👁Why are scientists shooting mushrooms into space?
🧠Shannon Odell
🗣Subtitle: 🇬🇧English

👣Astronauts aboard the space station Mir made a frightening discovery: several species of Earth-derived fungi were found growing throughout the shuttle, blanketing air conditioners and corroding control panels, putting both the station’s integrity and their lives at risk. How had the fungi survived the journey to space? Shannon Odell shares why fungi may be the key to our future on other planets. [Directed by Denys Spolitak, narrated by Alexandra Panzer, music by Stephen LaRosa].
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#TED_Ed #education #animation #plants #fungi #space #Planets #science #biology

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👁What's possible when the arts belong to everybody
🧠Lear deBessonet with Brian Stokes Mitchell
🗣Subtitle: 🇬🇧English

👣With huge, city-wide casts from an array of communities, theater director Lear deBessonet's productions illuminate the unique power of the arts to transform our lives through collective expression. She explores the power of spectacle to inspire awe, connect individuals and heal loneliness with tangible, life-changing results. In a dramatic moment, deBessonet's message comes to life when Broadway star Brian Stokes Mitchell takes the stage for a dazzling performance of "The Impossible Dream (The Quest)," accompanied by pianist Todd Almond, the MEI Screaming Eagles Marching Band and some surprise vocalists.
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#art #theater #performance #community #public_health #culture #entertainment #collaboration #creativity

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👁The satellite helping slow climate change — right now
🧠Millie Chu Baird
🗣Subtitle: 🇬🇧English

👣Meet MethaneSAT: the satellite circling Earth right now to track global emissions from methane: a highly potent, short-term greenhouse gas. Environmental advocate Millie Chu Baird details the heat-trapping side effects of a planet full of methane — and explains why understanding where it comes from and taking steps to reduce it is the single most important thing we can do to affect climate change in our lifetimes. (MethaneSAT is part of the Audacious Project, TED's initiative to inspire and fund global change.)
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#technology #space #climate_change #environment #science

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👁Why does hitting your funny bone feel so horrible?
🧠Cella Wright
🗣Subtitle: 🇬🇧English

👣It's something we've all experienced: the back of your elbow smacks against a hard surface and the impact sends a sensation so distinctly disquieting shooting down your arm that it takes several moments to regain composure. So, why does hitting this spot on your elbow— commonly known as the funny bone— feel so weird? Cella Wright explains one of the most complicated joints in the body. [Directed by Anton Bogaty, narrated by Susan Zimmerman, music by Salil Bhayani, cAMP Studio].
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#TED_Ed #education #animation #human_body #pain #biology #science

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👁What the oil industry doesn’t want you to know
🧠Stephanie Honchell Smith
🗣Subtitle: 🇬🇧English

👣Throughout the 1980s, oil industry reps discussed the dangers of burning fossil fuels, acknowledging the risk their product posed to the future of humanity. However, instead of warning the public or pivoting towards renewable energy sources, they doubled down on oil — and launched a decades-long campaign to discredit climate change science. Stephanie Honchell Smith digs into Big Oil's tactics. [Directed by Sofia Pashaei, narrated by Adrian Dannatt, music by Salil Bhayani, cAMP Studio].
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#TED_Ed #education #animation #fossil_fuels #climate_change #history #business #renewable_energy

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👁The secret force for limitless energy? Lasers
🧠Tammy Ma
🗣Subtitle: 🇬🇧English

👣In 2022, physicist Tammy Ma and her team achieved a scientific breakthrough decades in the making: fusion ignition, or the combining of two atoms to generate more energy out of a reaction than was put in — recreating on Earth the same process that powers the Sun. She explains how they used a giant laser (way, way bigger than you're thinking) to catalyze this reaction and shares a vision for how this technology could change the world by creating limitless clean energy.
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#energy #science #future #Sun #renewable_energy #innovation #technology #engineering #physics

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👁A firework ladder to the sky — and the magic of explosive art
🧠Cai Guo-Qiang
🗣Subtitle: 🇬🇧English

