In a world where design trends are quietly converging ? same color palettes, same typography, same illustration styles ? how do you make work that actually looks different? Designer and TED Fellow Lope Gutierrez-Ruiz distills his answer into three sharp, counterintuitive ideas, ticking through his studio's own funky creations to show how you can make things that stand out.

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Covering global war stories can be hard and thankless ? but it's critical work if the rest of us are to understand what's really going on in the world. For nearly two decades, journalist Jane Ferguson has reported on hostilities across Africa and the Middle East, and she's witnessed firsthand the changing face of her profession. Via stories of her own experiences at the heart of complex conflicts, she shares fascinating details of how she and other female colleagues have changed the way that news is captured, shared ? and understood.

This episode originally aired in November 2023.

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For the 20th anniversary of Design Matters, Debbie Millman revisits conversations with renowned poets Eileen Myles, Elizabeth Alexander, Sarah Kay, and Amber Tamblyn. These excerpts reflect on language, identity, memory, and the lived experience that fuels their work. Together, they reveal poetry as an intimate practice that resonates beyond the page.

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To calm the storm inside your mind, you must first understand it. Singer and actress Rhonda Ross shares her theory of "emotional sovereignty" ? the idea that your feelings aren't shaped just by your circumstances, but by the thoughts running on loop in your head. In conversation with scholar and TED Fellow Daniel Alexander Jones, Ross introduces the unexpected, music-rooted practice for taking control of your narrative.

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Author David Larbi recites a poem about the journey toward joy, reminding us of all the ways it can be found: having a conversation with a stranger, tasting the perfect bite of food or enjoying a good stretch. Joy is all around us ? you just need to know where to look.

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What are you wearing, and why? This is the question that writer and TED Fellow Mitchell S. Jackson asks as he unpacks the six eras of NBA style. Tracing an arc from Bill Russell to Lebron James and beyond, he explores how players use fashion on and off the court to challenge the limits placed upon them ? revealing a deeper story about culture, identity and power.

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What can happy rats teach us about human joy? Behavioral neuroscientist Kelly Lambert describes how her team trained rats to drive tiny cars to earn treats ? and noticed something surprising about how effort and anticipation affect the brain. The experiment opens new questions about how reward, agency and "behaviorceuticals" might help build resilience and support mental health.

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When the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires destroyed his home and neighborhood, scientist Christian Busch encountered the opposite of serendipity: "zemblanity," or bad luck by design. Drawing on more than a decade of scientific research, he explores how people can navigate unpredictability by adopting a serendipity mindset that transforms setbacks into unexpected new beginnings. He asks: What if good luck isn't random but can actually be cultivated?

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When Doreen Orishaba helped build Africa?s first electric car in 2011, skeptics dismissed it as a ?toy for the Western world.? Now she?s running dozens of electric buses across Kenya and Rwanda, moving thousands of passengers to work every day on zero-exhaust vehicles powered by near-silent engines. She breaks down what it actually takes to scale clean transport ? and why skipping the gas station pit stop is closer than you may think.

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Margaret Atwood is best known as the author of The Handmaid?s Tale, and she?s won a slew of awards for her novels, poetry collections, and children?s books. Now, at the age of 86, she?s written her first memoir, The Book of Lives. In this episode, Adam and Margaret break down her perspective on what creative jobs AI will and won?t threaten and discuss the evidence on the benefits of reading banned books. They also muse about why heroes need monsters and what it means to be delightfully disagreeable.

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The world is weird and hilarious ? if you know where to look, says comedian Chris Duffy. In conversation with "TED Talks Daily" host Elise Hu, Duffy breaks down three practical pillars of humor, showing how laughter can help you feel present, creative and connected, even when the world feels overwhelming.

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In the age of social media and wellness trends, the comments section is as good as a cult compound, says linguist and cultural commentator Amanda Montell. Using Taylor Swift?s throng of devoted Swifties as her guide, she exposes three sneaky language tactics that cults use to influence us (for better or for worse), revealing why none of us are as cult-proof as we?d like to think.

(Following the talk, Elise Hu, host of TED Talks Daily, interviews Montell on parasocial relationships and how to have productive conversations with cult members by recognizing their humanity.)

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We're so entangled with our devices that online has started to feel more real than IRL, says journalist Nayeema Raza. As screens reshape how we connect and relate, she offers three practical habits to reignite curiosity, restore presence and break free from our phones.

(Following the talk, Elise Hu, host of TED Talks Daily, interviews Raza on the best approach to discussing difficult topics ? whether it?s about screen addiction or gun control ? and how to get over the fear of asking dumb questions.)

