The destruction of war doesn't stop when the fighting is over. Photographer and TED Fellow Laura Boushnak shares a powerful photo essay about the survivors of cluster bombs, people who encountered these deadly submunitions years after the end of conflict. With her haunting photos, Boushnak asks those who still produce and condone the use of thes...

The first legal ballot cast in the United States by a woman was in Utah -- a culminating moment in a trailblazing local women's suffrage. In this talk, Neylan McBaine tells the little-known story of this movement and details the ways its triumphs (and setbacks) are relevant to contemporary struggles for equality.

Growing up in Poland under communist rule, artist Agnieszka Pilat has always found hope and freedom in technology. Accompanied onstage by the infamous quadruped robot Spot, she explains why humanity is like a collective parent to AI, making the case that machines are our legacy — and warning us not to let techno-pessimism turn into a self-fulfil...

"I think of legacy as the weaving together of our stories passed on as a whole," says Haida storyteller Cohen Bradley. Highlighting the significance of potlatch ceremonies (or gift-giving feasts) and other Indigenous traditions of the Haida Nation, Bradley shares why we all should prioritize our collective legacies -- and how they live on throug...

In 1972, Thomas Sankara was swept into the revolution seeking to wrest control of Madagascar from France's lingering colonial rule. The protests inspired the West African native to read works by socialist leaders and seek wisdom from military strategy. Leaving Madagascar in 1973, he was determined to free his country from its colonial legacy. Li...

In an engaging and personal talk -- with cameo appearances from his grandmother and Rosa Parks -- human rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson shares some hard truths about America's justice system, starting with a massive imbalance along racial lines: a third of the country's black male population has been incarcerated at some point in their lives. Thes...

Educator Sharif El-Mekki advocates for the revival of the Black teaching tradition — a set of educational practices grounded in philosophies, values and actions that stretch from pre-colonial Africa to historical African American leaders. He posits that this tradition can help teachers better serve Black students and create a more equitable lear...

The perspectives movies are told from filter into our life choices, personal philosophies and very identities. Film journalist Alicia Malone tells the forgotten stories of Hollywood's very first female directors to illustrate how a diversity in cinema could benefit us all.

In the Yukon First Nations, women lead; generations of matriarchs have guided and directed the community by forging trade agreements, creating marriage alliances and ensuring business for all. Yukon Regional Chief Kluane Adamek urges others to follow in the legacy of her people by putting more women at the table and encouraging them to seek spac...

In 2009, five Kenyan people took a petition to the British Prime Minister. They claimed they endured human rights abuses in the 1950s, while Kenya was under British colonial rule, and demanded reparations. They had no documentary evidence that Britain sanctioned systems of torture— but thousands of secret files were waiting to be discovered. Aud...

Given a range of integers from 0 to 100, what would the whole number closest to 2/3 of the average of all numbers guessed be? For example, if the average of all guesses is 60, the correct guess will be 40. The game is played under conditions known to game theorists as "common knowledge:" every player has the same information— they also know that...

Desde chiquitos, todos escribimos un cuento: nuestro cuento, el cuento de nuestra vida. Lucas Raspall, médico psiquiatra, nos invita a cuestionar y reescribir nuestros propios cuentos.

Lucas Joppa, Microsoft's first chief environmental officer, thinks about climate change through the lens of coding, and he says the world's current net-zero approach simply won't compute. So how do we create a system that actually accounts for all the world's carbon emissions -- and helps us get to zero (as in zero additional carbon added to the...

Lux Narayan starts his day with scrambled eggs and the question: "Who died today?" Why? By analyzing 2,000 New York Times obituaries over a 20-month period, Narayan gleaned, in just a few words, what achievement looks like over a lifetime. Here he shares what those immortalized in print can teach us about a life well lived.

After the California Gold Rush of 1848, settlers streamed west to strike it rich. In addition to precious metals, they unearthed another treasure: dinosaur bones. Two wealthy scientists in particular— Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope— competed to uncover these prehistoric monsters. Lukas Rieppel digs into one of the most notorious s...

Computer code is the next universal language, and its syntax will be limited only by the imaginations of the next generation of programmers. Linda Liukas is helping to educate problem-solving kids, encouraging them to see computers not as mechanical, boring and complicated but as colorful, expressive machines meant to be tinkered with. In this t...

Katherine Lucas is an extrovert — but to her surprise, her cheerful smiles and warm approach gave others the impression that she was less intelligent and lacked leadership skills. Lucas identifies different types of extroverts and argues that the workplace needs them all.

Two perfectly rational gingerbread men, Crispy and Chewy, are out strolling when they're caught by a fox. Instead of simply eating them, he decides to put their friendship to the test with a cruel dilemma. He'll ask each gingerbread man whether he'd opt to Spare or Sacrifice the other. What should they choose? Lucas Husted dives into the classic...

Experiential artist Lucas Rizzotto was going through a tough breakup, so he did what anyone would do: he built a personal time machine. In a playful talk, he shares how his free-ranging experimentation led to various delightful, unexpected innovations that are changing how people think about the relationship between technology and art. "Technolo...

Comedian Pardis Parker presents an unfortunate truth: being rich won't make you a legend. In this rollicking comedy set, he roasts society's obsession with billionaires -- and offers an alternative way to leave a legacy.

What does it take to build a legacy? Hip-hop artist Cordae tells how he went from mixtape-dropping high school kid to Grammy-nominated music star whose "Hi Level" mindset helps him achieve his dreams.

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

Activist and historian Curtis Austin was labeled a felon after being questioned about his research on the Black Panther Party. In this eye-opening talk, he lays out the history of the organization and its political successes, explaining how his experience reflects the group's misrepresented legacy.

There is much to learn in death as there is in life. An intimate look at the wisdom that is forged from deep loss.

Colonization has shaped many parts of the world, leaving behind a legacy of violence, trauma and destruction. But rather than feeling powerless or discouraged by history and its shameful consequences, we can learn from it instead and take action to create a more just and equitable future. Educator Nikki Sanchez explains how.

Slavery has occurred in many forms throughout the world, but the Atlantic slave trade -- which forcibly brought more than 10 million Africans to the Americas -- stands out for both its global scale and its lasting legacy. Anthony Hazard discusses the historical, economic and personal impact of this massive historical injustice. [Directed by NEIG...

If you were a jackrabbit in the desert, you'd be glad to stumble across a cactus: the flesh of these plants is a water source for many animals. Known for their spines and succulent stems, cacti of all shapes and sizes have evolved to not just survive, but thrive, in some of the harshest desert climates on Earth. So how do they do it? Lucas C. Ma...

Indigenous languages across North America are under threat of extinction due to the colonial legacy of cultural erasure, says linguist Lindsay Morcom. Highlighting grassroots strategies developed by the Anishinaabe people of Canada to revive their language and community, Morcom makes a passionate case for enacting policies that could protect Ind...

The universe started with a bang -- but how will it end? With astonishing visuals, cosmologist and TED Fellow Katie Mack takes us to the theoretical end of everything, some trillions of years in the future, in a profound meditation on existence, wonder and the legacy of humanity within the immensity of time and space.

Dating back more than 800 years, chocolate is deeply woven into the Indigenous history of Oaxaca, Mexico. TED Fellow Germán Santillán talks about his work reviving the Mixtec technique used to prepare this ancient delicacy by training a new generation of local farmers -- helping create economic opportunity and preserve a delicious legacy at the ...