Statistician Nic Marks asks why we measure a nation's success by its productivity -- instead of by the happiness and well-being of its people. He introduces the Happy Planet Index, which tracks national well-being against resource use (because a happy life doesn't have to cost the earth). Which countries rank highest in the HPI? You might be sur...

Here's a question we all have to answer sooner or later: What do you want to happen to your body when you die? Funeral director Caitlin Doughty explores new ways to prepare us for inevitable mortality. In this thoughtful talk, learn more about ideas for burial (like "recomposting" and "conservation burial") that return our bodies back to the ear...

Forget the rest of solar system -- Mars is humanity's next destination. We keep talking about it, but what would it really be like to live there?

"Venus is too hot, Mars is too cold, and Earth is just right," says planetary scientist Dave Brain. But why? In this pleasantly humorous talk, Brain explores the fascinating science behind what it takes for a planet to host life -- and why humanity may just be in the right place at the right time when it comes to the timeline of life-sustaining ...

We all share one planet -- we breathe the same air, drink the same water and depend on the same oceans, forests and biodiversity. Economist Naoko Ishii is on a mission to protect these shared resources, known as the global commons, that are vital for our survival. In an eye-opening talk about the wellness of the planet, Ishii outlines four econo...

Learn all the hubbub going on with the big Red Planet in these insightful and utterly fascinating talks.

How do we find planets -- even habitable planets -- around other stars? By looking for tiny dimming as a planet passes in front of its sun, TED Fellow Lucianne Walkowicz and the Kepler mission have found some 1,200 potential new planetary systems. With new techniques, they may even find ones with the right conditions for life.

Stellar astronomer and TED Senior Fellow Lucianne Walkowicz works on NASA's Kepler mission, searching for places in the universe that could support life. So it's worth a listen when she asks us to think carefully about Mars. In this short talk, she suggests that we stop dreaming of Mars as a place that we'll eventually move to when we've messed ...

For those times when living a life far beyond our planet looks a little too appealing.

There’s something special about our busy, blue marble of a planet. These talks explore why we should make strides to preserve our shared, galactic home.

Forget the latest disease in the news: Cardiovascular disease kills more people than everything else combined -- and it’s mostly preventable. Dr. Dean Ornish explains how changing our eating habits can save lives.

Is there life beyond Earth? Join NASA's director of planetary science James Green for a survey of the places in our solar system that are most likely to harbor alien life.

Oceanographer Penny Chisholm introduces us to an amazing little being: Prochlorococcus, the most abundant photosynthetic species on the planet. A marine microbe that has existed for millions of years, Prochlorococcus wasn't discovered until the mid-1980s -- but its ancient genetic code may hold clues to how we can reduce our dependence on fossil...

Humanity’s increasingly permanent mark on the planet has spurred a new geological age in Earth’s history -- The Anthropocene. Learn how we’ve come to this point in time and what our footprint means to the future of this planet.

Sure, we're looking beyond the planet to other worlds we may one day inhabit -- but a lot of this technology we've developed can be used for the good of the Earth, too.

About this preformance: Spoken word artist IN-Q poetically captures the urgency of climate change in his original spoken word poem, “Movie Stars.” He urges us to take ownership of the Earth and the damage we’ve committed, and ends with a call to action: “One little dot is all that we’ve got,” says IN-Q. “We just forgot that none of it’s ours; we...

Every star we see in the sky has at least one planet orbiting it, says astronomer Sara Seager. So what do we know about these exoplanets, and how can we find out more? Seager introduces her favorite set of exoplanets and shows new technology that can help collect information about them -- and even help us look for exoplanets with life.

Master architects share their vision for buildings that inflate, float, twist and glitter, while artfully addressing the challenges faced by their residents, their cities and the planet.

Our planet is a wonder, a perfectly improbable incubator for life. It’s also in danger because of our indifference. Reflections on both those truths.

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

Astronomers believe that every star in the galaxy has a planet, one fifth of which might harbor life. Only we haven't seen any of them -- yet. Jeremy Kasdin and his team are looking to change that with the design and engineering of an extraordinary piece of equipment: a flower petal-shaped "starshade" positioned 50,000 km from a telescope to ena...

What is nature? Follow the camera's eye to many stunning places on the planet -- from the African veldt to the Amazon rainforest to the teeming world under the Arctic ice.

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.

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."

Drive a plane? Race a car with your eyes closed? Fly? Innovators in transportation show that getting from point A to point B doesn't have to be boring.

Every minute, 400 pounds of hydrogen and almost 7 pounds of helium escape from Earth's atmosphere into outer space. Astrophysicist Anjali Tripathi studies the phenomenon of atmospheric escape, and in this fascinating and accessible talk, she considers how this process might one day (a few billion years from now) turn our blue planet red.

Ski to the North Pole. Row across the Pacific. Swim on Mt. Everest(!). These adventurers have pushed themselves to the limits of human endurance, and in these talks they share what they've learned about themselves and the planet.

TED Fellow Christopher Ategeka is on a mission to ensure a sustainable future for humanity and the planet.

At Planet, Will Marshall leads overall strategy for commercializing new geospatial data and analytics that are disrupting agriculture, mapping, energy, the environment and other vertical markets.

The future of green is local. Majora Carter tells three inspiring stories of people who are saving their own communities while saving the planet.