Hidden beneath Greenland’s ice and powered by a nuclear reactor, Camp Century made for an interesting US military base. But life under the ice came with unique struggles; and although it wasn’t mainly constructed for science, the base...

Refrigerators do much more than store your groceries -- they're also vital to preserving and distributing vaccines. Illustrating the realities of (and threats to) global vaccine supply chains, technologist and TED Fellow Nithya...

Hacking is about more than mischief-making or political subversion. As Catherine Bracy describes in this spirited talk, it can be just as much a force for good as it is for evil. She spins through some inspiring civically-minded projects...

Traceurs, or parkour athletes, seem superhuman in their ability to scale up walls and drop down from rooftops without injury. But it turns out that there’s a fair amount of biomechanics at play behind these powers.

Though people are most familiar with Plato's fictional Atlantis, many real underwater cities actually exist. Peter Campbell explains how sunken cities are studied by scientists to help us understand the lives of our ancestors, the...

Humanity has always adapted to changing weather and moved to regions that best support cultural lifestyles and livelihoods. However, the rise in extreme weather is endangering coastal communities, and even for those with the resources to...

when the pyramids were built, the ancient Egyptians hadn't invented the wheel, developed bronze tools, or discovered pi. How were they able to stack two million stone blocks, each weighing more than two tons, into precise geometric...

Young poet, educator and activist Malcolm London performs his stirring poem about life on the front lines of high school. He tells of the "oceans of adolescence" who come to school "but never learn to swim," of "masculinity mimicked by...

Former "young Republican" Larry Lessig talks about what Democrats can learn about copyright from their opposite party, considered more conservative. A surprising lens on remix culture.

You might think most planes look the same, but here are five of the most bizarre aircraft that, no matter their appearance, still managed to fly. Chapters SR-71 BLACKBIRD 1:20 GRUMMAN X-29 3:01 AERO SPACELINES 377PG 5:14 BOEING...

Raymond Wang is only 17 years old, but he's already helping to build a healthier future. using fluid dynamics, he created computational simulations of how air moves on airplanes, and what he found is disturbing -- when a person sneezes...

There are a lot of resources given by nature for free -- all we need is our sensitivity to see them and our creativity to use them, says architect Anna Heringer. Heringer uses low-tech materials like mud and bamboo to create structures...

All 12 days in ONE video!

Inventor Manu Prakash turns everyday materials into powerful scientific devices, from paper microscopes to a clever new mosquito tracker. From the TED Fellows stage, he demos Paperfuge, a hand-powered centrifuge inspired by a spinning...

Architecture student Magnus Larsson details his bold plan to transform the harsh Sahara desert using bacteria and a surprising construction material: the sand itself.

As machines take on more jobs, many find themselves out of work or with raises indefinitely postponed. Is this the end of growth? No, says Erik Brynjolfsson -- it’s simply the growing pains of a radically reorganized economy. A riveting...

every three years, more than 30 million Hindu worshippers gather for the Kumbh Mela in India, the world's largest religious gathering, in order to wash away their sins. With massive crowds descending on small cities and towns, stampedes...

As his career grew, David Byrne went from playing CBGB to Carnegie Hall. He asks: Does the venue make the music? From outdoor drumming to Wagnerian operas to arena rock, he explores how context has pushed musical innovation.

Ancient civilizations developed clever solutions to their unique challenges and environments, and learning from those engineers can help us build a greener world today.

A look into the science of concussions.

Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the MIT Media Laboratory, describes how the One Laptop Per Child project will build and distribute the "$100 laptop."

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the former finance minister of Nigeria, sums up four days of intense discussion on aid versus trade on the closing day of TEDGlobal 2007, and shares a personal story explaining her own commitment to this cause.

At TEDU 2009, Erik Hersman presents the remarkable story of Ushahidi, a GoogleMap mashup that allowed Kenyans to report and track violence via cell phone texts following the 2008 elections, and has evolved to continue saving lives in...

They often don’t get as much attention, but North America had major cities long before European colonizers arrived, but the residents left behind no written history. How have archaeologists pieced together the details of these population...