👣From a boy setting off small explosions in his living room to the creator of world-famous pyrotechnic events, multidisciplinary artist Cai Guo-Qiang has always been drawn to gunpowder. He gives a stunning tour of his work — including his fireworks spectacle at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, his "sky ladder" of fire reaching to the clouds and new work created with AI — and shows how his art probes the line between destruction and construction, control and freedom, violence and beauty. (This talk was delivered in Mandarin and translated live into English. The translation was put through a custom AI model of Cai Guo-Qiang's voice, powered by technology from Metaphysic. You'll hear how Cai would sound if he were speaking English.)
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#art #creativity #AI #technology #culture #storytelling

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👁The problem with food and climate — and how to fix it
🧠Jonathan Foley
🗣Subtitle: 🇬🇧English

👣Global food production — from meat to grains — accounts for a third of all greenhouse gas emissions, says sustainability scientist Jonathan Foley. He presents a portfolio of data-backed solutions to build a better food system world-wide, starting with four key steps to cut emissions.
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#climate_change #food #agriculture #pollution #environment #science #data #sustainability #Countdown

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👁How to break through fear and become a leader
🧠Valerie Montgomery Rice
🗣Subtitle: 🇬🇧English

👣Vigilance. Grit. Resilience. Valerie Montgomery Rice, the president and CEO of Morehouse School of Medicine, shares where she learned these key qualities of successful leadership, offering three lessons for anyone who wants to overcome their fears, stand up for what’s right and build opportunity for all.
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#leadership #entrepreneur #community #family #fear #women #work #business #culture

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👁How buildings can improve life — inside and out
🧠Doris Sung
🗣Subtitle: 🇬🇧English

👣Architect and building tech innovator Doris Sung presents a compelling vision for reimagining building facades as active contributors to urban life and public health. Showcasing innovative technologies — like buildings that filter particulates out of the air and facades that react to heat — Sung demonstrates how modern architecture can evolve beyond aesthetics to address critical issues like pollution, energy efficiency and urban heat islands, offering a glimpse into a future where architecture improves life for inhabitants and pedestrians alike.
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#architecture #creativity #future #infrastructure #public_space #urban_planning

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👁Quantum computers aren't what you think — they're cooler
🧠Hartmut Neven
🗣Subtitle: 🇬🇧English

👣Quantum computers obtain superpowers by tapping into parallel universes, says Hartmut Neven, the founder and lead of Google Quantum AI. He explains how this emerging tech can far surpass traditional computers by relying on quantum physics rather than binary logic, and shares a roadmap to build the ultimate quantum computer. Learn how this fascinating and powerful tech can help humanity take on seemingly unsolvable problems in medicine, sustainable energy, AI, neuroscience and more.
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#quantum #computers #technology #science #innovation #AI #neuroscience #sustainability #medicine

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👁The most dangerous elements on the periodic table
🧠Shannon Odell
🗣Subtitle: 🇬🇧English | 🇹🇷Turkish

👣Within the periodic table loom many potential hazardous elements. Some elements are dangerous due to their toxicity. Others are dangerous because of how they respond, react, or even explode in the outside environment. And perhaps the most threatening elements are those that silently emit energy. So, which substances on the periodic table are the most dangerous? Shannon Odell investigates. [Directed by Anton Bogaty, narrated by Pen-Pen Chen, music by Cem Misirlioglu].
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#TED_Ed #education #animation #science #chemistry

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👁How to disagree with respect — not hate
🧠Spencer J. Cox
🗣Subtitle: 🇬🇧English

👣Spencer J. Cox, Republican governor of the state of Utah in the United States, says that even in these deeply polarized times, it's still possible to disagree without hate or contempt. He shows how this idea sparked a viral campaign ad he co-created with his Democratic political opponent back in 2020 — and shares four practical things every one of us can do to heal the divides in our nations and neighborhoods. (TED is a non-partisan 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization and does not participate or intervene in any political campaign and neither supports nor opposes any candidate for public office.)
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#communication #community #social_change #politics #culture #media #leadership #democracy #government

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👁Why is it so dangerous to step on a rusty nail?
🧠Louise Thwaites
🗣Subtitle: 🇬🇧English | 🇹🇷Turkish

