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What's tasty, abundant and high in protein? Bugs! Although less common outside the tropics, entomophagy, the practice of eating bugs, was once extremely widespread throughout cultures. You may feel icky about munching on insects, but they feed about 2 billion people each day (Mmm, fried tarantulas). They also hold promise for food security and the environment. Emma Bryce makes a compelling case for dining on bugs. [Directed by NEIGHBOR, narrated by Addison Anderson].
Why is J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy so compelling? How about The Matrix or Harry Potter? What makes these disparate worlds come alive are clear, consistent rules for how people, societies -- and even the laws of physics -- function in these fictional universes. Author Kate Messner offers a few tricks for you, too, to create a world worth exploring in your own words. [Directed by Avi Ofer, narrated by Kate Messner].
Although one third of the population suffers from motion sickness, scientists aren't exactly sure what causes it. Like the common cold, it's a seemingly simple problem that's still without a cure. And if you think it's bad on a long family car ride, imagine being a motion sick astronaut! Rose Eveleth explains what's happening in our bodies when we get the car sick blues. [Directed by Tom Gran, narrated by Rose Eveleth].
The Infinite Hotel, a thought experiment created by German mathematician David Hilbert, is a hotel with an infinite number of rooms. Easy to comprehend, right? Wrong. What if it's completely booked but one person wants to check in? What about 40? Or an infinitely full bus of people? Jeff Dekofsky solves these heady lodging issues using Hilbert's paradox. [Directed by The Moving Company Animation Studio, narrated by Addison Anderson].
"How fast are you moving?" seems like an easy question, but it's actually quite complicated -- and perhaps best answered by another question: "Relative to what?" Even when you think you're standing still, the Earth is moving relative to the Sun, which is moving relative to the Milky Way, which is...you get the idea. Tucker Hiatt unravels the concepts of absolute and relative speed. [Directed by Zedem Media, narrated by Addison Anderson].
Two thirds of the population believes a myth that has been propagated for over a century: that we use only 10% of our brains. Hardly! Our neuron-dense brains have evolved to use the least amount of energy while carrying the most information possible -- a feat that requires the entire brain. Richard E. Cytowic debunks this neurological myth (and explains why we aren't so good at multitasking). [Directed by TOGETHER, narrated by Addison Anderson].
When Dick Fosbury couldn't compete against the skilled high jumpers at his college, he tried jumping in a different way -- backwards. Fosbury improved his record immediately and continued to amaze the world with his new technique all the way to Olympic gold. Asaf Bar-Yosef explains the physics behind the success of the now dominant Fosbury Flop. [Directed by NEIGHBOR, narrated by Addison Anderson].
The atoms around you have existed for billions of years -- and most originated in the flaming, gaseous core of a star. Dennis Wildfogel tells the captivating tale of these atoms' long journeys from the Big Bang to the molecules they form today. [Directed by Pew36 Animation Studios, narrated by Dennis Wildfogel].
Whether we cry during a sad movie, while chopping onions, or completely involuntarily, our eyes are constantly producing tears. Alex Gendler tracks a particularly watery day in the life of Iris (the iris) as she cycles through basal, reflex and emotional tears. [Directed by The Moving Company Animation Studio, narrated by Addison Anderson].
When you take a bite of a hot pepper, your body reacts as if your mouth is on fire -- because that's essentially what you've told your brain! Rose Eveleth details the science and history behind spicy foods, giving insights into why some people continue to pay the painful price for a little spice. [Directed by Flaming Medusa Studios Inc., narrated by Rose Eveleth].
In the past decade, the US honeybee population has been decreasing at an alarming and unprecedented rate. While this is obviously bad news for honeypots everywhere, bees also help feed us in a bigger way -- by pollinating our nation's crops. Emma Bryce investigates potential causes for this widespread colony collapse disorder. [Directed by Lillian Chan, narrated by Derek Gebhart, music by John Poon].
When you picture the lowest levels of the food chain, you might imagine herbivores happily munching on lush, living green plants. But this idyllic image leaves out a huge (and slightly less appetizing) source of nourishment: dead stuff. John C. Moore details the "brown food chain," explaining how such unlikely delicacies as pond scum and animal poop contribute enormous amounts of energy to our ecosystems. [Directed by TED-Ed, narrated by George Zaidan].
