Podcasts by TED Talks Science and Medicine

TED Talks Science and Medicine

Some of the world's greatest scientists, doctors and medical researchers share their discoveries and visions onstage at the TED conference, TEDx events and partner events around the world. You can also download these and many other videos free on TED.com, with an interactive English transcript and subtitles in up to 80 languages. TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading.

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The incredible cancer-detecting potential of photoacoustic imaging | Lei Li from 2022-02-02T20:47:06

Could we use the energy from light and sound to detect disease? TED Fellow Lei Li shares the exciting promise of photoacoustic imaging: an affordable, painless and accurate method of converting lig...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Are brain waves the secret to treating Alzheimer's? | Li-Huei Tsai from 2022-01-24T16:16:53

What if we could use brain waves to treat Alzheimer's? Professor and neuroscientist Li-Huei Tsai details a promising new approach to artificially stimulate gamma brain waves using light and sound t...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How biochar removes CO2 from the air -- and helps farmers thrive | Axel Reinaud from 2022-01-10T15:29:44

Biochar is a kind of charcoal that removes CO2 from the atmosphere, helping yield healthy crops and even producing abundant renewable energy in the form of electricity as it's made. This exciting c...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
A king cobra bite -- and a scientific discovery | Gowri Shankar from 2021-12-17T19:47:23

A king cobra has enough venom to kill 10 people in a single bite. Recounting his near-death experience after being bitten by one of these majestic yet deadly snakes, conservationist and TED Fellow ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The science of extreme weather -- and how to reduce the harm | Al Roker, Al Gore, David Biello and Latif Nasser from 2021-11-23T21:04:44

Floods, droughts, heat waves and cold blasts -- why is the weather becoming more extreme? Environmentalist and "America's weatherman" Al Roker discusses the link between climate change and disrupti...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The problem of vaccine spoilage -- and a smart sensor to help | Nithya Ramanathan from 2021-11-03T14:46:32

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, tech...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How we could eat real meat without harming animals | Isha Datar from 2021-10-19T14:41:31

What if you could eat chicken nuggets without harming a chicken? It's possible through "cellular agriculture," says Isha Datar. In a talk about cutting-edge science, she explains how this new means...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The brain science of obesity | Mads Tang-Christensen from 2021-10-06T14:44:21

Your belly and your brain speak to each other, says obesity researcher Mads Tang-Christensen. Offering scientific proof that obesity is a disease influenced by genetics and the environment, he intr...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Planet City -- a sci-fi vision of an astonishing regenerative future | Liam Young from 2021-09-20T14:50:15

Get transported on a stunningly rendered, sci-fi safari through Planet City: an imaginary metropolis of 10 billion people, from the brain of director and architect Liam Young. Explore the potential...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
A sci-fi vision of life in 2041 | Chen Qiufan from 2021-09-08T14:48:45

Sci-fi writer Chen Qiufan doesn't fear a dystopian future. Instead, he believes developments in artificial intelligence will make all of our lives better, healthier and safer. He takes us on a tour...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Meet the scientist couple driving an mRNA vaccine revolution | U?ur ?ahin and Özlem Türeci from 2021-08-03T14:41:33


As COVID-19 spread, BioNTech cofounders U?ur ?ahin and Özlem Türeci had one goal: to make a safe, effective vaccine faster than ever before. In this illuminating conversation with head...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The missing 96 percent of the universe | Claire Malone from 2021-07-14T15:00:36

We've misplaced the building blocks of the cosmos -- and particle physicists like Claire Malone are on a mission to find them. Despite scientists hitting a "major snag" in uncovering what exactly m...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The death of the universe -- and what it means for life | Katie Mack from 2021-05-24T13:22:57

The universe started with a bang -- but how will it end? With astonishing visuals, cosmologist and TED Fellow Katie Mack takes us to the theoretical end of everything, some trillions of years in th...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The search for microscopic aliens | Sarah Rugheimer from 2021-05-24T13:09:40

Astrophysicist and TED Fellow Sarah Rugheimer searches for aliens -- but not the cartoony green kind. She's looking for extraterrestrial microbes by studying how these single-celled organisms emit ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How COVID-19 transformed the future of medicine | Daniel Kraft from 2021-05-10T15:19:11

The pandemic forced the world to work together like never before and, with unprecedented speed, bore a new age of health and medical innovation. Physician-scientist Daniel Kraft explains how breakt...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How your memory works -- and why forgetting is totally OK | Lisa Genova from 2021-04-21T14:48:53

Have you ever misplaced something you were just holding? Completely blanked on a famous actor's name? Walked into a room and immediately forgot why? Neuroscientist Lisa Genova digs into two types o...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The electrical blueprints that orchestrate life | Michael Levin from 2021-03-31T18:02:53

DNA isn't the only builder in the biological world -- there's also a mysterious bioelectric layer directing cells to work together to grow organs, systems and bodies, says biologist Michael Levin. ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The hidden history found in your teeth | Carolyn Freiwald from 2021-02-12T15:54:50

Your teeth carry secrets: centuries of history about your ancestors, from where they lived to what they ate and where they traveled. Bioarchaeologist Carolyn Freiwald traces the story of human migr...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The promise of quantum computers | Matt Langione from 2021-02-09T16:22:38

What if tiny microparticles could help us solve the world's biggest problems in a matter of minutes? That's the promise -- and magic -- of quantum computers, says Matt Langione. Speaking next to an...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Indigenous knowledge meets science to solve climate change | Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

To tackle a problem as large as climate change, we need both science and Indigenous wisdom, says environmental activist Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim. In this engaging talk, she shares how her no...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Why you should love statistics | Alan Smith from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Think you're good at guessing stats? Guess again. Whether we consider ourselves math people or not, our ability to understand and work with numbers is terribly limited, says data visualiza...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Smelfies, and other experiments in synthetic biology | Ani Liu from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

