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  • Why don't oil and water mix? - John Pollard

    View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-don-t-oil-and-water-mix-john-pollard

    Uploaded 10-10-13

    Salt dissolves in water; oil does not. But why? You can think of that glass of water as a big, bumpin' dance party where the water molecules are always switching dance partners -- and they'd much rather dance with a salt ion. John Pollard explains how two chemistry principles, energetics and entropy, rule the dance floor.

    Lesson by John Pollard, animation by Andrew Foerster.



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    7 min
  • Coneheads, egg stacks, and anteater attacks: The dominance of a termite queen - Barbara L. Thorne

    Take a look inside the conehead termite colony as a queen begins her reign as one of the longest living insects in the animal kingdom.

    --

    A single determined termite braves countless threats to participate in the only flight of her lifetime. She evades the onslaught of predators as she lands, flips off her wings, secretes pheromones, and attracts a mate. But she's not alone. Unlike most termite species, conehead termite colonies can have multiple queens and kings. Barbara L. Thorne details the reign and duties of termite royalty.

    Lesson by Barbara L. Thorne, directed by Thomas Johnson Volda.

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    View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/coneheads-egg-stacks-and-anteater-attacks-the-reign-of-a-termite-queen-barbara-l-thorne
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    Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Carsten Tobehn, Katie Dean, Ezgi Yersu, Gerald Onyango, alessandra tasso, Doreen Reynolds-Consolati, Manognya Chakrapani, Ayala Ron, Eunsun Kim, Phyllis Dubrow, Ophelia Gibson Best, Paul Schneider, Joichiro Yamada, Henrique Cassús, Karthik Cherala, Clarence E. Harper Jr., Vignan Velivela, Ana Maria, Exal Enrique Cisneros Tuch, Tejas Dc, Khalifa Alhulail, Martin Stephen, Jose Henrique Leopoldo e Silva, Mandeep Singh, Abhijit Kiran Valluri, Morgan Williams, Devin Harris, Pavel Zalevskiy, Karen Goepen-Wee, Filip Dabrowski, Barbara Smalley, Megan Douglas, Tim Leistikow, Ka-Hei Law, Hiroshi Uchiyama, Mark Morris, Misaki Sato, EdoKun, SookKwan Loong, Bev Millar, Lex Azevedo, Michael Aquilina, Jason A Saslow, Yansong Li, Cristóbal Moenne, Dawn Jordan, Prasanth Mathialagan, Samuel Doerle, David Rosario and Dominik Kugelmann - they-them.

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    7 min
  • Plato’s Allegory of the Cave - Alex Gendler

    View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/plato-s-allegory-of-the-cave-alex-gendler

    Uploaded 17-03-15

    Twenty four hundred years ago, Plato, one of history’s most famous thinkers, said life is like being chained up in a cave forced to watch shadows flitting across a stone wall. Beyond sounding quite morbid, what exactly did he mean? Alex Gendler unravels Plato's Allegory of the Cave, found in Book VII of "The Republic."

    Lesson by Alex Gendler, animation by Stretch Films, Inc.



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    7 min
  • What nonprofits can learn from Coca-Cola - Melinda French Gates

    In her talk, Melinda Gates makes a provocative case for nonprofits taking a cue from corporations such as Coca-Cola, whose plugged-in, global network of marketers and distributors ensures that every remote village wants -- and can get -- a Coke. Why shouldn't this work for condoms, sanitation, vaccinations too? (Filmed at TEDxChange.)

    Uploaded 15-08-13

    Talk by Melinda French Gates.



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    22 min
  • The Boltzmann brain mystery - Fabio Pacucci

    Download a free audiobook version of “The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle“ and support TED-Ed's nonprofit mission: https://www.audible.com/ted-ed

    --

    How do you know you’re a person who has lived your life, rather than a just-formed brain full of artificial memories, momentarily hallucinating a reality that doesn’t actually exist? That may sound absurd, but it’s kept several generations of top cosmologists up at night. They call it: the Boltzmann brain paradox. Fabio Pacucci explores this mind-numbing thought experiment.

    Lesson by Fabio Pacucci, directed by Skirmanta Jakaitė, Art Shot.

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    View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-boltzmann-brain-paradox-fabio-pacucci
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    Music: https://www.campstudio.co
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    Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Nick Johnson, Carlos H. Costa, Jennifer Kurkoski, Ryan B Harvey, Akinola Emmanuel, Jose Arcadio Valdes Franco, Sebastiaan Vleugels, Karl Laius, JY Kang, Abhishek Goel, Heidi Stolt, Nicole Sund, Karlee Finch, Mario Mejia, Denise A Pitts, Doug Henry, Keven Webb, Mihai Sandu, Deepak Iyer, Javid Gozalov, Kyanta Yap, Rebecca Reineke, William Biersdorf, Patricia Alves Panagides, Yvette Mocete, Cyrus Garay, Samuel Barbas, LadyGeek, Marin Kovachev, Penelope Misquitta, Hans Peng, Gaurav Mathur, Erik Biemans, Tony, Michelle, Katie and Josh Pedretti, Hoai Nam Tran, Kack-Kyun Kim, Michael Braun-Boghos, zjweele13, Anna-Pitschna Kunz, Edla Paniguel, Thomas Mungavan, Jaron Blackburn, Venkat Venkatakrishnan, ReuniteKorea, Aaron Henson, Rohan Gupta, Begum Tutuncu, Brian Richards, Jørgen Østerpart and Tyron Jung.

