A happy song about global warming, from Jill Sobule.

Which of the following is awesome: your lunch or the Great Pyramid of Giza? Comedian Jill Shargaa sounds a hilarious call for us to save the word "awesome" for things that truly inspire awe.

Two TED favorites, Jill Sobule and Julia Sweeney, team up for a delightful set that mixes witty songwriting with a little bit of social commentary.

Cave diver Jill Heinerth explores the hidden underground waterways coursing through our planet. Working with biologists, climatologists and archaeologists, Heinerth unravels the mysteries of the life-forms that inhabit some of the earth's most remote places and helps researchers unlock the history of climate change. In this short talk, take a di...

Could there be intelligent life on other planets? This question has piqued imagination and curiosity for decades. Explore the answer with the Drake Equation -- a mathematical formula that calculates the possibility of undiscovered life. [Directed by Jeremiah Dickey, narrated by Jill Tarter].

The SETI Institute's Jill Tarter makes her TED Prize wish: to accelerate our search for cosmic company. Using a growing array of radio telescopes, she and her team listen for patterns that may be a sign of intelligence elsewhere in the universe.

As the world's population grows and the effects of climate change come into sharper relief, we'll have to feed more people using less arable land. Molecular biologist Jill Farrant studies a rare phenomenon that may help: "resurrection plants" -- super-resilient plants that seemingly come back from the dead. Could they hold promise for growing fo...

Ask any deep space navigator like Jill Seubert what makes steering a spacecraft difficult, and they'll tell you it's all about the timing; a split-second can decide a mission's success or failure. So what do you do when a spacecraft is bad at telling time? You get it a clock -- an atomic clock, to be precise. Let Seubert whisk you away with the ...

Jill Bolte Taylor got a research opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: She had a massive stroke, and watched as her brain functions -- motion, speech, self-awareness -- shut down one by one. An astonishing story.

After witnessing the atrocities of his fellow man in World War II, William Golding was losing his faith in humanity. Later, during the Cold War, as superpowers began threatening one another with nuclear annihilation, he was forced to interrogate the very roots of human nature and violence. These musings would inspire his first novel: "Lord of th...

What moves Jill Bolte Taylor? "I love talks that contribute to the overall well-being of who we are as humanity -- about how we can explore ourselves as people in relationship with one another and with this beautiful planet."

Jill Sobule isn't just another singer-songwriter with catchy tunes and smart lyrics, she's one of the more insightful satirists of our age. Each of her fanciful songs captures an issue or irony, an emotion or epiphany that helps us understand what it's like to live now.

Jill Farrant is leading the development of drought-tolerant crops to nourish populations in arid climates.

Don't believe predictions that say the future is trending towards city living. Urbanization is actually reaching the end of its cycle, says logistics expert Julio Gil, and soon more people will be choosing to live (and work) in the countryside, thanks to rapid advances in augmented reality, autonomous delivery, off-the-grid energy and other tech...

Jill Seubert navigates spacecraft throughout the solar system, exploring with robots where humans cannot yet go.

Jill Heinerth explores underwater caves deep inside the earth.

Jill Shargaa is a woman of multiple talents. A seasoned comedian, she founded the all-female comedy revue, Evening of Estrogen. She is also an illustrator and designer who brings a pulp sensibility to her work.

To save the achoque -- an exotic (and adorable) salamander found in a lake in northern Mexico -- scientists teamed up with an unexpected research partner: a group of nuns called the Sisters of the Immaculate Health. In this delightful talk, science journalist Victoria Gill shares the story of how this unusual collaboration saved the achoque from...

SETI's Jill Tarter has devoted her career to hunting for signs of sentient beings elsewhere. Winner of the 2009 TED Prize, almost all aspects of her field have been affected by her work.

Gill Hicks's story is one of compassion and humanity, emerging from the ashes of chaos and hate. A survivor of the London terrorist bombings on July 7, 2005, she shares her story of the events of that day -- and the profound lessons that came as she learned how to live on.

Brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor studied her own stroke as it happened -- and has become a powerful voice for brain recovery.

In a TED Talk, speakers share a bold idea in 18 minutes or less. Want to watch the TED Talks you saw on "60 Minutes" with Charlie Rose? Here are the six talks highlighted in the story, at full length. For more, check out the list of all 50 talks shown for even a split-second.

Green, leafy, often delicious: Plants are all around us and make the ecosystem work. Hear from gardeners, vegetarians, designers and conservationists on the wonderful world of plants and vegetables.

I wish that you would empower Earthlings everywhere to become active participants in the ultimate search for cosmic company. The plan Are we alone in the universe? It’s one of the most basic questions of our existence. Since 1959, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has used the tools of astronomy to search for signs of technolog...

Take a walk on the stranger side of science with these uncanny, yet fascinating talks.

Brandon Boyd, lead singer of Incubus, says, "I hope to one day perform live music on the moon. Perhaps if all goes according to plan, we can make a TED Talk out of it!" We eagerly await this event. Until then, here are his favorite talks.

Quench your thirst for adventure with these breathtakingly bold talks that explore the Earth’s most spectacular corners, depths and peaks.

What's out there waiting to make contact?

Gill Hicks has dedicated her life to being an advocate for peace.

Is Earth really the only life-sustaining planet? These speakers think there might just be something or someone else out there -- and urge us to keep looking for it.