Robert Wright uses evolutionary biology and game theory to explain why we appreciate the Golden Rule ("Do unto others..."), why we sometimes ignore it and why there’s hope that, in the near future, we might all have the compassion to follow it.

Mark Roth's research has reawakened an unusual notion from the annals of science: reversible metabolic hibernation. Yes, putting living organisms into suspended animation -- and bringing them back safely.

Mark Kendall aims to shake up how vaccines are delivered with the Nanopatch.

Learn how these microorganisms influence everything from the air we breathe and how healthy we are, to forming life itself.

Bugs are one of nature's wonders. These insect-obsessed speakers talks about how ants form societies, how bees pollinate flowers, and how termites can be quite ... tasty.

Try on these talks about the traits that make you who you are.

Dan Reisel studies the biology of change, including our ability to rewire our own brains. And he asks a big question: Instead of warehousing these criminals, shouldn't we be using what we know about the brain to help them rehabilitate? Put another way: If the brain can grow new neural pathways after an injury ... could we help the brain re-grow ...

What if traffic flowed through our streets as smoothly and efficiently as blood flows through our veins? Transportation geek Wanis Kabbaj thinks we can find inspiration in the genius of our biology to design the transit systems of the future. In this forward-thinking talk, preview exciting concepts like modular, detachable buses, flying taxis an...

Death, the afterlife, and now sex -- Mary Roach tackles the most pondered and least understood conundrums that have baffled humans for centuries. (She's funny, too.)

TED Senior Fellow Eric Berlow studies ecology and networks, exposing the interconnectedness of our ecosystems with climate change, government, corporations and more.

At the Royal Institution in 1991, Richard Dawkins asks us to look at our universe with new eyes. Packed with big questions and illuminating visuals, this memorable journey through the history of life magnifies the splendor of evolution and our place in it.

Irina Kareva translates biology into mathematics and vice versa. She writes mathematical models that describe the dynamics of cancer, with the goal of developing new drugs that target tumors. "The power and beauty of mathematical modeling lies in the fact that it makes you formalize, in a very rigorous way, what we think we know," Kareva says. "...

Torsten Reil talks about how the study of biology can help make natural-looking animated people -- by building a human from the inside out, with bones, muscles and a nervous system. He spoke at TED in 2003; see his work now in GTA4.

Documentary photographer Olivia Arthur has been exploring a new frontier: the evolution of the blurring line between humanity and technology. In this meditative talk, she shows her work documenting the remarkable ways humans have merged with machines -- from bionics and motorized limbs to synthetic muscles and strikingly realistic robots -- and ...

Learn about the amazing science behind some of the most awe-inspiring things in the world (and beyond).

Some people take aspirin or ibuprofen to treat everyday aches and pains but how exactly do the different classes of pain relievers work? Learn about the basic physiology of how humans experience pain and the mechanics of the medicines we've invented to block or circumvent that discomfort. [Lesson by George Zaidan, directed by Hal Lee, narrated b...

Stephen Wolfram is the creator of Mathematica and Wolfram|Alpha, the author of A New Kind of Science, and the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research.

Rachel Sussman is on a quest to celebrate the resilience of life by identifying and photographing continuous-living organisms that are 2,000 years or older, all around the world.

Roboticist Auke Ijspeert designs biorobots, machines modeled after real animals that are capable of handling complex terrain and would appear at home in the pages of a sci-fi novel. The process of creating these robots leads to better automata that can be used for fieldwork, service, and search and rescue. But these robots don't just mimic the n...

To get out of the mess we're in, we need a new story that explains the present and guides the future, says author George Monbiot. Drawing on findings from psychology, neuroscience and evolutionary biology, he offers a new vision for society built around our fundamental capacity for altruism and cooperation. This contagiously optimistic talk will...

TED Fellow Lucy McRae is a body architect -- she imagines ways to merge biology and technology in our own bodies. In this visually stunning talk, she shows her work, from clothes that recreate the body's insides for a music video with pop-star Robyn, to a pill that, when swallowed, lets you sweat perfume.

Designer Sandra Rey has found a way to channel one of nature's superpowers: bioluminescence. By isolating the DNA that causes some squids to glow, and introducing it into bacteria, she's created a light source that can glow for three days -- without generating the usual pollution caused by lightbulbs. Her idea is still in development, but Rey ma...

Artist and marine biologist Guy Harvey painted his first sea creature in school while illustrating Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea." In this inspirational talk, he describes how -- despite an intervening PhD in marine biology -- those early forays into painting drew him away from academia and into a lifelong dedication to causes of m...

In his work in applied mathematics, Steven Strogatz studies the way math and biology intersect.

Matters of the heart sometimes feel impossible to parse. But when examined through the eye of an evolutionist, our romantic whims and sexual desires can start to make more sense, and even seem a bit predictable. Biological anthropologist David Puts confronts how we compete, care and copulate based on evolutionary biology -- and what that means f...

Monika Bulaj’s stunning, painting-like photographs blur religious and cultural divisions, exploding stereotypes. She is a TED Fellow.

Humans have been battling heartburn for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. But recently the incidence has risen, making it a common complaint worldwide. What causes this problem, and how can it be stopped? Rusha Modi details the causes and treatments of heartburn.

Anthony Atala asks, "Can we grow organs instead of transplanting them?" His lab at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine is doing just that -- engineering over 30 tissues and whole organs.

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...

Natalie Gunn makes a case for thinking of our minds and bodies as a continuum rather than a duality. She's especially intrigued by how this continuum may relate to cancer and whether our mindset impacts the disease. Natalie argues that we have to take the question seriously: "We need to investigate how a disease of the body could be impacted by ...