The BEST episodes of TED Talks season 2018
Every episode of TED Talks season 2018, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of TED Talks season 2018!
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 - Caroline Weaver: Why the pencil is perfect
Season 2018 - Episode 78 - Aired 3/15/2018
Why are pencils shaped like hexagons, and how did they get their iconic yellow color? Pencil shop owner Caroline Weaver takes us inside the fascinating history of the pencil.
Watch Now:Amazon
#2 - Ingrid Fetell Lee: Where joy hides and how to find it
Season 2018 - Episode 155 - Aired 5/21/2018
Cherry blossoms and rainbows, bubbles and googly eyes: Why do some things seem to create such universal joy? In this captivating talk, Ingrid Fetell Lee reveals the surprisingly tangible roots of joy and shows how we all can find — and create — more of it in the world around us.
#3 - Heidi M. Sosik: The discoveries awaiting us in the ocean's twilight zone
Season 2018 - Episode 119 - Aired 4/12/2018
What will we find in the twilight zone: the vast, mysterious, virtually unexplored realm hundreds of meters below the ocean's surface? Heidi M. Sosik of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution wants to find out. In this wonder-filled talk, she shares her plan to investigate these uncharted waters, which may hold a million new species and 90 percent of the world's fish biomass, using submersible technology. What we discover there won't just astound us, Sosik says — it will help us be better stewards of the world's oceans. (This ambitious plan is one of the first ideas of The Audacious Project, TED's new initiative to inspire global change.)
#4 - Gene Luen Yang: Comics belong in the classroom
Season 2018 - Episode 161 - Aired 5/25/2018
Comic books and graphic novels belong in every teacher's toolkit, says cartoonist and educator Gene Luen Yang. Set against the backdrop of his own witty, colorful drawings, Yang explores the history of comics in American education — and reveals some unexpected insights about their potential for helping kids learn.
#5 - Brett Hennig: What if we replaced politicians with randomly selected people?
Season 2018 - Episode 171 - Aired 6/5/2018
If you think democracy is broken, here's an idea: let's replace politicians with randomly selected people. Author and activist Brett Hennig presents a compelling case for sortition democracy, or random selection of government officials — a system with roots in ancient Athens that taps into the wisdom of the crowd and entrusts ordinary people with making balanced decisions for the greater good of everyone. Sound crazy? Learn more about how it could work to create a world free of partisan politics.
#6 - Kai-Fu Lee: How AI can save our humanity
Season 2018 - Episode 230 - Aired 8/13/2018
AI is massively transforming our world, but there's one thing it cannot do: love. In a visionary talk, computer scientist Kai-Fu Lee details how the US and China are driving a deep learning revolution — and shares a blueprint for how humans can thrive in the age of AI by harnessing compassion and creativity. "AI is serendipity," Lee says. "It is here to liberate us from routine jobs, and it is here to remind us what it is that makes us human."
#7 - Dolly Chugh: How to let go of being a "good" person -- and become a better person
Season 2018 - Episode 319 - Aired 11/1/2018
What if your attachment to being a "good" person is holding you back from actually becoming a better person? In this accessible talk, social psychologist Dolly Chugh explains the puzzling psychology of ethical behavior — like why it's hard to spot your biases and acknowledge mistakes — and shows how the path to becoming better starts with owning your mistakes. "In every other part of our lives, we give ourselves room to grow — except in this one, where it matters most," Chugh says.
#8 - Alexis Charpentier: How record collectors find lost music and preserve our cultural heritage
Season 2018 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/11/2018
For generations, record collectors have played a vital role in the preservation of musical and cultural heritage by "digging" for obscure music created by overlooked artists. Alexis Charpentier shares his love of records -- and stories of how collectors have given forgotten music a second chance at being heard. Learn more about the culture of record digging (and, maybe, pick up a new hobby) with this fun, refreshing talk.
