Appearing by telepresence robot, Edward Snowden speaks at TED2014 about surveillance and Internet freedom. The right to data privacy, he suggests, is not a partisan issue, but requires a fundamental rethink of the role of the internet in...

If architect and writer John Cary has his way, women will never need to stand in pointlessly long bathroom lines again. Lines like these are representative of a more serious issue, Cary says: the lack of diversity in design that leads to...

In which Craig Benzine tells you how we keep bureaucracy in check. So we've spent the last few episodes telling you all about what bureaucracies are and why they are formed. And throughout we've hinted about this ever-expanding power...

António Guterres thinks that we can solve the global refugee crisis -- and he offers compelling, surprising reasons why we must try. In conversation with TED's Bruno Giussani, Guterres discusses the historical causes of the current...

We live in an age of protest. On campuses, in public squares, on streets and social media, protestors around the world are challenging the status quo. But while protest is often necessary, is it sufficient? Eric Liu outlines three...

With infectious energy, singer-songwriter Angélique Kidjo ties together the threads of her legendary career as a creative force and global activist. In conversation with journalist Femi Oke, she discusses how joy powers her music (and...

In 1812, four men at Cambridge University met for breakfast. What began as an impassioned meal grew into a new scientific revolution, in which these men -- who called themselves “natural philosophers” until they later coined “scientist”...

In 1903, US President Theodore Roosevelt took a camping trip in California's Yosemite Valley with conservationist John Muir. Roosevelt famously loved the outdoors, but Muir had invited him for more than just camping: Yosemite was in...

Paruresis or “Shy Bladder Syndrome” is the inability to pee in public. If this sounds like you, have hope; it’s super treatable!

Imagine global security driven by collaboration -- among agencies, government, the private sector and the public. That's not just the distant hope of open-source fans, it's the vision of James Stavridis, a US Navy Admiral. Stavridis...

So last week we talked about what special interest groups are and how they influence the political system, and today we’re going to focus on why we even have them in the first place. As to avoid getting too cynical, we’re going to focus...

So today, Craig is finally going to start talking about politics. Now up until this point we've specifically been looking at government - that is answering the questions of who, what, and how in relation to policies. But politics is...

Look to your left. Look to your right. Look at this video. Today, John Green is going to teach you how to read laterally, using multiple tabs in your browser to look stuff up and fact check as you read. Real-time fact-checking an help...

* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. Marina Abramovi's art pushes the boundary between audience and artist in pursuit of heightened consciousness and...

Today we’re going to focus on how to tell good evidence from bad evidence and maybe importantly, how to identify “Fine, but that doesn’t actually prove your point” evidence - the stuff that the Internet is built on.

We’ve talked about many important concepts for engineers, but today we’re going to discuss a hugely important one that you might not even realize is an engineering concept: ethics. We’ll talk about what a Code of Ethics is. We’ll explore...

She was the most notorious woman in ancient history, a queen who enraptured not one but two of Rome's greatest generals. But was she just a skilled seductress or a great ruler in her own right? Alex Gendler puts this controversial figure...

For most jobs, it's understood that you can be fired _ whether for crime, incompetence, or just poor performance. But what if your job happens to be the most powerful position in the country _ or the world? That's where impeachment comes...

Just like the names of products and companies, animals' names can affect how we feel about them...and changing the name of a species might actually help us save...

It seems like nutrition studies contradict a lot, and it’s practically impossible to get a straight answer on whether a given food or supplement is good for you. But why?

Today we’re going to talk about how to keep information secret, and this isn’t a new goal. From as early as Julius Caesar’s Caesar cipher to Mary, Queen of Scots, encrypted messages to kill Queen Elizabeth in 1587, theres has long been a...

Copyright and other media regulations have always been a bit tricky, but the internet made all of that infinitely more complicated. But what does all of that mean for you, the consumer?

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...

Growing up in the public eye, multi-hyphenate creator Bryce Dallas Howard experienced the familiar pressure to share her life with the world on social media. But with her mother's steadfast guidance, Howard learned to set personal...