What if you could take a smell selfie, a smelfie? What if you had a lipstick that caused plants to grow where you kiss? Ani Liu explores the intersection of technology and sensory percepti...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How we can find ourselves in data | Giorgia Lupi from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Giorgia Lupi uses data to tell human stories, adding nuance to numbers. In this charming talk, she shares how we can bring personality to data, visualizing even the mundane details of our ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Science in service to the public good | Siddhartha Roy from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

We give scientists and engineers great technical training, but we're not as good at teaching ethical decision-making or building character. Take, for example, the environmental crisis that...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How pollution is changing the ocean's chemistry | Triona McGrath from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

As we keep pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, more of it is dissolving in the oceans, leading to drastic changes in the water's chemistry. Triona McGrath researches this process, ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
What rivers can tell us about the earth's history | Liz Hajek from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Rivers are one of nature's most powerful forces -- they bulldoze mountains and carve up the earth, and their courses are constantly moving. Understanding how they form and how they'll chan...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Mind-blowing, magnified portraits of insects | Levon Biss from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Photographer Levon Biss was looking for a new, extraordinary subject when one afternoon he and his young son popped a ground beetle under a microscope and discovered the wondrous world of ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
A stellar history of modern astronomy | Emily Levesque from 2020-12-04T16:04:50

Astronomers once gazed upon the night sky and counted every star in the galaxy by hand. The process has evolved since then, but the thirst for celestial knowledge remains the same. Join astrophysic...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How COVID-19 human challenge trials work -- and why I volunteered | Sophie Rose from 2020-11-20T20:47:24

In April 2020, epidemiologist-in-training Sophie Rose volunteered to be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. As a young, healthy adult, she's offering to take part in a human challenge tri...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Could we treat spinal cord injuries with asparagus? | Andrew Pelling from 2020-11-20T15:52:45

Take a mind-blowing trip to the lab as TED Senior Fellow Andrew Pelling shares his research on how we could use fruits, vegetables and plants to regenerate damaged human tissues -- and develop a po...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The power of venom -- and how it could one day save your life | Mandë Holford from 2020-10-29T14:50:09

Venom can kill ... or it can cure. In this fascinating talk, marine chemical biologist Mandë Holford shares her research into animal venom, from killer sea snails to platypuses and slow lorises -- ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
A concrete idea to reduce carbon emissions | Karen Scrivener from 2020-10-10T19:09:07

Concrete is the second most-used substance on Earth (behind water), and it's responsible for eight percent of the world's carbon footprint. Cement researcher Karen Scrivener shares the research beh...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How the US medical community fails Black mothers | Wanda Irving from 2020-08-27T14:54:23


In the US, Black women are nearly 300 percent more likely to die as a result of childbirth than white women. Sharing appalling statistics on maternal mortality as well as her own tragi...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How animals and plants are evolving in cities | Menno Schilthuizen from 2020-08-24T15:22:29

In cities, evolution occurs constantly, as countless plants, animals and insects adapt to human-made habitats in spectacular ways. Evolutionary biologist Menno Schilthuizen calls on peculiar beings...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Can light stop the coronavirus? | David Brenner from 2020-07-24T14:52:14

Far-UVC light is a type of ultraviolet light that kills microbes and viruses and, crucially, seems to be safe to use around humans. Radiation scientist David Brenner describes how we could use this...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The case to infect volunteers with COVID-19 to accelerate vaccine testing | Nir Eyal from 2020-06-25T14:51:26

Conventional vaccine testing is a slow, years-long process. As thousands of people continue to die each day from COVID-19, bioethicist Nir Eyal proposes a radical idea that could dramatically accel...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The new science of personalized vaccines | Ofer Levy from 2020-06-18T14:58:11

At the intersection of precision medicine and vaccinology lies a revolutionary scientific pursuit: personalized vaccines. Infectious disease specialist Ofer Levy introduces this promising medical a...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
A dose of reality about generic drugs | Katherine Eban from 2020-06-17T20:04:43


Investigative journalist Katherine Eban set out to report on a seemingly straightforward question: Are generic drugs really identical to their brand-name counterparts? The answer spark...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Let's make the world wild again | Kristine Tompkins from 2020-05-26T14:48:21

Earth, humanity and nature are inextricably interconnected. To restore us all back to health, we need to "rewild" the world, says environmental activist Kristine Tompkins. Tracing her life from Pat...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
An ER doctor on triaging your "crazy busy" life | Darria Long from 2020-05-13T15:18:54

How do doctors in the emergency room stay calm and focused amidst the chaos? Drawing on years of experience, ER doctor Darria Long shares a straightforward framework to help you take back control a...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The wonders of the molecular world, animated | Janet Iwasa from 2020-04-13T15:01:51

Some biological structures are so small that scientists can't see them with even the most powerful microscopes. That's where molecular animator and TED Fellow Janet Iwasa gets creative. Explore vas...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The galactic recipe for a living planet | Karin Öberg from 2020-04-10T19:53:34

Did you know that one of the most notorious poisons is also a key ingredient for life as we know it? Join space chemist Karin Öberg and learn how she scans the universe in search of this paradoxica...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
A history of Indigenous languages -- and how to revitalize them | Lindsay Morcom from 2020-04-07T20:17:14

Indigenous languages across North America are under threat of extinction due to the colonial legacy of cultural erasure, says linguist Lindsay Morcom. Highlighting grassroots strategies developed b...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How to make pandemics optional, not inevitable | Sonia Shah from 2020-04-01T16:10:01


What can past pandemics teach us how to tackle the current one? Tracing the history of contagions from cholera to Ebola and beyond, science journalist Sonia Shah explains why we're mor...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How you can help save the monarch butterfly -- and the planet | Mary Ellen Hannibal from 2020-04-01T15:01:51

Monarch butterflies are dying at an alarming rate around the world -- a looming extinction that could also put human life at risk. But we have just the thing to help save these insects, says author...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The quest for the coronavirus vaccine | Seth Berkley from 2020-03-27T16:36:31


