Which of the following is risky behavior: a person taking cholesterol medicine with grapefruit juice? Or a person taking Acetaminophen before going out for drinks? Or a person on blood thinners who takes an aspirin? Turns out, all of them are risky. Each has inadvertently created a drug interaction that could lead to serious complications. Célin...

Today we know the molecular cause of 4,000 diseases, but treatments are available for only 250 of them. So what's taking so long? Geneticist and physician Francis Collins explains why systematic drug discovery is imperative, even for rare and complex diseases, and offers a few solutions -- like teaching old drugs new tricks.

A lot happens behind the scenes before medicine gets to you. Get a deeper understanding of the drugs and vaccines you may use with these compelling facts and figures.

Investigative journalist Katherine Eban set out to report on a seemingly straightforward question: Are generic drugs really identical to their brand-name counterparts? The answer sparked a decade of interviews, meetings with whistleblowers, on-the-ground reporting across four continents and digging into confidential FDA documents. In this alarmi...

The global drug trade is complex. These talks offer nuanced reframes on an issue which is so often thought about in absolutes.

Space exploration is more than studying stars or landing on Mars; it’s also a new testing ground for cutting-edge solutions to Earth’s greatest problems. High above Earth’s surface, researchers are using orbital microgravity to conduct exciting new science. Astrophysicist Hilde Stenuit explains how microgravity allows scientists to bypass Earthl...

Armed with bracing logic, wit and her "public-health nerd" glasses, Elizabeth Pisani reveals the myriad of inconsistencies in today's political systems that prevent our dollars from effectively fighting the spread of HIV. Her research with at-risk populations -- from junkies in prison to sex workers on the street in Cambodia -- demonstrates the ...

A century after its discovery, insulin remain essential in treating diabetes, and has a relatively low production cost, with a vial generally costing less than $6 to make. But those in the US pay on average 10 times more than those in other countries— leading some patients to take less than prescribed. Kiah Williams takes a look at the US supply...

Believe it or not, about 20 years' worth of potentially life-saving drugs are sitting in labs right now, untested. Why? Because they can't get the funding to go to trials; the financial risk is too high. Roger Stein is a finance guy, and he thinks deeply about mitigating risk. He and some colleagues at MIT came up with a promising new financial ...

How do music and psychedelics impact your brain? Neuroscientist Frederick Streeter Barrett discusses the specific neural regions activated when you listen to music and undergo the effects of psychedelic drugs like LSD or psilocybin (magic mushrooms). Learn about his research on how these experiences, when paired with the right conditions, may su...

Is there a way to detect diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's before they advance too far? Doctors are using injected radioactive drugs that circulate through the body and act as a beacon for PET scanners. These diagnostic tools can detect the spread of diseases before they can be spotted with other types of imaging. So how exactly does this wor...

These talks take a new, fresh perspective while exploring the epidemic of addiction.

Is the War on Drugs doing more harm than good? In a bold talk, drug policy reformist Ethan Nadelmann makes an impassioned plea to end the "backward, heartless, disastrous" movement to stamp out the drug trade. He gives two big reasons we should focus on intelligent regulation instead.

The United States accounts for five percent of the world's population but consumes almost 70 percent of the total global opioid supply, creating an epidemic that has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths each year. How did we get here, and what can we do about it? In this personal talk, Travis Rieder recounts the painful, often-hidden struggle...

One night in 2002, a friend gave Jorge Drexler the chorus to a song and challenged him to write the rest of it using a complex, poetic form known as the "Décima." In this fascinating talk, Drexler examines the blended nature of identity, weaving together the history of the Décima with his own quest to write one. He closes the talk with a perform...

When a new drug gets tested, the results of the trials should be published for the rest of the medical world -- except much of the time, negative or inconclusive findings go unreported, leaving doctors and researchers in the dark. In this impassioned talk, Ben Goldacre explains why these unreported instances of negative data are especially misle...

Ninety-nine percent of cancer drugs never make it to tumors, getting washed out of the body before they have time to do their job. How can we better deliver life-saving drugs? Cancer researcher Joy Wolfram shares cutting-edge medical research into nanoparticles -- tiny particles that could be used to deliver drugs accurately to tumors -- and exp...

Antibiotic drugs save lives. But we simply use them too much — and often for non-lifesaving purposes, like treating the flu and even raising cheaper chickens. The result, says researcher Ramanan Laxminarayan, is that the drugs will stop working for everyone, as the bacteria they target grow more and more resistant. He calls on all of us (patient...

Teens don't get enough sleep, and it's not because of Snapchat, social lives or hormones -- it's because of public policy, says Wendy Troxel. Drawing from her experience as a sleep researcher, clinician and mother of a teenager, Troxel discusses how early school start times deprive adolescents of sleep during the time of their lives when they ne...

The Maasai people have lived sustainably off the savanna for centuries, raising cattle for sustenance and income. Climate activist Dorcas Naishorua paints a picture of how the climate crisis is threatening their way of life — and calls for local and international support as they're forced to adapt to a changing environment.

Why do we still think that drug use is a law-enforcement issue? Making drugs illegal does nothing to stop people from using them, says public health expert Mark Tyndall. So, what might work? Tyndall shares community-based research that shows how harm-reduction strategies, like safe-injection sites, are working to address the drug overdose crisis.

Having trouble falling asleep -- or staying asleep? Alcohol, sleeping pills or drugs like cannabis may help you in the short term, but they're only a quick fix, says sleep scientist Matt Walker. There is, however, one proven way to treat your insomnia and help you get the zzz's you need.

Throughout her career in banking Ilona Szabó de Carvalho never imagined she'd someday start a social movement. But living in her native Brazil, which leads the world in homicidal violence, she realized she couldn't just stand by and watch drugs and guns tear her country apart. Szabó de Carvalho reveals four crucial lessons she learned when she l...

Johann Hari is the author of two "New York Times" best-selling books.

The placebo effect is an unexplained phenomenon wherein drugs, treatments, and therapies that aren't supposed to have an effect — and are often fake — miraculously make people feel better. What's going on? Emma Bryce dives into the mystery of placebos' bizarre benefits. [Directed by Hernando Bahamon, narrated by Addison Anderson].

Swallowing pills to get medication is a quick, painless and often not entirely effective way of treating disease. A potentially better way? Lasers. In this passionate talk, TED Fellow Patience Mthunzi explains her idea to use lasers to deliver drugs directly to cells infected with HIV. It's early days yet, but could a cure be on the horizon?

Half the world's population doesn't have access to basic health care. The answer to bridging this divide lies in pharmacies, which Boris A. Hesser believes can be developed into bonafide centers of community care. In this forward-thinking talk, Hesser explains how he and his team are working to bring affordable health care to everyone, everywhere.

An architect of the "Boston miracle," Rev. Jeffrey Brown started out as a bewildered young pastor watching his Boston neighborhood fall apart around him, as drugs and gang violence took hold of the kids on the streets. The first step to recovery: Listen to those kids, don't just preach to them, and help them reduce violence in their own neighbor...

Current treatments for depression and PTSD only suppress symptoms, if they work at all. What if we could prevent these diseases from developing altogether? Neuroscientist and TED Fellow Rebecca Brachman shares the story of her team's accidental discovery of a new class of drug that, for the first time ever, could prevent the negative effects of ...

We need to change how we prescribe drugs, says physician Daniel Kraft: too often, medications are dosed incorrectly, cause toxic side effects or just don't work. In a talk and concept demo, Kraft shares his vision for a future of personalized medication, unveiling a prototype 3D printer that could design pills that adapt to our individual needs.