Science & Technology
Why are there so many insects?
lesson duration 04:44
If insects suddenly morphed into large beings and decided to wage war on us, there’s no doubt...
Search results for insects
TED-Ed Lessons
Science & Technology
A simple way to tell insects apart
lesson duration 04:07
There are nearly a million known insect species in the world, but most have one of just five...
Science & Technology
The sexual deception of orchids
lesson duration 05:25
Nearly 28,000 species of orchid grow all around the world, bearing every imaginable color, shape...
Science & Technology
The world’s most painful insect sting
lesson duration 05:12
One of these three creatures is thought to possess the world’s most painful insect sting: there’s...
Science & Technology
Mysteries of vernacular: Earwig
lesson duration 02:16
An earwig is neither an ear nor a wig; it is an insect. Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel explain...
Science & Technology
The beautiful tricks of flowers - Jonathan Drori
lesson duration 13:49
In this visually dazzling talk, Jonathan Drori shows the extraordinary ways flowering plants...
Health
Should we eat bugs?
lesson duration 04:52
What's tasty, abundant and high in protein? Bugs! Although less common outside the tropics,...
Science & Technology
Why the insect brain is so incredible
lesson duration 04:23
The human brain is one of the most sophisticated organs in the world, a supercomputer made of...
Health
Do we really need pesticides?
lesson duration 05:18
Annually, we shower over 5 billion pounds of pesticides across the Earth to control insects,...
Science & Technology
Why isn't the world covered in poop?
lesson duration 04:58
Each day, the animal kingdom produces roughly enough poop to match the volume of water pouring...
Mathematics
Why do honeybees love hexagons?
lesson duration 03:59
Honeybees are some of nature’s finest mathematicians. Not only can they calculate angles and...
Science & Technology
Why do animals form swarms?
lesson duration 04:06
When many individual organisms come together and move as one entity, that’s a swarm. From a...
Science & Technology
The human and the honeybee
lesson duration 06:25
Both honeybees and humans originated in East Africa, and the connection between us has survived...
Science & Technology
The weird and wonderful metamorphosis of the butterfly
lesson duration 05:03
In order to become a butterfly, a caterpillar’s body dissolves almost completely and is rebuilt...
Science & Technology
The hidden beauty of pollination - Louie Schwartzberg
lesson duration 07:41
Pollination: it's vital to life on Earth but largely unseen by the human eye. Filmmaker Louie...
Science & Technology
Natural pest control ... using bugs! - Shimon Steinberg
lesson duration 15:24
Shimon Steinberg looks at the difference between pests and bugs -- and makes the case for...
Science & Technology
Licking bees and pulping trees: The reign of a wasp queen
lesson duration 05:23
As the sun rises, something royal stirs inside a pile of firewood. It's the wasp queen; one of...
Science & Technology
How do animals experience pain?
lesson duration 05:07
Humans know the surprising prick of a needle, the searing pain of a stubbed toe, and the...
Science & Technology
The loathsome, lethal mosquito
lesson duration 02:40
Everyone hates mosquitos. Besides the annoying buzzing and biting, mosquito-borne diseases like...
Science & Technology
How to make a mummy
lesson duration 04:45
As anyone who’s seen a mummy knows, ancient Egyptian priests went to a lot of trouble to evade...
Science & Technology
The wild world of carnivorous plants
lesson duration 05:11
Around the world there are more than 600 plant species that supplement a regular diet of...
Science & Technology
Cicadas: The dormant army beneath your feet
lesson duration 02:46
Every 13 or 17 years, billions of cicadas emerge from the ground to molt, mate and die. Adult...
Science & Technology
Are naked mole rats the strangest mammals?
lesson duration 04:47
What mammal has the social life of an insect, the cold-bloodedness of a reptile, and the...
Science & Technology
The case of the vanishing honeybees
lesson duration 03:47
In the past decade, the US honeybee population has been decreasing at an alarming and...
TED-Ed Best of Web
Science & Technology
Why do these deadly insects look like flowers?
lesson duration 04:00
Animals sometimes have camouflage to hide from predators, but did you know they can also use...
Science & Technology
What can we learn from insect cribs?
lesson duration 07:38
Where do all these insects actually live? What do their homes look like and what advantages...
Science & Technology
Frogsicles: frozen but still alive
lesson duration 03:58
Wood frogs are amazing little amphibians that can freeze during the winter and thaw out in the...
Science & Technology
The insanely painful sting of the bullet ant
lesson duration 06:27
Bullet ants (Paraponera clavata) have the most intense sting of any insect -- but what makes it...
Science & Technology
The Cheerios effect
lesson duration 05:36
Ever notice how cereal tends to stick together in the middle of the bowl? Or it clumps to the...
Health
Honey: bacteria's worst enemy
lesson duration 04:20
It may not look like it sitting in that cute bear bottle, but honey is a supercharged...
TED-Ed Blog
9 TED-Ed Lessons about cool (and creepy) bugs
Bugs are amazing creatures — they inhabit the worlds below our feet, above our heads and...
8 fun facts about bees (in TED-Ed GIFs)
How much do you know about the tiny, mighty bees? Here are 8 facts worth learning about our...
How to grow your own tiny forest
This field went from dirt to dense forest in just two years. Courtesy of Afforestt When you look...
A new curated digital collection of videos and learning resources for teachers everywhere
Kim Preshoff is the Obi-Wan Kenobi of science teachers in her community. With more than 25 years...
From Earth Day to every day: 4 TED-Ed Lessons to help you save the world
Earth Week is a fantastic opportunity to rethink our environmental impact, both on the...
8 ways to fight COVID-19— and improve the world— from home
Shutterstock Staying home is the best way to fight COVID-19, but there are plenty of projects you...
Need a fresh perspective? See the world like a horse does (or a cow or a cat or an ant …)
Practice an act of radical empathy — try to put yourself in the hoofsteps, pawprints and...
How to help kids fall in love with the outdoors
Justin Tran You don’t need to go to a national park to help your kids fall in love with nature; a...
Why do people get allergies?
Anyone with an allergy has their origin story, a tale of how they discovered that their immune...
An animated lesson full of adorable animals made of autumn leaves
Ten percent of plant matter gets eaten while it is alive. The other 90% falls to the ground and...
5 TED speakers and their TED-Ed Lessons
Many TED Speakers are known for delivering engaging and insightful talks that can broaden your...
Want to boost your creativity and be a better collaborator? Think about why the sky is blue
Stretch your mind and strengthen your relationships with this simple exercise borrowed from...
5 jobs we didn’t know existed before TEDYouth
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s something kids get asked a lot — and this...
TED-Ed July Challenge: Here’s the archive of daily lessons
Did you sign up to keep your brain in shape this summer — and learn 31 new ideas in the month of...