When will the coronavirus vaccine be ready? Epidemiologist Seth Berkley (head of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance) takes us inside the effort to create a vaccine for COVID-19. With clarity a...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Indigenous knowledge meets science to take on climate change | Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim from 2020-03-27T14:55:23

To tackle a problem as large as climate change, we need both science and Indigenous wisdom, says environmental activist Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim. In this engaging talk, she shares how her nomadic com...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The weird history of the "sex chromosomes" | Molly Webster from 2020-03-23T14:48:38

The common thinking on biological sex goes like this: females have two X chromosomes in their cells, while males have one X and one Y. In this myth-busting talk, science writer and podcaster Molly ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How we could change the planet's climate future | David Wallace-Wells from 2020-03-13T19:09:40

The climate crisis is too vast and complicated to solve with a silver bullet, says author David Wallace-Wells. What we need is a shift in how we live. Follow along as he lays out some of the dramat...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The dangers of a noisy ocean -- and how we can quiet it down | Nicola Jones from 2020-03-11T15:03

The ocean is a naturally noisy place full of singing whales, grunting fish, snapping shrimp, cracking ice, wind and rain. But human-made sounds -- from ship engines to oil drilling -- have become a...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How a miniaturized atomic clock could revolutionize space exploration | Jill Seubert from 2020-03-05T16:09:50

Ask any deep space navigator like Jill Seubert what makes steering a spacecraft difficult, and they'll tell you it's all about the timing; a split-second can decide a mission's success or failure. ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
What a nun can teach a scientist about ecology | Victoria Gill from 2020-02-12T16:01:36

To save the achoque -- an exotic (and adorable) salamander found in a lake in northern Mexico -- scientists teamed up with an unexpected research partner: a group of nuns called the Sisters of the ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The science of friction -- and its surprising impact on our lives | Jennifer Vail from 2020-02-05T15:58:10

Tribology: it's a funny-sounding word you might not have heard before, but it could change how you see and interact with the physical world, says mechanical engineer Jennifer Vail. Offering lessons...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
A new type of medicine, custom-made with tiny proteins | Christopher Bahl from 2020-01-28T16:15:16

Some common life-saving medicines, such as insulin, are made of proteins so large and fragile that they need to be injected instead of ingested as pills. But a new generation of medicine -- made fr...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
What ocean microbes reveal about the changing climate | Angelicque White from 2020-01-24T15:49:05

When the ocean changes, the planet changes -- and it all starts with microbes, says biological oceanographer Angelicque White. Backed by decades of data, White shares how scientists use these ancie...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Are indoor vertical farms the future of agriculture? | Stuart Oda from 2020-01-21T20:59:41

By 2050, the global population is projected to reach 9.8 billion. How are we going to feed everyone? Investment-banker-turned-farmer Stuart Oda points to indoor vertical farming: growing food on ti...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How designing brand-new enzymes could change the world | Adam Garske from 2020-01-21T15:55:34

"If DNA is the blueprint of life, enzymes are the laborers that carry out its instructions," says chemical biologist Adam Garske. In this fun talk and demo, he shows how scientists can now edit and...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Why are drug prices so high? Investigating the outdated US patent system | Priti Krishtel from 2020-01-16T16:02:20

Between 2006 and 2016, the number of drug patents granted in the United States doubled -- but not because there was an explosion in invention or innovation. Drug companies have learned how to game ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The urgent case for antibiotic-free animals | Leon Marchal from 2020-01-07T16:00:08

The UN predicts that antimicrobial resistance will be our biggest killer by 2050. "That should really scare the hell out of all of us," says bioprocess engineer Leon Marchal. He's working on an urg...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The search for dark matter -- and what we've found so far | Risa Wechsler from 2020-01-06T15:51:10

Roughly 85 percent of mass in the universe is "dark matter" -- mysterious material that can't be directly observed but has an immense influence on the cosmos. What exactly is this strange stuff, an...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Your body was forged in the spectacular death of stars | Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz from 2019-12-17T16:05:36

We are all connected by the spectacular birth, death and rebirth of stars, says astrophysicist Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz. Journey through the cosmic history of the universe as Ramirez-Ruiz explains how s...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The search for our solar system's ninth planet | Mike Brown from 2019-11-22T16:00:40

Could the strange orbits of small, distant objects in our solar system lead us to a big discovery? Planetary astronomer Mike Brown proposes the existence of a new, giant planet lurking in the far r...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
What it's like to live on the International Space Station | Cady Coleman from 2019-11-13T16:30:32

In this quick, fun talk, astronaut Cady Coleman welcomes us aboard the International Space Station, where she spent nearly six months doing experiments that expanded the frontiers of science. Hear ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Small rockets are the next space revolution | Peter Beck from 2019-11-12T16:08:48

We're in the dawn of a new space revolution, says engineer Peter Beck: the revolution of the small. In a talk packed with insights into the state of the space industry, Beck shares his work buildin...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The next software revolution: programming biological cells | Sara-Jane Dunn from 2019-11-01T19:46:23

The cells in your body are like computer software: they're "programmed" to carry out specific functions at specific times. If we can better understand this process, we could unlock the ability to r...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The link between fishing cats and mangrove forest conservation | Ashwin Naidu from 2019-10-24T14:51:07

Mangrove forests are crucial to the health of the planet, gobbling up CO2 from the atmosphere and providing a home for a diverse array of species. But these rich habitats are under continual threat...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
A coral reef love story | Ayana Elizabeth Johnson from 2019-10-18T14:44:20

Over the course of hundreds of scuba dives, marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson fell in love -- with a fish. In this ode to parrotfish, she shares five reasons why these creatures are simply a...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
A love story for the coral reef crisis | Ayana Elizabeth Johnson from 2019-10-18T14:44:20

Over the course of hundreds of scuba dives, marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson fell in love -- with a fish. In this ode to parrotfish, she shares five reasons why these creatures are simply a...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How a handful of fishing villages sparked a marine conservation revolution | Alasdair Harris from 2019-10-17T14:50:21

