In 1995, the British Medical Journal published a report about a builder who accidentally jumped onto a nail, which pierced straight through his steel-toed boot. He was in such agonizing pain that any…

The word bipolar means ‘two extremes.’ For the many millions experiencing bipolar disorder around the world, life is split between two different realities: elation and depression. So what causes this…

Being able to sense time helps us do everything from waking and sleeping to knowing precisely when to catch a ball that’s hurtling towards us. And we owe all these abilities to an interconnected…

Picture this: going from being best friends with someone to barely interacting with them. For Leo Hamric this is exactly what happened when he decided to end...

Whether you put on your cap and gown last week — or last century — these honest answers can give you some insight and guidance. “If you don’t know what you want to do with the rest of your life, yo…

Black holes are among the most destructive objects in the universe. Anything that gets too close to a black hole, be it an asteroid, planet, or star, risks being torn apart by its extreme…

Check out all of TED-Ed's book recommendations: http://ed.ted.com/books Check out Neil deGrasse Tyson's "Astrophysics for People in a Hurry": https://shop.ed...

In the 1950s, as part of a campaign to expose suspected Communists, thousands of individuals were aggressively investigated and questioned before government panels. Named after its most notorious practitioner, the phenomenon known as McCarthyism destroyed lives and careers. But how did this episode of

You stick cookie dough into an oven, and magically, you get a plate of warm, gooey cookies. Except it’s not magic; it’s science. Stephanie Warren explains via basic chemistry principles how the dough…

By 1973, Harvey Milk had already been many things: naval officer, high school teacher, bit-part actor and wandering hippie. Starting fresh in San Francisco, his belief in a more personal approach to…

What drives someone to kill in cold blood? What goes through the murderer’s mind? And what kind of a society breeds such people? Over 150 years ago Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky took these questions…

It’s late, pitch dark and a self-driving car winds down a narrow country road. Suddenly, three hazards appear at the same time. With no human at the wheel, the car uses smart eyes, sensors that’ll…

Bees are facing some enormous obstacles– and some are a direct consequence of human greed. Kurzgesagt explains why we need to help our small buzzing friends thrive.

Let’s celebrate boys for their abilities, values and passions, and show them that their character matters more than their height, says rapper and poet Meta Sarmiento. I was born and raised on the i…

It is estimated that Johnson & Johnson have made an astounding 100 billion Band-Aids since they were invented in 1920. But where did the idea come from? In the third installment of our ‘Moments of…

You probably know the common symptoms of a heart attack: chest and arm pain, shortness of breath and fatigue. But there's another kind that's just as deadly ...

Under her shrewd eye and pen, Sylvia Plath turned everyday objects into haunting images: a “new statue in a drafty museum,” a shadow in a mirror, a slab of soap. Her breathtaking perspectives and…

If we want children to thrive in our complicated world, we need to teach them how to think, says educator Brian Oshiro. And we can do it with 4 simple questions. We all want the young people in our…

Nanahuatl, weakest of the Aztec gods, sickly and covered in pimples, had been chosen to form a new world. There had already been four worlds, each set in motion by its own “Lord Sun,” and each had…

There are a number of scenarios that can make us sweat–including exercise, eating spicy foods, and nervousness. But how does this substance suddenly materialize, and what exactly is its purpose? John…

For 10,000 years, humanity suffered from the scourge of smallpox. The virus killed almost a third of its victims within two weeks and left survivors horribly scarred. But Simona Zompi commends the…

Jose Luis Vilson defines teacher voice as the individual and collective expression of meaningful, professional opinion based on classroom experience and expe...

  Everyone wants kids to thrive in school — but what about the teachers who are there to make that happen? What can parents and community members do that might be actually useful, valued and a…

The talented herbalist Xu Xian had just started his own medicine shop where he created remedies with the help of his wife, Bai Su Zhen. One day a monk named Fa Hai approached him, warning him that…