While sugar is easy to spot in candy, soft drinks and ice cream, it also hides out in foods you might not expect -- including peanut butter, pasta sauce and even bologna! Robert Lustig decodes confusing labels and sugar's many aliases to help determine just how much of that sweet carbohydrate makes its way into our diets. [Directed by The Tremendousness Collective, narrated by Michelle Snow].
One deck. Fifty-two cards. How many arrangements? Let's put it this way: Any time you pick up a well shuffled deck, you are almost certainly holding an arrangement of cards that has never before existed and might not exist again. Yannay Khaikin explains how factorials allow us to pinpoint the exact (very large) number of permutations in a standard deck of cards. [Directed by The Moving Company Animation Studio, narrated by Addison Anderson].
Ever go to pour ketchup on your fries...and nothing comes out? Or the opposite happens, and your plate is suddenly swimming in a sea of red? George Zaidan describes the physics behind this frustrating phenomenon, explaining how ketchup and other non-Newtonian fluids can suddenly transition from solid to liquid and back again. [Directed by TOGETHER, narrated by George Zaidan].
The immense swell of a tsunami can grow up to 100 feet, hitting speeds over 500 mph -- a treacherous combination for anyone or anything in its path. Alex Gendler details the causes of these towering terrors and explains how scientists are seeking to reduce their destruction in the future. [Directed by Augenblick Studios, narrated by Michelle Snow].
A bump on the head, a mysterious femme fatale and a strange encounter on a windswept peak all add up to a heck of a night for Manny Brot, Private Eye. Watch as he tries his hand at saving the dame and getting the cash! Shudder at the mind-bending geometric riddles! Thrill to the stunning solution of The Case of the Missing Fractals. [Directed by TED-Ed, narrated by George Zaidan, music by Stephen Eugene Larosa].
Light always travels at a speed of 299,792,458 meters per second. But if you're in motion too, you're going to perceive it as traveling even faster -- which isn't possible! In this second installment of a three-part series on space-time, CERN scientists Andrew Pontzen and Tom Whyntie use a space-time diagram to analyze the sometimes confounding motion of light. [Directed by Giant Animation, narrated by Andrew Pontzen and Tom Whyntie].
Romantic chemistry is all about warm, gooey feelings that gush from the deepest depths of the heart...right? Not quite. Actually, the real boss behind attraction is your brain, which runs through a very quick, very complex series of calculations when assessing a potential partner. Dawn Maslar explores how our five senses contribute to this mating game, citing some pretty wild studies along the way. [Directed by TOGETHER, narrated by Addison Anderson].
When you hear the word symmetry, you might think generally of triangles, butterflies, or even ballerinas. But defined scientifically, symmetry is "a transformation that leaves an object unchanged." Huh? Colm Kelleher unpacks this abstract term and explains how animals' distinct symmetries can tell us more about them -- and ourselves.
For most of history, scientists weren't quite sure why our hearts were beating or even what purpose they served. Eventually, we realized that these thumping organs serve the vital task of pumping clean blood throughout the body. But how? Edmond Hui investigates how it all works by taking a closer look at the heart's highly efficient ventricle system. [Directed by Anton Bogaty, narrated by Addison Anderson].
Everyone experiences pain -- but why do some people react to the same painful stimulus in different ways? And what exactly is pain, anyway? Karen D. Davis walks you through your brain on pain, illuminating why the "pain experience" differs from person to person. [Directed by Brett Underhill, narrated by Addison Anderson].
With the advent of the Internet and social media, news is distributed at an incredible rate by an unprecedented number of different media outlets. How do we choose which news to consume? Damon Brown gives the inside scoop on how the opinions and facts (and sometimes non-facts) make their way into the news and how the smart reader can tell them apart. [Directed by Alisa Harris-Norico, narrated by Addison Anderson].
The cotton-top tamarin is a very vocal monkey -- the species communicates using a sophisticated language of 38 distinct and grammatically structured calls! Anne Savage teaches a few of these chirps and whistles, taking us through a day in the life of Shakira the tamarin (using sounds pulled from the wild) as Shakira signals to her family, talks to her food and warns against potential predators.
