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1
4:22
Pruney fingers: A gripping story - Mark Changizi
by TEDEducation 5,287 views
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/pruney-fingers-a-gripping-story-ma
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Why do fingers become pruney when they get wet? Likely, for the same reasons that tires have treads. Mark Changizi examines the evolutionary reasons for pruney fingers, while exploring natural and manmade phenomena, like river networks, that operate similarly.
Lesson by Mark Changizi, animation by Lippy. -
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4:09
The brilliance of bioluminescence - Leslie Kenna
by TEDEducation 20,480 views
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-brilliance-of-bioluminescence-
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Some lucky animals are naturally endowed with bioluminescence, or the ability to create light. The firefly, the anglerfish, and a few more surprising creatures use this ability in many ways, including survival, hunting, and mating. Leslie Kenna investigates this magical glow - and our quest to replicate it.
Lesson by Leslie Kenna, animation by Cinematic Sweden. -
3
3:28
How did feathers evolve? - Carl Zimmer
by TEDEducation 82,021 views
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-did-feathers-evolve-carl-zimme
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To look at the evolution of modern bird feathers, we must start a long time ago, with the dinosaurs from whence they came. We see early incarnations of feathers on dinosaur fossils, and remnants of dinosaurs in a bird's wish bone. Carl Zimmer explores the stages of evolution and how even the reasons for feathers have evolved over millions of years.
Lesson by Carl Zimmer, animation by Armella Leung. -
4
4:53
Making sense of how life fits together - Bobbi Seleski
by TEDEducation 28,758 views
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/making-sense-of-how-life-fits-toge
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From something as miniscule as a cell to the biosphere we all call home, living things fit together in numerous interesting ways. Bobbi Seleski catalogs biology from our body and beyond, tracking how unicellular organisms, tissues, organs, organ systems, organisms, populations, communities, ecosystems, and our biosphere build off of each other and work together.
Lesson by Bobbi Seleski, animation by Alan Foreman. -
5
3:07
How Mendel's pea plants helped us understand genetics - Hortensia Jiménez Díaz
by TEDEducation 37,241 views
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-mendel-s-pea-plants-helped-us-
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Each father and mother pass down traits to their children, who inherit combinations of their dominant or recessive alleles. But how do we know so much about genetics today? Hortensia Jiménez Díaz explains how studying pea plants revealed why you may have blue eyes.
Lesson by Hortensia Jiménez Díaz, animation by Cinematic Sweden. -
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4:01
The simple story of photosynthesis and food - Amanda Ooten
by TEDEducation 34,324 views
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-simple-but-fascinating-story-o
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Photosynthesis is an essential part of the exchange between humans and plants. Amanda Ooten walks us through the process of photosynthesis, also discussing the relationship between photosynthesis and carbohydrates, starch, and fiber -- and how the air we breathe is related to the food we ingest.
Lesson by Amanda Ooten, animation by Bouncepad Collective. -
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3:47
Where we get our fresh water - Christiana Z. Peppard
by TEDEducation 33,188 views
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/where-we-get-our-fresh-water-chris
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Fresh water accounts for only 2.5% of Earth's water, yet it is vital for human civilization. What are our sources of fresh water? In the first of a two part series on fresh water, Christiana Z. Peppard breaks the numbers down and discusses who is using it and to what ends.
Lesson by Christiana Z. Peppard, animation by Jeremy Collins. -
8
19:40
Earth's mass extinction - Peter Ward
by TEDEducation 14,849 views
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/earth-s-mass-extinction-peter-ward
Asteroid strikes get all the coverage, but "Medea Hypothesis" author Peter Ward argues that most of Earth's mass extinctions were caused by lowly bacteria. The culprit, a poison called hydrogen sulfide, may have an interesting application in medicine.
Talk by Peter Ward. -
9
7:12
Parasite tales: The jewel wasp's zombie slave - Carl Zimmer
by TEDEducation 20,375 views
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/parasite-tales-the-jewel-wasp-s-zo
mbie-slave-carl-zimmer
This is stranger than science fiction. The jewel wasp and the cockroach have a disgusting and fascinating parasitic relationship. The jewel wasp stuns the cockroach, and months later, a jewel wasp hatches out of the cockroach. At TEDYouth 2012, Carl Zimmer walks us through how this happens and why it personally fascinates him.
Talk by Carl Zimmer. -
10
15:34
Digging for humanity's origins - Louise Leakey
by TEDEducation 12,738 views
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/digging-for-humanity-s-origins-lou
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Louise Leakey asks, "Who are we?" The question takes her to the Rift Valley in Eastern Africa, where she digs for the evolutionary origins of humankind -- and suggests a stunning new vision of our competing ancestors.
Talk by Louise Leakey -
11
9:11
Curiosity, discovery and gecko feet - Robert Full
by TEDEducation 29,485 views
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/curiosity-discovery-and-gecko-feet
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The scientific method is widely used to make many scientific discoveries, but Robert Full suggests the possibility of finding world-changing results with less formulaic approaches. In his TEDYouth Talk, Full describes the unlikely way he studied gecko's feet and how these beneficial discoveries could eventually save lives.
