The World Machine | Think Like A Coder, Ep 10

The adventure ends! Episode 10: Can Ethic make it to the World Machine and stop Hedge from covering the world in a giant maze? -- This is episode 10 of our animated series “Think Like A Coder.” This 10-episode narrative follows a girl, Ethic, and her robot companion, Hedge, as they attempt to save the world. The two embark on a quest to collect...

14h

Is human evolution speeding up or slowing down? - Laurence Hurst

Download a free audiobook version of "Sapiens" and support TED-Ed's nonprofit mission: https://www.audible.com/ted-ed Check out our full book recommendation: https://shop.ed.ted.com/collections/ted-ed-book-recommendations/products/sapiens -- In the past 3,000 years, many populations have evolved genetic adaptations to their local environments....

2d

Is life meaningless? And other absurd questions - Nina Medvinskaya

Dive into Albert Camus’ philosophy of the absurd, and explore the question: if the world is meaningless, could our lives still hold value? -- Albert Camus grew up surrounded by violence. His homeland of Algeria was mired in conflict. He lost his father in World War I. Seeing World War II's devastation, Camus grew despondent. What was the meaning...

3d

"Jabberwocky": One of literature's best bits of nonsense

Dive into Lewis Carroll’s epic nonsense poem, “Jabberwocky” from his novel "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There." -- As Alice wanders through the dreamscape of Looking-Glass Land in Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There," she happens across a book written in an unintelligible language. Inside,...

1w

A day in the life of an ancient Greek architect - Mark Robinson

Follow Pheidias, the chief builder for the Parthenon, as he supervises the construction of the new temple and faces charges of embezzlement. -- The year is 432 BCE. As dawn breaks over Athens, Pheidias is already late for work. He is the chief builder for the Parthenon — Athens’ newest and largest temple— and when he arrives onsite, city officials...

2w

The Japanese folktale of the selfish scholar - Iseult Gillespie

Dive into the Japanese folktale of a scholar’s quest to purify his body and mind, and the spiritual secret he discovers along the way. -- In ancient Kyoto, a Shinto scholar found himself distracted from his prayers and sought to perform a purification ritual that would cleanse him. He decided to travel to the revered Hie Shrine; walking the path...

2w

A brief history of plastic

Trace the history of the invention of plastic, and how the material ushered in what became known as the plastics century. -- For centuries, billiard balls were made of ivory from elephant tusks. But when excessive hunting caused elephant populations to decline, they began to look for alternatives. John Wesley Hyatt took up the challenge. In five...

2w

Are all of your memories real? - Daniel L. Schacter

Dig into the psychology of how memories are susceptible to false information and why we shouldn’t treat them as truth. -- In a 1990’s study, participants recalled getting lost in a shopping mall as children. Some shared these memories in vivid detail, but there was one problem: none of these people had actually gotten lost in a mall. They produced...

3w

Why people fall for misinformation - Joseph Isaac

How does a fact become a misconception? Dig into the world of misinformation to see how facts can become distorted and misleading. -- In 1901, David Hänig published research that led to what we know today as the taste map: an illustration that divides the tongue into four separate areas. It has since been published in textbooks and newspapers....

3w

Can you solve the sorting hat riddle? - Dan Katz and Alex Rosenthal

Practice more problem-solving at https://brilliant.org/TedEd/ -- It’s your first day at Magnificent Marigold’s Magical Macademy. But before you can learn your first spell you must get through the sorting ceremony. And the sorting hat has chosen you for a special challenge. The Macademy had 8 founders who established four houses, and there was...

4w