Brain Candy

Modern psychology shows that we all have a little bit of Narcissus in us. Most of us like people who remind us of ourselves — whether that is someone else with the same name or the same birthday.

Science

Me, Myself, and IKEA: What Our Love For Swedish Furniture Says About Narcissism

9:01pm May 22, 2017

In general, people show a subtle bias toward the self. This is why we love the IKEA furniture we've built, and gravitate toward others with the same name. But there are much larger implications, too.

Cloud eggs: It's not just Instagrammers who find them pretty. Chefs of the 17th century whipped them up, too. Then, as now, they were meant to impress.

Science
Arts

Cloud Eggs: The Latest Instagram Food Fad Is Actually Centuries Old

10:53am May 21, 2017

by Maria Godoy

The fanciful dish was meant to impress nearly 400 years ago, so don't roll your eyes at photos of these pretty edibles: They're actually a time-honored tradition tinged with a bit of kitchen science.

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NadaMoo!'s Birthday Cake Cookie Dough vegan frozen dessert uses coconut milk as its base. Because of its fat and sugar content, many vegan dairy producers say coconut is simply the easiest vegan platform to build a milk or cream out of. But almond milk is

Science

How To Give Vegan 'Ice Cream' That Creamy Taste, Minus The Milk

11:29am May 15, 2017

by Jill Neimark

From avocado to almonds, vegan frozen desserts abound today. But replicating the complex choreography of water, protein, fat and sugar that milk usually takes care of is a challenge.

Elizabeth Lesser speaks at TEDWomen 2016 in San Francisco, California.

Health & Safety

Elizabeth Lesser: Why Is It So Hard To Ask For — And Offer — Forgiveness?

8:58am May 12, 2017

by NPR/TED Staff

Before donating bone marrow to her sister — Elizabeth Lesser and her sister undertook a process of seeking forgiveness from each other. She says forgiveness is hard but necessary for our well-being.

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A woman wins the lottery not once, not twice, but four times. What are the odds? According to mathematician Joseph Mazur, it depends on how you ask the question.

Science
Arts

Magic, Or Math? The Appeal Of Coincidences, And The Reality

9:00pm May 08, 2017

This week on Hidden Brain: coincidences. Why they're not quite as magical as they seem, and the psychological reasons we can't help but search for meaning in them anyway.

You're born with roughly 9,000 taste buds, and they're very good at regenerating — which is why you can recover the ability to taste just days after burning your tongue. But that changes as we age.

Why Taste Buds Dull As We Age

11:42am May 05, 2017

by Natalie Jacewicz

You're born with roughly 9,000 taste buds, and they're very good at regenerating — which is why you can recover the ability to taste just days after burning your tongue. But that can change as we age.

The elaborate Alnwick Garden in northeast England includes a "Poison Garden" that showcases plants with killer properties. Visitors are invited to look but not touch or even smell.

Welcome To The Poison Garden: Medicine's Medieval Roots

12:28pm April 27, 2017

by Joanne Silberner

One corner of the garden of Alnwick Castle in northern England grows a hundred plants behind lock and key. Many of the toxic species there were used by medieval doctors — nasty plants adapted to heal.

Jeremy Howard on the TED Stage at TEDX BRUSSELS 2014 in Belgium.

Jeremy Howard: Will Artificial Intelligence Be The Last Human Invention?

1:27pm April 21, 2017

by NPR/TED Staff

Jeremy Howard has studied machine learning for 25 years. He says artificial intelligence can help achieve amazing things. But he warns the impact on jobs may cause a great deal of social instability.

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Erik Brynjolfsson: In A Race With Machines, Can We Keep Up?

9:02am April 21, 2017

by NPR/TED Staff

MIT Professor Erik Brynjolfsson sees a bright future where machines serve as powerful tools and partners. But he says we can only shape this future if we keep up with the pace of innovation.

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Marco Annunziata speaks at TED@BCG San Francisco, CA.

Marco Annunziata: What Will Human-Machine Collaboration Mean For Our Jobs?

9:02am April 21, 2017

by NPR/TED Staff

GE's Chief Economist Marco Annunziata is optimistic about "the marriage of minds and machines" — provided we manage it the right way.

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