Flanked by two powerful nations, the English Channel has long been one of the world's most important maritime passages. Yet for most of its history, crossing was a dangerous prospect. Engineers proposed numerous plans for spanning the gap, including a design for an underwater passage more than twice the length of any existing tunnel. Alex Gendle...

While the concept of a dictionary dates back to ancient civilizations, the first English dictionary wasn't published until 1604. In the centuries that followed, many more dictionaries were written by individual authors who chose what to include or exclude, with most quickly becoming outdated. One 19th century lexicon had a different fate. Ilan S...

African artifacts shown in museums worldwide are often not borrowed, but stolen -- and TED Fellow Jim Chuchu is on a mission to get them back. Learn the sordid history behind how many of the collections in the West came to be, Chuchu's extensive work tracking and restoring Kenya's cultural heritage and what these efforts can mean for the wider A...

In 1947, the British viceroy announced that after 200 years of British rule, India would gain independence and be partitioned into Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. What followed was one of the largest and bloodiest forced migrations in history: an estimated 1 million people lost their lives. What caused this violent aftermath? Haimanti Roy detai...

Since ancient Greece, humans have controlled populations via reproduction, retaining some traits and removing others. But in the 19th century, a new scientific movement dedicated to this endeavor emerged: eugenics. Scientists believed they could improve society by ensuring that only desirable traits were passed down. Alexandra Minna Stern and Na...

We hear anywhere from 10 to 200 lies a day. And although we've spent much of our history coming up with ways to detect these lies by tracking physiological changes in their tellers, these methods have proved unreliable. Is there a more direct approach? Noah Zandan uses some famous examples of lying to illustrate how we might use communications s...

How you respond to setbacks is what defines your character, says Stacey Abrams, the first Black woman in the history of the United States to be nominated by a major party for governor. In an electrifying talk, she shares the lessons she learned from her campaign for governor of Georgia -- and some advice on how to change the world. "Be aggressiv...

In September 1859, miners following the Colorado gold rush woke up to another sunny day. Or so they thought. To their surprise, they soon discovered it was actually 1am and the sky wasn't lit by the sun, but rather by brilliant drapes of light. The blazing glow was a solar storm— the largest in recorded history. So what exactly is a solar storm?...

All-female Mariachi band Flor de Toloache take their name from a Mexican medicinal flower that's known to be an ingredient for love potions. Between two captivating songs, learn more about how the group is making a mark on Mariachi history.

In 1932, one in four Americans was unemployed, marking the highest unemployment rate in the country's history. The Democratic presidential candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt promised a New Deal— a comprehensive set of legislation to support struggling citizens and put the country back to work. Meg Jacobs digs into the policies of this bold campaign...

"Every great and difficult thing has required a strong sense of optimism," says editor and author Kevin Kelly, who believes that we have a moral obligation to be optimistic. Tracing humanity's progress throughout history, he's observed that a positive outlook helps us solve problems and empowers us to forge a path forward. In this illuminating t...

In 1881, doctor William Halsted rushed to help his sister Minnie, who was hemorrhaging after childbirth. He quickly inserted a needle into his arm, withdrew his own blood, and transferred it to her. After a few uncertain minutes, she began to recover. What made this blood transfusion successful? Bill Schutt explains the history of the life-savin...

Cultural theorist Brittney Cooper examines racism through the lens of time, showing us how historically it has been stolen from people of color, resulting in lost moments of joy and connection, lost years of healthy quality of life and the delay of progress. A candid, thought-provoking take on history and race that may make you reconsider your u...

Concerned about the war Ukraine? You're not alone. Historian Yuval Noah Harari provides important context on the Russian invasion, including Ukraine's long history of resistance, the specter of nuclear war and his view of why, even if Putin wins all the military battles, he's already lost the war. (This conversation, hosted by TED global curator...

Like Beat writers who composed their work by shredding and reassembling scraps of writing, artist Jean-Michel Basquiat used similar techniques to remix his materials. Pulling in splintered anatomy, reimagined historical scenes and skulls, he repurposed present day experiences and art history into an inventive visual language. Jordana Moore Sagge...

