Explore the theories of human consciousness and the science of how your brain works to create a conscious experience. — Patient P.S. suffered a stroke that damaged the right side of her brain, leaving her unaware of everything on her left side. If someone threw a ball at her left side, she might duck. But […]
Tag: Ted Education
The physics of surfing – Nick Pizzo
Wondering how you can catch the perfect wave? Dive into the fascinating and complex physics of surfing. — Whether or not you realize it, surfers are masters of complicated physics. The science of surfing begins as soon as a board first hits the water. Surfers may not be thinking about weather patterns in the Pacific, […]
Where did Earth’s water come from? – Zachary Metz
View full lesson: Water covers over 70% of the Earth, cycling from the oceans and rivers to the clouds and back again. It even makes up about 60% of our bodies. But in the rest of the solar system, liquid water is almost impossible to find. So how did our planet end up with so […]
The Egyptian Book of the Dead: A guidebook for the underworld – Tejal Gala
View full lesson: Ancient Egyptians believed that in order to become immortal after death, a spirit must first pass through the underworld — a realm of vast caverns, lakes of fire, and magical gates. Needless to say, one needed to come prepared. But how? Tejal Gala describes an Egyptian “Book of the Dead” — a […]
How a few scientists transformed the way we think about disease – Tien Nguyen
View full lesson: This video was created with support from the U.S. Office of Research Integrity: For several centuries, people though diseases were caused by wandering clouds of poisonous vapor. We now know that this theory is pretty ridiculous, and that diseases are caused by specific bacteria. But how did we get to this new […]
Why does ice float in water? – George Zaidan and Charles Morton
View full lesson: Water is a special substance for several reasons, and you may have noticed an important one right in your cold drink: ice. Solid ice floats in liquid water, which isn’t true for most substances. But why? George Zaidan and Charles Morton explain the science behind how how hydrogen bonds keep the ice […]
The wacky history of cell theory – Lauren Royal-Woods
View full lesson: Scientific discovery isn’t as simple as one good experiment. The weird and wonderful history of cell theory illuminates the twists and turns that came together to build the foundations of biology. Lesson by Lauren Royal-Woods, animation by Augenblick Studios. source
The effects of underwater pressure on the body – Neosha S Kashef
View full lesson: Why would a fish throw up its stomach? What makes a scuba diver develop painful microbubbles in their joints? Neosha S Kashef details the basics of barotrauma, shedding light on how humans and fish alike are influenced by laws of physics under the sea. Lesson by Neosha S Kashef, animation by The […]
Why can't some birds fly? – Gillian Gibb
Check out our Patreon page: View full lesson: Though the common ancestor of all modern birds could fly, many different bird species have independently lost their flight. Flight can have incredible benefits, especially for escaping predators, hunting and traveling long distances. But it also has high costs: consuming huge amounts of energy and limiting body […]
The origin of countless conspiracy theories – PatrickJMT
View full lesson: Check out PatrickJMT’s YouTube channel here: Why can we find geometric shapes in the night sky? How can we know that at least two people in London have exactly the same number of hairs on their head? And why can patterns be found in just about any text — even Vanilla Ice […]