From Twitter to word of mouth, explore the ways ideas spread so quickly from person to person.

Linus Torvalds transformed technology twice -- first with the Linux kernel, which helps power the Internet, and again with Git, the source code management system used by developers worldwide. In a rare interview with TED Curator Chris Anderson, Torvalds discusses with remarkable openness the personality traits that prompted his unique philosophy...

A manned mission to Mars has long captivated our collective imagination. Perhaps the most significant obstacle to achieving this mission is fueling a craft to and from Mars. Erika Debenedictis offers some compelling theories on how we can make it happen.

Your professor has accidentally stepped through a time portal in his physics lab. You've got just a minute to jump through before it closes and leaves him stranded in history. Your only way back is to grab enough colored nodules to create a new portal to open a doorway through time. Can you take the right amount of nodules to get back to the pre...

“Being on a voyage forces you to unplug,” says TED Fellow and third-generation captain Lehua Kamalu. Sharing ancient knowledge from traditional Hawaiian ocean voyaging, she reflects on the transformational power of seafaring journeys — and what it means to travel mindfully, no matter where you are.

How to Be a Better Human How to travel without even leaving home (w/ Saleem Reshamwala) June 26, 2023 [00:00:00] Chris Duffy: You are listening to How to Be a Better Human. I'm your host, Chris Duffy. I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel like time is just moving so quickly. Days blur into weeks, blur into months, and all of a sudden I'm...

Travel across the universe (or is it universes?) to see stunning images of Saturn's rings, hear haunting sounds from distant black holes and catch an infectious sense of wonder about galaxies far, far away.

Imagine a scientist who has teleported to space. His spacesuit’s pressurized air protects his bodily fluids from vaporization, its oxygen tank keeps him breathing, and the insulation prevents him from freezing. But although these features thwart an immediate tragedy, space is still an incredibly dangerous place. So, what does a prolonged stay in...

We all know that information is power, but what if you live in a country without a free press or regular access to the internet? You have to be creative and find nimble ways to help your community stay informed. That's exactly what journalists in Caracas, Venezuela are doing by delivering the news every weekday ... on public buses all over! In t...

Today, an episode of Far Flung with Saleem Reshamwala, another podcast from the TED Audio Collective. Icelandic is an ancient and iconic language that inspired J.R.R. Tolkien when he wrote "The Lord of the Rings." But with the digital age, and the strict rules surrounding its grammar, Icelandic is losing ground all over the country -- specifical...

Flight is about to get a lot more personal, says aviation entrepreneur Rodin Lyasoff. In this visionary talk, he imagines a new golden age of air travel in which small, autonomous air taxis allow us to bypass traffic jams and fundamentally transform how we get around our cities and towns. "In the past century, flight connected our planet," Lyaso...

It's 1988, and Somalis are fleeing the city of Hargeisa. People are trying to get out, trying to save their families and sometimes their things. But in the city's radio station, staff are packing cassettes and reel to reel recordings into a secret underground bunker. What's on them? A slice of the country's musical heritage, to remain for years ...

A celebration of time spent in good company. (Sorry extroverts -- we love you, too.)

Where do extraordinary ideas come from? Explore these talks from Canada that celebrate the boundless inspiration, innovation and creativity that blossom in a culture as open as its landscape. (Curated in partnership with Destination Canada)

In a series of visual, animated love letters, designer Debbie Millman reflects on the things she's grateful for by exploring the wonders of her garden, New York City, travel and storytelling. "As we navigate through this crisis, I'm hopeful we will find some solace together," she says.

Welcome to the TED Talks Daily summer book club, a series featuring talks and interviews to inspire your next great read. Up first, a meditation on the meaning of home, the joy of traveling and the serenity of standing still from writer Pico Iyer. After the talk, Pico shares a book that has stayed with him: "Letter to a Stranger" by Colleen Kind...

In the next 15 years, the market for commercial space-travel is predicted to double from $300 to $600 billion. Karin Nilsdotter, CEO of the Swedish Spaceport, believes that the cosmos are the next big frontier in business. And while microgravity research, lunar real estate and space tourism may still sound like sci-fi, Nilsdotter argues that the...

Traveling to new destinations is always an experience. Let these talks encourage you to think differently about the places you visit and the people you see.

Quench your thirst for adventure with these breathtakingly bold talks that explore the Earth’s most spectacular corners, depths and peaks.

They braved the cold so you don't have to.

Air travel opens our eyes to the world, but it also comes at a high cost to the environment. Piloting us into a future of green aviation, innovator Ryah Whalen shares three ways to lower the industry's carbon footprint through smarter designs, eco-friendly fuel and new technology -- so we can continue to explore the planet without hurting it.

More and more people worldwide are living in countries not considered their own. Writer Pico Iyer -- who himself has three or four “origins” -- meditates on the meaning of home, the joy of traveling and the serenity of standing still.

Your granddaughter created a surprise for your birthday: a holographic map displaying everywhere you’ve traveled— not just on Earth, but through the universe. Considering you’re living on a spinning rock hurtling around a sun whizzing through a galaxy, you’ve made some real progress. But, how much, exactly? Fabio Pacucci and Lindsay DeMarchi exp...

Raymond Wang is only 17 years old, but he's already helping to build a healthier future. Using fluid dynamics, he created computational simulations of how air moves on airplanes, and what he found is disturbing -- when a person sneezes on a plane, the airflow actually helps to spread pathogens to other passengers. Wang shares an unforgettable an...

It's time to give paper passports a digital upgrade, says entrepreneur Karoli Hindriks. Looking to Estonia's technology-driven government for inspiration, she envisions a world where immigration is no longer hindered by bureaucracy and needless repetition. Travel with her to a future beyond borders where universal digital passports replace paper...

Germs -- they get around. Learn what their travels and overall existence can teach us about not just ourselves, but the past, present and future of humanity.

Paul Moller talks about the future of personal air travel -- the marriage of autos and flight that will give us true freedom to travel off-road. He shows two things he's working on: the Moller Skycar (a jet + car) and a passenger-friendly hovering disc.

On their 20th birthday, identical twin astronauts volunteer for an experiment. Terra will remain on Earth, while Stella will board a spaceship. Stella's ship will travel to visit a star that is 10 light-years away, then return to Earth. As they prepare to part ways, the twins wonder what will happen when they're reunited. Who will be older? Ambe...

What happens to a tourist paradise when no one shows up to visit? Rapa Nui, known to many as Easter Island, typically welcomes more than 120,000 visitors each year—which is a lot for a place with only 10,000 residents. After COVID-19 shuts down flights to this remote island, citizens reimagine what their lives, their livelihood, and their home c...

You and the professor have driven your DeLorean back to the past to fix issues with the spacetime continuum caused by your time traveling. But another DeLorean appears with older versions of you and the professor. The professors panic and explain that the universe could collapse now that you're both in the same time and place. Can you merge the ...