Can someone's political identity actually affect their ability to process information? The answer lies in a cognitive phenomenon known as partisanship. While identifying with social groups is an essential and healthy part of life, it can become a problem when the group's beliefs are at odds with reality. So how can we recognize and combat partisanship? Jay Van Bavel shares helpful strategies. [Directed by Patrick Smith, narrated by Addison Anderson].

Do politics make us irrational? | Jay Van Bavel

TED-Ed's commitment to creating lessons worth sharing is an extension of TED's mission of spreading great ideas. Within TED-Ed's growing library of TED-Ed animations, you will find carefully curated educational videos, many of which represent collaborations between talented educators and animators nominated through the TED-Ed website (ed.ted.com).

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You're a biologist on a mission to keep the rare honeybee Apis Trifecta from going extinct. The last 60 bees of the species are in your terrarium. You've already constructed wire frames of the appropriate size and shape. Now you need to turn them into working beehives by filling every hex with wax. Can you help the bees create producing hives? Dan Finkel shows how. [Directed by Charlotte Arene, narrated by Addison Anderson, music by Stephen LaRosa].

Can you solve the honeybee riddle? | Dan Finkel

You founded a company that manufactures meatless burgers that are sold in stores worldwide. But you've recently received awful news: three people in one city died after eating your burgers. A criminal has injected poison into your product! The deaths are headline news and sales have plummeted. How do you deal with the crisis? George Siedel and Christine Ladwig explore the different strategies of this ethical dilemma. [Directed by Patrick Smith, narrated by Addison Anderson, music by Cem Misirlioglu / WORKPLAYWORK].

Ethical dilemma: The burger murders | George Siedel and Christine Ladwig

From Ancient Greece to the 20th century, Aristotle, Freud, and numerous other scholars were all looking for the same thing: eel testicles. Freshwater eels could be found in rivers across Europe, but no one had ever seen them mate and no researcher could find eel eggs or identify their reproductive organs. So how do eels reproduce, and where do they do it? Lucy Cooke digs into the ancient mystery. [Directed by Anton Bogaty, narrated by Adrian Dannatt, music by Jarrett Farkas].

No one can figure out how eels have sex | Lucy Cooke

The average 20-year-old knows between 27,000 and 52,000 different words. Spoken out loud, most of these words last less than a second. With every word, the brain has a quick decision to make: which of those thousands of options matches the signal? And about 98% of the time, the brain chooses the correct word. How is this possible? Gareth Gaskell digs into the complexities of speech comprehension. [Directed by Art Shot, narrated by Addison Anderson, music by Stephen LaRosa].

Do politics make us irrational? | Jay Van Bavel

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