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    8 min
  • Why should you read “Dune” by Frank Herbert? - Dan Kwartler

    Discover Frank Herbert’s science fiction classic, “Dune,” which tells the story of a man catapulted into the middle of a planetary revolution.

    Uploaded 17-12-19

    --

    A mother and son trek across an endless desert. Wearing special suits to dissipate heat and recycle moisture, the travelers aren’t worried about dying of thirst. Their fears are much greater. Soon, the sound of the desert is drowned out by a hissing: a mound of sand 400 meters long bursts from the desert floor and races towards them. This is the world of “Dune.” Dan Kwartler dives into the epic story.

    Lesson by Dan Kwartler, directed by Recircle.

    Animator's website: https://www.recircle.net
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    View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-should-you-read-dune-by-frank-herbert-dan-kwartler
    #booktube

    Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Boytsov Ilya, Steven Razey, Javier Aldavaz, Nathan Giusti, Mada Arslan, Joichiro Yamada, Ritul Raghavan, Aline de Paula Zillig, Yambu Ganesh Shaw, Abeer Rajbeen, John Hong, Minh Tran, Helen Lee, Anthony Benedict, Turine Tran, Mathew Samuel, Karthik Balsubramanian, Lee, Livia-Alexandra Sarban, Annastasshia Ames, João Henrique Rodrigues, Sebastiaan Hols, Aries SW, SANG HAN, Amy Lopez, ReuniteKorea, Vinh-Thuy Nguyen, Liz Candee, Clovis Norroy, Danielle Downs, Nik Maier, Angel Pantoja, Nishant Suneja, 张晓雨, Srinivasa C Pasumarthi, Kathryn Vacha, Anthony Arcis, Jeffrey Segrest, Sandra Fuller Bocko, Alex Pierce, Lawrence Teh Swee Kiang, BRENDAN NEALE, Jane White, Karmi Nguyen, John C. Vesey, Yelena Baykova, Harshita Jagdish Sahijwani, Won Jang, Nick Johnson and Tariq Keblaoui.



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    7 min
  • The hidden network that makes the internet possible - Sajan Saini

    Explore how fiber optics uses light to transmit data over long distances, and with integrated photonics, expands our virtual world beyond the internet.

    Uploaded 22-04-19

    --

    In 2012, a team of researchers set a world record, transmitting 1 petabit of data— that’s 10,000 hours of high-def video— over a fifty-kilometer cable, in a second. This wasn’t just any cable. It was a souped-up version of fiber optics, the hidden network that links our planet and makes the internet possible. What is fiber optics and how does it work? Sajan Saini explores the vital technology.

    Lesson by Sajan Saini, directed by Artrake Studio.

    Learn more about integrated photonics: https://aimphotonics.academy
    Learn how integrated photonic chips are made: https://www.aimphotonics.com
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    View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-hidden-network-that-makes-the-internet-possible-sajan-saini



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    8 min
  • What is dust made of? - Michael Marder

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    Uploaded 24-05-18

    View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-is-dust-made-of-michael-marder

    Less than a tenth the size of an ant, a dust mite’s whole world is contained in the dusty film under a bed or in a forgotten corner. This realm is right under our noses, but from our perspective, the tiny specks of brilliant color blend together into a nondescript grey. What are these colorful microscopic particles? Michael Marder explores the science of dust.

    Lesson by Michael Marder, animation by Mette Ilene Holmriis.

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    7 min
  • What’s in the air you breathe? - Amy Hrdina and Jesse Kroll

    Together, nitrogen, oxygen and argon make up 99.93% of our air. So what’s the other .07%? Find out what makes up the air you breathe.

    Uploaded 10-05-21

    --

    Take a deep breath. In a single intake of air, your lungs swell with roughly 25 sextillion molecules, ranging from days-old compounds, to those formed billions of years in the past. In fact, many of the molecules you’re breathing were likely exhaled by members of ancient civilizations and innumerable humans since. But what exactly are we all breathing? Amy Hrdina and Jesse Kroll investigate.

    Lesson by Amy Hrdina and Jesse Kroll, directed by Sharon Colman.

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    View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-s-in-the-air-you-breathe-amy-hrdina-and-jesse-kroll
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    Animator's website: http://www.sharoncolman.com
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    8 min
  • My seven species of robot - Dennis Hong

    Dennis Hong introduces seven award-winnning, all-terrain robots -- like the humanoid, soccer-playing DARwIn and the cliff-gripping CLIMBeR -- all built by his team at RoMeLa, Virginia Tech. Watch to the end to hear the five creative secrets to his lab's incredible technical success. (Filmed at TEDxNASA.)

    Uploaded 15-08-13

    Talk by Dennis Hong.



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    21 min

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TED-Ed’s mission is to create lessons worth sharing. Feed and expand your curiosity with our award-winning animated shorts - published on YouTube and available with supplemental learning materials on ed.ted.com.