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TED Talks Daily

TED

#24 in Society & Culture this week
Want TED Talks on the go? Everyday, this feed brings you our latest talks in audio format. Hear thought-provoking ideas on every subject imaginable – from Artificial Intelligence to Zoology, and everything in between – given by the world's leading thinkers and doers. This collection of talks, given at TED and TEDx conferences around the globe, is also available in video format.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  • 82 episodes
  • daily
  • Avg 20 min
  • English
Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.
  • Today · 17 min

    How to break through fear and become a leader | Valerie Montgomery Rice

    Vigilance. Grit. Resilience. Valerie Montgomery Rice, the president and CEO of Morehouse School of Medicine, shares where she learned these key qualities of successful leadership, offering three lessons for anyone who wants to overcome their fears, stand up for what’s right and build opportunity for all. (This episode originally aired in 2024.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Yesterday · 29 min

    How to escape your obsession with productivity | Rebecca McMackin and Catherine Price

    Why are we so obsessed with productivity? Horticulturist Rebecca McMackin (who wants people to let their lawns grow wild) and author Catherine Price (who wrote a book about the power of fun) come together to discuss the relief of giving up control. From growing milkweed to taking up unproductive hobbies, they dig into the benefits of rest — and why doing something for its own sake shouldn't need defending. (This conversation is part of "TED Intersections," a series featuring thought-provoking conversations between experts navigating the ideas shaping our world.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Friday · 11 min

    I thought I was lazy. Turns out I had a sleep disorder | Lindsay Scola

    For more than two decades, sleep health educator Lindsay Scola attributed her never-ending exhaustion to long hours and demanding jobs. When she was diagnosed with narcolepsy, she finally got the wake-up call that transformed her life. In this rousing talk, she discusses the epidemic of undiagnosed sleep disorders and encourages you to ask yourself: Is your tiredness different? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Thursday · 14 min

    Inside the "play labs" helping refugee kids heal | Erum Mariam

    What does healing look like for a refugee child? That's the question educational leader Erum Mariam asked when her team built the humanitarian "play labs": small, welcoming spaces where children displaced from their homes can play and reconnect with what they lost. From songs and dances to games and art they remember from home, Mariam shows how making space for kids to play brings back confidence and joy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Wednesday · 36 min

    Why we blew up four dams — and saved a river | Amy Bowers Cordalis

    For thousands of years, the Klamath River in Northern California was home to one of the continent’s great salmon runs, creating abundance for the native Yurok Tribe … until a series of dams and a century of extraction nearly destroyed it. Indigenous advocate Amy Bowers Cordalis helped lead the fight to take down those dams — the largest removal of its kind in US history. She offers a roadmap for communities everywhere working to protect and restore the places they call home. (Following her talk, Cordalis joins Elise Hu to talk about her journey becoming a lawyer to fight for the Klamath River dam removal. She shared a story about the time her grandmother and great-grandmother faced down a team of federal marshals from a tiny rowboat, in a standoff that somehow involved… underwear.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Tuesday · 14 min

    What makes a good game? | Eric Zimmerman

    What’s the best way to make a project more playful? Game designer Eric Zimmerman has a counterintuitive suggestion: a few good rules. Drawing on his experience making everything from video games and tabletop classics to museum-scale installations, he breaks down how creative play comes to life — and how to harness the power of constraints to create endless fun. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Monday · 13 min

    How to clean up the world's dirtiest industry | Joojin Kim

    Climate strategist Joojin Kim spent years convincing banks across South Korea to stop funding coal, and it worked. Now he's aiming that same playbook at a new target: maritime shipping, a hidden engine of the global economy — and one of the world's dirtiest industries. He breaks down how the whole system converges in one place and why redirecting finance could transform it into a driver of a clean economy worldwide. (This ambitious idea is part of The Audacious Project, TED's initiative to inspire and fund global change.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 20 · 22 min

    The secret to mastering life's biggest transitions | Bruce Feiler

    How do you navigate life's growing number of transitions with meaning, purpose and skill? Writer Bruce Feiler offers a powerful way to handle uncertain, painful and confusing times -- or "lifequakes", as he calls them. Learn how to equip yourself with the essential tools and mindset to ride out (and rewrite) the toughest chapters of your life story, and turn unease and upheaval into growth and renewal. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 19 · 29 min

    How tech will (and won't) replace your doctor | Zack Abbott and Dhruv Khullar

    There's more health advice available than ever before — and no easy way to tell what’s worth your time. From biotech breakthroughs to smarter cancer screening, physician Dhruv Khullar and microbiologist Zack Abbott examine what happens when science can change who we are — including the potential of reengineering the human body — and what medicine might look like in 20 years. (This conversation is part of “TED Intersections,” a series featuring thought-provoking conversations between experts navigating the ideas shaping our world.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 18 · 15 min

