TED-Ed: How stress affects your body - Sharon Horesh Bergquist

Our hard-wired stress response is designed to gives us the quick burst of heightened alertness and energy needed to perform our best. But stress isn’t all good. When activated too long or too often, stress can damage virtually every part of our body. Sharon Horesh Bergquist gives us a look at what goes on inside our body when we are chronically stressed.

TED-Ed: Why are we so attached to our things? - Christian Jarrett (Dec 27, 2016)

After witnessing the “violent rage” shown by babies whenever deprived of an item they considered their own, Jean Piaget – a founding father of child psychology – observed something profound about human nature: Our sense of ownership emerges incredibly early. But why do we become so attached to things? Christian Jarrett details the psychology of ownership.

TED-Ed: How close are we to eradicating HIV? - Philip A. Chan

Can we end HIV? Find out how medications like PrEP are helping to prevent the transmission and spread of HIV, and possibly leading to its eradication.

The world is getting closer to achieving one of the most important public health goals of our time: eradicating HIV. And to do this, we won’t even have to cure the disease. We simply have to stop HIV from being transmitted until eventually it fizzles out. Philip A. Chan explores the preventive strategies helping us tackle HIV and the possibility of ending the epidemic.

TED-Ed: Why incompetent people think they're amazing - David Dunning (Nov 9, 2017)

How good are you with money? What about reading people’s emotions? How healthy are you, compared to other people you know? Knowing how our skills stack up against others is useful in many ways. But psychological research suggests that we’re not very good at evaluating ourselves accurately. In fact, we frequently overestimate our own abilities. David Dunning describes the Dunning-Kruger effect.

TED-Ed: The philosophy of Stoicism - Massimo Pigliucci

What is the best life we can live? How can we cope with whatever the universe throws at us and keep thriving nonetheless? The ancient Greco-Roman philosophy of Stoicism explains that while we may not always have control over the events affecting us, we can have control over how we approach things. Massimo Pigliucci describes the philosophy of Stoicism. 

TED-Ed: How to spot a misleading graph - Lea Gaslowitz

When they’re used well, graphs can help us intuitively grasp complex data. But as visual software has enabled more usage of graphs throughout all media, it has also made them easier to use in a careless or dishonest way — and as it turns out, there are plenty of ways graphs can mislead and outright manipulate. Lea Gaslowitz shares some things to look out for. 

TED-Ed: The world’s most mysterious book - Stephen Bax

Deep inside Yale's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library lies a 240 page tome. Recently carbon dated to around 1420, its pages feature looping handwriting and hand drawn images seemingly stolen from a dream. It is called the Voynich manuscript, and it’s one of history’s biggest unsolved mysteries. The reason why? No one can figure out what it says. Stephen Bax investigates this cryptic work. 

TED-Ed: Why elephants never forget - Alex Gendler

TED-Ed: The history of marriage - Alex Gendler

A white, puffy dress. Eternal love. A joint tax return. Marriage means something different to everyone and has changed over time and across cultures. Alex Gendler traces the history of getting hitched, providing insights on polygamy, same-sex unions and even marriage between the dead and the living.