Dutch artist Piet Mondrian's abstract, rectangular paintings inspired mathematicians to create a two-fold challenge. Can you solve the puzzle and get to the lowest score possible? Gordon Hamilton shows how. [TED-Ed Animation by Anton Trofimov]

It's relatively easy to imagine a new medicine -- the hard part is testing it, and that can delay promising new cures for years. In this well-explained talk, Geraldine Hamilton shows how her lab creates organs and body parts on a chip, simple structures with all the pieces essential to testing new medications -- perhaps even custom cures made fo...

Hard work, resilience and grit lead to success, right? This narrative pervades the way we think, says economist Darrick Hamilton, but the truth is that our chances at economic security have less to do with what we do and more to do with the wealth position we're born into. Enter "baby bonds": trust accounts of up to $60,000 for every newborn, ca...

Humility, transparency and urgency are the keys to successfully steering an organization -- big or small -- through the challenges that come your way. Leadership expert Amy C. Edmondson provides clear advice and examples to help any leader rise to the occasion.

British MP Rory Stewart walked across Afghanistan after 9/11, talking with citizens and warlords alike. Now, a decade later, he asks: Why are Western and coalition forces still fighting there? He shares lessons from past military interventions that worked -- Bosnia, for instance -- and shows that humility and local expertise are the keys to succ...

Trivia whiz Ken Jennings has made a career as a keeper of facts; he holds the longest winning streak in history on the US quiz show Jeopardy. But in 2011, he played a challenge match against IBM's supercomputer Watson -- and lost. With humor and humility, Jennings tells us how it felt to have a computer literally beat him at his own game, and ma...

The more we rely on technology to make us efficient, the fewer skills we have to confront the unexpected, says writer and entrepreneur Margaret Heffernan. She shares why we need less tech and more messy human skills -- imagination, humility, bravery -- to solve problems in business, government and life in an unpredictable age. "We are brave enou...

JJ Abrams joins as the interviewer for an exclusive first look at Adam's forthcoming book: "Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know." Together, they illuminate strategies for maintaining humility, curiosity, and mental flexibility in a world that rewards confidence, conviction, and foolish consistency. Plus, JJ shares some of his f...

Growing up, Saul Perlmutter just wanted to know how the world worked. In 2011, he was part of the Nobel Prize-winning team that discovered the accelerating expansion of the universe. Saul and Adam talk about how science and knowledge evolve, what surprising emotions come with discovery, and why the combination of individual humility and collecti...

If you've sanded down your edges to fit in, it's time to bring them back -- there's power, value and beauty there, says Crystal Rasmussen. With candor and humility, Rasmussen shares their experience navigating shame, how it manifests in ourselves and the world and the ways drag revealed a path toward self-love and acceptance. A talk for anyone s...

It’s aaalive! Behold, these advancements in science and tech allow us to create human body parts.

In the 1970s (and decades following), TV producer Norman Lear touched the lives of millions with culture-altering sitcoms like All in the Family, The Jeffersons and Good Times, pushing the boundaries of the era and giving a primetime voice to underrepresented Americans. In an intimate, smart conversation with Eric Hirshberg, he shares with humil...

The Butler Bulldogs have a habit of shocking college basketball fans by beating top teams with far more talent. How do they do it? Adam Grant joins the team to talk about why stars are overrated and role players are underrated -- and how humility can go hand in hand with confidence. Also featuring "Moneyball" author Michael Lewis and Brad Steven...

Think about the most tired you've ever been at work. It probably wasn't when you stayed late or came home from a road trip -- chances are it was when you had someone looking over your shoulder, watching your each and every move. "If we know that micromanagement isn't really effective, why do we do it?" asks entrepreneur Chieh Huang. In a funny t...

In 2014, Erika Cheung made a discovery that would ultimately help bring down her employer, Theranos, as well as its founder, Elizabeth Holmes, who claimed to have invented technology that would transform medicine. The decision to become a whistleblower proved a hard lesson in figuring out how to do what's right in the face of both personal and p...

The Apollo 11 moon landing was about the astronauts, mission control, software and hardware all working together as a seamless integrated system. None of which would have been possible without the contributions of one engineer: Margaret Hamilton. Who was this pioneer? Matt Porter and Margaret Hamilton detail how a woman and her team launched the...

Education activist (and recent Oxford graduate) Malala Yousafzai reflects on the defining moments of her life, how she balances passion with personhood and where the world finds itself during the COVID-19 crisis. With humor and humility, she shares her dreams of seeing social progress in her lifetime, explains why girls education advocacy must n...

Geraldine Hamilton builds organs and body parts on a chip -- to test new, custom cures.

Darrick Hamilton crafts and implements innovative routes and policies that break down social hierarchy and move society towards greater equity, inclusion and civic participation.

Zoom in -- way, way in -- to look at the world from speck's-eye view. Learn about very tiny insects, the world at the nanoscale, and sculptures so small it's best to hold your breath while viewing.

Jimmy Nelson’s photographs of vanishing tribes illuminate the indigenous cultures of our shared world.

Michael Patrick Lynch examines truth, democracy, public discourse and the ethics of technology in the age of big data.

A two-term U.S. Poet Laureate, Billy Collins captures readers with his understated wit, profound insight -- and a sense of being "hospitable."

Pope Francis was the head of the Roman Catholic Church and a strong advocate of global action against climate change, to which he devoted his powerful 2015 encyclical "Laudato Si'."

Iraqi-born Zainab Salbi founded and runs Women for Women International, and has dedicated her life to helping women in war-torn regions rebuild their lives and communities.

No, “humble narcissism” is not an oxymoron; it’s a combination of qualities that the best leaders and companies have. Organizational psychologist Adam Grant explains why. Who would you rather work for: a narcissistic leader or a humble leader? The answer is more complicated than you think. In a Fortune 100 company, researchers studied whe...

About this event: Our TEDxRowanSOM event will be exploring change and innovation in myriad of definitions from experts that embolden RowanSOM’s faculty, students, and most importantly, our community. With the TEDx platform, topics involving aging, social justice, COVID, and other subjects, we will explore how prior ideas and practices have changed, improved, and ...

This post is part of TED’s “How to Be a Better Human” series, each of which contains a piece of helpful advice from people in the TED community; browse through all the posts here. We’re currently living in an era of teamwork. Today, we take for granted the fact that we can be on the same team as somebody who lives on the other side of...

About this event: TEDxKids@NMS is a platform for ideas that inspire kids and provide them with the opportunity to tackle questions of innovation, enterprise and optimism. "Compassion" is the essence of humanity. It is about reverence, empathy and concern for others. It accentuates values like equality and humility. And who would be better than kids to make us rea...

David Miliband came to TED with a specific message: The global refugee crisis is not unsolvable -- and it's actually a test of those of us in the West. For Miliband, this crisis is personal, not just professional. Both his mother and father were refugees who were forced to flee their homes in World War II. "If Britain had not admitted ref...