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Can you solve the control room riddle? - Dennis Shasha

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TEDEd Animation

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As your country's top spy, you must infiltrate the headquarters of the evil syndicate, find the secret control panel, and deactivate their death ray. But your reconnaissance team is spotty, and you have only limited information about the control panel's whereabouts. Can you solve the control room riddle and deactivate their weapon in time? Dennis Shasha shows you how.

Consider the road network near your school and the part that has the greatest traffic. How would you redesign either the traffic light schedule, the direction of the streets (e.g. make two-way streets one-way but wider, or make one-way streets two-way though narrower – perhaps at different times of the day), the addition or removal of bicycle lanes, or anything else that costs little, to make traffic flow smoother?

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TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Educator Dennis E. Shasha
  • Script Editor Alex Gendler
  • Producer Zedem Media
  • Director Michael Kalopaidis
  • Sound Designer Andreas Trachonitis
  • Animator Maria Savva, Andria Pourouti
  • Artist Jeanne Bornet
  • Narrator Addison Anderson

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