TED Talks

2,017–2,064 of 2,913 films, free to watch, from the world's open archives.

Where these films come from, and who sees what

Every film here plays from the archive that keeps it: the Internet Archive, Wikimedia Commons, the NASA Image and Video Library, the Library of Congress and Open Images (the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision). Nothing is copied to this site. Each film's page names its archive, links to its page there, and states its licence or status as the archive does.

Archive films carry no age ratings, so each is placed from the collections it sits in and the subjects the archive gives it, cautiously. Sexual content and nudity are left out altogether.

Little OnesFilms for young children by name: nursery rhymes, lullabies, preschool.
KidsCartoons and animation, children's and family films, and educational films, unless they deal with war, propaganda, crime, horror or drugs, or carry racial caricature.
TweensDocumentaries, science, nature and space, classic comedies, newsreels, commercials and lectures.
TeensEverything else, including anything we cannot tell about; war, crime, horror and westerns go no lower.
AdultSexual themes (such as the old "sex hygiene" films), gore, surgery, slaughter, atrocity footage.
Internet Archive Larry Brilliant wants to stop pandemics 2006 · Talk · 25 min Accepting the 2006 TED Prize, Dr. Larry Brilliant talks about how smallpox was eradicated from the planet, and calls for a new global system that can identify… Internet Archive Nancy Lublin: Texting that saves lives 2012 · Talk · 5 min When Nancy Lublin started texting teenagers to help with her social advocacy organization, what she found was shocking -- they started texting back about… Internet Archive Rebecca MacKinnon: Let's take back the Internet! 2011 · Talk · 14 min In this powerful talk from TEDGlobal, Rebecca MacKinnon describes the expanding struggle for freedom and control in cyberspace, and asks: How do we design the… Internet Archive Sebastian Junger: Our lonely society makes it hard to come home from war 2016 · Talk · 13 min Sebastian Junger has seen war up close, and he knows the impact that battlefield trauma has on soldiers. But he suggests there's another major cause of pain… Internet Archive Sergei Lupashin: A flying camera ... on a leash 2014 · Talk · 6 min Let's admit it: aerial photo drones and UAVs are a little creepy, and they come with big regulatory and safety problems. But aerial photos can be a powerful… Internet Archive Steve Keil: A manifesto for play, for Bulgaria and beyond 2011 · Talk · 17 min At TEDxBG in Sofia, Steve Keil fights the "serious meme" that has infected his home of Bulgaria -- and calls for a return to play to revitalize the economy,… Internet Archive Suki Kim: This is what it's like to teach in North Korea 2015 · Talk · 12 min For six months, Suki Kim worked as an English teacher at an elite school for North Korea's future leaders — while writing a book on one of the world's most… Internet Archive Amy Green: A video game to cope with grief 2017 · Talk · 10 min When Amy Green's young son was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor, she made up a bedtime story for his siblings to teach them about cancer. What resulted was a… Internet Archive Chetna Gala Sinha: How women in rural India turned courage into capital 2018 · Talk When bankers refused to serve her neighbors in rural India, Chetna Gala Sinha did the next best thing: she opened a bank of her own, the first ever for and by… Internet Archive Dan Bell: Inside America's dead shopping malls 2017 · Talk · 11 min What happens when a mall falls into ruin? Filmmaker Dan Bell guides us through abandoned monoliths of merchandise, providing a surprisingly funny and lyrical… Internet Archive Jackson Bird: How to talk (and listen) to transgender people 2017 · Talk Gender should be the least remarkable thing about someone, but transgender people are still too often misunderstood. To help those who are scared to ask… Internet Archive Jennifer Pahlka: Coding a better government 2012 · Talk · 12 min Can government be run like the Internet, permissionless and open? Coder and activist Jennifer Pahlka believes it can -- and that apps, built quickly and… Internet Archive Kitra Cahana: My father, locked in his body but soaring free 2014 · Talk · 12 min