We need a radically new approach to ocean conservation, says marine biologist and TED Fellow Alasdair Harris. In a visionary talk, he lays out a surprising solution to the problem of overfishing th...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
What happens in your brain when you taste food | Camilla Arndal Andersen from 2019-10-03T14:48:40

With fascinating research and hilarious anecdotes, neuroscientist Camilla Arndal Andersen takes us into the lab where she studies people's sense of taste via brain scans. She reveals surprising ins...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How community-led conservation can save wildlife | Moreangels Mbizah from 2019-10-01T19:29:18

Conservationist and TED Fellow Moreangels Mbizah studied the famous Cecil the lion until he was shot by a trophy hunter in 2015. She wonders how things could've gone differently, asking: "What if t...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How one tree grows 40 different kinds of fruit | Sam Van Aken from 2019-09-27T15:21:14

Artist Sam Van Aken shares the breathtaking work behind the "Tree of 40 Fruit," an ongoing series of hybridized fruit trees that grow 40 different varieties of peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Can seaweed help curb global warming? | Tim Flannery from 2019-09-23T19:04:30

It's time for planetary-scale interventions to combat climate change -- and environmentalist Tim Flannery thinks seaweed can help. In a bold talk, he shares the epic carbon-capturing potential of s...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
We need to track the world's water like we track the weather | Sonaar Luthra from 2019-09-20T14:52:47

We need a global weather service for water, says entrepreneur and TED Fellow Sonaar Luthra. In a talk about environmental accountability, Luthra shows how we could forecast water shortages and risk...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How climate change could make our food less nutritious | Kristie Ebi from 2019-09-16T19:46:20

Rising carbon levels in the atmosphere can make plants grow faster, but there's another hidden consequence: they rob plants of the nutrients and vitamins we need to survive. In a talk about global ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
A "living drug" that could change the way we treat cancer | Carl June from 2019-09-10T14:53:50


Carl June is the pioneer behind CAR T-cell therapy: a groundbreaking cancer treatment that supercharges part of a patient's own immune system to attack and kill tumors. In a talk about...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
A climate change solution that's right under our feet | Asmeret Asefaw Berhe from 2019-09-03T14:51:55

There's two times more carbon in the earth's soil than in all of its vegetation and the atmosphere -- combined. Biogeochemist Asmeret Asefaw Berhe dives into the science of soil and shares how we c...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Emergency medicine for our climate fever | Kelly Wanser from 2019-08-28T14:53:31

As we recklessly warm the planet by pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, some industrial emissions also produce particles that reflect sunshine back into space, putting a check on global w...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How climate change affects your mental health | Britt Wray from 2019-08-27T14:55:39

"For all that's ever been said about climate change, we haven't heard nearly enough about the psychological impacts of living in a warming world," says science writer Britt Wray. In this quick talk...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
What's at the bottom of the ocean -- and how we're getting there | Victor Vescovo from 2019-08-02T14:47:38

Victor Vescovo is leading the first-ever manned expedition to the deepest point of each of the world's five oceans. In conversation with TED science curator David Biello, Vescovo discusses the tech...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The fascinating (and dangerous) places scientists aren't exploring | Ella Al-Shamahi from 2019-07-15T14:51

We're not doing frontline exploratory science in a huge portion of the world -- the places governments deem too hostile or disputed. What might we be missing because we're not looking? In this fear...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Grief and love in the animal kingdom | Barbara J. King from 2019-07-08T14:56:35

From mourning orcas to distressed elephants, biological anthropologist Barbara J. King has witnessed grief and love across the animal kingdom. In this eye-opening talk, she explains the evidence be...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
5 challenges we could solve by designing new proteins | David Baker from 2019-06-17T14:53:59

Proteins are remarkable molecular machines: they digest your food, fire your neurons, power your immune system and so much more. What if we could design new ones, with functions never before seen i...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The mysterious microbes living deep inside the earth -- and how they could help humanity | Karen Lloyd from 2019-06-10T14:44:46

The ground beneath your feet is home to a massive, mysterious world of microbes -- some of which have been in the earth's crust for hundreds of thousands of years. What's it like down there? Take a...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The amazing brains and morphing skin of octopuses and other cephalopods | Roger Hanlon from 2019-05-31T14:55:23

Octopus, squid and cuttlefish -- collectively known as cephalopods -- have strange, massive, distributed brains. What do they do with all that neural power? Dive into the ocean with marine biologis...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
These bacteria eat plastic | Morgan Vague from 2019-05-28T14:58:25

Humans produce 300 million tons of new plastic each year -- yet, despite our best efforts, less than 10 percent of it ends up being recycled. Is there a better way to deal with all this waste? Morg...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Sloths! The strange life of the world's slowest mammal | Lucy Cooke from 2019-05-21T14:46:14

Sloths have been on this planet for more than 40 million years. What's the secret to their success? In a hilarious talk, zoologist Lucy Cooke takes us inside the strange life of the world's slowest...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How supercharged plants could slow climate change | Joanne Chory from 2019-05-02T14:49:18

Plants are amazing machines -- for millions of years, they've taken carbon dioxide out of the air and stored it underground, keeping a crucial check on the global climate. Plant geneticist Joanne C...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
A personal air-quality tracker that lets you know what you're breathing | Romain Lacombe from 2019-04-22T14:54:57

How often do you think about the air you're breathing? Probably not enough, says entrepreneur and TED Fellow Romain Lacombe. He introduces Flow: a personal air-quality tracker that fits in your han...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Inside the black hole image that made history | Sheperd Doeleman from 2019-04-18T14:58:46

At the center of a galaxy more than 55 million light-years away, there's a supermassive black hole with the mass of several billion suns. And now, for the first time ever, we can see it. Astrophysi...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Can we regenerate heart muscle with stem cells? | Chuck Murry from 2019-03-29T15:19:35