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Where's the best free comedy show in town? Tom Sullam, cofounder of the annual Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, shares hilarious animal photos that dissolve the distance between humans and nature. The result? A joyful case for caring about what we're at risk of losing.

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What if the key to making better decisions today is getting to know the person you'll become tomorrow? Drawing on psychological research and real-life stories, private wealth advisor Lauren Deeley explores how building a meaningful connection with your "deathbed self" can bring more clarity, joy and intention to the life you're building right now.

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Your inner voice is a powerful tool for self-reflection and planning, but it can also trap you in negative thought loops ? ?chatter,? as psychologist and neuroscientist Ethan Kross calls it. He shares tips for quieting the less helpful aspects of the voice inside your head as well as how to harness chatter to overcome doubt, enhance your focus and transform your well-being.

This episode was originally published in February 2025.

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?My lens around style doesn?t have anything to do with style anymore ? it?s about physicality,? says stylist and fashion consultant Stacy London. ?What do I want to be able to do? How do I keep myself strong??

Stacy?s message has resonated for many women, and for this episode, she joins Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider, host of TED Health, at TED2025 for a special live conversation about why women are so embarrassed to talk about aging. For Stacy, aging became a chance to reassess her relationship to her body, and her experience with menopause and spinal surgery shifted her focus to health and wellbeing. Her best advice on what you can do to feel good in your skin? Throw away the most painful pair of shoes you own.

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Relationships were never meant to be efficient, says sextech expert Bryony Cole, and yet AI companions are increasingly designed to be exactly that. As intimate relationships between humans and AI become more common, Cole challenges us to think more deliberately about how we shape our connections to machines ? and with each other. (This conversation, hosted by TED's Whitney Pennington Rodgers, was part of an exclusive TED Membership event. TED Membership is the best way to support and engage with the big ideas you love from TED. To learn more, visit ted.com/membership.)

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What if the key to saving nature isn't just about science or policy, but love? Love for the land, for the people who depend on it, for the world we leave behind. Artist Elsaphan Njora has journeyed across Kenya witnessing ecosystems vanish, from Indigenous forests to sacred lakes. But he's also seen communities breathing life back into rivers, forests and coasts in creative, unexpected ways ? showing that conservation can flourish alongside livelihoods, and that even the most threatened landscapes can be reborn.

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Storyteller Golriz Lucina recounts how the historic sacrifice of Iranian 19th-century poet and mystic Táhirih planted the seeds for the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests today, offering an inspiring lesson in the value of acting with conviction ? even if we don't live to see the results.

(This talk was originally published on January 2024)

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Are your workplace relationships quietly burning you out? Drawing on large-scale research across industries, organizational behavior researcher Eric Quintane reveals four hidden relational traps woven into the fabric of work ? and explores how connection shapes resilience, vulnerability and burnout.

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Imagine a robot moving into your home. How would it change your daily life? Historian Emily Kate Genatowski shares five eye-opening lessons from a year living with her AI-powered robot roommate, from the quirky and chaotic to the surprisingly mundane. Her experiences show that the future of robots isn?t science fiction ? it?s practical, messy and already here.

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On the morning of February 28, 2026, the US and Israel bombed several parts of Iran, including the Tehran compound of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Geopolitical expert and Eurasia Group founder Ian Bremmer breaks down why US President Donald Trump made the decision to strike, what it means for hopes of ?regime change? and the key details you need to know about this perilous moment in global history. (This interview, hosted by TED?s Helen Walters, was recorded on February 28, 2026.)

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Matt Damon is best known as the Hollywood icon from movies like Good Will Hunting and The Martian, but he has another passion offscreen: ensuring access to clean, safe water around the world. When he met social entrepreneur Gary White in 2008, they realized they could combine their efforts to reach more people and created water.org, which Gary leads as CEO. In this episode, Adam sits down with Matt and Gary at the World Economic Forum in Davos to talk about their innovative approach to problem-solving, handling rejection in high-stakes work environments, and Matt?s knack for forging strong partnerships. Adam also invites the two to office hours to tackle one of their ongoing challenges.

