TED Talks Daily Audio Selection

Why I'm done trying to be "man enough" | Justin Baldoni

Justin Baldoni wants to start a dialogue with men about redefining masculinity -- to figure out ways to be not just good men but good humans. In a warm, personal talk, he shares his effort to reconcile who he is with who the world tells him a man should be…

4 Dec 2017 11AM 19 min

Get comfortable with being uncomfortable | Luvvie Ajayi

Luvvie Ajayi isn't afraid to speak her mind or to be the one dissenting voice in a crowd, and neither should you. "Your silence serves no one," says the writer, activist and self-proclaimed professional troublemaker. In this bright, uplifting talk, Ajayi shares three questions to ask yourself if you're teetering…

1 Dec 2017 10AM 11 min

A Republican mayor's plan to replace partisanship with policy | G.T. Bynum

Conventional wisdom says that to win an election, you need to play to your constituencies' basest, most divisive instincts. But as a candidate for mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, G.T. Bynum decided to skip the smear campaigns, tell voters what he wanted to accomplish and give them ways to measure his…

30 Nov 2017 3PM 13 min

What AI is -- and isn't | Sebastian Thrun and Chris Anderson

Educator and entrepreneur Sebastian Thrun wants us to use AI to free humanity of repetitive work and unleash our creativity. In an inspiring, informative conversation with TED Curator Chris Anderson, Thrun discusses the progress of deep learning, why we shouldn't fear runaway AI and how society will be better off…

30 Nov 2017 11AM 24 min

Fashion has a pollution problem -- can biology fix it? | Natsai Audrey Chieza

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 coelicolor makes a striking red-purple pigment, and now she's using it to develop bold, color-fast fabric dye…

29 Nov 2017 11AM 13 min

How to speak so that people want to listen | Julian Treasure

Have you ever felt like you're talking, but nobody is listening? Here's Julian Treasure to help. In this useful talk, the sound expert demonstrates the how-to's of powerful speaking — from some handy vocal exercises to tips on how to speak with empathy. A talk that might help the world…

24 Nov 2017 11AM 10 min

10 ways to have a better conversation | Celeste Headlee

When your job hinges on how well you talk to people, you learn a lot about how to have conversations -- and that most of us don't converse very well. Celeste Headlee has worked as a radio host for decades, and she knows the ingredients of a great conversation: Honesty,…

23 Nov 2017 11AM 12 min

The gospel of doubt | Casey Gerald

What do you do when your firmly held beliefs turn out not to be true? When Casey Gerald's religion failed him, he searched for something new to believe in -- in business, in government, in philanthropy -- but found only false saviors. In this moving talk, Gerald urges us all…

7 Jul 2017 7PM 18 min

My year of living biblically | AJ Jacobs

Author, philosopher, prankster and journalist AJ Jacobs talks about the year he spent living biblically -- following the rules in the Bible as literally as possible.

6 Jul 2017 7PM 17 min

Don't ask where I'm from, ask where I'm a local | Taiye Selasi

When someone asks you where you're from … do you sometimes not know how to answer? Writer Taiye Selasi speaks on behalf of "multi-local" people, who feel at home in the town where they grew up, the city they live now and maybe another place or two. "How can I…

5 Jul 2017 7PM 16 min

Everyone around you has a story the world needs to hear | Dave Isay

Dave Isay opened the first StoryCorps booth in New York’s Grand Central Terminal in 2003 with the intention of creating a quiet place where a person could honor someone who mattered to them by listening to their story. Since then, StoryCorps has evolved into the single largest collection of human…

4 Jul 2017 7PM 22 min

Never, ever give up | Diana Nyad

In the pitch-black night, stung by jellyfish, choking on salt water, singing to herself, hallucinating … Diana Nyad just kept on swimming. And that's how she finally achieved her lifetime goal as an athlete: an extreme 100-mile swim from Cuba to Florida -- at age 64. Hear her story.

3 Jul 2017 7PM 15 min

The unheard story of David and Goliath | Malcolm Gladwell

It's a classic underdog tale: David, a young shepherd armed only with a sling, beats Goliath, the mighty warrior. The story has transcended its biblical origins to become a common shorthand for unlikely victory. But, asks Malcolm Gladwell, is that really what the David and Goliath story is about?

30 Jun 2017 11AM 16 min

The danger of a single story | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.

29 Jun 2017 11AM 19 min

Why I love a country that once betrayed me | George Takei

When he was a child, George Takei and his family were forced into an internment camp for Japanese-Americans, as a "security" measure during World War II. 70 years later, Takei looks back at how the camp shaped his surprising, personal definition of patriotism and democracy.

28 Jun 2017 11AM 16 min

Why some of us don't have one true calling | Emilie Wapnick

What do you want to be when you grow up? Well, if you're not sure you want to do just one thing for the rest of your life, you're not alone. In this illuminating talk, writer and artist Emilie Wapnick describes the kind of people she calls "multipotentialites" -- who…

27 Jun 2017 11AM 12 min

The boiling river of the Amazon | Andrés Ruzo

When Andrés Ruzo was a young boy in Peru, his grandfather told him a story with an odd detail: There is a river, deep in the Amazon, which boils as if a fire burns below it. Twelve years later, after training as a geoscientist, he set out on a journey…

26 Jun 2017 11AM 16 min