http://www.ted.com Louise Leakey asks, "Who are we?" The question takes her to the Rift Valley in Eastern Africa, where she digs for the evolutionary origins of humankind -- and suggests a stunning new vision of our competing ancestors.

Tags: Louise Leakey TED TEDtalks talks evolution fossil archaeology human history origin species Africa population survival

http://www.ted.com Chris Abani tells stories of people: People standing up to soldiers. People being compassionate. People being human and reclaiming their humanity. It's "ubuntu," he says: the only way for me to be human is for you to reflect my humanity back at me.

Tags: Chris Abani TED TEDtalks talks humanity stories Nigeria poet poem libation Africa apartheid

http://www.ted.com Martin Seligman talks about psychology -- as a field of study and as it works one-on-one with each patient and each practitioner. As it moves beyond a focus on disease, what can modern psychology help us to become?

Tags: Martin Seligman TED TEDtalks talks positive psychology good engagement philanthropy altruism happiness meaning

http://www.ted.com First, Keith Barry shows us how our brains can fool our bodies -- in a trick that works via podcast too. Then he involves the audience in some jaw-dropping (and even a bit dangerous) feats of brain magic.

Tags: TED TEDtalks talks Keith Barry brain magic hypnosis hypnotic trick telekinesis spike

http://www.ted.com Speaking at the most recent EG conference, author, philosopher, prankster and journalist A.J. Jacobs talks about the year he spent living biblically -- following the rules in the Bible as literally as possible.

Tags: TED TEDtalks talks A.J. Jacobs Bible biblical Christianity religion fundamentalism lifestyle lessons ritual meaning

http://www.ted.com Speaking at TED in 1998, Rev. Billy Graham marvels at technology's power to improve lives and change the world -- but says the end of evil, suffering and death will come only after the world accepts Christ. A legendary talk from TED's archives.

Tags: Billy Graham TED TEDtalks talks religion christianity jesus suffering evil death

http://www.ted.com Why do we crave love so much, even to the point that we would die for it? To learn more about our very real, very physical need for romantic love, Helen Fisher and her research team took MRIs of people in love -- and people who had just been dumped.

Tags: TED TEDtalks talks Helen Fisher love brain cognitive

http://www.ted.com Physicist Freeman Dyson suggests that we start looking for life on the moons of Jupiter and out past Neptune, in the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud. He talks about what such life would be like -- and how we might find it.

Tags: Freeman Dyson TED TEDtalks talks life space Jupiter alien extraterrestrial Europa astronomy

http://www.ted.com The wonderful Nellie McKay sings "Mother of Pearl" (with the immortal first line "Feminists don't have a sense of humor") and "If I Had You" from her sparkling set at TED2008.

Tags: Nellie McKay TED talks TEDtalks Mother Pearl humor feminism feminists folk obligatory villagers

http://www.ted.com In this prescient 2005 talk, Clay Shirky shows how closed groups and companies will give way to looser networks where small contributors have big roles and fluid cooperation replaces rigid planning.

Tags: wiki opensource open source collaboration institution flickr TED TEDtalks talks Clay Shirky

http://www.ted.com Nine days before TED2008, filmmaker David Hoffman lost almost everything he owned in a fire that destroyed his home, office and 30 years of passionate collecting. He looks back at a life that's been wiped clean in an instant -- and looks forward.

Tags: David Hoffman TED TEDtalks talks house fire lose lost life film father

http://www.ted.com Torsten Reil talks about how the study of biology can help make natural-looking animated people -- by building a human from the inside out, with bones, muscles and a nervous system. He spoke at TED in 2003; see his work now in GTA4.

Tags: Torston Reil Animation TED TEDtalks talks 3D Computer GTA biology anatomy evolution artificial model video games

http://www.ted.com Botanist Corneille Ewango talks about his work at the Okapi Faunal Reserve in the Congo Basin -- and his heroic work protecting it from poachers, miners and raging civil wars.

Tags: Cornielle Ewango TED TEDtalks talks Cogin Basin forest conservation activism botany

http://www.ted.com Guitarist and singer Raul Midon plays "Everybody" and "Peace on Earth" during his 2007 set at TED.

Tags: Raul Midon Guitarist Everybody Peace on Earth TED talks TEDtalks R&B Acoustic Jazz Blind

http://www.ted.com Photographer Rick Smolan tells the unforgettable story of a young Amerasian girl, a fateful photograph, and an adoption saga with a twist.

Tags: Rick Smolan Natasha Natasha's Story TED talks TEDtalks Amerasian Asian Korean Photograph Homecoming Adoption Orphan

http://www.ted.com X Prize founder Peter Diamandis talks about how he helped Stephen Hawking fulfill his dream of going to space -- by flying together into the upper atmosphere and experiencing weightlessness at zero g.

Tags: Peter Diamandis Stephen Hawking TED talks TEDtalks Zero Gravity Zero-G Space Flight

http://www.ted.com Composer Sxip Shirey makes music from the simple, dramatic act of breathing -- alone and together. Open your ears to a passionate 3 minutes.

Tags: Shirey Garniez TED TEDtalks talks breath music passion experimental flute circus

http://www.ted.com Nicholas Negroponte talks about how One Laptop per Child is doing, two years in. Speaking at the EG conference while the first XO laptops roll off the production line, he recaps the controversies and recommits to the goals of this far-reaching project.

Tags: Nicholas Negroponte ted tedtalks One laptop per child global issues technology culture learning activism

http://www.ted.com Benjamin Zander has two infectious passions: classical music, and helping us all realize our untapped love for it -- and by extension, our untapped love for all new possibilities, new experiences, new connections.

Tags: Benjamin Zander ted tedtalks music arts culture entertainment live leadership

http://www.ted.com Steven Levitt shares data that shows car seats are no more effective than seatbelts in protecting kids from dying in cars. However, during the Q&A, he makes one crucial caveat.

Tags: Steven