TED: Ideas worth spreading TED Talks Daily Audio Selection

TED Talks Daily Audio Selection

Want TED Talks on the go? Every weekday, this feed brings you our latest talks in audio format. Hear thought-provoking ideas on every subject imaginable -- from Artificial Intelligence to Zoology, and everything in between -- given by the world's leading thinkers and doers. This collection of talks, given at TED and TEDx conferences around the globe, is also available in video format.
Daily English South Africa Education · Science
1,097 Episodes
860 – 880

How to have better political conversations | Robb Willer

Robb Willer studies the forces that unite and divide us. As a social psychologist, he researches how moral values -- typically a source of division -- can also be used to bring people together. Willer shares compelling insights on how we might bridge the ideological divide and offers some intuitive…
13 Jul 2018 11AM 12 min

An honest look at the personal finance crisis | Elizabeth White

Millions of baby boomers are moving into their senior years with empty pockets and declining choices to earn a living. And right behind them is a younger generation facing the same challenges. In this deeply personal talk, author Elizabeth White opens up an honest conversation about financial trouble and offers…
12 Jul 2018 3PM 18 min

How to build synthetic DNA and send it across the internet | Dan Gibson

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 like proteins and vaccines. Now he's on to a new project: "biological transportation," which holds the promise of beaming new medicines…
11 Jul 2018 10AM 15 min

How we study the microbes living in your gut | Dan Knights

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 life in modern society, we've started to lose some of our normal microbes; at the same time, diseases linked to a…
10 Jul 2018 3PM 10 min

The rapid growth of the Chinese internet -- and where it's headed | Gary Liu

The Chinese internet has grown at a staggering pace -- it now has more users than the combined populations of the US, UK, Russia, Germany, France and Canada. Even with its imperfections, the lives of once-forgotten populations have been irrevocably elevated because of it, says South China Morning Post CEO…
9 Jul 2018 10AM 12 min

A crash course in organic chemistry | Jakob Magolan

Jakob Magolan is here to change your perception of organic chemistry. In an accessible talk packed with striking graphics, he teaches us the basics while breaking the stereotype that organic chemistry is something to be afraid of.
6 Jul 2018 10AM 16 min

A new way to remove CO2 from the atmosphere | Jennifer Wilcox

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 scrub carbon from the air, using chemical reactions that capture and reuse CO2 in much the same way trees do…
5 Jul 2018 10AM 14 min

Hamilton vs. Madison and the birth of American partisanship | Noah Feldman

The divisiveness plaguing American politics today is nothing new, says constitutional law scholar Noah Feldman. In fact, it dates back to the early days of the republic, when a dispute between Alexander Hamilton and James Madison led the two Founding Fathers to cut ties and form the country's first political…
4 Jul 2018 11AM 14 min

How we're saving one of Earth's last wild places | Steve Boyes

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, to explore and protect this near-pristine habitat against the rising threat of development. In this awe-inspiring talk packed with images, he shares his…
3 Jul 2018 4PM 9 min

Why teens confess to crimes they didn't commit | Lindsay Malloy

Why do juveniles falsely confess to crimes? What makes them more vulnerable than adults to this shocking, counterintuitive phenomenon? Through the lens of Brendan Dassey's interrogation and confession (as featured in Netflix's "Making a Murderer" documentary), developmental psychology professor and researcher Lindsay Malloy breaks down the science underlying false confessions…
3 Jul 2018 12PM 14 min

The tiny creature that secretly powers the planet | Penny Chisholm

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 billions of years, Prochlorococcus wasn't discovered until the mid-1980s -- but its ancient genetic code may hold clues to how we can reduce our…
2 Jul 2018 10AM 16 min

How autonomous flying taxis could change the way you travel | Rodin Lyasoff

Flight is about to get a lot more personal, says aviation entrepreneur Rodin Lyasoff. In this visionary talk, he imagines a new golden age of air travel in which small, autonomous air taxis allow us to bypass traffic jams and fundamentally transform how we get around our cities and towns…
29 Jun 2018 10AM 8 min

The story of 'Oumuamua, the first visitor from another star system | Karen J. Meech

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 object eventually named `Oumuamua, from the Hawaiian for "scout" or "messenger" -- raised intriguing questions: Was it a chunk…
27 Jun 2018 2PM 13 min

Bridges should be beautiful | Ian Firth

Bridges need to be functional, safe and durable, but they should also be elegant and beautiful, says structural engineer Ian Firth. In this mesmerizing tour of bridges old and new, Firth explores the potential for innovation and variety in this essential structure -- and how spectacular ones reveal our connectivity,…
27 Jun 2018 10AM 14 min

The symbols of systemic racism -- and how to take away their power | Paul Rucker

Multidisciplinary artist and TED Fellow Paul Rucker is unstitching the legacy of systemic racism in the United States. A collector of artifacts connected to the history of slavery -- from branding irons and shackles to postcards depicting lynchings -- Rucker couldn't find an undamaged Ku Klux Klan robe for his…
26 Jun 2018 3PM 7 min

What if we eliminated one of the world's oldest diseases? | Caroline Harper

Thousands of years ago, ancient Nubians drew pictures on tomb walls of a terrible disease that turns the eyelids inside out and causes blindness. This disease, trachoma, is still a scourge in many parts of the world today -- but it's also completely preventable, says Caroline Harper. Armed with data…
26 Jun 2018 10AM 10 min
860 – 880