Is civility a sham?
Teresa Bejan / Political theorist, author
The sugar coating your cells is trying to tell you something

TED Talk: Your cells are coated with sugars that store information and speak a secret language

Great stories for your commute

Playlist: These unforgettable stories will carry you through the slog of your everyday commute.

Newest Talks

  1. Is civility a sham?
  2. How a long-forgotten virus could help us solve the antibiotics crisis
  3. A librarian's case against overdue book fines
  4. My journey to thank all the people responsible for my morning coffee
  5. What to trust in a "post-truth" world
  6. The case for a decentralized internet

Trending

  1. This computer is learning to read your mind
  2. Could future devices read images from our brains?
  3. What the sugar coating on your cells is trying to tell you
  4. The Axis of Evil Middle East Comedy Tour
  5. How a dragonfly's brain is designed to kill
  6. Making sense of string theory

Recommended today

  1. This computer is learning to read your mind
  2. Could future devices read images from our brains?
  3. Curating humanity's heritage
  4. Doesn't everyone deserve a chance at a good life?
  5. Why Brexit happened -- and what to do next
  6. How to get better at the things you care about

Explore playlists

TED-Ed lessons: feed your curiosity

  1. The survival of the sea turtle
  2. What's the smallest thing in the universe?
  3. The myth of Sisyphus
  4. History vs. Henry VIII
  5. How folding paper can get you to the moon
  6. Can you solve the secret werewolf riddle?

Open source, open world

  1. How Arduino is open-sourcing imagination
  2. The year open data went worldwide
  3. Discover the next mobile economy
  4. The mind behind Linux
  5. Massive-scale online collaboration
  6. The art of asking

Heard on TED Radio Hour

  1. Why you should make useless things
  2. Where joy hides and how to find it
  3. You owe it to yourself to experience a total solar eclipse
  4. The unexpected beauty of everyday sounds
  5. Walk the earth ... my 17-year vow of silence
  6. The power of introverts

making superheroes: stories from TEDx

  1. What makes a superhero?
  2. The story behind Marvel's Muslim-American superheroine
  3. How I change perceptions by drawing comics
  4. The importance of diversity in the comic book universe
  5. How I brought Batman to Hollywood (and academia)
  6. Bring on the female superheroes!

What should I do with my life?

  1. Why you will fail to have a great career
  2. How great leaders inspire action
  3. Why some of us don't have one true calling
  4. How to find work you love
  5. Before I die I want to ...
  6. Should you live for your résumé ... or your eulogy?

Animals and us

  1. How humans and animals can live together
  2. Moral behavior in animals
  3. What ants teach us about the brain, cancer and the Internet
  4. Chimps have feelings and thoughts. They should also have rights
  5. A monkey economy as irrational as ours
  6. What are animals thinking and feeling?

strange new materials

  1. Silk, the ancient material of the future
  2. Toys and materials from the future
  3. Graphene: the impressive 2D material full of potential
  4. One very dry demo
  5. How we're harnessing nature's hidden superpowers
  6. Design at the intersection of technology and biology

About TED

TED is a nonpartisan nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks. TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 110 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.