Talk by Robert Full. -
12
5:28
How life came to land - Tierney Thys
by TEDEducation 31,145 views
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-life-came-to-land-tierney-thys
Spiders and crustaceans, also known as arthropods, led the charge from water to land--now outnumbering all terrestrial animals. But what about arthropods makes them so adaptable to life on land? Marine biologist Tierney Thys, and Noé Sardet and Sharif Mirshak of the Plankton Chronicles Project, shows us a world of fascinating animals and their habitats.
Lesson by Tierney Thys, visualization by Noé Sardet and Sharif Mirshak (Plankton Chronicles Project, Parafilms). -
13
5:24
Five fingers of evolution - Paul Andersen
by TEDEducation 166,082 views
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/five-fingers-of-evolution
How can a "thumbs up" sign help us remember five processes that impact evolution? The story of the Five Fingers of Evolution gives us a clever way of understanding change in gene pools over time.
Lesson by Paul Andersen, animation by Alan Foreman. -
14
6:16
The cockroach beatbox - Greg Gage
by TEDEducation 381,120 views
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-cockroach-beatbox
By dissecting a cockroach ... yes, live on stage ... TED Fellow and neuroscientist Greg Gage shows how brains receive and deliver electric impulses -- and how legs can respond.
Lesson by Greg Gage, animation by TED-Ed. -
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5:16
Evolution in a big city - Jason Munshi-South
by TEDEducation 68,012 views
View the full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/evolution-in-a-big-city
Using newts, coyotes and mice, Jason Munshi-South shows how animals develop genetic differences in evolution, even within an urban city.
Lesson by Jason Munshi-South, animation by TED-Ed. -
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2:23
Symbiosis: A surprising tale of species cooperation - David Gonzales
by TEDEducation 74,683 views
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/symbiosis-a-surprising-tale-of-spe
cies-cooperation
Different species often depend on one another. David Gonzales describes the remarkable relationship of the Clark's nutcracker and the whitebark pine, to illustrate the interdependency known as symbiosis.
Lesson by David Gonzales, animation by Sunni Brown. -
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5:46
Sex determination: More complicated than you thought - Aaron Reedy
by TEDEducation 948,387 views
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/sex-determination-more-complicated
-than-you-thought
From something as small and complex as a chromosome to something as seemingly simple as the weather, sex determination systems vary significantly across the animal kingdom. Biologist and teacher Aaron Reedy shows us the amazing differences between species when it comes to determination of gender.
Lesson by Aaron Reedy, animation by BuzzCo. -
18
20:40
How to restore a rainforest - Willie Smits
by TEDEducation 2,109 views
By piecing together a complex ecological puzzle, biologist Willie Smits believes he has found a way to re-grow clearcut rainforest in Borneo, saving local orangutans -- and creating a thrilling blueprint for restoring fragile ecosystems. UPDATE: December 2012: The core content of this talk has been challenged on a number of grounds. For details, and for Willie Smits' response to these criticisms, please see this page: https://www.ted.com/pages/791
Talk by Willie Smits. -
19
17:22
Are we ready for neo-evolution? - Harvey Fineberg
by TEDEducation 18,658 views
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/are-we-ready-for-neo-evolution-har
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Medical ethicist Harvey Fineberg shows us three paths forward for the ever-evolving human species: to stop evolving completely, to evolve naturally -- or to control the next steps of human evolution, using genetic modification, to make ourselves smarter, faster, better. Neo-evolution is within our grasp. What will we do with it?
Talk by Harvey Fineberg. -
20
16:37
Building a dinosaur from a chicken - Jack Horner
by TEDEducation 2,588 views
Renowned paleontologist Jack Horner has spent his career trying to reconstruct a dinosaur. He's found fossils with extraordinarily well-preserved blood vessels and soft tissues, but never intact DNA. So, in a new approach, he's taking living descendants of the dinosaur (chickens) and genetically engineering them to reactivate ancestral traits — including teeth, tails, and even hands — to make a "Chickenosaurus".
Talk by Jack Horner. -
21
12:44
Every city needs healthy honey bees - Noah Wilson-Rich
by TEDEducation 6,978 views
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/every-city-needs-healthy-honey-bee
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Bees have been rapidly and mysteriously disappearing from rural areas, with grave implications for agriculture. But bees seem to flourish in urban environments -- and cities need their help, too. Noah Wilson-Rich suggests that urban beekeeping might play a role in revitalizing both a city and a species. (Filmed at TEDxBoston.)
Talk by Noah Wilson-Rich. -
22
17:10
The dance of the dung beetle - Marcus Byrne
by TEDEducation 1,447 views
A dung beetle has a brain the size of a grain of rice, and yet shows a tremendous amount of intelligence when it comes to rolling its food source -- animal excrement -- home. How? It all comes down to a dance. (Filmed at TEDxWitsUniversity.)
Talk by Marcus Byrne. -
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15:56
How a fly flies - Michael Dickinson
by TEDEducation 6,302 views
An insect's ability to fly is perhaps one of the greatest feats of evolution. Michael Dickinson looks at how a fruit fly takes flight with such delicate wings, thanks to a clever flapping motion and flight muscles that are both powerful and nimble. But the secret ingredient: the incredible fly brain. (Filmed at TEDxCaltech.)
Talk by Michael Dickinson.