The heart is one of the least regenerative organs in the human body -- a big factor in making heart failure the number one killer worldwide. What if we could help heart muscle regenerate after inju...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
To detect diseases earlier, let's speak bacteria's secret language | Fatima AlZahra'a Alatraktchi from 2019-03-27T14:51:50

Bacteria "talk" to each other, sending chemical information to coordinate attacks. What if we could listen to what they were saying? Nanophysicist Fatima AlZahra'a Alatraktchi invented a tool to sp...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How you can help save the bees, one hive at a time | Noah Wilson-Rich from 2019-03-20T14:53:36

Bees are dying off in record numbers, but ecologist Noah Wilson-Rich is interested in something else: Where are bees healthy and thriving? To find out, he recruited citizen scientists across the US...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The secret to scientific discoveries? Making mistakes | Phil Plait from 2019-03-18T14:52:42

Phil Plait was on a Hubble Space Telescope team of astronomers who thought they may have captured the first direct photo of an exoplanet ever taken. But did the evidence actually support that? Foll...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Where did the Moon come from? A new theory | Sarah T. Stewart from 2019-03-13T14:55:30

The Earth and Moon are like identical twins, made up of the exact same materials -- which is really strange, since no other celestial bodies we know of share this kind of chemical relationship. Wha...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How a new species of ancestors is changing our theory of human evolution | Juliet Brophy from 2019-03-01T16:01:58

In 2013, a treasure trove of unusual fossils were uncovered in a cave in South Africa, and researchers soon realized: these were the remains of a new species of ancient humans. Paleoanthropologist ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The age of genetic wonder | Juan Enriquez from 2019-02-15T15:44:36

Gene-editing tools like CRISPR enable us to program life at its most fundamental level. But this raises some pressing questions: If we can generate new species from scratch, what should we build? S...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Can we solve global warming? Lessons from how we protected the ozone layer | Sean Davis from 2019-01-29T15:50:53

The Montreal Protocol proved that the world could come together and take action on climate change. Thirty years after the world's most successful environmental treaty was signed, atmospheric scient...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
What sticky sea creatures can teach us about making glue | Jonathan Wilker from 2019-01-24T15:43:54

What if we could harness the sticking powers of sea creatures like mussels, oysters and barnacles, which refuse to budge even on wet, stormy coastlines? Dive into the wonderful world of animals tha...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The biology of gender, from DNA to the brain | Karissa Sanbonmatsu from 2019-01-10T15:59:42

How exactly does gender work? It's not just about our chromosomes, says biologist Karissa Sanbonmatsu. In a visionary talk, she shares new discoveries from epigenetics, the emerging study of how DN...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The fascinating science of bubbles, from soap to champagne | Li Wei Tan from 2018-12-17T15:38:26

In this whimsical talk and live demo, scientist Li Wei Tan shares the secrets of bubbles -- from their relentless pursuit of geometric perfection to their applications in medicine and shipping, whe...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The most important thing you can do to fight climate change: talk about it | Katharine Hayhoe from 2018-12-14T15:54:54

How do you talk to someone who doesn't believe in climate change? Not by rehashing the same data and facts we've been discussing for years, says climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe. In this inspirin...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
3 kinds of bias that shape your worldview | J. Marshall Shepherd from 2018-12-11T15:39:24

What shapes our perceptions (and misperceptions) about science? In an eye-opening talk, meteorologist J. Marshall Shepherd explains how confirmation bias, the Dunning-Kruger effect and cognitive di...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
100 solutions to reverse global warming | Chad Frischmann from 2018-11-28T15:56:20

What if we took out more greenhouse gases than we put into the atmosphere? This hypothetical scenario, known as "drawdown," is our only hope of averting climate disaster, says strategist Chad Frisc...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The radical possibilities of man-made DNA | Floyd E. Romesberg from 2018-11-26T15:53:51

Every cell that's ever lived has been the result of the four-letter genetic alphabet: A, T, C and G -- the basic units of DNA. But now that's changed. In a visionary talk, synthetic biologist Floyd...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The pharmacy of the future? Personalized pills, 3D printed at home | Daniel Kraft from 2018-10-18T14:56:53

We need to change how we prescribe drugs, says physician Daniel Kraft: too often, medications are dosed incorrectly, cause toxic side effects or just don't work. In a talk and concept demo, Kraft s...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
5 transformational policies for a prosperous and sustainable world | Johan Rockström from 2018-10-17T13:04:27

In a talk about how we can build a robust future without wrecking the planet, sustainability expert Johan Rockström debuts the Earth3 model -- a new methodology that combines the UN Sustainable Dev...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The key to a better malaria vaccine | Faith Osier from 2018-10-16T19:46:16

The malaria vaccine was invented more than a century ago -- yet each year, hundreds of thousands of people still die from the disease. How can we improve this vital vaccine? In this informative tal...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The secrets of spider venom | Michel Dugon from 2018-10-05T14:47:02

Spider venom can stop your heart within minutes, cause unimaginable pain -- and potentially save your life, says zoologist Michel Dugon. With a live tarantula on his arm, Dugon explains the medical...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How I became part sea urchin | Catherine Mohr from 2018-09-21T15:21:03

As a young scientist, Catherine Mohr was on her dream scuba trip -- when she put her hand right down on a spiny sea urchin. While a school of sharks circled above. What happened next? More than you...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Why we choke under pressure -- and how to avoid it | Sian Leah Beilock from 2018-09-18T14:49:49


When the pressure is on, why do we sometimes fail to live up to our potential? Cognitive scientist and Barnard College president Sian Leah Beilock reveals what happens in your brain an...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How data is helping us unravel the mysteries of the brain | Steve McCarroll from 2018-09-04T14:48:34


Geneticist Steve McCarroll wants to make an atlas of all the cells in the human body so that we can understand in precise detail how specific genes work, especially in the brain. In th...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How China is (and isn't) fighting pollution and climate change | Angel Hsu from 2018-08-29T14:51:23

