With new data from the Keck telescopes, Andrea Ghez shows how state-of-the-art adaptive optics are helping astronomers understand our universe's most mysterious objects: black holes. She shares evidence that a supermassive black hole may be lurking at the center of the Milky Way.

In tough economic times, our exploratory science programs -- from space probes to the LHC -- are first to suffer budget cuts. Brian Cox explains how curiosity-driven science pays for itself, powering innovation and a profound appreciation of our existence.

More than a billion years ago, two black holes in a distant galaxy locked into a spiral, falling inexorably toward each other, and collided. "All that energy was pumped into the fabric of time and space itself," says theoretical physicist Allan Adams, "making the universe explode in roiling waves of gravity." About 25 years ago, a group of scien...

Backed by stunning illustrations, David Christian narrates a complete history of the universe, from the Big Bang to the Internet, in a riveting 18 minutes. This is "Big History": an enlightening, wide-angle look at complexity, life and humanity, set against our slim share of the cosmic timeline.

We can evolve bacteria, plants and animals -- futurist Juan Enriquez asks: Is it ethical to evolve the human body? In a visionary talk that ranges from medieval prosthetics to present day neuroengineering and genetics, Enriquez sorts out the ethics associated with evolving humans and imagines the ways we'll have to transform our own bodies if we...

When Sarah Montana was 22 years old, her brother and mother were killed during a home break-in. In this moving talk, Sarah speaks to her harrowing experience, and shares how to overcome tremendous grief and decide to "really" forgive those who have wronged us.

Speaking as both an astronomer and "a concerned member of the human race," Sir Martin Rees examines our planet and its future from a cosmic perspective. He urges action to prevent dark consequences from our scientific and technological development.

"If I should have a daughter, instead of Mom, she's gonna call me Point B ... " began spoken word poet Sarah Kay, in a talk that inspired two standing ovations at TED2011. She tells the story of her metamorphosis -- from a wide-eyed teenager soaking in verse at New York's Bowery Poetry Club to a teacher connecting kids with the power of self-exp...

In a friendly, high-speed presentation, Will Wright demos his newest game, Spore, which promises to dazzle users even more than his previous masterpieces.

Asteroid strikes get all the coverage, but "Medea Hypothesis" author Peter Ward argues that most of Earth's mass extinctions were caused by lowly bacteria. The culprit, a poison called hydrogen sulfide, may have an interesting application in medicine.

Everyone talks about keeping the distance these days. The talk is about how and why to reduce the distance between us and the future - to be better prepared - and between us and the social challenges around us.

Fear of Math & Science can often make STEM learning a miserable experience for many children and their parents too. Saipranav Gandhi, who is hardly 10 years old dispels quite a few myths as he demonstrates how learning Math & Science has become fun for him thanks to Robotics, his favorite play time activity.

His videos/photos chronicle a wilderness journey of enlightenment and hope. Tom Spruance shares his insight and support for efforts to turn the tide that threatens the future of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and beyond, leaving you with a critical and rippling question.

Climate change is one of our global concerns. In order to save our planet, we need to reduce drastically our carbon footprint; and the best and easiest way to do it is by changing our dietary habits and stop eating meat.

On March 21, 2018 beloved high school principal, Troy Schueller, unexpectedly committed suicide. In the hopes of removing the stigma surrounding suicide and to open up the conversation about mental health, Troy's family decided to share his story through a social media campaign by creating the web site troysstory.com. After 85,000 people visited...

Humanist Manufacturing is a framework that incorporates ten humanist commitments to establish industry practices that enhance environmental and social well-being. Humanistic manufacturing is done with a concern for dignity, values, and human welfare, allowing each citizen of the world an opportunity to meet at a minimum their needs for just and...

Isabella nos muestra que la importancia de no ceder ante las adversidades para cumplir nuestros sueños. A su corta edad, Isabella es la primer diseñadora de moda con síndrome de Down en participar en la Semana de la Moda de Londres en 2016. En sus diseños le gusta utilizar textiles provenientes de su natal Guatemala debido a su riqueza en colo...

We all have them: the words that were spoken to us once and have stayed with us ever since. The sentence that jolted us into a new way of thinking, or out of a bad habit. The people that changed us forever whether they intended to or not. By marrying the research of Chip and Dan Heath, authors of the bestselling The Power of Moments with the liv...

"There's a reason that a dog is a man's best friend." What can dogs teach us about love, and how we treat each other?

Although we don't realise it, the Decoy Effect is omnipresent and continuously aiding us in making unrewarding decisions. What is it and is there a way around it?

Ken explains how the accumulation of everything we have ever experienced or learned, for better or worse, shapes us into the person we are. He proposes that if we were to “Unlearn” that which was destructive to our growth, we could learn to be more self-reflective and critical of our own beliefs.

In the internet age, where negativity and fear rules, we need to ask: Can a deeper understanding, prevent risky behaviours and harness positive change in our young people? Is the young adult playing with children a predator or someone who cannot interact with their peers due to learning needs? Is the person moving with a gang someone to fear or ...

Cipriana Rodriguez is a senior at MVHS who introduces the idea of all forms of high education being represented equally. Between community college, university, trade school, etc, how are we to decide what's better?

We often try to imagine our future. Imagining the future of our society or humanity is an even more fascinating endeavour. Ciprian Stănescu accepted this challenge and he will explain in his talk how the next 100 years will look like.

Bijna dagelijks worden we geconfronteerd met berichten dat het belangrijk is om duurzame keuzes te maken. Maar doen we het wel goed? Piet Sprengers is manager Duurzaamheidsstrategie bij de ASN Bank en houdt zich dagelijks bezig met deze duurzame keuzes. Wat is nu eigenlijk duurzaam en wat niet? En wiens verantwoordelijkheid is het eigenlijk om d...

Aspirante polimata, gli interessi di Cristina si collocano agli incroci tra differenti branche del sapere. In qualità di biologa la ricercatrice è attualmente impegnata in progetti relativi alla ricerca di base, alla scienza informale e al coinvolgimento del pubblico, con l’obiettivo di offrire al pubblico di massa una visione più chiara del pro...

There is great power in having High Expectations for one another. But it makes all the difference where being born with a disability makes you susceptible to abuse, abandonment, and even elimination. Hear the story of three Kenyan teens with disabilities who were given the opportunity to battle a deadly stigma and prove that taking on a big chal...

What's the difference between changing to be better and changing to be enough? Elora Sparnicht explores the importance of accepting our flaws, and above all, loving ourselves for who we are.

NOTE FROM TED: This talk represents the speaker's personal views. TEDx events are independently organized by volunteers. The guidelines we give TEDx organizers are described in more detail here: http://storage.ted.com/tedx/manuals/tedx_content_guidelines.pdf Joe Sprangel unknowingly first experienced the prison-industrial complex as a machine r...

Claire Nauman is a space-crazy senior at MVHS. Through her talk, we get to understand why the interest in space has been waning and why we need to get it back soon.