The BEST episodes of TED Talks season 2016
Every episode of TED Talks season 2016, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of TED Talks season 2016!
TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. TEDTalks began as a simple attempt to share what happens at TED with the world. Under the moniker "ideas worth spreading," talks were released online. They rapidly attracted a global audience in the millions. Indeed, the reaction was so enthusiastic that the entire TED website has been reengineered around TEDTalks, with the goal of giving everyone on-demand access to the world's most inspiring voices. [TED-Ed and TEDx are separate TVDB series and should NOT be listed here. Episode ordering and dates are sourced from YouTube.]
#1 - Christopher Bell: Bring on the female superheroes!
Season 2016 - Episode 162 - Aired 8/30/2016
Why is it so hard to find female superhero merchandise? In this passionate, sparkling talk, media studies scholar (and father of a Star Wars-obsessed daughter) Christopher Bell addresses the alarming lack of female superheroes in the toys and products marketed to kids — and what it means for how we teach them about the world.
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#2 - Olivier Scalabre: The next manufacturing revolution is here
Season 2016 - Episode 156 - Aired 8/22/2016
Economic growth has been slowing for the past 50 years, but relief might come from an unexpected place — a new form of manufacturing that is neither what you thought it was nor where you thought it was. Industrial systems thinker Olivier Scalabre details how a fourth manufacturing revolution will produce a macroeconomic shift and boost employment, productivity and growth.
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#3 - Franz Freudenthal: A new way to heal hearts without surgery
Season 2016 - Episode 169 - Aired 9/9/2016
At the intersection of medical invention and indigenous culture, pediatric cardiologist Franz Freudenthal mends holes in the hearts of children across the world, using a device born from traditional Bolivian loom weaving. "The most complex problems in our time," he says, "can be solved with simple techniques, if we are able to dream."
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#4 - Don Tapscott: How the blockchain is changing money and business
Season 2016 - Episode 159 - Aired 8/25/2016
What is the blockchain? If you don't know, you should; if you do, chances are you still need some clarification on how it actually works. Don Tapscott is here to help, demystifying this world-changing, trust-building technology which, he says, represents nothing less than the second generation of the internet and holds the potential to transform money, business, government and society.
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#5 - Oded Shoseyov: How we're harnessing nature's hidden superpowers
Season 2016 - Episode 182 - Aired 9/28/2016
What do you get when you combine the strongest materials from the plant world with the most elastic ones from the insect kingdom? Super-performing materials that might transform ... everything. Nanobiotechnologist Oded Shoseyov walks us through examples of amazing materials found throughout nature, in everything from cat fleas to sequoia trees, and shows the creative ways his team is harnessing them in everything from sports shoes to medical implants.
Watch Now:Amazon
#6 - Bettina Warburg: How the blockchain will radically transform the economy
Season 2016 - Episode 218 - Aired 11/15/2016
Say hello to the decentralized economy -- the blockchain is about to change everything. In this lucid explainer of the complex (and confusing) technology, Bettina Warburg describes how the blockchain will eliminate the need for centralized institutions like banks or governments to facilitate trade, evolving age-old models of commerce and finance into something far more interesting: a distributed, transparent, autonomous system for exchanging value.
#7 - Zaria Forman: Drawings That Show The Beauty And Fragility Of Earth
Season 2016 - Episode 105 - Aired 5/25/2016
Zaria Forman's large-scale compositions of melting glaciers, icebergs floating in glassy water and waves cresting with foam explore moments of transition, turbulence and tranquility. Join her as she discusses the meditative process of artistic creation and the motivation behind her work. 'My drawings celebrate the beauty of what we all stand to lose,' she says. 'I hope they can serve as records of sublime landscapes in flux.'
#8 - eL Seed: A project of peace, painted across 50 buildings
Season 2016 - Episode 142 - Aired 7/19/2016
eL Seed fuses Arabic calligraphy with graffiti to paint colorful, swirling messages of hope and peace on buildings from Tunisia to Paris. The artist and TED Fellow shares the story of his most ambitious project yet: a mural painted across 50 buildings in Manshiyat Naser, a district of Cairo, Egypt, that can only be fully seen from a nearby mountain.
#9 - Jonathan Tepperman: The risky politics of progress
Season 2016 - Episode 164 - Aired 9/1/2016
Global problems such as terrorism, inequality and political dysfunction aren't easy to solve, but that doesn't mean we should stop trying. In fact, suggests journalist Jonathan Tepperman, we might even want to think riskier. He traveled the world to ask global leaders how they're tackling hard problems — and unearthed surprisingly hopeful stories that he's distilled into three tools for problem-solving.
#10 - James Veitch: The agony of trying to unsubscribe
Season 2016 - Episode 165 - Aired 9/2/2016
It happens to all of us: you unsubscribe from an unwanted marketing email, and a few days later another message from the same company pops up in your inbox. Comedian James Veitch turned this frustration into whimsy when a local supermarket refused to take no for an answer. Hijinks ensued.
#11 - David Burkus: Why you should know how much your coworkers get paid
Season 2016 - Episode 176 - Aired 9/20/2016
How much do you get paid? How does it compare to the people you work with? You should know, and so should they, says management researcher David Burkus. In this talk, Burkus questions our cultural assumptions around keeping salaries secret and makes a compelling case for why sharing them could benefit employees, organizations and society.
