Does success come from luck or skill, and how do you tell the difference? One way to find an answer: think like a pro gambler does, says football executive Rasmus Ankersen. Using sports analytics to emphasize his point, Ankersen digs...

What are the planets outside our solar system like? Astrophysicist and TED Fellow Jessie Christiansen has helped find thousands of them (and counting), and the variety is more wonderful and wild than you might imagine. She shares details...

Paul Andersen details the first 7 of 13 labs in the AP Biology Curriculum. The following topics are all covered: Artificial Selection, Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium, Comparing DNA using BLAST, Diffusion and Osmosis, Photosynthesis,...

We’ve talked about how broad a concept “the media” really is – and given that, it can be hard to keep track of all the different forces that constitute “the media.” It can be tough, but it’s not impossible. Today we’re talking about how...

There's an invisible force shaping our lives, affecting the weather, climate, land, economy, and just whether a flag looks majestic or not - we're talking about the wind! Today we’re going to go into the science of where the wind comes...

Once it’s out of your body, your genetic information is valuable to a variety of people, but you can keep it safe(ish) with a few simple steps. ___________________________________________ To learn more, start your googling with these...

Animals are communicating -- but what are they saying? And can we talk back? Marine biologist David Gruber introduces Project CETI: a team of scientists, linguists and AI specialists hoping to decode sperm whale language. Using...

In this video Paul Andersen explains how scientists analyze data and evaluate evidence. He starts with a description of data and how it must be properly displayed. He then describes types of data in each of the four big ideas. He...

Having a kid does some weird things to the brain, and that can lead to or aggravate all kinds of psychiatric conditions.

Today, we are going to start our discussion on user experience. We've talked a lot in this series about how computers move data around within the computer, but not so much about our role in the process. So today, we're going to look at...

Sarah Parcak uses satellites orbiting hundreds of miles above earth to uncover hidden ancient treasures buried beneath our feet. There's a lot to discover; in the egyptian Delta alone, Parcak estimates we've excavated less than a...

The pandemic forced the world to work together like never before and, with unprecedented speed, bore a new age of health and medical innovation. Physician-scientist Daniel Kraft explains how breakthroughs and advancements like...

According to some of the latest New Horizons data, Pluto's got flowing nitrogen ice and only half the atmosphere it had two years ago. Plus, the latest batch of exoplanets includes a world that's a lot like Earth... probably.

Today we’re going to teach John Green Bot how to tell the difference between donuts and bagels using supervised learning! Supervised learning is the process of learning WITH training labels, and is the most widely used kind of learning...

The James Webb Space Telescope has launched! But it was a very long road to get to this point, and we’ve been following the progress for a decade!

In 1990, an experiment conceived by Carl Sagan was performed using using the Galileo spacecraft. The purpose? To detect life on a planet based on measurements by a space probe. The experiment was successful, and abundant life was...

Machine intelligence is here, and we're already using it to make subjective decisions. But the complex way AI grows and improves makes it hard to understand and even harder to control. In this cautionary talk, techno-sociologist Zeynep...

The quantum world is weird. Today we're looking at a strange particle called a glueball that contains no matter...they're made of pure force!

Mass surveillance is worse than you think, but the solutions are simpler than you realize, says lawyer, technologist and TED Fellow Albert Fox Cahn. Breaking down the crude tactics law enforcement uses to sweep up massive amounts of data...

Why are we talking about dark energy again? Because another team has just announced a new analysis of updated supernova data. They claim that the data are consistent with there being NO dark energy - no accelerating expansion. They...

Computers can beat us in board games, transcribe speech, and instantly identify almost any object. But will future robots go further by learning to figure out what we're feeling? Kostas Karpouzis imagines a future where machines and the...

Here's a paradox: as companies try to streamline their businesses by using artificial intelligence to make critical decisions, they may inadvertently make themselves less efficient. Business technologist Sylvain Duranton advocates for a...

Quantum physics is weird. But quantum computing could be awesome! Learn how scientists took a big leap this week toward making quantum computers a reality.

Today we kick off Crash Course Sociology by explaining what exactly sociology is. We’ll introduce the sociological perspective and discuss how sociology differentiates itself from the other social sciences. We’ll also explore what...