China is the world's biggest polluter -- and now one of its largest producers of clean energy. Which way will China go in the future, and how will it affect the global environment? Data scientist A...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
A rare galaxy that's challenging our understanding of the universe | Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil from 2018-08-28T19:53:29

What's it like to discover a galaxy -- and have it named after you? Astrophysicist and TED Fellow Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil lets us know in this quick talk about her team's surprising discovery of a myst...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Where are all the aliens? | Stephen Webb from 2018-07-19T14:56:12

The universe is incredibly old, astoundingly vast and populated by trillions of planets -- so where are all the aliens? Astronomer Stephen Webb has an explanation: we're alone in the universe. In a...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
A new way to monitor vital signs (that can see through walls) | Dina Katabi from 2018-07-12T14:57:32

At MIT, Dina Katabi and her team are working on a bold new way to monitor patients' vital signs in a hospital (or even at home), without wearables or bulky, beeping devices. Bonus: it can see throu...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How to build synthetic DNA and send it across the internet | Dan Gibson from 2018-07-11T14:54:07

Biologist Dan Gibson edits and programs DNA, just like coders program a computer. But his "code" creates life, giving scientists the power to convert digital information into biological material li...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How we study the microbes living in your gut | Dan Knights from 2018-07-10T19:53:07


There are about a hundred trillion microbes living inside your gut -- protecting you from infection, aiding digestion and regulating your immune system. As our bodies have adapted to l...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
A new way to remove CO2 from the atmosphere | Jennifer Wilcox from 2018-07-05T14:44:18

Our planet has a carbon problem -- if we don't start removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, we'll grow hotter, faster. Chemical engineer Jennifer Wilcox previews some amazing technology to sc...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How we're saving one of Earth's last wild places | Steve Boyes from 2018-07-03T20:03:57

Navigating territorial hippos and active minefields, TED Fellow Steve Boyes and a team of scientists have been traveling through the Okavango Delta, Africa's largest remaining wetland wilderness, t...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The tiny creature that secretly powers the planet | Penny Chisholm from 2018-07-02T14:56:50

Oceanographer Penny Chisholm introduces us to an amazing little being: Prochlorococcus, the most abundant photosynthetic species on the planet. A marine microbe that has existed for millions of yea...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The story of 'Oumuamua, the first visitor from another star system | Karen J. Meech from 2018-06-27T18:17:20

In October 2017, astrobiologist Karen J. Meech got the call every astronomer waits for: NASA had spotted the very first visitor from another star system. The interstellar comet -- a half-mile-long ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The surprising science of alpha males | Frans de Waal from 2018-06-18T19:50:18


In this fascinating look at the "alpha male," primatologist Frans de Waal explores the privileges and costs of power while drawing surprising parallels between how humans and primates ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Four billion years of evolution in six minutes | Prosanta Chakrabarty from 2018-06-15T14:54

Did humans evolve from monkeys or from fish? In this enlightening talk, ichthyologist and TED Fellow Prosanta Chakrabarty dispels some hardwired myths about evolution, encouraging us to remember th...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
What we'll learn about the brain in the next century | Sam Rodriques from 2018-06-12T19:53:38

In this imaginative talk, neuroengineer Sam Rodriques takes us on a thrilling tour of the next 100 years in brain science. He envisions strange (and sometimes frightening) innovations that may be t...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The journey through loss and grief | Jason B. Rosenthal from 2018-06-12T14:53

In her brutally honest, ironically funny and widely read meditation on death, "You May Want to Marry My Husband," the late author and filmmaker Amy Krouse Rosenthal gave her husband Jason very publ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Let's turn the high seas into the world's largest nature reserve | Enric Sala from 2018-06-06T18:28:20

What if we could save the fishing industry and protect the ocean at the same time? Marine ecologist Enric Sala shares his bold plan to safeguard the high seas -- some of the last wild places on ear...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How we can turn the cold of outer space into a renewable resource | Aaswath Raman from 2018-06-01T16:03:24

What if we could use the cold darkness of outer space to cool buildings on earth? In this mind-blowing talk, physicist Aaswath Raman details the technology he's developing to harness "night-sky coo...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How vultures can help solve crimes | Lauren Pharr from 2018-05-31T18:35:45

Can a bird that symbolizes death help the living catch criminals? In this informative and accessible talk, forensic anthropologist Lauren Pharr shows us how vultures impact crime scenes -- and the ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The shocking danger of mountaintop removal -- and why it must end | Michael Hendryx from 2018-05-22T20:01:35


Research investigator Michael Hendryx studies mountaintop removal, an explosive type of surface coal mining used in Appalachia that comes with unexpected health hazards. In this data-p...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Scientists must be free to learn, to speak and to challenge | Kirsty Duncan from 2018-05-16T14:58:50

"You do not mess with something so fundamental, so precious, as science," says Kirsty Duncan, Canada's first Minister of Science. In a heartfelt, inspiring talk about pushing boundaries, she makes ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The doctors, nurses and aid workers rebuilding Syria | Rola Hallam from 2018-05-15T14:50:11

Local humanitarians are beacons of light in the darkness of war, says humanitarian aid entrepreneur and TED Fellow Rola Hallam. She's working to help responders on the ground in devastated communit...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The "dead zone" of the Gulf of Mexico | Nancy Rabalais from 2018-04-18T17:25:41

Ocean expert Nancy Rabalais tracks the ominously named "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico -- where there isn't enough oxygen in the water to support life. The Gulf has the second largest dead zone i...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Should we create a solar shade to cool the earth? | Danny Hillis from 2018-04-05T14:48:27

In this perspective-shifting talk, Danny Hillis prompts us to approach global issues like climate change with creative scientific solutions. Taking a stand for solar geoengineering, he looks at con...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How fungi recognize (and infect) plants | Mennat El Ghalid from 2018-03-27T19:56:43