Host & Guest

Adam Grant (Instagram: @adamgrant | LinkedIn: @adammgrant | Website: https://adamgrant.net/)

Matt Damon (Website: https://water.org/about-us/founders-board-team/matt-damon/)

Gary White (Website: https://water.org/about-us/founders-board-team/gary-white/)

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What do you do when the world declares something impossible? When physician-scientist David Fajgenbaum was dying from a rare disease and social entrepreneur Kiah Williams was confronting the realities of economic hardship, they began asking a different question: What can I do today? In this conversation, they discuss how turning hope into action can drive meaningful change ? one step at a time. (This conversation is hosted by The Audacious Project?s Alexandra Tillmann)

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What if the solution to feeding humanity has been hiding in the soil for millions of years? Bioengineer Karsten Temme discovered a remarkable answer to this question: for eons, crops relied on soil microbes to convert atmospheric nitrogen into food ? until modern farming severed that ancient partnership. He shows how we can reawaken those dormant microbes using gene editing, creating ?living fertilizer? that delivers nutrients to crops in real time and transforms farms around the world.

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Legendary music producer Jermaine Dupri pulls back the curtain on how hit songs really get made in TED?s rapid-fire Q&A format, ?On the Spot.? Answering a stream of unexpected questions, he covers what makes a good hook, why he doesn?t chase ?cool,? how he helped build Atlanta?s sound and more.

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The race to build smarter AI is crashing into a physical limitation: the power grid simply can't keep up with the energy demands of data centers. Computer scientist Ay?e Coskun shows how we could turn this problem on its head, transforming AI facilities into virtual batteries that help stabilize the grid and accelerate clean energy. Learn why the technology causing this crisis might be the only thing smart enough to fix it.

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If a company plants trees to offset its pollution, is that climate progress ? or is it greenwashing? Critics of carbon markets say it?s the latter. But Sandeep Roy Choudhury, who?s spent two decades financing climate projects from rural cookstoves to coastal forests, says the real failure is discouraging companies from even trying. Hear his case for why we shouldn?t let perfection block meaningful action on climate change.

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What if the best defense against misinformation isn?t panic, but a punchline? Journalist and comedian Dave Jorgenson explores how misinformation has proliferated throughout history ? from the age of Plato to the era of viral TikToks. With his own short, absurdist sketches that explain the news, he shows how humor can cut through fear, spark curiosity and explore nuanced truth.

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From negotiating food choices to limiting screen time, raising healthy kids is complicated?but it doesn?t have to be, says pediatrician Dr. Shari Barkin. Dr. Barkin joins Shoshana to talk about the ways caregivers can carve out 10 minutes of their day to model a healthy lifestyle and help everyone in the family thrive.

Talk featured:

Inside the mind of a newborn baby - Claudia Passos Ferreira

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Drawing on clinical research and psychological studies, writer and psychologist Emily Esfahani Smith shows why pursuing meaning ? the experience of connecting to something beyond yourself ? creates a deeper sense of well-being than comes from chasing happiness. Learn about the steps you can take to move from feeling stuck to living with intention.

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Feeling burned out? You may be spending too much time ruminating about your job, says psychologist Guy Winch. Learn how to stop worrying about tomorrow?s tasks or stewing over office tensions with three simple techniques aimed at helping you truly relax and recharge after work.

This episode originally aired on December 9, 2019.

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Have you ever left a meeting thinking: everyone talked, but nothing was achieved? Chances are that people were listening to each other, just not in the same way. Listening experts Maegan Stephens and Nicole Lowenbraun unpack the four different ways to listen, sharing a practical framework that could change how you respond, build trust and get results ? starting with just one simple question.

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AI is good at seeing patterns, but it?s humans who figure out what to do next, says technologist Priyanka Vergadia. She shares three stories of human excellence sparked by AI insights and offers a pathway to identify and cultivate your irreplaceable qualities, turning the AI revolution from a threat into an opportunity.

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As a child in rural Kenya, conservationist Seif Hamisi fell asleep to the sound of lions outside his village. Today, the lions are gone, mirroring a continent-wide trend: African wildlife populations have plummeted in recent decades, despite billions spent to protect nature. Drawing on examples of successful conservation efforts from the grasslands of South Africa to the woodlands of Kenya, he shows how we've been attempting to solve the wrong problem ? and makes the case that conservation works best when it makes economic sense.

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We've built a legal system that distrusts eyewitness memory ? backed by cautionary science and high-profile exonerations. John Wixted, a leading psychology researcher, challenges this conventional wisdom with a counterintuitive finding: the problem might not be memory itself but how (and when) courts test it.

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Love coach Francesca Hogi is dedicated to helping daters find ?lasting love in the midst of a broken dating culture.? In this episode, Francesca shares her approach to analyzing romantic patterns and feeling more empowered in your love life. From discussing romantic manifestations to reflecting on bell hooks? claim that humans are unskilled at love, Chris and Francesca talk about the ways you can be more open to finding love.

