TED Talks Daily

Twerking is mainstream now ... but do you know where it came from? Superstar Lizzo traces booty shaking to a traditional West African dance and tells how Black women across generations kept the rhythm alive, from blues and jazz singers to modern rap and hip-hop performers. With her characteristic energy, she shares how twerking empowered her to love her own body -- and explains why understanding its origins helps protect Black culture from erasure and misappropriation. (And, yes, she twerks on stage.)

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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 Travel with her to a future beyond borders where universal digital passports replace paper ones -- and where outdated systems stop wasting our time and money.

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When you work, you expect to be paid for it. Except, for millions of Americans employed across a range of industries like restaurants and construction, that's not always the case. Anthropologist Rebecca Galemba explores the multibillion-dollar problem of wage theft and how employers get away with it, highlighting the changes needed for them to pay up -- and fairly.

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Have you answered a work email during an important family event? Or taken a call from your boss while on vacation? According to behavioral scientist and Harvard Business School professor Ashley Whillans, “always-on” work culture is not only ruining our personal well-being -- but our work, as well. She shares which bad habits are stopping us from getting what we need out of our free time and three practical steps for setting boundaries that stick.

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What if diseases could be treated with a patient’s own cells, precisely and on demand? Biotech entrepreneur Nabiha Saklayen explains how we could harness advances in biology, machine learning and lasers to create personalized stem cell banks -- and develop medicine uniquely designed for each of our bodies.

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It's been 10 years since the death of Steve Jobs. Has Apple peaked after 10 years of Tim Cook's leadership, or is the best yet to come? Harvard Business School professors Youngme Moon, Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Mihir A. Desai debate the prospects for Apple -- and discuss the celebrities changing the way Hollywood does business, including Reese Witherspoon, Rihanna and more. After Hours is a member of the TED Audio Collective, a collection of podcasts for the curious. Learn more on .

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From a special black-footed ferret to coral that can withstand warming waters, genetic rescue efforts that use genomics and synthetic biology are helping nature thrive. But despite the huge successes of this kind of intervention, conservation innovator Ryan Phelan points out that fear of unintended consequences often stifles innovation -- risking further extinction. She makes the case for embracing the “intended consequences” of genetic tools that have the power to restore Earth’s balance, abundance and biodiversity.

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Why are global levels of anxiety and depression so high? Social epidemiologist Richard Wilkinson presents compelling data on the impact of inequality on mental health and social relationships in countries around the world. “Inequality,” he says, “is the enemy between us.”

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Get transported on a stunningly rendered, sci-fi safari through Planet City: an imaginary metropolis of 10 billion people, from the brain of director and architect Liam Young. Explore the potential outcomes of an urban space designed to house the entire population of the earth -- and imagine answers to what is possible, and what is sustainable, for the planet.

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Deep beneath your feet is a molten ball of energy the same temperature as the surface of the sun -- an immense clean energy source that could power the world thousands of times over, says technologist and climate activist Jamie C. Beard. How do we tap it? She lays out a surprising solution, and an unlikely alliance, to harvest geothermal energy from the Earth’s core and get it to anywhere in the world.

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