Each year, the world loses enough food to feed half a billion people to fungi, the most destructive pathogens of plants. Mycologist and TED Fellow Mennat El Ghalid explains how a breakthrough in ou...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The wonderful world of life in a drop of water | Simone Bianco and Tom Zimmerman from 2018-03-07T20:51:31

"Hold your breath," says inventor Tom Zimmerman. "This is the world without plankton." These tiny organisms produce two-thirds of our planet's oxygen -- without them, life as we know it wouldn't ex...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How we look kilometers below the Antarctic ice sheet | Dustin Schroeder from 2018-03-01T15:59:53

Antarctica is a vast and dynamic place, but radar technologies -- from World War II-era film to state-of-the-art miniaturized sensors -- are enabling scientists to observe and understand changes be...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The role of human emotions in science and research | Ilona Stengel from 2018-02-26T16:02:34

Do human emotions have a role to play in science and research? Material researcher Ilona Stengel suggests that instead of opposing each other, emotions and logic complement and reinforce each other...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
This deep-sea mystery is changing our understanding of life | Karen Lloyd from 2018-02-06T15:55:37

How deep into the Earth can we go and still find life? Marine microbiologist Karen Lloyd introduces us to deep-subsurface microbes: tiny organisms that live buried meters deep in ocean mud and have...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Could fish social networks help us save coral reefs? | Mike Gil from 2018-01-30T20:56:29

Mike Gil spies on fish: using novel multi-camera systems and computer vision technology, the TED Fellow and his colleagues explore how coral reef fish behave, socialize and affect their ecosystems....

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Why I study the most dangerous animal on earth -- mosquitoes | Fredros Okumu from 2018-01-29T16:00:52

What do we really know about mosquitoes? Fredros Okumu catches and studies these disease-carrying insects for a living -- with the hope of crashing their populations. Join Okumu for a tour of the f...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The thrilling potential for off-grid solar energy | Amar Inamdar from 2018-01-26T15:57:43

There's an energy revolution happening in villages and towns across Africa -- off-grid solar energy is becoming a viable alternative to traditional electricity systems. In a bold talk about a true ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The surprising solution to ocean plastic | David Katz from 2018-01-25T15:49:39

Can we solve the problem of ocean plastic pollution and end extreme poverty at the same time? That's the ambitious goal of The Plastic Bank: a worldwide chain of stores where everything from school...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How we can stop Africa's scientific brain drain | Kevin Njabo from 2018-01-10T16:02:06

How can Africans find solutions to Africa's problems? Conservation biologist Kevin Njabo tells his personal story of how he nearly became part of the group of African scientists who seek an educati...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
You aren't at the mercy of your emotions -- your brain creates them | Lisa Feldman Barrett from 2018-01-02T20:57:52

Can you look at someone's face and know what they're feeling? Does everyone experience happiness, sadness and anxiety the same way? What are emotions anyway? For the past 25 years, psychology profe...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Lessons from a solar storm chaser | Miho Janvier from 2017-12-12T20:52:55

Space physicist Miho Janvier studies solar storms: giant clouds of particles that escape from the Sun and can disrupt life on Earth (while also producing amazing auroras). How do you study the atmo...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Adventures of an interplanetary architect | Xavier De Kestelier from 2017-12-11T21:04:06

How will we live elsewhere in the galaxy? On Earth, natural resources for creating structures are abundant, but sending these materials up with us to the Moon or Mars is clunky and cost-prohibitive...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How augmented reality could change the future of surgery | Nadine Hachach-Haram from 2017-12-08T16:03:42

If you're undergoing surgery, you want the best surgical team to collaborate on your case, no matter where they are. Surgeon and entrepreneur Nadine Hachach-Haram is developing a new system that he...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Fashion has a pollution problem -- can biology fix it? | Natsai Audrey Chieza from 2017-11-29T16:01:33

Natsai Audrey Chieza is a designer on a mission -- to reduce pollution in the fashion industry while creating amazing new things to wear. In her lab, she noticed that the bacteria Streptomyces coel...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The future of good food in China | Matilda Ho from 2017-11-28T21:07:04

Fresh food free of chemicals and pesticides is hard to come by in China: in 2016, the Chinese government revealed half a million food safety violations in just nine months. In the absence of safe, ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Why wildfires have gotten worse -- and what we can do about it | Paul Hessburg from 2017-11-07T20:35:34

Megafires, individual fires that burn more than 100,000 acres, are on the rise in the western United States -- the direct result of unintentional yet massive changes we've brought to the forests th...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How to win at evolution and survive a mass extinction | Lauren Sallan from 2017-10-31T20:25:54

Congratulations! By being here, alive, you are one of history's winners -- the culmination of a success story four billion years in the making. The other 99 percent of species who have ever lived o...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Can we stop climate change by removing CO2 from the air? | Tim Kruger from 2017-10-31T14:49:07

Could we cure climate change? Geoengineering researcher Tim Kruger wants to try. He shares one promising possibility: using natural gas to generate electricity in a way that takes carbon dioxide ou...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
What's hidden under the Greenland ice sheet? | Kristin Poinar from 2017-10-17T14:52:16

The Greenland ice sheet is massive, mysterious -- and melting. Using advanced technology, scientists are revealing its secrets for the first time, and what they've found is amazing: hidden under th...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
A global food crisis may be less than a decade away | Sara Menker from 2017-10-05T19:22:22

Sara Menker quit a career in commodities trading to figure out how the global value chain of agriculture works. Her discoveries have led to some startling predictions: "We could have a tipping poin...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How LIGO discovered gravitational waves -- and what might be next | Gabriela González from 2017-10-03T13:02:04

More than 100 years after Albert Einstein predicted gravitational waves -- ripples in space-time caused by violent cosmic collisions -- LIGO scientists confirmed their existence using large, extrem...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The fascinating secret lives of giant clams | Mei Lin Neo from 2017-09-26T14:55:15

