The financial sector often talks of decarbonizing investment portfolios as a way to fight climate change. But portfolios can be "cleaned" without having any real impact on the problem, says investment expert Nili Gilbert. Bringing...

Today, we're FINALLY going to talk about PC Gaming. So the personal computer is the precursor to the console, but it's not quite accurate to say that it just led to the console. PCs and the video games created on them have and continue...

Today, we're going to talk about board games, but instead of trying to trace their histories, which we've already covered a bit of in ep2 on ancient games, we're going to look really closely at just two board games - Monopoly and The...

The roadmap to ending pollution from transportation is here, says electrification advocate Monica Araya. In conversation with head of TED Chris Anderson, Araya introduces Drive Electric: a global campaign to retire the polluting internal...

Today, we're going to explore the world of role-playing games. Role-playing games are different than most, because they're technically a form of interactive storytelling with one player managing the game as the game master (or dungeon...

In the 1930s, broadcast radio introduced an entirely new form of storytelling; today, micro-blogging platforms like Twitter are changing the scene again. Andrew Fitzgerald takes a look at the (aptly) short but fascinating history of new...

Today we're going to do something a little bit different and take everything we've learned so far and apply it to a case study on (arguably) the biggest game franchise in the world: Pok_mon. Now Pok_mon, like a select few other games...

In which John Green teaches you MORE about Bill Shakespeare's Hamlet. John talks about gender roles in Hamlet, and what kind of power and agency Ophelia and Gertrude had, if they had any at all (spoiler alert: we think they did). You'll...

In which John Green teaches you about one of the least family-friendly family dramas in the history of family dramas, Oedipus Rex. Sophocles' most famous play sees it's main character, who seems like he's got it all together, find out...

To thrive in today's competitive economy, you need to constantly reimagine your business. So what's the secret to sustained success? Strategist Martin Reeves makes a pitch for embracing play to spark innovative business ideas -- and...

Today we create a game and then build an AI to destroy it. Our game is called TrashBlaster, and it’s like Asteroids but with trash in the ocean, and instead of a spaceship John Green Bot is wielding a laser. We'll use machine learning...

The Astrophysics Pioneers program is funding four innovative new missions that read like a best-hits album of the most exciting astronomical frontiers: from galaxy evolution and exoplanets, to neutron star mergers and astroparticle physics.

We’re continuing our discussion of nineteenth-century American theater with a look at some upsetting parts of the US's theatrical past. In the nineteenth century, race and racism contributed to a unique and troubling performance...

As we mentioned last episode, one of the best test spaces for building new AI systems are games. This is because games provide a great framework for an AI to learn an objective and slowly improve. In recent years, AI has made huge...

Did you ever notice how many jokes start with _Did you ever notice?" And what's the deal with "What's the deal?" There's a lot of funny to be found simply by noticing the ordinary, everyday things you don't ordinarily notice every day....

In this video Paul Andersen shows conceptual thinking in a mini-lesson on scale mechanisms within complex systems.

T
ERMS:
Cause and effect relationships - one event that gives rise to ano
ther event
Complex systems - a...

Today, we wrap up our discussion of the console wars by taking a look at Microsoft's Xbox which was announced in 2001. The early 2000s saw a lot of innovation in hardware and games and we'll cover some of that, but one significant change...

"I was the mystery of an anatomy, a question asked but not answered," says poet Lee Mokobe, a TED Fellow, in this gripping and poetic exploration of identity and transition. It's a thoughtful reflection on bodies, and the meanings poured...

Could you enter a flow state with the people around you? Also we've found a promising drug for treating mental illness, and it might not come from where you expect.

The Sound! The Fury! Today, we're talking about Shakespeare's Scottish play, Macbeth. So, was Macbeth really predestined to do all the murdering and bad kinging and other terrible stuff? That's the big question in Macbeth, and it's one...

Sampling isn't about "hijacking nostalgia wholesale," says Mark Ronson. It's about inserting yourself into the narrative of a song while also pushing that story forward. In this mind-blowingly original talk, watch the DJ scramble 15 TED...

If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: Parents blaming their kids' active behavior on sugar. But is it true? Hank gives you sweet-and-lowdown on the extent to which sugar can and can't affect behavior, in kids and...

Singing in Spanish, Portuguese and English, LADAMA brings a vibrant, energizing and utterly danceable musical set to the TED stage. In between performances of their songs "Night Traveler" and "Porro Maracatu," they discuss how...

By the light of the moon, a group sneaks into the woods, where they take mind-altering substances, switch it up romantically and brush up against creatures from another dimension. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” sees Shakespeare play with...