TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Should We Eat Bugs?
What's tasty, abundant and high in protein? Bugs! Although less common outside the tropics, entomophagy, the practice of eating bugs, was once extremely widespread throughout cultures. Insects hold promise for food security and the...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: How We Conquered the Deadly Smallpox Virus
For 10,000 years, humanity suffered from the scourge of smallpox. The virus killed almost a third of its victims within two weeks and left survivors horribly scarred. But Simona Zompi commends the brave souls- a Buddhist nun, a boy, a...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Can We Eat to Starve Cancer?
William Li presents a new way to think about treating cancer and other diseases: anti-angiogenesis, preventing the growth of blood vessels that feed a tumor. The crucial first step: Eating cancer-fighting foods that cut off the supply...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: The Physics of Human Sperm vs. the Physics of the Sperm Whale
Traveling is extremely arduous for microscopic sperm- think of a human trying to swim in a pool made of other humans. We can compare the journey of a sperm to that of a sperm whale by calculating the Reynolds number, a prediction of how...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Gravity and the Human Body
Our bodies function necessarily under the presence of gravity; how blood pumps, a sense of balance and bone growth are all due to life in a world where gravity is an inescapable reality. Armed with experiments from neuroscientists David...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Protecting the Brain Against Concussion
Neuropsychologist Kim Gorgens makes the case for better protecting our brains against the risk of concussion- with a compelling pitch for putting helmets on kids. [9:22]
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: The Terrors of Sleep Paralysis
Ami Angelowicz describes just how pervasive (but harmless) sleep paralysis is and introduces a cast of characters from sleep paralysis around the world. [4:49]
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: What Is Dyslexia?
Kelli Sandman-Hurley urges us to think again about dyslexic brain function and to celebrate the neurodiversity of the human brain. [4:35]
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Toward a New Understanding of Mental Illness
Today, thanks to better early detection, there are 63% fewer deaths from heart disease than there were just a few decades ago. Thomas Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, wonders: Could we do the same for...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Medicine's Future? There's an App for That
Daniel Kraft offers a fast-paced look at the next few years of innovations in medicine, powered by new tools, tests and apps that bring diagnostic information right to the patient's bedside. [18:22]
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Cheese, Dogs and a Pill to Kill Mosquitoes and End Malaria
We can use a mosquito's own instincts against her. Bart Knols demos the imaginative solutions his team is developing to fight malaria- including limburger cheese and a deadly pill. [10:20]
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: A New Way to Diagnose Autism
Early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder can improve the lives of everyone affected, but the complex network of causes make it incredibly difficult to predict. Ami Klin describes a new early detection method that uses eye-tracking...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Your Brain Is More Than a Bag of Chemicals
Modern psychiatric drugs treat the chemistry of the whole brain, but neurobiologist David Anderson believes in a more nuanced view of how the brain functions. He illuminates new research that could lead to targeted psychiatric...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Healthier Men, One Moustache at a Time
Adam Garone has an impressive moustache, and it's for a good cause. A co-founder of Movember, Garone's initiative to raise awareness for men's health- by having men grow out their moustaches every November- began as a dare in a bar in...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: A Light Switch for Neurons
Ed Boyden shows how, by inserting genes for light-sensitive proteins into brain cells, he can selectively activate or de-activate specific neurons with fiber-optic implants. With this unprecedented level of control, he's managed to cure...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: The Mystery of Chronic Pain
We think of pain as a symptom, but there are cases where the nervous system develops feedback loops and pain becomes a terrifying disease in itself. Starting with the story of a girl whose sprained wrist turned into a nightmare, Elliot...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Are We Ready for Neo Evolution?
Medical ethicist Harvey Fineberg shows us three paths forward for the ever-evolving human species: to stop evolving completely, to evolve naturally- or to control the next steps of human evolution, using genetic modification, to make...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Printing a Human Kidney
Surgeon Anthony Atala demonstrates an early-stage experiment that could someday solve the organ-donor problem: a 3D printer that uses living cells to output a transplantable kidney. Using similar technology, Dr. Atala's young patient...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Hiv and Flu the Vaccine Strategy
Seth Berkley explains how smart advances in vaccine design, production and distribution are bringing us closer than ever to eliminating a host of global threats- from AIDS to malaria to flu pandemics. [21:06]
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: The Danger of Science Denial
Vaccine-autism claims, "Frankenfood" bans, the herbal cure craze: All point to the public's growing fear (and, often, outright denial) of science and reason, says Michael Specter. He warns the trend spells disaster for human progress....
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Fresh Water Scarcity: An Introduction to the Problem
Fresh water is essential for life- and there's not nearly enough of it for the world right now. Why is that, and what could we do? Christiana Z. Peppard lays out the big questions of our global water problem. [3:39]
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: How Bacteria "Talk"
Bonnie Bassler discovered that bacteria "talk" to each other, using a chemical language that lets them coordinate defense and mount attacks. The find has stunning implications for medicine, industry- and our understanding of ourselves....
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Parasite Tales: The Jewel Wasp's Zombie Slave
This is stranger than science fiction. The jewel wasp and the cockroach have a disgusting and fascinating parasitic relationship. The jewel wasp stuns the cockroach, and months later, a jewel wasp hatches out of the cockroach. At...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: The Coming Neurological Epidemic
Biochemist Gregory Petsko makes a convincing argument that, in the next 50 years, we'll see an epidemic of neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer's, as the world population ages. His solution: more research into the brain and its...