In 2011 Ronnie Cahana suffered a severe stroke that left him with locked-in syndrome: completely paralyzed except for his eyes. While this might shatter a… Internet Archive Leslie T. Chang: The voices of China's workers 2012 · Talk · 14 min In the ongoing debate about globalization, what's been missing is the voices of workers — the millions of people who migrate to factories in China and other… Internet Archive Michael Patrick Lynch: How to see past your own perspective and find truth 2017 · Talk · 14 min The more we read and watch online, the harder it becomes to tell the difference between what's real and what's fake. It's as if we know more but understand… Internet Archive Per Espen Stoknes: How to transform apocalypse fatigue into action on global warming 2017 · Talk The biggest obstacle to dealing with climate disruptions lies between your ears, says psychologist and economist Per Espen Stokes. He's spent years studying… Internet Archive Shonda Rhimes and Cyndi Stivers: The future of storytelling 2017 · Talk "We all feel a compelling need to watch stories, to tell stories ... to discuss the things that tell each one of us that we are not alone in the world," says… Internet Archive David Gruber: Glow-in-the-dark sharks and other stunning sea creatures 2016 · Talk · 13 min Just a few meters below the waves, marine biologist and explorer-photographer David Gruber discovered something amazing — a surprising new range of sea… Internet Archive Elizabeth Lesser: Say your truths and seek them in others 2016 · Talk · 15 min In a lyrical, unexpectedly funny talk about heavy topics such as frayed relationships and the death of a loved one, Elizabeth Lesser describes the healing… Internet Archive Henry Lin: What we can learn from galaxies far, far away 2014 · Talk · 6 min In a fun, exciting talk, teenager Henry Lin looks at something unexpected in the sky: distant galaxy clusters. By studying the properties of the universe's… Internet Archive Julian Treasure: The 4 ways sound affects us 2009 · Talk · 5 min Playing sound effects both pleasant and awful, Julian Treasure shows how sound affects us in four significant ways. Listen carefully for a shocking fact about… Internet Archive Liz Diller: A giant bubble for debate 2012 · Talk · 12 min How do you make a great public space inside a not-so-great building? Liz Diller shares the story of creating a welcoming, lighthearted (even, dare we say it,… Internet Archive Shih Chieh Huang: Sculptures that’d be at home in the deep sea 2014 · Talk · 5 min When he was young, artist Shih Chieh Huang loved taking toys apart and perusing the aisles of night markets in Taiwan for unexpected objects. Today, this TED… Internet Archive Taryn Simon photographs secret sites 2009 · Talk · 17 min Taryn Simon exhibits her startling take on photography -- to reveal worlds and people we would never see otherwise. She shares two projects: one documents… Internet Archive Tom Griffiths: 3 ways to make better decisions -- by thinking like a computer 2017 · Talk If you ever struggle to make decisions, here's a talk for you. Cognitive scientist Tom Griffiths shows how we can apply the logic of computers to untangle… Internet Archive Isaac Mizrahi: How the button changed fashion 2018 · Talk How the simple button changed the world, according to fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi. Internet Archive Lee Smolin on science and democracy 2008 · Talk · 12 min Physicist Lee Smolin talks about how the scientific community works: as he puts it, "we fight and argue as hard as we can," but everyone accepts that the next… Internet Archive Lili Haydn: "The Last Serenade" 2018 · Talk In a stirring, emotional performance, violinist Lili Haydn plays a selection from her musical "The Last Serenade." Internet Archive Matt Beane: How do we learn to work with intelligent machines? 