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Tonight, millions of people will go to bed and whisper to an AI companion. But what are we giving up when we fall in love with machines? Sextech expert Bryony Cole offers three questions to ask yourself if you?re already intimate with AI, laying out a playbook for synthetic companionship that doesn?t hide you from the messiness of human life ? but prepares you for it instead.

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Yohanis Riek went from herding cattle and fighting as a child soldier to becoming the first doctor in his community in South Sudan. He shares his journey to found a nonprofit bringing health care to remote communities ? empowering locals to take charge of their own health, as the world's newest country finds its place in the world.

(Following the talk, Lily James Olds, director of the TED Fellows program, interviews Riek on the effect of USAID withdrawal in South Sudan and why he?s choosing to stay in his home country to better serve local populations.)

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Why do we celebrate appearance over ability in sports? Performance scientist Dominique Condo explores why so many elite female athletes ? women with Olympic medals, world records and championship trophies ? report body image concerns that end up hindering their performance. She offers a series of subtle shifts we can make to help any athlete stay focused on building strength, resilience and confidence.

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Llion Jones cowrote "Attention Is All You Need," the seminal paper that introduced the transformer ? the architecture that launched the generative AI revolution. Now he warns that the industry that grew out of this breakthrough is stifling the next one. Learn why the current corporate arms race is killing true innovation and how we can get back to bold exploration.

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How do you build a lifetime of love? After analyzing 450 couples across more than 40 countries, relational psychotherapist Sara Nasserzadeh discovered six essential ingredients for successful relationships (hint: it's not just about sexual chemistry). Learn more about "emergent love" ? a new, evidence-based model for fostering the love you desire.

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Your skin heals after a scratch. What if our roads, bridges and cities could self-repair after getting damaged, too? Scientist and engineer Mark Miodownik describes a new class of materials ? animate matter ? with the potential to sense damage, self-heal and even biodegrade when the job is done. Humanity's next great leap isn't making more stuff, he says ? it's making stuff that doesn't fall apart.

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When it comes to sports, is there anything more evocative -- and elusive -- than "the zone"? That mythical place an athlete goes to where focus is laser-sharp, nothing can go wrong and time just vanishes. In this episode of Good Sport, a podcast from the TED Audio Collective, host Jody Avirgan talks to NBA All-Star great Steph Curry about what "the zone" means for him -- and whether or not it even exists. Then Jody works on his mental game with sports psychologist Dr. Nicole Detling and follows Olympic biathlete Clare Egan in a step-by-step guide on how to foster mental resilience after failure.

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As AI tools get better at making music, will there be a time when machines move people more than musicians? Putting that question to the test, legendary hitmaker Jason "Poo Bear" Boyd joins journalist Elise Hu to discuss how new tech is changing the music industry ? followed by a live performance where he battles his digital twin to see who can write a catchier song. (Poo Bear is joined onstage by musician Sasha Sirota.)

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After building a smartphone app to bring eye care to millions of people in remote areas, eye surgeon and TED Fellow Andrew Bastawrous confronted a new question: What do we lose when health care chases speed and efficiency? He offers a quiet provocation for how to get better outcomes for patients and health care workers alike.

(Following the talk, Lily James Olds, director of the TED Fellows program, interviews Bastawrous on how his company, Peek Vision, is rethinking access to eye care. The surprising solution isn?t AI or optimization, but addressing the human behaviors that make patients feel more seen ? starting with how doctors can be more compassionate.)

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As AI agents take over more tasks at work, the question isn?t whether or not humans matter ? it?s how we make our impact count. Leadership expert Vinciane Beauchene challenges some commonly held assumptions about how AI will transform the workplace, sharing a blueprint for leaders to design organizations where people can focus on what truly makes a difference.

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There's a common African proverb: "When elephants fight, it's the grass that suffers." Policy researcher Nanjira Sambuli says we must apply this thinking to today's AI evolution, asking: When tech giants battle for dominance, who gets trampled in the process? She introduces a new ethical compass for AI, showing how people across the continent are charting a different path for the future of tech.

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Can anyone become happier? Psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky studies this question in her lab, doing experiments on "happiness interventions" to see what kinds of actions elicit this sought-after emotion. In a quick talk, she shares the results of her work: a small shift that can change your relationships and put you on the path to happiness.

Following the talk, Elise Hu, host of TED Talks Daily, interviews Lyubomirsky on additional changes people can do to feel more connected with each other in an increasingly online and chaotic world.

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