Too busy to take care of yourself? These talks offer simple ways to stay healthy -- both emotionally and physically.

No one can decide your self-worth. Let these talks serve as a gentle reminder that you are enough.

In need of a shot of inspiration to be a better you? Level up with these inspiring and insightful talks designed to expand your mindset, invite reflection and redefine your sense of self.

Kate Adams spends her days dissecting digital communications to find a better way to tell brand stories and connect with customers.

Embark on a journey of self-improvement with this selection of TED Talks on personal growth. From innovative parenting strategies and mental health support to fostering self-confidence and sustainable habits, these ideas offer practical advice and fresh perspectives for a transformative year ahead.

Showing yourself kindness becomes even more important during life's difficult moments, and the current pandemic certainly qualifies. Learn why it's a misconception that you need to be tough on yourself to succeed, and how practicing self-compassion can make you even more resilient. (Audio only)

At TED@Cannes, Gary Wolf gives a 5-min intro to an intriguing new pastime: using mobile apps and always-on gadgets to track and analyze your body, mood, diet, spending -- just about everything in daily life you can measure -- in gloriously geeky detail.

Our memories and bodies give us clues about who we are, but what happens when this guidance shifts? In this mind-bending talk, science writer Anil Ananthaswamy shares how the experiences of "altered selves" -- resulting from schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, foreign limb syndrome or other conditions -- shed light on the constructed nature of identity....

Fascinating talks that explore one of the most mysterious phenomenons in the universe: the "self" (and why it exists).

Hod Lipson demonstrates a few of his cool little robots, which have the ability to learn, understand themselves and even self-replicate.

It's late, pitch dark and a self-driving car winds down a narrow country road. Suddenly, three hazards appear at the same time. With no human at the wheel, the car uses smart eyes, sensors that'll resolve these details all in a split-second. How is this possible? Sajan Saini explains how LIDAR and integrated photonics technology make self-drivin...

Paved roads are nice to look at, but they're easily damaged and costly to repair. Erik Schlangen demos a new type of porous asphalt made of simple materials with an astonishing feature: When cracked, it can be "healed" by induction heating.

Whether you realize it or not, you have a personal brand, says social entrepreneur Marcos Salazar -- and you have the power to shape what it is. Here's how you can create a brand that captures who you are, who you'd like to be and how you want to make an impact on the world.

These speakers embrace and express who they are, what they stand for, and by living their truth invite you to do the same.

Just like us, the monarch butterfly sometimes gets sick thanks to a nasty parasite. But biologist Jaap de Roode noticed something interesting about the butterflies he was studying — infected female butterflies would choose to lay their eggs on a specific kind of plant that helped their offspring avoid getting sick. How do they know to choose thi...

With a lesson for us all, UPS Pilot Kelly Lepley shares her painful and liberating journey from male to female. She shares how her life in hiding made her less generous and less present, and caused everyone from her family, co-workers and the larger community, to suffer. In this deeply personal talk, she explains how the pain of inauthenticity c...

How to Be a Better Human How do I know what my future self wants? (w/ Shankar Vedantam) September 27, 2023 [00:00:00] Chris Duffy: You're listening to How to Be a Better Human. I'm your host, Chris Duffy. Something that I've been thinking about a lot and talking about with friends recently is this feeling that I have that I'm not the same perso...

Abigail Marsh asks essential questions: If humans are evil, why do we sometimes go to extraordinary lengths to help others even at a cost to ourselves?

Jane Fonda has had four extraordinary careers (so far): Oscar-winning actor, author, fitness guru and impassioned activist.

Poets and doctors both save lives, just in different ways. World-champion slam poet Harry Baker shares the heartache of forfeiting the path of medicine for a self-guided career in poetry and writing. This talk is an ode to choosing to be different, woven through two poems that sing with universal truth. While he won't help the world by becoming ...

Our hyper-connected lives have been rewired for the digital age. These talks explore how the Internet and social media are shaping our relationships, personal lives and sense of self.

Julian Baggini is a journalist and philosopher who studies the complexities of personal identity. He is the editor-in-chief of the Philosophers' Magazine.

Practicing self-compassion is so vital right now that we consulted Dr. Kristin Neff on exercises for directing compassion inwards. Kristin is a pioneer in the field of self-compassion research and a co-developer of the empirically supported training program "Mindful Self-Compassion." She guides us on some self-soothing exercises and unpacks the ...

Join Susan for a guided exercise that can help you connect with how you want to move forward in the future. Ask yourself: What do I need to let go of? What parts of my life have not been working for me? What does the child in me need? And what does the future in me need? (Audio only)

Michael Shermer says the human tendency to believe strange things -- from alien abductions to dowsing rods -- boils down to two of the brain's most basic, hard-wired survival skills. He explains what they are, and how they get us into trouble.

Shimon Schocken and Noam Nisan developed a curriculum for their students to build a computer, piece by piece. When they put the course online -- giving away the tools, simulators, chip specifications and other building blocks -- they were surprised that thousands jumped at the opportunity to learn, working independently as well as organizing the...

Urging us to turn away from voices perpetuating harmful stereotypes, gender equality advocate Gary Barker shares three insights on fostering a culture of care, compassion and connection among men. "We are the most wired-to-care species on the planet," he says. "But if you don't use it ... you don't get good at it."

Unexpected change like an accident, an illness or a relationship that suddenly ends is inevitable -- and disorienting. With a heartfelt and optimistic take on life's curveballs, cognitive scientist Maya Shankar shares how these challenging moments can inspire transformation, offering three questions to ask when facing uncertainty, so you can let...

David Birch is a digital money and ID consultant paving the way for a 21st-century identity.

How exactly does the brain -- a 3-pound snarl of nervous tissue -- create inspired inventions, the feeling of hunger, the experience of beauty, the sense of self? Researchers at the edge of science explain ...