Honeybees are some of nature's finest mathematicians. Not only can they calculate angles and comprehend the roundness of the earth, these smart insects build and live in one of the most mathematically efficient architectural designs around: the beehive. Zack Patterson and Andy Peterson delve into the very smart geometry behind the honeybee's home.
Lesson by Zack Patterson and Andy Peterson, animation by TED-Ed.
Ants have one of the most complex social organizations in the animal kingdom; they live in structured colonies that contain different types of members who perform specific roles. Sound familiar? Deborah M. Gordon explains the way these incredible creatures mate, communicate and source food, shedding light on how their actions can mimic and inform our own behavior. [Directed by Steve Belfer Creative Inc., narrated by Addison Anderson, music by Steve Belfer Creative Inc.].
The earliest recorded tattoo was found on a Peruvian mummy in 6,000 BC. That's some old ink! And considering humans lose roughly 40,000 skin cells per hour, how do these markings last? Claudia Aguirre details the different methods, machines and macrophages (you'll see) that go into making tattoos stand the test of time. [Directed by TOGETHER, narrated by Addison Anderson].
You've probably heard that carbon dioxide is warming the Earth. But how exactly is it doing it? Lieven Scheire uses a rainbow, a light bulb and a bit of quantum physics to describe the science behind global warming. [Directed by STK Films, narrated Addison Anderson, music by Michael Dow].
Optical illusions are images that seem to trick our minds into seeing something different from what they actually are. But how do they work? Nathan S. Jacobs walks us through a few common optical illusions and explains what these tricks of the eye can tell us about how our brains assemble visual information into the 3D world we see around us. [Directed by TED-Ed, narrated by Addison Anderson].
How do you know you're real? Is existence all just a big dream? Has some mad scientist duped us into simply believing that we exist? James Zucker investigates all of these questions (and more) in this mind-boggling tribute to René Descartes's "Meditations on First Philosophy." [Directed by Stretch Films, Inc., narrated by Addison Anderson].
The classical physics that we encounter in our everyday, macroscopic world is very different from the quantum physics that governs systems on a much smaller scale (like atoms). One great example of quantum physics' weirdness can be shown in the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment. Josh Samani walks us through this experiment in quantum entanglement. [Directed by Dan Pinto, narrated by Addison Anderson].
When Henry Molaison (now widely known as H.M.) cracked his skull in an accident, he began blacking out and having seizures. In an attempt to cure him, daredevil surgeon Dr. William Skoville removed H.M.'s hippocampus. Luckily, the seizures did go away — but so did his long-term memory! Sam Kean walks us through this astonishing medical case, detailing everything H.M. taught us about the brain and memory. [Directed by Anton Bogaty, narrated by Addison Anderson].
How many times does the chorus repeat in your favorite song? How many times have you listened to that chorus? Repetition in music isn't just a feature of Western pop songs, either; it's a global phenomenon. Why? Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis walks us through the basic principles of the 'exposure effect,' detailing how repetition invites us into music as active participants, rather than passive listeners. [Directed by Andrew Zimbelman, narrated by Addison Anderson, music by Joshua Smoak and Alex Admiral Collier].
Flatulence is a daily phenomenon. In fact, most human beings pass gas 10-20 times a day (yes, that includes you). Where does your bodily gas come from? Purna Kashyap takes us on a journey into the intestines, shedding light on how gas is made, which foods contribute most to its production...and why it stinks.
Lesson by Purna Kashyap, animation by Ace & Son Moving Picture Co., LLC.
If you stick water in the freezer, it will take a few hours to freeze into ice. How is it, then, that cold packs go from room temperature to near freezing in mere seconds? John Pollard details the chemistry of the cold pack, shedding light on the concepts of energetics and entropy along the way.
Lesson by John Pollard, animation by Karrot Animation.
The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states that you can never simultaneously know the exact position and the exact speed of an object. Why not? Because everything in the universe behaves like both a particle and a wave at the same time. Chad Orzel navigates this complex concept of quantum physics. [Directed by Henrik Malmgren, narrated by Addison Anderson].
If you are a living, breathing human being, chances are you have felt sad at least a few times in your life. But what exactly is melancholy, and what (if anything) should we do about it? Courtney Stephens details our still-evolving understanding of sadness -- and even makes a case for its usefulness. [Directed by Sharon Colman Graham, narrated by Addison Anderson, music by Peter Gosling].
