TED Talks Daily

Storyteller Golriz Lucina recounts how the historic sacrifice of Iranian 19th-century poet and mystic Táhirih planted the seeds for the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests today, offering an inspiring lesson in the value of acting with conviction — even if we don't live to see the results.

(This talk was originally published on January 2024)

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Are your workplace relationships quietly burning you out? Drawing on large-scale research across industries, organizational behavior researcher Eric Quintane reveals four hidden relational traps woven into the fabric of work — and explores how connection shapes resilience, vulnerability and burnout.

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Imagine a robot moving into your home. How would it change your daily life? Historian Emily Kate Genatowski shares five eye-opening lessons from a year living with her AI-powered robot roommate, from the quirky and chaotic to the surprisingly mundane. Her experiences show that the future of robots isn’t science fiction — it’s practical, messy and already here.

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On the morning of February 28, 2026, the US and Israel bombed several parts of Iran, including the Tehran compound of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Geopolitical expert and Eurasia Group founder Ian Bremmer breaks down why US President Donald Trump made the decision to strike, what it means for hopes of “regime change” and the key details you need to know about this perilous moment in global history. (This interview, hosted by TED’s ...

Matt Damon is best known as the Hollywood icon from movies like Good Will Hunting and The Martian, but he has another passion offscreen: ensuring access to clean, safe water around the world. When he met social entrepreneur Gary White in 2008, they realized they could combine their efforts to reach more people and created water.org, which Gary leads as CEO. In this episode, Adam sits down with Matt and Gary at the World Economic Fo...

What do you do when the world declares something impossible? When physician-scientist David Fajgenbaum was dying from a rare disease and social entrepreneur Kiah Williams was confronting the realities of economic hardship, they began asking a different question: What can I do today? In this conversation, they discuss how turning hope into action can drive meaningful change — one step at a time. (This conversation is hosted by The A...

What if the solution to feeding humanity has been hiding in the soil for millions of years? Bioengineer Karsten Temme discovered a remarkable answer to this question: for eons, crops relied on soil microbes to convert atmospheric nitrogen into food — until modern farming severed that ancient partnership. He shows how we can reawaken those dormant microbes using gene editing, creating “living fertilizer” that delivers nutrients to c...

Legendary music producer Jermaine Dupri pulls back the curtain on how hit songs really get made in TED’s rapid-fire Q&A format, “On the Spot.” Answering a stream of unexpected questions, he covers what makes a good hook, why he doesn’t chase “cool,” how he helped build Atlanta’s sound and more.

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The race to build smarter AI is crashing into a physical limitation: the power grid simply can't keep up with the energy demands of data centers. Computer scientist Ayșe Coskun shows how we could turn this problem on its head, transforming AI facilities into virtual batteries that help stabilize the grid and accelerate clean energy. Learn why the technology causing this crisis might be the only thing smart enough to fix it.

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If a company plants trees to offset its pollution, is that climate progress — or is it greenwashing? Critics of carbon markets say it’s the latter. But Sandeep Roy Choudhury, who’s spent two decades financing climate projects from rural cookstoves to coastal forests, says the real failure is discouraging companies from even trying. Hear his case for why we shouldn’t let perfection block meaningful action on climate change.

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What if the best defense against misinformation isn’t panic, but a punchline? Journalist and comedian Dave Jorgenson explores how misinformation has proliferated throughout history — from the age of Plato to the era of viral TikToks. With his own short, absurdist sketches that explain the news, he shows how humor can cut through fear, spark curiosity and explore nuanced truth.

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From negotiating food choices to limiting screen time, raising healthy kids is complicated—but it doesn’t have to be, says pediatrician Dr. Shari Barkin. Dr. Barkin joins Shoshana to talk about the ways caregivers can carve out 10 minutes of their day to model a healthy lifestyle and help everyone in the family thrive.

Talk featured:

Inside the mind of a newborn baby - Claudia Passos Ferreira

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Drawing on clinical research and psychological studies, writer and psychologist Emily Esfahani Smith shows why pursuing meaning — the experience of connecting to something beyond yourself — creates a deeper sense of well-being than comes from chasing happiness. Learn about the steps you can take to move from feeling stuck to living with intention.

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Feeling burned out? You may be spending too much time ruminating about your job, says psychologist Guy Winch. Learn how to stop worrying about tomorrow’s tasks or stewing over office tensions with three simple techniques aimed at helping you truly relax and recharge after work.

This episode originally aired on December 9, 2019.

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Have you ever left a meeting thinking: everyone talked, but nothing was achieved? Chances are that people were listening to each other, just not in the same way. Listening experts Maegan Stephens and Nicole Lowenbraun unpack the four different ways to listen, sharing a practical framework that could change how you respond, build trust and get results — starting with just one simple question.

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AI is good at seeing patterns, but it’s humans who figure out what to do next, says technologist Priyanka Vergadia. She shares three stories of human excellence sparked by AI insights and offers a pathway to identify and cultivate your irreplaceable qualities, turning the AI revolution from a threat into an opportunity.

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As a child in rural Kenya, conservationist Seif Hamisi fell asleep to the sound of lions outside his village. Today, the lions are gone, mirroring a continent-wide trend: African wildlife populations have plummeted in recent decades, despite billions spent to protect nature. Drawing on examples of successful conservation efforts from the grasslands of South Africa to the woodlands of Kenya, he shows how we've been attempting to sol...

We've built a legal system that distrusts eyewitness memory — backed by cautionary science and high-profile exonerations. John Wixted, a leading psychology researcher, challenges this conventional wisdom with a counterintuitive finding: the problem might not be memory itself but how (and when) courts test it.

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Love coach Francesca Hogi is dedicated to helping daters find “lasting love in the midst of a broken dating culture.” In this episode, Francesca shares her approach to analyzing romantic patterns and feeling more empowered in your love life. From discussing romantic manifestations to reflecting on bell hooks’ claim that humans are unskilled at love, Chris and Francesca talk about the ways you can be more open to finding love.

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