Gym teacher Hank gives us the full story of the past, present, and future of birth control.

Are diverse companies really more innovative? Rocio Lorenzo and her team surveyed 171 companies to find out -- and the answer was a clear yes. In a talk that will help you build a better, more robust company, Lorenzo dives into the data...

Quick Questions cracks the code of color vision, color blindness, and even newly discovered sort of technicolor vision!

In this deeply moving talk, educator Shabana Basij-Rasikh shares the harrowing story of evacuating more than 250 students, staff and family members from the School of Leadership, Afghanistan (SOLA) -- the country's first and only...

Today we’re exploring social mobility in some more depth. We’ll look at intergenerational and intragenerational mobility and the difference between absolute and relative mobility. We’ll go over the long run upward social mobility trends...

Everybody has their own preferences for ideal romantic partners. But what affects you when you decide your “type," and do those types even matter?

Terrorists and extremists aren't all naturally violent sociopaths -- they're deliberately recruited and radicalized in a process that doesn't fit into a neat pattern. erin Marie Saltman discusses the push and pull factors that cause...

Today we’ll explore how sociology defines family and the different terms used to describe specific types of family. We’ll look at marriage in different societies, as well as marital residential patterns and patterns of descent. And, of...

What do you think when you look at this speaker? Well, think again. (And then again.) In this funny, honest, empathetic talk, Yassmin Abdel-Magied challenges us to look beyond our initial perceptions, and to open doors to new ways of...

At this moment, three hundred million women across the planet are experiencing the same thing: a period. The monthly menstrual cycle that gives rise to the period is a reality that most women on Earth will go through in their lives. But...

In Guatemala's 36-year conflict, 200,000 civilians were killed — and more than 40,000 were never identified. At the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala, Fredy Peccerelli and his team use DNA, archeology and storytelling to help...

In the Yukon First Nations, women lead; generations of matriarchs have guided and directed the community by forging trade agreements, creating marriage alliances and ensuring business for all. Yukon Regional Chief Kluane Adamek urges...

Film has the power to change the way we think about ourselves and our culture. Documentarian and TED Fellow Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy uses it to fight violence against women, turning her camera on the tradition of honor killings in Pakistan....

Over our lifetimes, our bodies undergo a series of extraordinary metamorphoses: we grow, experience puberty, and many of us reproduce. Behind the scenes, the endocrine system works constantly to orchestrate these changes. Emma Bryce...

Choosing to marry and share your life with someone is one of the most important decisions you can make in life. But with divorce rates approaching fifty percent in some parts of the world, it's clear we could use some help picking a...

In 1958, after receiving a letter describing the deaths of songbirds due to the pesticide known as DDT, Rachel Carson began an investigation into the misuse of chemicals and their toll on nature. In 1962, she published her findings in...

Do you like drinking milk or chatting with your friends? Well, you can enjoy those because of the evolution happened over the past million years, and we are still evolving. Let's find out what will we be like in the future with us!

The Italian island of Sardinia has more than six times as many centenarians as the mainland and ten times as many as North America. Why? According to psychologist Susan Pinker, it's not a sunny disposition or a low-fat, gluten-free diet...

You've heard about them, but do you how they work? Or why they suck? Hank explains the science behind performance enhancers, including steroids, blood doping, and that stuff supposedly made out of deer antlers. You'll never look at...

John Green teaches you about Virginia Woolf's modernist novel, To the Lighthouse. Let's face it. You're not reading To the Lighthouse for the plot. There's not a whole lot of plot, unless you count the tension about the beef stew. You're...

Hank is tired of zombies in popular culture, and while acknowledging that dead people are scary (especially if they start moving around), he brings us some information on prions - misfolded proteins that are responsible for destroying...

On January 16th, 1895, two men arrived at Liliʻuokalani's door, arrested her, and imprisoned her. The Missionary Party had recently seized power and now confiscated her diaries, ransacked her house, and claimed her lands. Liliʻuokalani...

"Branding is the profound manifestation of the human spirit," says designer and podcaster Debbie Millman. In a historical odyssey that she illustrated herself, Millman traces the evolution of branding, from cave paintings to flags to...

With almost 100 mystery novels, each one a cleverly constructed puzzle box of clues, misdirection, and human drama, Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time. Her eccentric detectives, clever clues, and simplified suspects...