TED Talks Daily TED Talks

Biotech entrepreneur Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw shares lessons learned from the global effort to develop COVID-19 vaccines: namely, the power of collaboration and the importance of equitable access to health care. Learn more about the innovative partnerships that helped create the vaccines -- and how India became a crucial player in the supply chain delivering millions of doses to the world. (This virtual conversation, hosted by TED technology curator Simone Ross, was recorded March 2021.)

Animals are communicating -- but what are they saying? And can we talk back? Marine biologist David Gruber introduces Project CETI: a team of scientists, linguists and AI specialists hoping to decode sperm whale language. Using noninvasive robots and a machine-learning algorithm to collect and analyze millions of sperm whale vocalizations known as coda, the team aims to demystify the communication structures and dialects of these majestic creatures -- and possibly even crack the interspecies communication code. (This ambitious plan is a part of the Audacious Project, TED's initiative to inspire and fund global change.)

All new products must pass through the "valley of death" before they reach the market. Many never make it out, and sometimes that's OK -- if they don't work, don't fill a need or for any number of reasons. One of the fields where this problem is most pressing is zero-carbon technologies. Why is it vulnerable to this trap, and can we change it? Explore how to break the cycle of the funding gap. [Written by Elizabeth Cox and George Zaidan, directed by Lisa LaBracio, narrated by Jack Cutmore-Scott]

Everyone's career will hit some turbulence at some point. Instead of pushing harder against the headwinds, we're sometimes better off tilting our rudder and charting a new course. In this episode, host Adam Grant speaks with people who have taken unusual steps to battle uncertainty, rethought their approach to finding and landing a job and reached out for help in unexpected places -- as well as an expert on recessions who forecasts the future by looking to the past. Listen and subscribe to WorkLife with Adam Grant and more podcasts from the TED Audio Collective wherever you're listening to this.

Companies in the US spend billions of dollars each year on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, but subtle (and not so subtle) workplace biases often cost these initiatives -- and the people they're meant to help -- big time by undermining their goals. DEI expert Joan C. Williams identifies five common patterns of bias that cause these programs to fail -- and offers a data-driven approach to pinpoint where things go wrong and how to make progress instead.

How does an astronaut prepare physically and mentally to launch into space? NASA astronaut Megan McArthur, who will take part in the SpaceX Crew-2 mission later this month, shares stellar life lessons on how to cultivate the resolve to do incredible things through preparation -- and a dash of bravery. A rare glimpse at what it takes to literally shoot for the stars. (This virtual conversation, hosted by TEDWomen curator Pat Mitchell, was recorded in November 2020.)