Topic outline
Main course page
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TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is a website with an enormous number of really interesting lectures, talks and lessons, all available for free.
- More than 1500 TED Talks with more added each week.
- All talks are subtitled in English, and many in other languages, too.
- These videos are released under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license, so they can be freely shared and re-posted.
- You can slow them down if you locate the video on youtube (the video settings).
- The talks are about 18 minutes long so they are useful for UNSW Institute of Language students - you can practise your listening and also learn about really interesting topics at the same time!
- The transcripts can also help you improve your reading and vocabulary.
- TED-Ed Lessons - carefully curated educational videos, with quizzes, more resources and discussions.
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- main page for all TED talks
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- main page for all TED-Ed Lessons
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Raymond Wang is only 17 years old, but he's already helping to build a healthier future. Using fluid dynamics, he created computational simulations of how air moves on airplanes, and what he found is disturbing — when a person sneezes on a plane, the airflow actually helps to spread pathogens to other passengers. Watch an unforgettable animation of how a sneeze travels inside a plane cabin as well as his prize-winning solution: a small, fin-shaped device that increases fresh airflow in airplanes and redirects pathogen-laden air out of circulation.
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Self-driving cars are already cruising the streets today. And while these cars will ultimately be safer and cleaner than their manual counterparts, they can’t completely avoid accidents altogether. How should the car be programmed if it encounters an unavoidable accident? Patrick Lin navigates the murky ethics of self-driving cars.
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When under anesthesia, you can’t move, form memories, or — hopefully — feel pain. And while it might just seem like you are asleep for that time, you actually aren’t. What’s going on? Steven Zheng explains what we know about the science behind anesthesia.
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If you ask people whether they think stealing is wrong, most of them would answer yes. And yet, in 2013, organizations all over the world lost an estimated total of $3.7 trillion to fraud. Kelly Richmond Pope explains how the fraud triangle, (developed by criminologist Donald Cressey) can help us understand how seemingly good people can make unethical decisions in their daily lives.
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Interested in the ever-changing world that surrounds us? Take a look at this video from The Daily Conversation which introduces ten incredible new species of plants and animals discovered in the last year, as chosen by New York’s College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry. It may make you wonder what other species are to come.
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Lilian Chen grew up playing Super Smash Brothers Melee. But when her love of the game led her to compete in national tournaments, she noticed a big gender imbalance that brought with it a troubling social dynamic. In this TEDYouth talk, Lilian details her experiences with sexism in the Smash community and how she is now aiming to raise awareness for this topic in a way that doesn’t shame male gamers.