Vitamins are the building blocks that keep our bodies running; they help build muscle and bone, capture energy, heal wounds and more. But if our body doesn’t create vitamins, how do they get into our system? Ginnie Trinh Nguyen describes what vitamins are, how they get into our bodies -- and why they are so crucial.
Lesson by Ginnie Trinh Nguyen, animation by The Moving Company Animation Studio.
Many people in the United States and Latin America have grown up celebrating the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's voyage. But was he an intrepid explorer who brought two worlds together or a ruthless exploiter who brought colonialism and slavery? And did he even discover America at all? Alex Gendler puts Columbus on the stand in History vs. Christopher Columbus. [Directed by Brett Underhill, narrated by Addison Anderson].
Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger, one of the founders of quantum mechanics, posed this famous question: If you put a cat in a sealed box with a device that has a 50% chance of killing the cat in the next hour, what will be the state of the cat when that time is up? Chad Orzel investigates this thought experiment. [Directed by Agota Vegso, narrated by Addison Anderson].
In standard notation, rhythm is indicated on a musical bar line. But there are other ways to visualize rhythm that can be more intuitive. John Varney describes the 'wheel method' of tracing rhythm and uses it to take us on a musical journey around the world. [Directed by TED-Ed, narrated by Addison Anderson].
Would mathematics exist if people didn't? Did we create mathematical concepts to help us understand the world around us, or is math the native language of the universe itself? Jeff Dekofsky traces some famous arguments in this ancient and hotly debated question. [Directed by The Tremendousness Collective, narrated by Addison Anderson].
We hear anywhere from 10 to 200 lies a day. And although we've spent much of our history coming up with ways to detect these lies by tracking physiological changes in their tellers, these methods have proved unreliable. Is there a more direct approach? Noah Zandan uses some famous examples of lying to illustrate how we might use communications science to analyze the lies themselves. [Directed by Nadav Arbel, narrated by Noah Zandan].
Our skin is the largest organ in our bodies, with a surface area of about 20 square feet in adults. When we are cut or wounded, our skin begins to repair itself through a complex, well-coordinated process. Sarthak Sinha takes us past the epidermis and into the dermis to investigate this regenerative response.
Sometimes, against a uniform, bright background such as a clear sky or a blank computer screen, you might see things floating across your field of vision. What are these moving objects, and how are you seeing them? Michael Mauser explains the visual phenomenon that is floaters. [Directed by Reflective Films, narrated by Pen-Pen Chen].
For as far back as we can trace our existence, humans have been fascinated with death and resurrection. But is resurrection really possible? And what is the actual difference between a living creature and a dead body anyway? Randall Hayes delves into the scientific theories that seek to answer these age-old questions. [Directed by Anton Bogaty, narrated by Addison Anderson].
Slavery has occurred in many forms throughout the world, but the Atlantic slave trade -- which forcibly brought more than 10 million Africans to the Americas -- stands out for both its global scale and its lasting legacy. Anthony Hazard discusses the historical, economic and personal impact of this massive historical injustice. [Directed by NEIGHBOR, narrated by Addison Anderson].
What if, this holiday season, instead of saying "thank you" to your aunt for her gift of a knitted sweater, the polite response expected from you was to show up at her house in a week with a better gift? Or to vote for her in the town election? Or let her adopt your firstborn child? Alex Gendler explains how all of these things might not sound so strange if you were involved in a gift economy.
Lesson by Alex Gendler, animation by Avi Ofer.
The atoms around you have existed for billions of years -- and most originated in the flaming, gaseous core of a star. Dennis Wildfogel tells the captivating tale of these atoms' long journeys from the Big Bang to the molecules they form today.
Lesson by Dennis Wildfogel, animation by Pew36 Animation Studios.
What's tasty, abundant and high in protein? Bugs! Although less common outside the tropics, entomophagy, the practice of eating bugs, was once extremely widespread throughout cultures. You may feel icky about munching on insects, but they feed about 2 billion people each day (Mmm, fried tarantulas). They also hold promise for food security and the environment. Emma Bryce makes a compelling case for dining on bugs.
Lesson by Emma Bryce, animation by NEIGHBOR.