#9 - Steven Pinker: Is the world getting better or worse? A look at the numbers
Season 2018 - Episode 135 - Aired 4/30/2018
Was 2017 really the "worst year ever," as some would have us believe? In his analysis of recent data on homicide, war, poverty, pollution and more, psychologist Steven Pinker finds that we're doing better now in every one of them when compared with 30 years ago. But progress isn't inevitable, and it doesn't mean everything gets better for everyone all the time, Pinker says. Instead, progress is problem-solving, and we should look at things like climate change and nuclear war as problems to be solved, not apocalypses in waiting. "We will never have a perfect world, and it would be dangerous to seek one," he says. "But there's no limit to the betterments we can attain if we continue to apply knowledge to enhance human flourishing."
#10 - Emily Levine: How I made friends with reality
Season 2018 - Episode 158 - Aired 5/23/2018
With her signature wit and wisdom, Emily Levine meets her ultimate challenge as a comedian/philosopher: she makes dying funny. In this personal talk, she takes us on her journey to make friends with reality — and peace with death. Life is an enormous gift, Levine says: "You enrich it as best you can, and then you give it back."
#11 - Amy Edmondson: How to turn a group of strangers into a team
Season 2018 - Episode 159 - Aired 5/24/2018
Business school professor Amy Edmondson studies "teaming," where people come together quickly (and often temporarily) to solve new, urgent or unusual problems. Recalling stories of teamwork on the fly, such as the incredible rescue of 33 miners trapped half a mile underground in Chile in 2010, Edmondson shares the elements needed to turn a group of strangers into a quick-thinking team that can nimbly respond to challenges.
#12 - Aparna Mehta: Where do your online returns go?
Season 2018 - Episode 333 - Aired 11/21/2018
Do you ever order clothes online in different sizes and colors, just to try them on and then send back what doesn't work? Aparna Mehta used to do this all time, until she one day asked herself: Where do all these returned clothes go? In an eye-opening talk, she reveals the unseen world of "free" online returns — which, instead of ending up back on the shelf, are sent to landfills by the billions of pounds each year — and shares a plan to help put an end to this growing environmental catastrophe.
#13 - Simone Giertz: Why you should make useless things
Season 2018 - Episode 144 - Aired 5/9/2018
In this joyful, heartfelt talk featuring demos of her wonderfully wacky creations, Simone Giertz shares her craft: making useless robots. Her inventions — designed to chop vegetables, cut hair, apply lipstick and more — rarely (if ever) succeed, and that's the point. "The true beauty of making useless things [is] this acknowledgment that you don't always know what the best answer is," Giertz says. "It turns off that voice in your head that tells you that you know exactly how the world works. Maybe a toothbrush helmet isn't the answer, but at least you're asking the question."
#14 - Anushka Naiknaware: A teen scientist's invention to help wounds heal
Season 2018 - Episode 163 - Aired 5/29/2018
Working out of her garage, Anushka Naiknaware designed a sensor that tracks wound healing, becoming the youngest winner (at age 13) of the Google Science Fair. Her clever invention addresses the global challenge of chronic wounds, which don't heal properly due to preexisting conditions like diabetes and account for billions in medical costs worldwide. Join Naiknaware as she explains how her "smart bandage" works — and how she's sharing her story to inspire others to make a difference.
#15 - Amishi Jha: How to tame your wandering mind
Season 2018 - Episode 98 - Aired 3/23/2018
Amishi Jha studies how we pay attention: the process by which our brain decides what's important out of the constant stream of information it receives. Both external distractions (like stress) and internal ones (like mind-wandering) diminish our attention's power, Jha says — but some simple techniques can boost it. "Pay attention to your attention," Jha says.
#16 - Lana Mazahreh: 3 thoughtful ways to conserve water
Season 2018 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/3/2018
According to the UN, nearly one in three people worldwide live in a country facing a water crisis, and less than five percent of the world lives in a country that has more water today than it did 20 years ago. Lana Mazahreh grew up in Jordan, a state that has experienced absolute water scarcity since 1973, where she learned how to conserve water as soon as she was old enough to learn how to write her name. In this practical talk, she shares three lessons from water-poor countries on how to save water and address what's fast becoming a global crisis.
