This week, TEDMED explores how behavior gets trained: through reward, repetition, social expectations, and the systems that quietly teach us what to do again.
Changing a habit is not just about trying harder. In this TEDMED Now episode, we revisit Judson Brewer’s work on reward-based learning to understand how habits become automatic, why willpower often fails under stress, and how curiosity can help the brain learn a different path.
Niobe Way challenges the myth that boys are naturally less emotional or less connected, revealing how culture teaches them to trade vulnerability and closeness for a narrow idea of strength. Her work asks what becomes possible when boys are allowed to keep the full range of their humanity.
What looks like personal behavior is often shaped long before the moment of decision. This playlist brings together TEDMED Talks on food systems, poverty, technology, medicine, violence, and more to ask a sharper question: what if outcomes are not just chosen, but constructed?
A wide-angle set on patterns, design, invention, and meaning, from networks and evolution to the ways we picture the body and organize experience.
Networks guru and author Albert-László Barabási says diseases are the results of system breakdowns within the body, and mapping intracellular protein networks will help us discover cures.
Why should evolution occur only within species? Frances Arnold of the California Institute of Technology directs molecular evolution in a quest to create new proteins that help solve…
Can accepting and even celebrating death help us improve our lives? Anthropologist Kelli Swazey tells of the Torajans, who live with — and among — their dead.
Rhode Island School of Design President John Maeda shows how design and technology can bring clarity and understanding to medicine.
In both presentations and grant writing, I’ve referenced Dr. Nadine Burke Harris’ TEDMED Talk to support the need for our work. These talks are so helpful, always well received and have led to really meaningful discussions.
Adam Carley, Executive, Director Reach Western CT
I enjoy the science breakthroughs, the compelling stories and all the diverse speakers.
TEDMED Community Member
The most awesome thing about TEDMED talks is that they ignite our imagination, spark new ideas, and lead to innovations that enhance science and health care.
TEDMED Community Member
TEDMED offers valuable insights I bring back to my work in post-acute care within the home setting. The talks are thought-provoking and inspiring, with lessons that will stay with me for a lifetime – motivating me to improve my work and impact in healthcare.
Theresa Santoro, President and CEO, RVNAhealth
Looking for your next big idea? Tap “Surprise Me” to discover a TEDMED Talk that challenges assumptions, sparks curiosity, or reframes how you see health and care.
Start with what moves you. Browse Talks and Podcasts by theme, specialty, or speaker, and follow the ideas shaping medicine, science, and the future of human health.
Thematic collections inspired by our TEDMED stage. Explore curated Talks organized around the ideas and breakthroughs shaping health and medicine.
TEDMED is where medical breakthroughs and the latest learnings are shared in interest and understandable ways. Learn about what is happening in health and medicine from the leaders that are shaping its future.
Computational Geneticist
Immunotherapy Pioneer
Genetic Disease Decoder
Longevity Scientist
Memory Detective
Citizen Biomedical Researcher
Big ideas, delivered from the TEDMED stage. Watch Talks from physicians, scientists, artists, and innovators shaping the future of health.
Conversations beyond the stage. Listen as leaders in health and science explore ideas, tensions, and possibilities driving change.
Stay with the idea longer. Explore curated collections that examine a single topic through multiple perspectives in health and medicine.
Current topics in health and medicine that stimulate ideas, connection and creativity will arrive periodically in your mailbox via the TEDMED Newsletter.
