How I fail at being disabled
Susan Robinson / Business executive, entrepreneur
How TV reflects who we truly are

TED Talk: The results of a bold study tracking how society has interacted with television over 5 decades

Love a good podcast? Enjoy some talks and recommendations!

Playlist: Compelling stories, intriguing insights and fascinating history for those who can’t get enough

Newest Talks

  1. How I fail at being disabled
  2. Hamilton vs. Madison and the birth of American partisanship
  3. The human insights missing from big data
  4. Your brain hallucinates your conscious reality
  5. Can clouds buy us more time to solve climate change?
  6. Why our screens make us less happy

Trending

  1. A shark-deterrent wetsuit (and it's not what you think)
  2. The electric rise and fall of Nikola Tesla
  3. Biomimicry's surprising lessons from nature's engineers
  4. Glow-in-the-dark sharks and other stunning sea creatures
  5. The surprising spread of Idol TV
  6. The world's most boring television ... and why it's hilariously addictive

Heard on TED Radio Hour

  1. Medical miracle on Everest
  2. What Bernie Madoff couldn't steal from me
  3. A boat carrying 500 refugees sunk at sea. The story of two survivors
  4. How data from a crisis text line is saving lives
  5. My father, locked in his body but soaring free
  6. Behind the lies of Holocaust denial

Explore playlists

best life advice

  1. The life-long learner
  2. 12 truths I learned from life and writing
  3. Things I've learned in my life so far
  4. Who am I? Think again
  5. Life lessons from an ad man
  6. What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness

Ancient treasures

  1. 2600 years of history in one object
  2. Help discover ancient ruins -- before it's too late
  3. A Rosetta Stone for a lost language
  4. Ingenuity and elegance in ancient African alphabets
  5. The ancient ingenuity of water harvesting
  6. Ancient wonders captured in 3D

dinosaur hunters

  1. Where are the baby dinosaurs?
  2. How we unearthed the Spinosaurus
  3. Digging up dinosaurs
  4. Hunting for dinosaurs showed me our place in the universe
  5. Building a dinosaur from a chicken
  6. Clues to prehistoric times, found in blind cavefish

celebrate science

  1. Why we should trust scientists
  2. The danger of science denial
  3. Teach arts and sciences together
  4. How I teach kids to love science
  5. Why science demands a leap into the unknown
  6. Battling bad science

Life-changing educators

  1. Every kid needs a champion
  2. How to raise successful kids -- without over-parenting
  3. 3 rules to spark learning
  4. Teaching design for change
  5. How to learn? From mistakes
  6. How students of color confront impostor syndrome

Amazing houses

  1. Creative houses from reclaimed stuff
  2. Magical houses, made of bamboo
  3. Ingenious homes in unexpected places
  4. How to build with clay ... and community
  5. My architectural philosophy? Bring the community into the process
  6. How to revive a neighborhood: with imagination, beauty and art

Understanding global power

  1. Nationalism vs. globalism: the new political divide
  2. The global power shift
  3. The inside story of the Paris climate agreement
  4. Why climate change is a threat to human rights
  5. Which country does the most good for the world?
  6. Global ethic vs. national interest

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.