Political scientist Don Green joins Joe to figure out the complex psychological and social factors that motivate us to vote - or not to. They discuss how and why this decision making process may be in conflict with certain scientific...

Whether someone's running for President or to be on their school board, there's a lot that a politician has to do to try to sway voters. But did you know that what name they use is on that list? Research shows that whether you choose...

What is the best voting system? Voting seems relatively straightforward, yet four of the most widely used voting systems can produce four completely different winners.

Following an assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a campaign rally, president and founder of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media Ian Bremmer joins TED’s Helen Walters to discuss the broader implications for American politics. They...

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...

The electoral system in the United States needs a redesign, says political reformer Andrew Yang. Exposing the flaws of a system built on poor incentives, he proposes a cost-effective overhaul inspired by primary elections already working...

Democracy is about having choices — and authoritarianism is about not having them, says lawyer and writer Ian Bassin. Detailing the seven steps of the authoritarian playbook, he invites us all to put aside our differences and rethink our...

South Africa transitioned to democracy in the 1990s with a visionary constitution, but the promises of that constitution are largely unfulfilled to this day. Public leader Lindiwe Mazibuko explores how poor leadership failed to deliver a...

Irina Karamanos Adrian didn't plan on becoming Chile's First Lady — but she set out to transform the role all the same. She shares how she's fighting gender stereotypes and protecting democracy by shifting political power back to where...

This week's SciShow news has Hank bringing us a primer on the science behind various illegal and illicit ways in which athletes "improve" their bodies, proof of general relativity that we can actually see, and a new way to measure how...

A historic number of Latinx voters participated in the 2020 US presidential election, including a record number of young people casting their ballots for the first time. Civic leader María Teresa Kumar takes a look at the issues closest...

The bizarre Arrow's Impossibility Theorem, or Arrow's Paradox, shows a counterintuitive relationship between fair voting procedures and dictatorships.

Negative campaigns—or campaigns that work by painting opposing candidates in a negative light—have been used for decades. But today, thanks to information that can be gained from social media, these campaigns may be even more effective...

The animated GIF has had a long and fascinating history, but the GIF took a giant leap forward this year when it became part of the 2012 Presidential Election!!! This election season, GIFs of Obama, Romney, Biden and Ryan, populated not...

Hank fills us in on the democratic ways of the honeybee and makes a request for more interpretive dance in our own political systems.

What is the best voting system? Voting seems relatively straightforward, yet four of the most widely used voting systems can produce four completely different winners.

Experimental psychologist Petter Johansson researches choice blindness -- a phenomenon where we convince ourselves that we're getting what we want, even when we're not. In an eye-opening talk, he shares experiments (designed in...

With warmth and wit, Halla Tomasdottir shares how she overcame media bias, changed the tone of the political debate and surprised her entire nation when she ran for president of Iceland -- inspiring the next generation of leaders along...

To see is to believe, says Oren Yakobovich — which is why he helps everyday people use hidden cameras to film dangerous situations of violence, political fraud and abuse. His organization, Videre, uncovers, verifies and publicizes...

In a quest to make sense of the political environment in the united States in 2017, lawyer and ACLu executive director Anthony D. Romero turned to a surprising place -- a 14th-century fresco by Italian Renaissance master Ambrogio...

How do you teach an entire country how to vote when no one has done it before? It's a huge challenge facing fledgling democracies around the world -- and one of the biggest problems turns out to be a lack of shared language. After all,...

Meet Franeoise Mouly, The New Yorker's art director. For the past 24 years, she's helped decide what appears on the magazine's famous cover, from the black-on-black depiction of the Twin Towers the week after 9/11 to a recent,...

From hours-long lines and limited polling locations to confusing and discriminatory registration policies, why is it so hard to vote in the US? Voting rights expert Amber McReynolds offers a proven alternative: a new process, already...

Conventional wisdom says that to win an election, you need to play to your constituencies' basest, most divisive instincts. But as a candidate for mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, G.T. Bynum decided to skip the smear campaigns, tell voters what...