays and graduations -- but what about our later years? In this meditative talk about ...

What if gentrification was about healing communities instead of displacing them? | Liz Ogbu

20 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Liz Ogbu is an architect who works on spatial justice: the idea that justice has a geography and that the equitable distribution of resources and serv...

How I use art to bridge misunderstanding | Adong Judith

19 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Director and playwright Adong Judith creates provocative art that sparks dialogue on issues from LGBTQ rights to war crimes. In this quick but powerfu...

Can I have your brain? The quest for truth on concussions and CTE | Chris Nowinski

19 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Something strange and deadly is happening inside the brains of top athletes -- a degenerative condition, possibly linked to concussions, that causes d...

What we can do about the culture of hate | Sally Kohn

16 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

We're all against hate, right? We agree it's a problem -- their problem, not our problem, that is. But as Sally Kohn discovered, we all hate -- some o...

Why must artists be poor? | Hadi Eldebek

15 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The arts bring meaning to our lives and spirit to our culture -- so why do we expect artists to struggle to make a living?  Hadi Eldebek is working t...

3 myths about the future of work (and why they're not true) | Daniel Susskind

14 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

"Will machines replace humans?" This question is on the mind of anyone with a job to lose. Daniel Susskind confronts this question and three misconcep...

How to inspire every child to be a lifelong reader | Alvin Irby

13 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

According to the US Department of Education, more than 85 percent of black fourth-grade boys aren't proficient in reading. What kind of reading experi...

What a world without prisons could look like | Deanna Van Buren

13 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Deanna Van Buren designs restorative justice centers that, instead of taking the punitive approach used by a system focused on mass incarceration, tre...

What would happen if you didn’t sleep? | Claudia Aguirre

12 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In the United States, it’s estimated that 30 percent of adults and 66 percent of adolescents are regularly sleep-deprived. This isn’t just a minor...

Tales of passion | Isabel Allende

12 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Author and activist Isabel Allende discusses women, creativity, the definition of feminism -- and, of course, passion -- in this talk.For a chance to ...

The best way to help is often just to listen | Sophie Andrews

09 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A 24-hour helpline in the UK known as Samaritans helped Sophie Andrews become a survivor of abuse rather than a victim. Now she's paying the favor bac...

To solve the world's biggest problems, invest in women and girls | Musimbi Kanyoro

08 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

As CEO of the Global Fund for Women, Musimbi Kanyoro works to support women and their ideas so they can expand and grow. She introduces us to the Mara...

The wonderful world of life in a drop of water | Simone Bianco and Tom Zimmerman

07 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

"Hold your breath," says inventor Tom Zimmerman. "This is the world without plankton." These tiny organisms produce two-thirds of our planet's oxygen ...

How fashion helps us express who we are -- and what we stand for | Kaustav Dey

06 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

No one thinks twice about a woman wearing blue jeans in New York City -- but when Nobel laureate Malala wears them, it's a political act. Around the g...

What soccer can teach us about freedom | Marc Bamuthi Joseph

05 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

"Soccer is the only thing on this planet that we can all agree to do together," says theater maker and TED Fellow Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Through his per...

What I learned when I conquered the world's toughest triathlon | Minda Dentler

05 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride and then a full-length marathon on hot, dry ground -- with no breaks in between: the legendary Ironman triath...

How to connect with depressed friends | Bill Bernat

02 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Want to connect with a depressed friend but not sure how to relate to them? Comedian and storyteller Bill Bernat has a few suggestions. Learn some dos...

How we became sisters | Felice Belle and Jennifer Murphy

02 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Poets Felice Belle and Jennifer Murphy perform excerpts from their play "Other Women," which is created and directed by Monica L. Williams. In a capti...

To learn is to be free | Shameem Akhtar

01 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Shameem Akhtar posed as a boy during her early childhood in Pakistan so she could enjoy the privileges Pakistani girls are rarely afforded: to play ou...

How we look kilometers below the Antarctic ice sheet | Dustin Schroeder

01 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Antarctica is a vast and dynamic place, but radar technologies -- from World War II-era film to state-of-the-art miniaturized sensors -- are enabling ...

The role of human emotions in science and research | Illona Stengel

26 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Do human emotions have a role to play in science and research? Material researcher Ilona Stengel suggests that instead of opposing each other, emotion...

You don't have to be an expert to solve big problems | Tapiwa Chiwewe

23 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Driving in Johannesburg one day, Tapiwa Chiwewe noticed an enormous cloud of air pollution hanging over the city. He was curious and concerned but not...

Refugees want empowerment, not handouts | Robert Hakiza

22 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The prevailing image of where refugees live is of temporary camps in isolated areas -- but in reality, nearly 60 percent of them worldwide end up in u...

How to have a healthier, positive relationship to sex | Tiffany Kagure Mugo and Siphumeze Khundayi

22 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

From our fear of women's bodies to our sheepishness around the word "nipple," our ideas about sex need an upgrade, say sex educators (and hilarious wo...

A life-saving invention that prevents human stampedes | Nilay Kulkarni

21 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Every three years, more than 30 million Hindu worshippers gather for the Kumbh Mela in India, the world's largest religious gathering, in order to was...

How we can build AI to help humans, not hurt us | Margaret Mitchell

20 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

As a research scientist at Google, Margaret Mitchell helps develop computers that can communicate about what they see and understand. She tells a caut...

How (and why) Russia hacked the US election | Laura Galante

19 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Hacking, fake news, information bubbles ... all these and more have become part of the vernacular in recent years. But as cyberspace analyst Laura Gal...

The secret to great opportunities? The person you haven't met yet | Tanya Menon

16 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

We often find ourselves stuck in narrow social circles with similar people. What habits confine us, and how can we break them? Organizational psycholo...

3 creative ways to fix fashion's waste problem | Amit Kalra

15 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

What happens to the clothes we don't buy? You might think that last season's coats, trousers and turtlenecks end up being put to use, but most of it (...