When you think about the deep blue sea, you might instantly think of whales or coral reefs. But spare a thought for giant clams, the world's largest living shellfish. These incredible creatures can...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
The most Martian place on Earth | Armando Azua-Bustos from 2017-09-20T15:02:17

How can you study Mars without a spaceship? Head to the most Martian place on Earth -- the Atacama Desert in Chile. Astrobiologist Armando Azua-Bustos grew up in this vast, arid landscape and now s...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
What it feels like to see Earth from space | Benjamin Grant from 2017-09-07T19:55:59

What the astronauts felt when they saw Earth from space changed them forever. Author and artist Benjamin Grant aims to provoke this same feeling of overwhelming scale and beauty in each of us throu...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
What the sugar coating on your cells is trying to tell you | Carolyn Bertozzi from 2017-08-24T19:27:29

Your cells are coated with sugars that store information and speak a secret language. What are they trying to tell us? Your blood type, for one -- and, potentially, that you have cancer. Chemical b...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Meet the microscopic life in your home -- and on your face | Anne Madden from 2017-08-11T14:54:31

Behold the microscopic jungle in and around you: tiny organisms living on your cheeks, under your sofa and in the soil in your backyard. We have an adversarial relationship with these microbes -- w...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Why I still have hope for coral reefs | Kristen Marhaver from 2017-07-28T14:51:23

Corals in the Pacific Ocean have been dying at an alarming rate, particularly from bleaching brought on by increased water temperatures. But it's not too late to act, says TED Fellow Kristen Marhav...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
You smell with your body, not just your nose | Jennifer Pluznick from 2017-07-27T14:52:42


Do your kidneys have a sense of smell? Turns out, the same tiny scent detectors found in your nose are also found in some pretty unexpected places -- like your muscles, kidneys and eve...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Your brain hallucinates your conscious reality | Anil Seth from 2017-07-18T15:00:13

Right now, billions of neurons in your brain are working together to generate a conscious experience -- and not just any conscious experience, your experience of the world around you and of yoursel...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Can clouds buy us more time to solve climate change? | Kate Marvel from 2017-07-17T15:05:42

Climate change is real, case closed. But there's still a lot we don't understand about it, and the more we know the better chance we have to slow it down. One still-unknown factor: How might clouds...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
What happens in your brain when you pay attention? | Mehdi Ordikhani-Seyedlar from 2017-06-08T14:48:53

Attention isn't just about what we focus on -- it's also about what our brains filter out. By investigating patterns in the brain as people try to focus, computational neuroscientist Mehdi Ordikhan...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
A secret weapon against Zika and other mosquito-borne diseases | Nina Fedoroff from 2017-05-25T14:53:13

Where did Zika come from, and what can we do about it? Molecular biologist Nina Fedoroff takes us around the world to understand Zika's origins and how it spread, proposing a controversial way to s...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
A climate solution where all sides can win | Ted Halstead from 2017-05-17T14:38:21

Why are we so deadlocked on climate, and what would it take to overcome the seemingly insurmountable barriers to progress? Policy entrepreneur Ted Halstead proposes a transformative solution based ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How human noise affects ocean habitats | Kate Stafford from 2017-05-12T15:04:35

Oceanographer Kate Stafford lowers us into the sonically rich depths of the Arctic Ocean, where ice groans, whales sing to communicate over vast distances -- and climate change and human noise thre...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
A tribute to nurses | Carolyn Jones from 2017-05-08T15:02:41


Carolyn Jones spent five years interviewing, photographing and filming nurses across America, traveling to places dealing with some of the nation's biggest public health issues. She sh...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
What you can do to prevent Alzheimer's | Lisa Genova from 2017-04-28T17:07:37

Alzheimer's doesn't have to be your brain's destiny, says neuroscientist and author of "Still Alice," Lisa Genova. She shares the latest science investigating the disease -- and some promising rese...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How radio telescopes show us unseen galaxies | Natasha Hurley-Walker from 2017-04-18T15:02:39

Our universe is strange, wonderful and vast, says astronomer Natasha Hurley-Walker. A spaceship can't carry you into its depths (yet) -- but a radio telescope can. In this mesmerizing talk, Hurley-...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How to take a picture of a black hole | Katie Bouman from 2017-04-04T15:10:25

At the heart of the Milky Way, there's a supermassive black hole that feeds off a spinning disk of hot gas, sucking up anything that ventures too close -- even light. We can't see it, but its event...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
How early life experience is written into DNA | Moshe Szyf from 2017-03-30T15:17

Moshe Szyf is a pioneer in the field of epigenetics, the study of how living things reprogram their genome in response to social factors like stress and lack of food. His research suggests that bio...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
3 ways to spot a bad statistic | Mona Chalabi from 2017-03-24T14:48:55

Sometimes it's hard to know what statistics are worthy of trust. But we shouldn't count out stats altogether ... instead, we should learn to look behind them. In this delightful, hilarious talk, da...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
Lifelike simulations that make real-life surgery safer | Peter Weinstock from 2017-03-20T14:57:11

Critical care doctor Peter Weinstock shows how surgical teams are using a blend of Hollywood special effects and 3D printing to create amazingly lifelike reproductions of real patients -- so they c...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
A scientific approach to the paranormal | Carrie Poppy from 2017-03-03T16:38:07

What's haunting Carrie Poppy? Is it ghosts or something worse? In this talk, the investigative journalist narrates her encounter with a spooky feeling you'll want to warn your friends about and exp...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
A robot that eats pollution | Jonathan Rossiter from 2017-02-22T16:17:33

Meet the "Row-bot," a robot that cleans up pollution and generates the electricity needed to power itself by swallowing dirty water. Roboticist Jonathan Rossiter explains how this special swimming ...

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TED Talks Science and Medicine
What time is it on Mars? | Nagin Cox from 2017-02-03T16:06:45

Nagin Cox is a first-generation Martian. As a spacecraft engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Cox works on the team that manages the United States' rovers on Mars. But working a 9-to-5 on ...

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