When first discovered in 2010, the Stuxnet computer worm posed a baffling puzzle. Beyond its sophistication loomed a more troubling mystery: its purpose. Ralph Langner and team helped crack the code that revealed this digital warhead's final target. In a fascinating look inside cyber-forensics, he explains how -- and makes a bold (and, it turns ...

Chris Domas is a cybersecurity researcher, operating on what's become a new front of war, "cyber." In this engaging talk, he shows how researchers use pattern recognition and reverse engineering (and pull a few all-nighters) to understand a chunk of binary code whose purpose and contents they don't know.

The Internet has transformed the front lines of war, and it's leaving governments behind. As security analyst Rodrigo Bijou shows, modern conflict is being waged online between non-state groups, activists and private corporations, and the digital landscape is proving to be fertile ground for the recruitment and radicalization of terrorists. Mean...

The suits, numbers and colors in a deck of cards correspond to the seasons, moon cycles and calendar. Marco Tempest straps on augmented reality goggles and does a card trick like you've never seen before, weaving a lyrical tale as he deals. (This version fixes a glitch in the original performance, but is otherwise exactly as seen live by the TED...

Leading a swarm of small, buzzing flying machines, techno-magician Marco Tempest orchestrates a "cyber illusion" that will have you asking yourself: Was that science or magic?

It's hard to protect yourself online if you don't know where to start. These insightful, info-packed talks offer a jumping off point.

TED Studies, created in collaboration with Wiley, are curated video collections — supplemented by rich educational materials — for students, educators and self-guided learners. In Cyber-Influence and Power, activists, academics and statesmen come together at TED to delve into new ideas about how power and influence come about in the digital age....

Artist and professor John Sabraw is turning industrial acid runoff into striking pigments and paints. In his talk, Sabraw shares how he's inspired by southern Ohio's rivers and streams to turn environmental catastrophe into works of beauty.

Written by the educators who created Cyber-Influence and Power, a brief look at the key facts, tough questions and big ideas in their field. Begin this TED Study with a fascinating read that gives context and clarity to the material. Each and every one of us has a vital part to play in building the kind of world in which government and technolog...

The little things that you (yes, you) can do now (yes, now) to make a difference.

Cybercrime netted a whopping $450 billion in profits last year, with 2 billion records lost or stolen worldwide. Security expert Caleb Barlow calls out the insufficiency of our current strategies to protect our data. His solution? We need to respond to cybercrime with the same collective effort as we apply to a health care crisis, sharing timely...

Some hackers wreak havoc online, but others are working to create a better internet. Sociologists, journalists and hackers themselves speak up.

From work and happiness, to love and success (and everything else in between), these talks offer insights on some of life's biggest secrets.

Modern turtle shells are almost as diverse as the turtles themselves. Sea turtles have flatter, lighter shells for gliding through the water. Land-dwelling tortoises have domed shells that can slip free of predators' jaws. Leatherback turtles have shells without the ring of bone around the edge. So how did the shell evolve? Judy Cebra-Thomas exp...

Nations can now attack other nations with cyber weapons: silent strikes on another country's computer systems, power grids, dams that leave no trace behind. (Think of the Stuxnet worm.) Guy-Philippe Goldstein shows how cyberattacks can leap between the digital and physical worlds to prompt armed conflict -- and how we might avert this global sec...

Embrace our wide-open shareable future -- where everything's hackable and the power of the crowd propels innovation.

Todd Humphreys forecasts the near-future of geolocation when millimeter-accurate GPS "dots" will enable you to find pin-point locations, index-search your physical possessions ... or to track people without their knowledge. And the response to the sinister side of this technology may have unintended consequences of its own.

Crop physiologist Guntur V. Subbarao and his team have developed an antibiotic-infused strain of wheat that naturally combats harmful, fertilizer-eating bacteria -- a "monster" contributor to climate change. Learn more about how this breakthrough could once again revolutionize agriculture, increasing crop yields and protecting our planet at the ...

Mikko Hypponen lays it out: "The talks I chose for my playlist are about technology, security or privacy. Because geeks. Then I added the talk from Dan Barber. Because fish."

Dive into the digital world with these talks on coding and the importance of teaching code to future generations.

After watching the collection of talks on Cyber-Influence and Power, read a thoughtful recap of the major points in this TED Study, and learn where experts believe things are headed. Where next? Trends and questions in politics, cyber-influence and power As the year 2012 drew to a close, the Syrian government shut down the Internet in order to c...

Deepen your understanding of Cyber-Influence and Power with these carefully crafted educational exercises that let you get the most out of this TED Studies subject. Activity 1 In his TEDTalk, Shashi Tharoor shares some surprising statistics about the Indian cell phone market, supporting his claim that India has become "an astonishingly connected...

Laura Galante profiles advanced cyber threats and network breaches and investigates the political, military and financial implications of cyber operations.

TED Fellow Nighat Dad studies online harassment, especially as it relates to patriarchal cultures like the one in her small village in Pakistan. She tells the story of how she set up Pakistan's first cyber harassment helpline, offering support to women who face serious threats online. "Safe access to the internet is access to knowledge, and know...

You use paper towels to dry your hands every day, but chances are, you're doing it wrong. In this enlightening and funny short talk, Joe Smith reveals the trick to perfect paper towel technique.

In this practical talk, cybersecurity expert Nadya Bartol brings this crucial topic out into the open, lifting the shame around tech mistakes and offering creative ways to celebrate and reward good cybersecurity habits at work and beyond.

Richard Ledgett is deputy director and senior civilian leader of the National Security Agency. He acts as the agency’s chief operating officer, responsible for guiding and directing studies, operations and policy.

The Internet connects billions of people and machines; it's the backbone of modern life. But tech pioneer Danny Hillis thinks the Internet just wasn't designed to grow this big -- and he fears that one big cyber-attack or glitch could shut it down and take civilization with it. To head off a digital dark age, he sounds a clarion call to develop ...

Lorrie Faith Cranor studied thousands of real passwords to figure out the surprising, very common mistakes that users -- and secured sites -- make to compromise security. And how, you may ask, did she study thousands of real passwords without compromising the security of any users? That's a story in itself. It's secret data worth knowing, especi...

Chris Domas is an embedded systems engineer and cybersecurity researcher.