👣In the 5th century, a ship master was suffering from a nasty infection that caused his jaws to press together, his teeth to lock up, and the muscles in his neck and spine to spasm. Today we know this account to be one the first recorded cases of tetanus. So, what causes this peculiar infection? Louise Thwaites explores how tetanus affects our bodies, and how we can prevent it. [Directed by Andrew Foerster, Rewfoe, narrated by Pen-Pen Chen, music by Jason Stamatyades].
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#TED_Ed #education #animation #disease #illness #human_body #health #health_care #science

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👁How do bulletproof vests work?
🧠Max G. Levy
🗣Subtitle: 🇬🇧English | 🇹🇷Turkish

👣By 1975, Richard Davis had been shot at close range 192 times. But not only was he completely healthy, each of those bullets were part of a demonstration to sell his new product: the bulletproof vest. So, how does such a light, flexible piece of clothing stop a bullet? The secret was a synthetic fiber material invented a decade earlier. Max G. Levy explores the incredible strength of kevlar. [Directed by Vitalii Nebelskyi, and action creative agency, narrated by Addison Anderson, music by Cem Misirlioglu].
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#TED_Ed #education #animation #science #chemistry #physics #invention

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👁The tragedy of the one guy who was right about the Trojan Horse
🧠Noah Charney
🗣Subtitle: 🇬🇧English | 🇹🇷Turkish

👣Laocoön, a seer and priest, was deeply suspicious of the enormous wooden horse that the Greeks left in Troy and cautioned the Trojans not to accept this strange offering. But their fate was already sealed — the gods granted the Greeks victory and punished the priest for threatening their success. Noah Charney explores how Laocoön’s tragic tale inspired countless artists across the ancient world. [Directed by Michael Kalopaidis, Zedem Media, narrated by Addison Anderson, music by Manolis Manoli].
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#TED_Ed #education #animation #art #history

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👁The tale of the boy who tricked a tyrant
🧠Paschal Kyiiripuo Kyoore
🗣Subtitle: 🇬🇧English | 🇹🇷Turkish

👣Shock seized the West African Dagara village as word travelled of a new decree. Completely disregarding time-honored naming rituals, the tyrannical chief declared that he alone would name the village’s children. But soon an unlikely challenger appeared: Yagangnaa, the boy who named himself. Paschal Kyiiripuo Kyoore shares the tale of the defiant boy and his battle of wits with the chief. [Directed by Lesego Vorster, The Hidden Hand Studios, narrated by Christina Greer, music by Salil Bhayani, cAMP Studio].
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#TED_Ed #education #animation #Africa #storytelling #culture #history

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👁How space changes an astronaut’s body
🧠Tejal Gala
🗣Subtitle: 🇬🇧English

👣Imagine a scientist who has teleported to space. His spacesuit’s pressurized air protects his bodily fluids from vaporization, its oxygen tank keeps him breathing, and the insulation prevents him from freezing. But although these features thwart an immediate tragedy, space is still an incredibly dangerous place. So, what does a prolonged stay in space do to the human body? Tejal Gala investigates. [Directed by Henrique Barone, narrated by Jack Cutmore-Scott, music by Jan Willem de With].
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#TED_Ed #education #animation #space #universe #astronomy #human_body #biology #science

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👁An actor and a neuroscientist answer: What makes you “you”?
🧠Yara Shahidi and Anil Seth
🗣Subtitle: 🇬🇧English

👣What can acting reveal about the mystery of consciousness? Actor and producer Yara Shahidi and cognitive neuroscientist Anil Seth unpack the surprising ways that portraying different characters can reveal insights about our authentic selves — even if we're not actually performing onstage or onscreen. Explore the intersection of consciousness and identity and discover how our brains and bodies work in tandem to form our understanding of ourselves. (This conversation is part of “TED Intersections,” a series featuring thought-provoking conversations between experts navigating the ideas shaping our world.)
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#psychology #brain #identity #consciousness #creativity #neuroscience #personal_growth #personality

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👁How testosterone and culture shape behavior
🧠Carole K. Hooven
🗣Subtitle: 🇬🇧English

👣Drawing on her research into the science of play, evolutionary biologist Carole K. Hooven delves into how testosterone impacts the body and brain, interacting with culture to create differences in human behavior — starting with why boys tend to prefer rougher play than girls.
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#science #kids #brain #education #social_change #gender #culture

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