The TED-Ed project is TED’s education initiative. They make short video lessons worth sharing, aimed at educators and students. The students are a variety of ages, from kids up to college aged students.
I directed about 12 videos for them, these are my favorites.
The Science of Spiciness
When you take a bite of a hot pepper, your body reacts as if your mouth is on fire — because that’s essentially what you’ve told your brain! Rose Eveleth details the science and history behind spicy foods, giving insights into why some people continue to pay the painful price for a little spice.
What on Earth is Spin?
Why does the Earth spin? Does a basketball falling from a spinning merry-go-round fall in a curve, as it appears to, or in a straight line? How can speed be manipulated while spinning? In short, why is the spinning motion so special? Brian Jones details the dizzyingly wide array of ways that spinning affects our lives.
What Makes Chemicals React?
Chemicals are in everything we see, and the reactions between them can look like anything from rust on a spoon to an explosion on your stovetop. But why do these reactions happen in the first place? Kareem Jarrah answers this question by examining the two underlying forces that drive both endothermic and exothermic chemical reactions: enthalpy and entropy.
What Cameras See That Our Eyes Cannot
Our eyes are practically magical, but they cannot see everything. For instance, the naked eye cannot see the moment where all four of a horse’s legs are in the air or the gradual life cycle of plants — but cameras can capture these moments.