2018 · Talk The path to skill around the globe has been the same for thousands of years: train under an expert and take on small, easy tasks before progressing to… Internet Archive Sally Kohn: Let’s try emotional correctness 2013 · Talk · 5 min It's time for liberals and conservatives to put aside their political differences and really listen to each other, says political pundit Sally Kohn. In this… Internet Archive Chika Ezeanya-Esiobu: How Africa can use its traditional knowledge to make progress 2017 · Talk Chika Ezeanya-Esiobu wants to see Africans unleash their suppressed creative and innovative energies by acknowledging the significance of their indigenous,… Internet Archive Dame Ellen MacArthur: The surprising thing I learned sailing solo around the world 2015 · Talk · 16 min What do you learn when you sail around the world on your own? When solo sailor Ellen MacArthur circled the globe – carrying everything she needed with her –… Internet Archive David Katz: What if you could turn plastic trash into cash? 2017 · Talk Can we solve the problem of ocean plastic pollution and end extreme poverty at the same time? That's the ambitious goal of The Plastic Bank: a worldwide chain… Internet Archive Jaap de Roode: How butterflies self-medicate 2015 · Talk · 6 min Just like us, the monarch butterfly sometimes gets sick thanks to a nasty parasite. But biologist Jaap de Roode noticed something interesting about the… Internet Archive Jill Tarter's call to join the SETI search 2009 · Talk · 21 min The SETI Institute's Jill Tarter makes her TED Prize wish: to accelerate our search for cosmic company. Using a growing array of radio telescopes, she and her… Internet Archive John Underkoffler points to the future of UI 2010 · Talk · 15 min Minority Report science adviser and inventor John Underkoffler demos g-speak -- the real-life version of the film's eye-popping, tai chi-meets-cyberspace… Internet Archive Marian Wright Edelman: Reflections from a lifetime fighting to end child poverty 2018 · Talk What does it take to build a national movement? In a captivating conversation with TEDWomen curator Pat Mitchell, Marian Wright Edelman reflects on her path… Internet Archive Mellody Hobson: Color blind or color brave? 2014 · Talk · 14 min The subject of race can be very touchy. As finance executive Mellody Hobson says, it's a "conversational third rail." But, she says, that's exactly why we… Internet Archive Nizar Ibrahim: How we unearthed the spinosaurus 2015 · Talk · 6 min A 50-foot-long carnivore who hunted its prey in rivers 97 million years ago, the spinosaurus is a "dragon from deep time." Paleontologist Nizar Ibrahim and… Internet Archive Ory Okolloh on becoming an activist 2008 · Talk · 16 min Ory Okolloh tells the story of her life and her family -- and how she came to do her heroic work reporting on the doings of Kenya's parliament. Internet Archive Rives controls the Internet 2006 · Talk · 4 min How many poets could cram eBay, Friendster and Monster.com into 3-minute poem worthy of a standing ovation? Enjoy Rives' unique talent. Internet Archive Robert Gupta and Joshua Roman duet on "Passacaglia" 2011 · Talk · 9 min It's a master class in collaboration as violinist Robert Gupta and cellist Joshua Roman perform Halvorsen's "Passacaglia" for violin and viola. Roman takes… Internet Archive Uldus Bakhtiozina: Wry photos that turn stereotypes upside down 2014 · Talk · 4 min Artist Uldus Bakhtiozina uses photographs to poke fun at societal norms in her native Russia. A glimpse into Russian youth culture and a short, fun reminder… Internet Archive AJ Jacobs: My journey to thank all the people responsible for my morning coffee 2018 · Talk Author AJ Jacobs embarked on a quest with a deceptively simple idea at its heart: to personally thank every person who helped make his morning cup of coffee.… Internet Archive Alan Siegel: Let's simplify legal jargon! 2010 · Talk · 4 min Tax forms, credit agreements, healthcare legislation: They're crammed with gobbledygook, says Alan Siegel, and incomprehensibly long. He calls for a simple,… Internet Archive Jonathan Rossiter: A robot that eats pollution 2017 · Talk · 14 min Meet the "Row-bot," a robot that cleans up pollution and generates the electricity needed to power itself by swallowing dirty water. Roboticist Jonathan… Internet Archive Stacey Abrams: 3 questions to ask yourself about everything you do 2018 · Talk How you respond after setbacks is what defines your character. Stacey Abrams was the first black woman in the history of the United States to be nominated by… Internet Archive Topher White: What can save the rainforest? Your used cell phone 2015 · Talk · 9 min The sounds of the rainforest include: the chirps of birds, the buzz of cicadas, the banter of gibbons. But in the background is the almost-always present…