These women fighting for justice and equality deserve center stage.

The most notable talks of 2018, chosen by TED Curator Chris Anderson.

Corn currently accounts for more than one tenth of our global crop production. And over 99% of cultivated corn is the exact same type: Yellow Dent #2. This means that humans grow more Yellow Dent #2 than any other plant on the planet. So how did this single variety of this single plant become the biggest success story in agricultural history? Ch...

In 2011, a group of researchers conducted a study designed to find an impossible result. Their study involved real people, truthfully reported data, and commonplace statistical analyses. So how did they do it? The answer lies in a statistical method scientists often use to try to figure out whether their results mean something, or if they're ran...

Juana Ramírez de Asbaje sat before a panel of prestigious theologians, jurists, and mathematicians. They had been invited to test Juana's knowledge with the most difficult questions they could muster. But she successfully answered every challenge, from complicated equations to philosophical queries. Who was this impressive woman? Theresa Yugar d...

Why do we dance? African-American social dances started as a way for enslaved Africans to keep cultural traditions alive and retain a sense of inner freedom. They remain an affirmation of identity and independence. In this electric demonstration, packed with live performances, choreographer, educator and TED Fellow Camille A. Brown explores what...

The world is getting closer to achieving one of the most important public health goals of our time: eradicating HIV. And to do this, we won't even have to cure the disease. We simply have to stop HIV from being transmitted until eventually it fizzles out. Philip A. Chan explores the preventive strategies helping us tackle HIV and the possibility...

From the printing press to the digital camera, innovation has often democratized the creative arts. In this forward-looking talk, music producer Drew Silverstein demos a new software that allows anyone to create professional-grade music without putting human musicians out of work.

Animals are communicating -- but what are they saying? And can we talk back? Marine biologist David Gruber introduces Project CETI: a team of scientists, linguists and AI specialists hoping to decode sperm whale language. Using noninvasive robots and a machine-learning algorithm to collect and analyze millions of sperm whale vocalizations known ...

Nick Bostrom works on big questions: What should we do, as individuals and as a species, to optimize our long-term prospects?

Science fiction visions of the future show us AI built to replicate our way of thinking -- but what if we modeled it instead on the other kinds of intelligence found in nature? Robotics engineer Radhika Nagpal studies the collective intelligence displayed by insects and fish schools, seeking to understand their rules of engagement. In a visionar...

How will the rise of artificial intelligence change our world? Former head of Google China Kai-Fu Lee and science-fiction writer Chen Qiufan (aka Stanley Chan) set out to answer this question in their new book "AI 2041: Ten Visions for the Future." In this wide-ranging discussion, they imagine different possibilities -- both from the imaginative...

Does humanity have a future as uploaded minds? In his work, Robin Hanson asks this and other extra-large questions.

AI will take our jobs—and that is a good thing, argues Tomer Garzberg. He tells how intelligent robots are already supplanting people, freeing us to imagine new roles for ourselves, and also surveys endeavors that are likely to remain human for some time to come.

The path to skill around the globe has been the same for thousands of years: train under an expert and take on small, easy tasks before progressing to riskier, harder ones. But right now, we're handling AI in a way that blocks that path -- and sacrificing learning in our quest for productivity, says organizational ethnographer Matt Beane. What c...

Be empowered to move confidently toward the future with the help of these key talks highlighting the mindset, motivation and tools necessary to set yourself up for success. (Made in partnership with T. Rowe Price)

Do you think you're good at spotting fake videos, where famous people say things they've never said in real life? See how they're made in this astonishing talk and tech demo. Computer scientist Supasorn Suwajanakorn shows how, as a grad student, he used AI and 3D modeling to create photorealistic fake videos of people synced to audio. Learn more...

We're building an artificial intelligence-powered dystopia, one click at a time, says techno-sociologist Zeynep Tufekci. In an eye-opening talk, she details how the same algorithms companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon use to get you to click on ads are also used to organize your access to political and social information. And the machines ...

As machines grow ever more intelligent, they're emerging not just as powerful tools but also close companions. These talks offer some whizzy demos and examine how robots are becoming an intimate part of our lives.

Fifty-three years ago, James A. White Sr. joined the US Air Force. But as an African American man, he had to go to shocking lengths to find a place for his young family to live nearby. He tells this powerful story about the lived experience of "everyday racism" -- and how it echoes today in the way he's had to teach his grandchildren to interact...

The most notable talks of 2016, chosen by TED Curator Chris Anderson.

In this prophetic talk from 2003, roboticist Rodney Brooks talks about how robots are going to work their way into our lives -- starting with toys and moving into household chores ... and beyond.

Should your driverless car kill you if it means saving five pedestrians? In this primer on the social dilemmas of driverless cars, Iyad Rahwan explores how the technology will challenge our morality and explains his work collecting data from real people on the ethical trade-offs we're willing (and not willing) to make.

Robots and algorithms are getting good at jobs like building cars, writing articles, translating -- jobs that once required a human. So what will we humans do for work? Andrew McAfee walks through recent labor data to say: We ain't seen nothing yet. But then he steps back to look at big history, and comes up with a surprising view of what comes ...

A Tribe Called Red creates music that acts as a gateway into urban, contemporary indigenous culture, celebrating all of its layers and complexity. In a set that blends traditional powwow drums and vocals with hip-hop and electronic music, the DJ collective tells stories of the First Nations in beats and images -- expanding on the concept of the ...

Patient P.S. suffered a stroke that damaged the right side of her brain, leaving her unaware of everything on her left side. If someone threw a ball at her left side, she might duck. But she wouldn't have awareness of the ball or know why she ducked. Where does consciousness come from? Michael Graziano explores the question that has vexed scient...

Meet seven all-terrain robots -- like the humanoid, soccer-playing DARwIn and the cliff-gripping CLIMBeR -- built by Dennis Hong's robotics team at RoMeLa, based at Virginia Tech. Watch to the end for the five creative secrets to his lab's success.

What kind of robots does an animator / jazz musician / roboticist make? Playful, reactive, curious ones. Guy Hoffman shows demo film of his family of unusual robots -- including two musical bots that like to jam with humans.

By 2050, it's estimated that over 65% of the world will be living in cities. We may think of nature as being unconnected to our urban spaces, but trees have always been an essential part of successful cities. Humanity has been uncovering these arboreal benefits since the creation of our first cities thousands of years ago. So what makes trees so...

In his lab at Penn, Vijay Kumar and his team build flying quadrotors, small, agile robots that swarm, sense each other, and form ad hoc teams -- for construction, surveying disasters and far more.