    How to make AI companies pay your energy bill | Ari Matusiak

    Climate expert Ari Matusiak spends his days working to rewire America's energy system, and he has an idea: instead of tech companies building new power plants for their AI data centers, they should invest in energy-efficient upgrades to your home. He lays out how this swap could lower your power bill, reduce the strain on the grid and help communities reclaim control over the thing tech companies need most — power. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 17 · 21 min

    How to use tech to outsmart dictators | Leopoldo López

    In seven years as a political prisoner in Venezuela, activist Leopoldo López kept asking one question: Who holds the keys to freedom? Now the leader of an alliance of dissidents and exiles from more than 60 countries, he makes the case that open-source, decentralized technology can put power into the hands of ordinary people. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 16 · 13 min

    Campaigns spend millions to influence voters. This works better | Katie Paris

    Katie Paris quit her career in Washington, DC, to figure out how to make politics feel less like strangers shouting at each other and more like friends looking out for each other. In this practical talk, she reveals why conversations between real people can have a bigger impact on elections than anything millions of campaign dollars can buy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 15 · 12 min

    The wiggly wonder of music | Jacob Collier

    Grammy-winning musician Jacob Collier has a name for the feeling that moves through a great piece of music: the wiggle. Watch him break down the idea into its three parts — melody, rhythm and harmony — with nothing but his own voice, a grand piano and Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.” Turns out life, like music, was never made to run in straight lines. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 14 · 8 min

    How AI unleashed (not replaced) my creativity | Kelly A. Boesch

    After working for years in film, fashion and graphic design, visual artist Kelly A. Boesch found a new collaborator to work with: AI. She walks through how she uses the technology to create dreamlike images and music that remain hauntingly human, exploring the two questions everyone keeps asking her — how do you make it, and is it really art? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 13 · 20 min

    How to turn setbacks into success | Amy Shoenthal

    Success rarely happens in a straight line, with setbacks all but guaranteed along the way. What's the best way to recover? Leadership coach Amy Shoenthal lays out the four phases of the "setback cycle" and explains how to transform difficult moments into opportunities for reinvention and progress. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 12 · 30 min

    Why is it so hard for men to open up? A journalist and an entrepreneur answer | Joshua Johnson and Blake Mycoskie

    Is conversation a lost art, or is it just evolving? Journalist Joshua Johnson and social entrepreneur Blake Mycoskie answer questions on everything from the male loneliness crisis to what it actually takes to connect with others — and reveal two deceptively simple tips for going deeper with the people around you. (This conversation is part of “TED Intersections,” a series featuring thought-provoking conversations between experts navigating the ideas shaping our world.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 11 · 26 min

    The gravity-defying future of manufacturing | Schendy Kernizan

    3D printing promised to reinvent how we make things, but it's mostly stuck producing prototypes with a high level of waste. Designer and TED Fellow Schendy Kernizan found a different way — by printing objects directly into a tub of gel. He explains how this technique eliminates the constraints of gravity, pushing the limits of how we can manufacture objects across medicine, fashion, space travel and more. Following his story, pulled from a short film he made for TED, Kernizan speaks with Lily James Olds, director of the TED Fellows program, on where this fascination with making things first came from. They talk about what kind of objects Kernizan’s is most excited to build, how he overcomes setbacks, and what keeps him motivated. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 10 · 11 min

    News tells you what happened. Drawing shows you how it felt | George Butler

    What does a war look like when you sit still long enough to draw it? Reportage artist and TED Fellow George Butler sketches the people that the news passes by: a 99-year-old survivor of the Holodomor famine in Ukraine, a man gathering books blasted into a rose garden, an architect whose home was hit by a Russian missile. Urging us to slow down in the age of immediate news, Butler shows how a drawing reveals what a headline can't. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 9 · 17 min

    How bullying spreads — and how social bravery stops it | Amy Cuddy

    How does bullying take root? Social psychologist Amy Cuddy got an inside view of this question after she became the target of a coordinated campaign to discredit her. Drawing on her own experience and years of research, she gives a clear-eyed analysis of how bullying reshaped our culture and how each of us can practice social bravery — everyday acts of standing up for one another — to end it. (Note: This talk contains discussion of suicide.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 8 · 13 min

    How the wealth gap is reshaping politics | Xochitl Gonzalez

    Wealth inequality gets talked about as an economic problem. Writer Xochitl Gonzalez makes the case that it's a civic one, too — a slow, quiet threat to democracy. Drawing on her research into the psychology of social class, she shows how growing up with (or without) money changes how we experience politics, community and society. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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