Humanity is in short supply at many workplaces, where it's been pushed out by automation and a culture of overwork. Social psychologist Adam Waytz writes about a surprising way to restore humanity and also improve employee engagement: Giving people the time and encouragement to unplug completely from their jobs. As our world becomes more and mo...

Science writer Sonia Shah explains why it's really not your fault you're attracted to that terrible person. While the precise architecture of romance remains decidedly mysterious, evolutionary biology suggests a few general rules. One is that people should be attracted to mates who will be good coparents and help them produce viable children. T...

The mad rush of the holidays can stress out the sunniest soul, and yet somehow, beneath it all, we remain cheerfully optimistic.  We look ahead, make New Year's resolutions and generally believe next year will be better than this one and the year before. Why? Tali Sharot, who spoke at TED2012, says we homo sapiens are genetically predisposed...

Most people’s hearts leap up when they see the words “50% off” or “Buy One Get One Free.” Unfortunately, discounts cause us to act quickly and spend more than we should, say economist Dan Ariely and writer Jeff Kreisler. Susan Thompkins is somebody’s Aunt Susan, and everyone has someone like her. Aunt Susan is a genuinely happy and loving woman...

Alex Salmond is interested in the role of small countries in the world. And, "As the leader of a small country that's had a big impact on the world, it's something of a specialist subject of mine." Indeed! Salmond was the First Minister of Scotland. He points to a remarkable moment at the height of the recent protests in Trafalgar Square,...

If we did, we’d all be kinder and more compassionate, both to each other and to ourselves when our hearts get broken, says psychologist Guy Winch. I have worked with scores of heartbroken people over the past twenty years, and I remember many of them vividly. This is not surprising, as the ease with which we recall events is heavily influenced ...

Secrecy and propriety used to define our cultural and professional lives. We kept trade secrets, held closed-door meetings, had whispered conversations and kept the details of our comings-and-goings to ourselves. That's no longer the case. We have entered a new era -- one characterized by openness -- in which our world and our relationships ...

What do a disease-fighting epidemiologist (retired) and an up-and-coming social psychologist have in common? They're both fascinated by the unseen social problems hidden behind the word "inequality."  Beyond the lack of access to money and power -- what does inequality do to us as human beings? Epidemiologist Richard Wilkinson (TED Talk: ...

But there’s good news: the internet can help us dissolve these feelings and create new bonds of solidarity, says media theorist Douglas Rushkoff. Once, after delivering a lecture at Berkeley in the 1960s, a psychologist took questions from the audience. A young woman stood up to explain that she understood the deep connection between people and...

Photos: James Duncan Davidson Ainissa Ramirez comes on stage armed with a blowtorch. Well, that sure got everyone's attention. She promptly uses said blowtorch to straighten a piece of bent piece of wire. Her point: atoms often rearrange usefully to create entirely different types of structures. The Yale associate professor goes on to exp...

The many-headed dragon of public anger has a mouthful of fire for parents who don't vaccinate. But such scolding misses the mark, alienating caring parents who just want their kids to be safe. When measles broke out at California’s Disneyland in 2015, sickening nearly 150 people across seven states and spreading to Mexico and Canada, the online...

In her TED Talk “The Power of Introverts,” Susan Cain illuminates the many subtle ways our culture favors extroversion and gives some great ideas for how introverts can better shine at school, at work and in everyday life. This talk certainly struck a nerve -- it’s been viewed more than 8 million times since it was posted in 2012. So we got ...

Cultured meat could be coming to our plates in the next few years. How is it made? And will it help, or hurt, the planet? Here's what we know so far. One day -- maybe not that long from now -- you might be able to go to the store and buy hamburger meat that didn’t require killing an animal or pretending that soybeans taste like beef. It will lo...

TED Conversations is a unique space where any member of this community can get feedback on an idea, ask a question that they just can’t get out of their mind, or start a respectful debate on an issue they hold near and dear to their heart. This week on TED Conversations: Challenging conventional wisdom on aid to developing nations, thinking abou...

This post is part of TED’s “How to Be a Better Human” series, each of which contains a piece of helpful advice from people in the TED community; browse through all the posts here. Meetings can crush your soul. My personal experience -- and the prevailing wisdom of management and psychology research -- is that meetings default to patterns ...

