Paul Stamets believes that mushrooms can save our lives, restore our ecosystems and transform other worlds.

Money is pollution's biggest driving force -- particularly, the cash invested in dirty energy projects, says financial responsibility campaigner Lucie Pinson. She shares a three-pronged approach to stop banks from funding fossil fuel companies, including what she calls "collaborative blackmailing" (it's more ethical than it sounds). By demanding...

Physicist Brian Greene explains superstring theory, the idea that minscule strands of energy vibrating in 11 dimensions create every particle and force in the universe.

Forget about the hybrid auto -- Shai Agassi says it's electric cars or bust if we want to impact emissions. His company, Better Place, has a radical plan to take entire countries oil-free by 2020.

Of all the mundane yet astonishing marvels of human ingenuity, knowing what it takes to heat a room to a comfortable temperature is TED Fellow Kathy Hannun's favorite. She takes us on a journey across the planet and under the sea to emphasize the dangers of modern heating, and offers a safer, planet-friendly alternative that taps into the geothe...

What if we looked at Parkinson's as an neurological electrical problem? Brain researcher Eleftheria Pissadaki and her team study dopamine neurons, the neurons that selectively die during Parkinson's. They discovered that the bigger a neuron is, the more vulnerable it becomes because it simply requires more energy. This new insight is reframing t...

Businesses across the world are committing to measurable climate action -- but what exactly are they doing, and why? In this TED series, meet senior leaders from around the business world and learn important lessons about carbon emissions reduction that can be applied to workplaces everywhere. (Presented by TED Countdown and The Climate Pledge)

The shape, contents and future of the universe are all intricately related. We know that it's mostly flat; we know that it's made up of baryonic matter (like stars and planets), but mostly dark matter and dark energy; and we know that it's expanding constantly, so that all stars will eventually burn out into a cold nothingness. Renée Hlozek expa...

When the son of the president of a desperately poor country starts buying mansions and sportscars on an official monthly salary of $7,000, Charmian Gooch suggests, corruption is probably somewhere in the picture. In a blistering, eye-opening talk (with several specific examples), she details how global corruption trackers follow the money -- to ...

In James Howard Kunstler's view, public spaces should be inspired centers of civic life and the physical manifestation of the common good. Instead, he argues, what we have in America is a nation of places not worth caring about.

How do we build a society without fossil fuels? Using her native Costa Rica as an example of positive action on environmental protection and renewables, climate advocate Monica Araya outlines a bold vision for a world committed to clean energy in all sectors.

Inventor Dean Kamen lays out his argument for the Segway and offers a peek into his next big ideas (portable energy and water purification for developing countries).

Resistance Revival Chorus, a collective of womxn and non-binary singers, bring their infectious energy to the TED stage with a performance of "I Hope" and "DAWN."

What if we could build a global waste disposal service for carbon? In this forward-thinking talk, carbon capture advisor Bas Sudmeijer proposes building CO2 networks: partnerships between cities around the world that would share the cost and geological resources needed to trap emissions deep in the earth -- and give us a shot at stalling climate...

Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly Media ("Make:" magazine, anyone?) shares his favorite TED Talks with notes about why each one had an impact. Surprise: It's not all tech.

Tribology: it's a funny-sounding word you might not have heard before, but it could change how you see and interact with the physical world, says mechanical engineer Jennifer Vail. Offering lessons from tribology -- the study of friction and wear -- Vail describes the surprisingly varied ways it impacts everyday life and how it could help us mak...

In the early 20th century, the US had expanded from coast to coast, but many cities in the southwest still lacked reliable water sources. The Colorado River's erratic flow and frequent floods made it unreliable for agriculture, and the region's growing cities needed more energy. So the government decided to build a massive hydroelectric dam. Ale...

What's more fun than a barrel of monkeys? These talks, which offer unique insights on the things we play with—from teddy bears to Legos to yo-yos.

Carl Safina's writing explores the scientific, moral and social dimensions of our relationship with nature.

Have we used up all our resources? Have we filled up all the livable space on Earth? Paul Gilding suggests we have, and the possibility of devastating consequences, in a talk that's equal parts terrifying and, oddly, hopeful.

"The good news is it's now clearly cheaper to save the planet than to ruin it," says engineer and investor John Doerr. "The bad news is: we are fast running out of time." In this conversation with climate policy expert Hal Harvey, the two sustainability leaders discuss why humanity has to act globally, at speed and at scale, to meet the staggeri...

Bjørn Otto Sverdrup leads the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), which gathers the CEOs of twelve of the world's largest oil and gas companies around an ambitious goal: to get one of the sectors contributing most to climate change to drastically lower their own carbon emissions. He describes a possible path for the industry to pivot to net-z...

The single most important thing for avoiding a climate disaster is cutting carbon pollution from the current 51 billion tons per year to zero, says philanthropist and technologist Bill Gates. Introducing the concept of the "green premium" -- the higher price of zero-emission products like electric cars, artificial meat or sustainable aviation fu...

Singer Rhiannon Giddens joins international music collective Silk Road Ensemble to perform "St. James Infirmary Blues," spiking the American folk song that Louis Armstrong popularized in the 1920s with Romani influence and mischievous energy.

In her performances she’s been cut, burned, and nearly shot -- but Marina Abramović's boldest work yet is a gargantuan institute dedicated to transformation through art.

Bringing cross-disciplinary tactics and innovation to a moribund defense industry, N Square’s Erika Gregory seeks to wean the world from its nuclear stockpiles.

If you've been in a restaurant kitchen, you've seen how much food, water and energy can be wasted there. Chef Arthur Potts-Dawson shares his very personal vision for drastically reducing restaurant, and supermarket, waste -- creating recycling, composting, sustainable engines for good (and good food).

Danish architect Bjarke Ingels rockets through photo/video-mingled stories of his eco-flashy designs. His buildings not only look like nature -- they act like nature: blocking the wind, collecting solar energy -- and creating stunning views.

"Can we create new life out of our digital universe?" Craig Venter asks. His answer is "yes" -- and pretty soon. He walks through his latest research and promises that we'll soon be able to build and boot up a synthetic chromosome. NOTE: This talk was given in 2008, and this field of science has developed quickly since then. Read "Criticisms &am...

How can architects build a new world of sustainable beauty? By learning from nature. Michael Pawlyn describes three habits of nature that could transform architecture and society: radical resource efficiency, closed loops, and drawing energy from the sun.