How can we create an education system that works for kids, instead of against them? Watch eight inspiring talks from TED's May 2013 PBS special, given in their entirety.

Individuals who have shaped society and culture in homes around the world and on the big screen.

Hey, remote control mavericks. Enjoy these talks, full of thoughts on how TV shows pique our fascination and reflect our cultural values.

Stefan Sagmeister prefers to watch with company: “I find watching TED Talks the most brilliant alternative to watching TV, especially with someone else while stopping and going and stopping and discussing it all.”

Cynthia Schneider looks at two international "American Idol"-style shows -- one in Afghanistan, and one in the United Arab Emirates -- and shows the surprising effect that these reality-TV competitions are creating in their societies.

In this absorbing look at emerging media and tech history, Peter Hirshberg shares some crucial lessons from Silicon Valley and explains why the web is so much more than "better TV."

Whether it’s grades and test scores, cushy jobs or big salaries, our ideas of “success” tend to be incredibly narrow and often start incredibly early. Julie Lythcott-Haims is a New York Times bestselling author and former Dean of Freshmen at Stanford, and she is dedicated to helping people reconsider what really makes a happy, “successful” adult...

Pop culture is changing thanks to a different kind of storytelling, says digital strategist Hyeonmi Kim. They're called webtoons: comic-like illustrations published in short segments and meant to be read on a smartphone in five to 10 minutes. Kim breaks down how webtoons have leapt from phones to the big screen (Netflix's "Hellbound," anyone?) a...

Dave Isay opened the first StoryCorps booth in New York’s Grand Central Terminal in 2003 with the intention of creating a quiet place where a person could honor someone who mattered to them by listening to their story. Since then, StoryCorps has evolved into the single largest collection of human voices ever recorded. His TED Prize wish: to grow...

Local politics -- schools, zoning, council elections -- hit us where we live. So why don't more of us actually get involved? Is it apathy? Dave Meslin says no. He identifies 7 barriers that keep us from taking part in our communities, even when we truly care.

Why are some people really funny and others ... not so much? Comedian Chris Duffy shows how you can sharpen your sense of humor and start laughing every day — by seeing the world like a kid.

"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 ...

Fifteen-year-old Tavi Gevinson had a hard time finding strong female, teenage role models -- so she built a space where they could find each other. At TEDxTeen, she illustrates how the conversations on sites like Rookie, her wildly popular web magazine for and by teen girls, are putting a new, unapologetically uncertain and richly complex face o...

When Dave deBronkart learned he had a rare and terminal cancer, he turned to a group of fellow patients online -- and found the medical treatment that saved his life. Now he calls on all patients to talk with one another, know their own health data, and make health care better one e-Patient at a time.

Does collecting more data lead to better decision-making? Competitive, data-savvy companies like Amazon, Google and Netflix have learned that data analysis alone doesn't always produce optimum results. In this talk, data scientist Sebastian Wernicke breaks down what goes wrong when we make decisions based purely on data -- and suggests a brainie...

Nearly 40 percent of humanity lives near a coast -- and no two coasts are the same. How can these communities build resilience to the increasing risks of climate change? Climate advisor Dave Sivaprasad outlines how to tackle this complex challenge through an approach that looks for the right mix of solutions to fit each local context, from resto...

Jamie Oliver came to fame as the Naked Chef -- now he's made it his mission to transform the way we feed ourselves and our children, through his cookbooks, TV shows and the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation. The 2010 TED Prize winner shares his 5 favorite talks.

In this archival footage from BBC TV, celebrated physicist Richard Feynman explains what fire, magnets, rubber bands (and more) are like at the scale of the jiggling atoms they're made of. This accessible, enchanting conversation in physics reveals a teeming nano-world that's just plain fun to imagine.

To launch new initiatives within the confines of a large corporation, you'll need to work with the system, not against it, says "intrapreneur" Dave Raggio. He shares three lessons on innovation he learned the hard way — so you don't have to. (Made in partnership with Intuit)

Accepting his 2008 TED Prize, author Dave Eggers asks the TED community to personally, creatively engage with local public schools. With spellbinding eagerness, he talks about how his 826 Valencia tutoring center inspired others around the world to open

TV executive Lauren Zalaznick thinks deeply about pop television. Sharing results of a bold study that tracks attitudes against TV ratings over five decades, she makes a case that television reflects who we truly are -- in ways we might not have expected.

With his signature verve, guitarist and vocalist Dave Matthews delivers an acoustic performance of "Dive In" as part of TED's Countdown Global Livestream on October 30, 2021.

Every city has its neighborhoods, cliques and clubs, the hidden lines that join and divide people in the same town. What can we learn about cities by looking at what people share online? Starting with his own home town of Baltimore, Dave Troy has been visualizing what the tweets of city dwellers reveal about who lives there, who they talk to — a...

For the past 20 years StoryCorps has been traveling the country gathering the stories and wisdom of ordinary Americans and archiving them at the Library of Congress. StoryCorps founder Dave Isay — winner of the 2015 TED Prize — has created an unprecedented document of the dreams and fears that touch us all. In an interview with Elise, Dave share...

Explore some cultural phenomenons from across the globe. Some touching, some silly — and all very intriguing.

Conservation efforts in Africa have typically been led by "parachute conservationists" -- outsiders who drop in thinking they have all the answers, hire locals to implement them and then disappear. But conservationist Resson Kantai Duff has a better way to save wildlife in Africa: let locals lead these efforts themselves. She calls for a major s...

In athletics, in business, in life, everyone sets goals. But that's not the way to excel, according to former NFL player Emmanuel Acho, now an author and TV sports analyst. Here's what he says to do instead.

Nature's mysteries meet tack-sharp wit in this hilarious, 10-minute mix of quips and fun lessons, as comedian, writer and TV man John Lloyd plucks at the substance of several things not seen.

J.J. Abrams traces his love for the unseen mystery –- a passion that's evident in his films and TV shows, including Lost, Star Trek and the upcoming Star Wars VII -- back to its magical beginnings.

Learn how these microorganisms influence everything from the air we breathe and how healthy we are, to forming life itself.