Photographs do more than document history -- they make it. At TED University, Jonathan Klein of Getty Images shows some of the most iconic, and talks about what happens when a generation sees an image so powerful it can't look away -- or back.

People often credit their ideas to individual "Eureka!" moments. But Steven Johnson shows how history tells a different story. His fascinating tour takes us from the "liquid networks" of London's coffee houses to Charles Darwin's long, slow hunch to today's high-velocity web.

What is the difference between "a hearty welcome" and "a cordial reception"? In a brief, action-packed history of the English language, Kate Gardoqui explains why these semantically equal phrases evoke such different images. [Directed by Ben Tobitt, narrated by Kate Gardoqui].

A handful of species on Earth share a seemingly mysterious trait: a menstrual cycle. We're one of the select few mammals on Earth that menstruate, and we also do it more than any other animal, even though it's a waste of nutrients, and can be a physical inconvenience. So where's the sense in this uncommon biological process? TED-Ed describes the...

Emily Parsons-Lord re-creates air from distinct moments in Earth's history -- from the clean, fresh-tasting air of the Carboniferous period to the soda-water air of the Great Dying to the heavy, toxic air of the future we're creating. By turning air into art, she invites us to know the invisible world around us. Breathe in the Earth's past and f...

Ah, romantic love; beautiful and intoxicating, heart-breaking and soul-crushing... often all at the same time! If romantic love has a purpose, neither science nor psychology has discovered it yet – but over the course of history, some of our most respected philosophers have put forward some intriguing theories. Skye C. Cleary outlines five of th...

Hundreds of meters below the surface of the ocean, Laura Robinson probes the steep slopes of massive undersea mountains. She's on the hunt for thousand-year-old corals that she can test in a nuclear reactor to discover how the ocean changes over time. By studying the history of the earth, Robinson hopes to find clues of what might happen in the ...

Starting in 80 CE, residents of Rome and visitors from across the Roman Empire would fill the stands of the Colosseum to see gladiators duel, animals fight and chariots race around the arena. And for the grand finale, water poured into the arena basin, submerging the stage for the greatest spectacle of all: staged naval battles. Janelle Peters d...

In this captivating talk from the TED archive, cartoonist Ben Katchor reads from his comic strips. These perceptive, surreal stories find the profound hopes and foibles of history (and modern New York) preserved in objects like light switches and signs.

As the Roman Empire flourished, Scandinavians had small settlements and no central government. Yet by the 11th century, they had spread far from Scandinavia, gaining control of trade routes throughout Europe, conquering kingdoms as far as Africa, and building outposts in North America. What was the secret to their success? Jan Bill dives into th...

On April 3, 2016 we saw the largest data leak in history. The Panama Papers exposed rich and powerful people hiding vast amounts of money in offshore accounts. But what does it all mean? We called Robert Palmer of Global Witness to find out.

Poet and activist Amanda Gorman recites her poem "The Hill We Climb" at the historic inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Her words call for hope, unity and resilience in a time of division. "While democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated," she says. "In this truth, in this faith, we trust. For while we...

Karima Bennoune shares four powerful stories of real people fighting against fundamentalism in their own communities — refusing to allow the faith they love to become a tool for crime, attacks and murder. These personal stories humanize one of the most overlooked human-rights struggles in the world.

Cette présentation a été faite lors d'un événement TEDx local, produit indépendamment des conférences TED. Elisabeth Pierre est passionnée des bières et connaît toutes les facettes de sa boisson préférée. Elle aime aussi casser les stéréotypes et montre combien la bière est en fait plus féminine que masculine. Elisabeth est zythologue, une de...

It's been 110 years since Georges Méliès sent a spaceship slamming into the eye of the man on the moon. So how far have visual effects come since then? Working closely with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Don Levy takes us on a visual journey through special effects, from the fakery of early technology to the seamless marvels of...