Humans are off to live on Mars. At least, that's the case journalist Stephen Petranek makes in his TED Book, How We'll Live on Mars. According to Petranek, the move is no less than an "essential back-up plan for humanity." Here, he shares just some of the factors those who make the first trip will have to manage.   Infographic by Josh ...

Pat Mitchell has nothing left to prove and much less to lose. Now more than ever, she cares less about what others say, speaks her mind freely — and she’s angry, too. She’s become a dangerous woman, through and through. Not dangerous, as in feared, but fearless; a force to be reckoned with. On the TEDWomen stage, she invites all women,...

All around the globe, people are feeling increasingly skeptical and mistrustful of their leaders. According to one global trust barometer, only 52% of survey respondents said that they trusted their government to do the right thing in 2011 and, in 2012, the number plummeted to 43%. As recent surveys reveal, only 18% of Italians believe their...

Women are slowly moving towards parity in the boardroom, but not in the bedroom. Why are straight women having less satisfying sex than men? And what can we do about it? The world is supposed to be improving for women. Incrementally, work is being done to combat sexual harassment, improve maternity-leave, and close the wage gap. But what abo...

Before Danielle Thomson was our TED Prize researcher, she wrote trivia for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and spent years finding difficult-to-source info for The Late Show with David Letterman. And she has quickly established herself as our staff secret weapon. When one of us can’t get our hands on a piece of information that we need, we tu...

We're thrilled to announce the launch of TED's latest original video series, The Way We Work. In this 8-episode series, a range of business leaders and thinkers offer their direct, practical wisdom and insight into how we can adapt and thrive amid changing workplace conventions. In these brief, to-the-point videos, you can get answers to ...

Like it or not, self-promotion is one of the best tools for people to get ahead in the workplace. And it can be a particularly important way for women and people from underrepresented groups to make sure that their accomplishments are voiced, known and ultimately recognized. But for people who aren’t natural self-promoters, this behavior can ...

In June, Stanford biologist Tony Wyss-Coray took the TED stage to describe no less than “an absolutely amazing development in aging research” (How young blood might help reverse aging. Yes, really). His research has shown that proteins found in the blood of younger mice can dramatically reverse the effects of aging when given to older mice. The ...

Steve Howard has spent his life working toward sustainability. So on the TEDGlobal 2013 stage, he explains why he wanted to work for, of all places, Ikea. Howard, who now holds the delightful title of Chief Sustainability Officer at the Scandinavian furniture behemoth, says that the company is dedicated to sustainability because of three ...

Larry Lessig has been referenced twice this morning, first by Wikihouse's Alastair Parvin and secondly by the musician Amanda Palmer. So it seems only right and proper that the Harvard Law professor should round off this session of TED2013. He's here to talk about Lesterland, a fictional land with a population of 311 million people of whom th...

Homophobia and mass shootings are afflictions that won't be solved overnight -- but the problematic and outdated restrictions against gay blood donors could be. Nothing rubs salt in the wounds of tragedy like bigotry or bureaucracy -- or both. But that is just what happened last week after the shooting at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando. Wit...

Making small tweaks to your meetings -- even changing the seating! -- can actually help set the stage for bigger shifts in our communities and companies, says social psychologist Dolly Chugh. Many organizations and companies today track diversity in sex, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and religion, among other factors. For some of ...

http://youtu.be/joIlotiLjfQThese sprightly opening titles for Session 2 are directed by Sebastien Roux / Superdeux, with collaborators Friends of Mine and Junior Market. Why did they choose 3D robotic animation to open this session on the hopes and fears surrounding drones? As the makers explain, "Flying machines will soon take over the world. U...

At TEDMED 2012, Ben Goldacre shared a startling reality: that doctors are not able to read all the studies conducted on a pharmaceutical before prescribing it to their patients. This is because of a bias in medical research toward positive results – while one study confirming a drug’s effectiveness may be published, the results of other stud...

At TED2012, Jon Ronson wove a mind-bending tale that asks: How can we truly tell who is a psychopath? What’s the line between crazy and sane? And is it something we can truly delineate, or are we trying to discern black and white in a color-soaked world? Today’s TEDWeekends on the Huffington Post picks up this question, using Ronson’s talk as...