#12 - Jia Jiang: What I learned from 100 days of rejection
Season 2016 - Episode 232 - Aired 12/7/2016
Jia Jiang adventures boldly into a territory so many of us fear: rejection. By seeking out rejection for 100 days -- from asking a stranger to borrow $100 to requesting a "burger refill" at a restaurant -- Jiang desensitized himself to the pain and shame that rejection often brings and, in the process, discovered that simply asking for what you want can open up possibilities where you expect to find dead ends.
#13 - Tasos Frantzolas: Everything you hear on film is a lie
Season 2016 - Episode 204 - Aired 10/27/2016
Sound design is built on deception -- when you watch a movie or TV show, nearly all of the sounds you hear are fake. In this audio-rich talk, Tasos Frantzolas explores the role of sound in storytelling and demonstrates just how easily our brains are fooled by what we hear.
#14 - Vanessa Ruiz: The spellbinding art of human anatomy
Season 2016 - Episode 160 - Aired 8/26/2016
Vanessa Ruiz takes us on an illustrated journey of human anatomical art over the centuries, sharing captivating images that bring this visual science — and the contemporary artists inspired by it — to life. "Anatomical art has the power to reach far beyond the pages of a medical textbook," she says, "connecting our innermost selves with our bodies through art."
#15 - Isaac Lidsky: What reality are you creating for yourself?
Season 2016 - Episode 188 - Aired 10/6/2016
Reality isn't something you perceive; it's something you create in your mind. Isaac Lidsky learned this profound lesson firsthand, when unexpected life circumstances yielded valuable insights. In this introspective, personal talk, he challenges us to let go of excuses, assumptions and fears, and accept the awesome responsibility of being the creators of our own reality.
#16 - Joe Lassiter: We need nuclear power to solve climate change
Season 2016 - Episode 225 - Aired 11/28/2016
Joe Lassiter is a deep thinker and straight talker focused on developing clean, secure and carbon-neutral supplies of reliable, low-cost energy. His analysis of the world's energy realities puts a powerful lens on the stubbornly touchy issue of nuclear power, including new designs for plants that can compete economically with fossil fuels. We have the potential to make nuclear safer and cheaper than it's been in the past, Lassiter says. Now we have to make the choice to pursue it.
#17 - John McWhorter: 4 reasons to learn a new language
Season 2016 - Episode 190 - Aired 10/7/2016
English is fast becoming the world's universal language, and instant translation technology is improving every year. So why bother learning a foreign language? Linguist and Columbia professor John McWhorter shares four alluring benefits of learning an unfamiliar tongue.
#18 - Wanis Kabbaj: What a driverless world could look like
Season 2016 - Episode 201 - Aired 10/24/2016
What if traffic flowed through our streets as smoothly and efficiently as blood flows through our veins? Transportation geek Wanis Kabbaj thinks we can find inspiration in the genius of our biology to design the transit systems of the future. In this forward-thinking talk, preview exciting concepts like modular, detachable buses, flying taxis and networks of suspended magnetic pods that could help make the dream of a dynamic, driverless world into a reality.
#19 - Kio Stark: Why you should talk to strangers
Season 2016 - Episode 163 - Aired 8/31/2016
"When you talk to strangers, you're making beautiful interruptions into the expected narrative of your daily life — and theirs," says Kio Stark. In this delightful talk, Stark explores the overlooked benefits of pushing past our default discomfort when it comes to strangers and embracing those fleeting but profoundly beautiful moments of genuine connection.
#20 - Anthony Goldbloom: The jobs we'll lose to machines — and the ones we won't
Season 2016 - Episode 146 - Aired 8/8/2016
Machine learning isn't just for simple tasks like assessing credit risk and sorting mail anymore — today, it's capable of far more complex applications, like grading essays and diagnosing diseases. With these advances comes an uneasy question: Will a robot do your job in the future?
#21 - Rebecca MacKinnon: We can fight terror without sacrificing our rights
Season 2016 - Episode 179 - Aired 9/23/2016
Can we fight terror without destroying democracy? Internet freedom activist Rebecca MacKinnon thinks that we'll lose the battle against extremism and demagoguery if we censor the internet and press. In this critical talk, she calls for a doubling-down on strong encryption and appeals to governments to better protect, not silence, the journalists and activists fighting against extremists.
#22 - Martin Reeves: How to build a business that lasts 100 years
Season 2016 - Episode 147 - Aired 8/9/2016
If you want to build a business that lasts, there may be no better place to look for inspiration than your own immune system. Join strategist Martin Reeves as he shares startling statistics about shrinking corporate life spans and explains how executives can apply six principles from living organisms to build resilient businesses that flourish in the face of change.
#23 - Molly Winter: The taboo secret to better health
Season 2016 - Episode 148 - Aired 8/10/2016
Our poop and pee have superpowers, but for the most part we don't harness them. Molly Winter faces down our squeamishness and asks us to see what goes down the toilet as a resource, one that can help fight climate change, spur innovation and even save us money.
#24 - Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: How Africa can keep rising
Season 2016 - Episode 149 - Aired 8/11/2016
African growth is a trend, not a fluke, says economist and former Finance Minister of Nigeria Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. In this refreshingly candid and straightforward talk, Okonjo-Iweala describes the positive progress on the continent and outlines eight challenges African nations still need to address in order to create a better future.
#25 - Dave Brain: What a planet needs to sustain life
Season 2016 - Episode 150 - Aired 8/12/2016
"Venus is too hot, Mars is too cold, and Earth is just right," says planetary scientist Dave Brain. But why? In this pleasantly humorous talk, Brain explores the fascinating science behind what it takes for a planet to host life — and why humanity may just be in the right place at the right time when it comes to the timeline of life-sustaining planets.