Science
Breaking Out Of A Web Of Fear
24:25
Brain Candy
An unidentified heckler lets loose as President Obama begins a speech at the Martin Luther King memorial dedication in Washington, D.C., in October 2011.
Hey! You! The Unstoppable Rise Of Heckling
()President Obama endures it. So does Mitt Romney. Comics make a living off it. And even a PGA golfer heard a chorus of taunts at a recent tournament. So what is it that makes heckling such a cultural institution?
It's the Simplest Things That Keep Us Wondering
()A three letter word can keep you musing and musing. What is it?
Weekend Special: A Puzzle: Why Aren't They Laughing?
()Which is weirder: to laugh at a sad situation, or to not laugh at a funny one?
Fixing Our Broken Systems()
May 25, 2012 We depend on rules, guidelines and laws to provide structure, order and function, but too often these systems fail us. Here's a look at how trust and practical wisdom could mend education, medicine and the law. Plus, can games solve real world problems?
TED Radio Hour
Barry Schwartz: How Do Rules Fail Us?()
May 25, 2012 Psychologist Barry Schwartz makes a passionate call for practical wisdom as an antidote to a society gone mad with bureaucracy. He argues powerfully that rules often fail us, incentives often backfire, and practical, everyday wisdom will help rebuild our world.
TED Radio Hour
Jane McGonigal: Can Video Games Solve Real Issues? ()
May 25, 2012 Games like World of Warcraft give players the means to save worlds and incentive to learn the habits of heroes. What if we could harness this gamer power to solve real-world problems? Game designer Jane McGonigal says we can.
Krulwich Wonders...
Tom Waits Salutes (I Think) An Artist I've Never Heard Of()
May 20, 2012 John Baldessari is a conceptual artist whose work includes people with colored dots on their heads, oddly composed photographs and large trumpet sculptures. What happens when the gravelly-voiced Tom Waits narrates a film about an artist who proclaims "I will not make any more boring art"?
Krulwich Wonders...
The Essence Of Science Explained In 63 Seconds ()
May 17, 2012 Legendary scientist Reichard Feynman offered a simple but profound lesson about how we understand the world in a lecture at Cornell in 1964. The world, it is presumed, works perfectly well without us. How we think about it makes no important difference.
