TED-Ed
TED-ED: How does money laundering work? - Delena D. Spann
Money laundering is the term for any process that "cleans" illegally obtained funds of their "dirty" criminal origins, allowing them to be used within the legal economy. And the practice is about as old as money itself. But how does it...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: History vs. Richard Nixon - Alex Gendler
The president of the United States of America is often said to be one of the most powerful positions in the world. But of all the US presidents accused of abusing that power, only one has left office as a result. Does Richard Nixon...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The surprising cause of stomach ulcers - Rusha Modi
It's a common misconception that stomach ulcers are caused by emotional upset, psychological distress, or spicy food. Yet no convincing study has ever demonstrated that these factors directly cause ulcer disease. So what does cause...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Rosalind Franklin: DNA's unsung hero - Claudio L. Guerra
The discovery of the structure of DNA was one of the most important scientific achievements in human history. The now-famous double helix is almost synonymous with Watson and Crick, two of the scientists who won the Nobel prize for...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The pharaoh that wouldn't be forgotten - Kate Narev
Hatshepsut was a female pharaoh during the New Kingdom in Egypt. Twenty years after her death, somebody smashed her statues, took a chisel and attempted to erase the pharaoh's name and image from history. But who did it? And why? Kate...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The 2,400-year search for the atom - Theresa Doud
How do we know what matter is made of? The quest for the atom has been a long one, beginning 2,400 years ago with the work of a Greek philosopher and later continued by a Quaker and a few Nobel Prize-winning scientists. Theresa Doud...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The controversial origins of the Encyclopedia - Addison Anderson
The first encyclopedia contained 70,000 entries and over 20,000,000 words. It was broken into 35 volumes written over the course of 3 decades. It was also banned by Louis XV and Pope Clement XIII. But why was this encyclopedia so...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The Silk Road: Connecting the ancient world through trade - Shannon Harris Castelo
With modern technology, a global exchange of goods and ideas can happen at the click of a button. But what about 2,000 years ago? Shannon Harris Castelo unfolds the history of the 5,000-mile Silk Road, a network of multiple routes that...
Curated Video
Stages of Family Life: Crash Course Sociology
One way of thinking about family life says that there are stages that families move through: courtship, marriage, child-rearing, and family life in your later years. We’ll also discuss changing patterns of marriage and childbearing in...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: A curable condition that causes blindness - Andrew Bastawrous
An estimated 20 million cases of blindness worldwide are caused by cataracts, a curable condition affecting the lens that focuses images onto the eye's retina. But how are cataracts formed, and how can we prevent them? Andrew Bastawrous...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The history of the Cuban Missile Crisis - Matthew A. Jordan
Imagine going about your life knowing that, at any given moment, you and everyone you know could be wiped out without warning at the push of a button. This was the reality for millions of people during the forty-five year period after...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How does your smartphone know your location? - Wilton L. Virgo
GPS location apps on a smartphone can be very handy when mapping a travel route or finding nearby events. But how does your smartphone know where you are? Wilton L. Virgo explains how the answer lies 12,000 miles over your head, in an...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: History vs. Vladimir Lenin - Alex Gendler
Vladimir Lenin overthrew Russian Czar Nicholas II and founded the Soviet Union, forever changing the course of Russian politics. But was he a hero who toppled an oppressive tyranny or a villain who replaced it with another? Alex Gendler...
Curated Video
Gender Stratification: Crash Course Sociology
Today we’re looking at how society becomes stratified along gender lines. We’ll discuss Raewyn Connell’s concept of hegemonic masculinities and emphasized femininities. We’ll explore gender socialization in the home, media, and schools....
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What gives a dollar bill its value? - Doug Levinson
The value of money is determined by how much (or how little) of it is in circulation. But who makes that decision, and how does their choice affect the economy at large? Doug Levinson takes a trip into the United States Federal Reserve,...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: What's so great about the Great Lakes? - Cheri Dobbs and Jennifer Gabrys
The North American Great Lakes - Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior - are so big that they border 8 states and contain 23 quadrillion liters of water. They span forest, grassland, and wetland habitats, supporting a region...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Why is cotton in everything? - Michael R. Stiff
Centuries ago, the Inca developed ingenuous suits of armor that could protect warriors from even the fiercest physical attacks. These hardy structures were made not from iron or steel, but rather something unexpectedly soft: cotton....
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The historic women’s suffrage march on Washington - Michelle Mehrtens
Explore how the Women’s Suffrage Parade on Washington in 1913 helped women secure the right to vote in the United States through the 19th amendment. -- On March 3, 1913, after months of strategic planning and controversy, thousands of...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The Romans flooded the Colosseum for sea battles - Janelle Peters
Starting in 80 CE, residents of Rome and visitors from across the Roman Empire would fill the stands of the Colosseum to see gladiators duel, animals fight and chariots race around the arena. And for the grand finale, water poured into...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What is a gift economy? - Alex Gendler
What if, this holiday season, instead of saying "thank you" to your aunt for her gift of a knitted sweater, the polite response expected from you was to show up at her house in a week with a better gift? Or to vote for her in the town...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Everything you need to know to read "Frankenstein" - Iseult Gillespie
In 1815, Lord Byron proposed a challenge to a few literary guests he had gathered in his house on Lake Geneva: Who could write the most chilling ghost story? This question sparked an idea in eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley who, over the...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The ancient origins of the Olympics - Armand D'Angour
Thousands of years in the making, the Olympics began as part of a religious festival honoring the Greek god Zeus in the rural Greek town of Olympia. But how did it become the greatest show of sporting excellence on earth? Armand D'Angour...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: What is McCarthyism? And how did it happen? - Ellen Schrecker
In the 1950s, as part of a campaign to expose suspected Communists, thousands of individuals were aggressively investigated and questioned before government panels. Named after its most notorious practitioner, the phenomenon known as...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The rise and fall of the Berlin Wall - Konrad H. Jarausch
On August 13, 1961, construction workers began tearing up streets and erecting barriers in Berlin. This night marked the beginning of one of history's most infamous dividing lines: the Berlin Wall. Construction continued for a decade as...