TED Talks Daily

For all of human history, a baby's DNA was determined by chance at conception: the so-called genetic lottery. "That era is over," says Noor Siddiqui, whose company builds screening tools to read the whole genome of embryos in an effort to give parents more genetic information than standard IVF. She makes the case that this kind of technology helps families understand and reduce health risks, raising the question: How much should we know about our children's DNA before birth? (Followed by a brief Q&A with TED’s vision steward Sal Khan)

Activist Leopoldo López learned the true value of freedom in a solitary confinement cell, when someone else decided if he would eat or see sunlight. In this searching conversation, he explains why democracy is losing ground across the globe, the state of Venezuela's transition after Maduro's capture and the 2026 earthquakes — and why he founded the World Liberty Congress to unite activists in the fight against autocracies. (This conversation, hosted by TED's Whitney Pennington Rodgers, was part of an exclusive TED Membership event. TED Membership is the best way to support and engage with the big ideas you love from TED. To learn more, visit ted.com/membership.)

What does confidence look like? Public speaking expert Cara Hale Alter studies how to project confidence and credibility — and she's pinpointed two key behaviors that shape how others see you. In this actionable talk, she explains how to make sure you're showing your true potential at work and beyond.

Homelessness can feel like an issue that’s too big and complicated to fix, something we've learned to walk past. Jen Loving, who leads the nonprofit Destination: Home, has spent her entire life proving that mindset is wrong. She shows why we must stop waiting until someone is pushed outside before intervening — and introduces Right at Home, a proven model helping communities across the US keep people from becoming homeless in the first place. (This ambitious idea is part of The Audacious Project, TED's initiative to inspire and fund global change.)

Workers everywhere are quietly redesigning their jobs around AI, boosting productivity but also creating new kinds of problems. AI advisor Julie Bedard thinks she has a fix. She shares new research on three areas for leaders to focus on — including how to avoid "AI brain fry" — and why we need to shape this change rather than let it happen to us.

Do you avoid talking to people you disagree with? Author and mediator Emily Kasriel thinks you should try it out. She explains why engaging with ideas that bother you is one of the most powerful things you can do — and presents her framework for “deep listening” that can help you form relationships across generations, cultures and political divides.

When parents first have kids, some risk entering “the loneliest decade,” where they fall out of touch with friends. Writer Stacey McLachlan decided to do something different when she had her daughter, refusing to let her social life slip away. In this witty talk, she shares her solution — and why it matters for all of us.

Technology has been promising to revolutionize education for a long time. Online learning, smartphones, and even asynchronous classes during COVID seemed for a while like they might finally transform what learning can look like, but all we really learned was that changing education is slower and harder than anyone wants it to be. Could AI finally be the unlock we’ve been looking for? Leah Belsky has spent nearly 20 years at the intersection of education and technology. She helped lead Coursera during the rise of online learning, and is now the head of education at OpenAI. In this episode, Molly sits down with Leah to find out what AI really has to offer as a learning tool, and where it falls short of the hype. Leah shares what she’s learned as both a leader in the ed tech world and a parent of AI-curious kids, and offers tips for how to coach kids to use AI as an empowering tool without getting in the way of their learning.