TED Talks Daily Audio Selection

War and what comes after | Clemantine Wamariya

Clemantine Wamariya was six years old when the Rwandan Civil War forced her and her sister to flee their home in Kigali, leaving their parents and everything they knew behind. In this deeply personal talk, she tells the story of how she became a refugee, living in camps in seven…

24 Apr 2018 10AM 13 min

SpaceX's plan to fly you across the globe in 30 minutes | Gwynne Shotwell

What's up at SpaceX? Engineer Gwynne Shotwell was employee number seven at Elon Musk's pioneering aerospace company and is now its president. In conversation with TED curator Chris Anderson, she discusses SpaceX's race to put people into orbit and the organization's next big project, the BFR (ask her what it…

23 Apr 2018 10AM 21 min

A Parkland teacher's homework for us all | Diane Wolk-Rogers

Diane Wolk-Rogers teaches history at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, site of a horrific school shooting on Valentine's Day 2018. How can we end this senseless violence? In a stirring talk, Wolk-Rogers offers three ways Americans can move forward to create more safety and responsibility around guns…

20 Apr 2018 10AM 16 min

Why it's worth listening to people you disagree with | Zachary R. Wood

We get stronger, not weaker, by engaging with ideas and people we disagree with, says Zachary R. Wood. In an important talk about finding common ground, Wood makes the case that we can build empathy and gain understanding by engaging tactfully and thoughtfully with controversial ideas and unfamiliar perspectives. "Tuning…

19 Apr 2018 10AM 12 min

The "dead zone" of the Gulf of Mexico | Nancy Rabalais

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 in the world; on top of killing fish and crustaceans, it's also killing fisheries in…

18 Apr 2018 1PM 12 min

The harm reduction model of drug addiction treatment | Mark Tyndall

Why do we still think that drug use is a law-enforcement issue? Making drugs illegal does nothing to stop people from using them, says public health expert Mark Tyndall. So, what might work? Tyndall shares community-based research that shows how harm-reduction strategies, like safe-injection sites, are working to address the…

18 Apr 2018 10AM 16 min

A printable, flexible, organic solar cell | Hannah Bürckstümmer

Unlike the solar cells you're used to seeing, organic photovoltaics are made of compounds that are dissolved in ink and can be printed and molded using simple techniques. The result is a low-weight, flexible, semi-transparent film that turns the energy of the sun into electricity. Hannah Bürckstümmer shows us how…

17 Apr 2018 8AM 10 min

What's missing in the global debate over refugees | Yasin Kakande

In the ongoing debate over refugees, we hear from everyone -- from politicians who pledge border controls to citizens who fear they'll lose their jobs -- everyone, that is, except migrants themselves. Why are they coming? Journalist and TED Fellow Yasin Kakande explains what compelled him and many others to…

16 Apr 2018 10AM 5 min

What if we ended the injustice of bail? | Robin Steinberg

On any given night, more than 450,000 people in the United States are locked up in jail simply because they don't have enough money to pay bail. The sums in question are often around $500: easy for some to pay, impossible for others. This has real human consequences -- people…

13 Apr 2018 11AM 15 min

How we need to remake the internet | Jaron Lanier

In the early days of digital culture, Jaron Lanier helped craft a vision for the internet as public commons where humanity could share its knowledge -- but even then, this vision was haunted by the dark side of how it could turn out: with personal devices that control our lives,…

12 Apr 2018 11AM 15 min

How the arts help homeless youth heal and build | Malika Whitley

Malika Whitley is the founder of ChopArt, an organization for homeless teens focused on mentorship, dignity and opportunity through the arts. In this moving, personal talk, she shares her story of homelessness and finding her voice through arts -- and her mission to provide a creative outlet for others who…

11 Apr 2018 4PM 7 min

How language shapes the way we think | Lera Boroditsky

There are about 7,000 languages spoken around the world -- and they all have different sounds, vocabularies and structures. But do they shape the way we think? Cognitive scientist Lera Boroditsky shares examples of language -- from an Aboriginal community in Australia that uses cardinal directions instead of left and…

11 Apr 2018 11AM 14 min

How language shapes the way we think | Lera Boroditsky

There are about 7,000 languages spoken around the world -- and they all have different sounds, vocabularies and structures. But do they shape the way we think? Cognitive scientist Lera Boroditsky shares examples of language -- from an Aboriginal community in Australia that uses cardinal directions instead of left and…

11 Apr 2018 11AM 14 min

How a team of chefs fed Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria | José Andrés

After Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in 2017, chef José Andrés traveled to the devastated island with a simple idea: to feed the hungry. Millions of meals served later, Andrés shares the remarkable story of creating the world's biggest restaurant -- and the awesome power of letting people in need…

10 Apr 2018 11AM 22 min

The Standing Rock resistance and our fight for indigenous rights | Tara Houska

Still invisible and often an afterthought, indigenous peoples are uniting to protect the world's water, lands and history -- while trying to heal from genocide and ongoing inequality. Tribal attorney and Couchiching First Nation citizen Tara Houska chronicles the history of attempts by government and industry to eradicate the legitimacy…

9 Apr 2018 11AM 11 min

How I use the drum to tell my story | Kasiva Mutua

In this talk-performance hybrid, drummer, percussionist and TED Fellow Kasiva Mutua shares how she's breaking the taboo against female drummers in Kenya -- and her mission to teach the significance and importance of the drum to young boys, women and girls. "Women can be custodians of culture, too," Mutua says.

6 Apr 2018 10AM 13 min

Should we create a solar shade to cool the earth? | Danny Hillis

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 controversial solutions with open-minded curiosity.

5 Apr 2018 10AM 7 min

To eliminate waste, we need to rediscover thrift | Andrew Dent

There's no such thing as throwing something away, says Andrew Dent -- when you toss a used food container, broken toy or old pair of socks into the trash, those things inevitably end up in ever-growing landfills. But we can get smarter about the way we make, and remake, our…

4 Apr 2018 10AM 10 min

My $500 house in Detroit -- and the neighbors who helped me rebuild it | Drew Philp

In 2009, journalist and screenwriter Drew Philp bought a ruined house in Detroit for $500. In the years that followed, as he gutted the interior and removed the heaps of garbage crowding the rooms, he didn't just learn how to repair a house -- he learned how to build a…

3 Apr 2018 3PM 14 min

Math can help uncover cancer's secrets | Irina Kareva

Irina Kareva translates biology into mathematics and vice versa. She writes mathematical models that describe the dynamics of cancer, with the goal of developing new drugs that target tumors. "The power and beauty of mathematical modeling lies in the fact that it makes you formalize, in a very rigorous way,…

3 Apr 2018 10AM 7 min