#17 - Alexandra Sacks: A new way to think about the transition to motherhood
Season 2018 - Episode 246 - Aired 8/30/2018
When a baby is born, so is a mother — but the natural (and sometimes unsteady) process of transition to motherhood is often silenced by shame or misdiagnosed as postpartum depression. In this quick, informative talk, reproductive psychiatrist Alexandra Sacks breaks down the emotional tug-of-war of becoming a new mother — and shares a term that could help describe it: matrescence.
#18 - Pratik Shah: How AI is making it easier to diagnose disease
Season 2018 - Episode 225 - Aired 7/24/2018
Today's AI algorithms require tens of thousands of expensive medical images to detect a patient's disease. What if we could drastically reduce the amount of data needed to train an AI, making diagnoses low-cost and more effective? TED Fellow Pratik Shah is working on a clever system to do just that. Using an unorthodox AI approach, Shah has developed a technology that requires as few as 50 images to develop a working algorithm — and can even use photos taken on doctors' cell phones to provide a diagnosis. Learn more about how this new way to analyze medical information could lead to earlier detection of life-threatening illnesses and bring AI-assisted diagnosis to more health care settings worldwide.
#19 - Angel Hsu: How China is (and isn't) fighting pollution and climate change
Season 2018 - Episode 245 - Aired 8/29/2018
China is the world's biggest polluter — and now one of its largest producers of clean energy. Which way will China go in the future, and how will it affect the global environment? Data scientist Angel Hsu describes how the most populous country on earth is creating a future based on alternative energy — and facing up to the environmental catastrophe it created as it rapidly industrialized.
#20 - Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil: A rare galaxy that's challenging our understanding of the universe
Season 2018 - Episode 244 - Aired 8/28/2018
What's it like to discover a galaxy — and have it named after you? Astrophysicist and TED Fellow Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil lets us know in this quick talk about her team's surprising discovery of a mysterious new galaxy type.
#21 - Nora Atkinson: Why art thrives at Burning Man
Season 2018 - Episode 243 - Aired 8/28/2018
Craft curator Nora Atkinson takes us on a trip to Nevada's Black Rock Desert to see the beautifully designed and participatory art of Burning Man, revealing how she discovered there what's often missing from museums: curiosity and engagement. "What is art for in our contemporary world if not this?" she asks.
#22 - Dread Scott: How art can shape America's conversation about freedom
Season 2018 - Episode 242 - Aired 8/27/2018
In this quick talk, visual artist Dread Scott tells the story of one of his most transgressive art installations, which drew national attention for its controversial use of the American flag and led to a landmark First Amendment case in the US Supreme Court.
#23 - Mary Lou Jepsen: How we can use light to see deep inside our bodies and brains
Season 2018 - Episode 241 - Aired 8/24/2018
In a series of mind-bending demos, inventor Mary Lou Jepsen shows how we can use red light to see and potentially stimulate what's inside our bodies and brains. Taking us to the edge of optical physics, Jepsen unveils new technologies that utilize light and sound to track tumors, measure neural activity and could possibly replace the MRI machine with a cheaper, more efficient and wearable system.
#24 - Leticia Gasca: Don't fail fast -- fail mindfully
Season 2018 - Episode 240 - Aired 8/23/2018
We celebrate bold entrepreneurs whose ingenuity led them to success, but what happens to those who fail? Far too often, they bury their stories out of shame or humiliation — and miss out on a valuable opportunity for growth, says author and entrepreneur Leticia Gasca. In this thoughtful talk, Gasca calls for business owners to open up about their failures and makes the case for replacing the idea of "failing fast" with a new mantra: fail mindfully.
#25 - Janet Stovall: How to get serious about diversity and inclusion in the workplace
Season 2018 - Episode 239 - Aired 8/22/2018
Imagine a workplace where people of all colors and races are able to climb every rung of the corporate ladder — and where the lessons we learn about diversity at work actually transform the things we do, think and say outside the office. How do we get there? In this candid talk, inclusion advocate Janet Stovall shares a three-part action plan for creating workplaces where people feel safe and expected to be their unassimilated, authentic selves.