TED Talks Daily

Singer-songwriter Mike Posner took a break from his music to take a walk — a very long walk, across the entire United States. He shares five lessons he learned from his epic, eventful trek (snakes might be involved) and how it helped him find the key to happiness. (He also performs two hit songs: "I Took a Pill in Ibiza" and "Could You Do the Same.")

Chantale Zuzi Leader is one of the millions of displaced people around the world. In a deeply moving talk, she reflects on losing her family, home and sense of safety — only to break through and ultimately find community and hope. It's an astounding story of resilience that speaks to today's refugee crisis.

There are only two mammals who have evolved to survive after their child bearing years: toothed whales and humans. This stage of life is called menopause, and it makes humans an evolutionary wonder! But our perception of it has been shaped by centuries of stigma and shame—up until recently it was even considered a "disease" by the medical establishment that needed to be cured. Menopause isn't a disease, but that doesn't mean it's a party either. There can be troublesome symptoms for many people. So you might be thinking, "I'm not in menopause now" or "I'm not going to go through menopause, ever. Why should I care?" Dr. Jen tells us why while taking us through the complex history of how we got here, giving hot tips on managing hot flashes, and sharing why menopause shouldn't be viewed as the end of the race, but a victory lap.  You can read the text transcript for this episode at go.ted.com/BodyStuffTranscript3. (Audio only)

Great ideas are like electricity -- they snap into sharp focus and sprint from place to place. What's the best way to capture them? Bozoma Saint John, Chief Marketing Officer at Netflix, makes a compelling case to move away from an overreliance on data when making big decisions -- and calls on us all to tap into the power of our intuition and become creative trailblazers.

Organ transplants save lives, but they come with challenges: every minute a healthy donated organ is on ice increases risk. And even if things go perfectly, rejection of the organ is still possible. Cardiothoracic surgeon Abbas Ardehali introduces cutting-edge medical advances in machine perfusion — a portable platform that keeps organs alive outside of the body — that could help put time back on the patient's side.

Hundreds of millions of people lack access to electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa, relying on highly polluting diesel and firewood for power and light. Working to brighten the future in her home country of Malawi and beyond, energy access innovator Tombo Banda makes the case for mini-grids — localized energy systems powered by solar energy that are quick and cheap to deploy — and shares ideas for making them more profitable and scalable.

After bringing her son to a summer camp for gender-nonconforming children, photographer Lindsay Morris launched a project to share the campers' stories with the world. One of them, Reed J. Williams, is now a powerful advocate for transgender youth. Together, Morris and Williams reveal two sides to the LGBTQ+ experience — one as a mother, one as a trans woman — and offer insight into the power of community.

Hundreds of millions of migrant workers travel within their countries to seek out means of survival — often leaving behind all they know for months or even years. Many face poverty and exploitation, and they need a robust social safety net to protect them, says migrant advocate and 2023 Audacious Project grantee Ashif Shaikh. He shares how his grassroots organization Migrants Resilience Collaborative is making life-changing benefits like social security and health care accessible to those who need them while also amplifying migrant voices — paving the way towards a world that supports the workers actually building it. (This ambitious idea is a part of the Audacious Project, TED's initiative to inspire and fund global change.)

We're still in the dark about what 95 percent of our universe is made of — and the standard model for understanding particle physics has hit a limit. What's the next step forward? Particle physicist Alex Keshavarzi digs into the first results of the Muon g-2 experiment at Fermilab in Chicago, which found compelling evidence of new particles or forces existing in our universe — a finding that could act as a window into the subatomic world and deepen our understanding of the fabric of reality.

Have you ever felt like something about your identity was getting in the way of your success? On this episode of Fixable, another podcast from the TED Audio Collective, a listener needs help pushing through the resistance she's facing as a woman navigating a male-dominated workplace. Fixable hosts Anne Morriss and Frances Frei discuss what you can do when someone else's bias is standing in your way. Together, the three uncover how you can find your agency in unexpected places – and why you must use it unapologetically. For more of Anne and Frances solving YOUR anonymous workplace issues check out Fixable wherever you get your podcasts. And if you want to be on Fixable, call the hotline at 234-Fixable (that's 234-349-2253) or email fixable@ted.com to leave Anne and Frances a voicemail with your workplace problem. Transcripts for Fixable are available at go.ted.com/fixablescripts.

"How can you say what you mean without being mean?" asks CEO coach and author Kim Scott. Delving into the delicate balance between caring and challenging when leading in the workplace, she introduces "radical candor" as the way to give constructive criticism, compassionately.

Women are routinely underestimated, overlooked, interrupted, talked over or mistaken for someone more junior at the workplace. Author Mary Ann Sieghart calls this the "authority gap" — all the ways women are (still) taken less seriously than men, despite proven competence and expertise. She explains how we can close this pernicious gap and why everyone wins when we do so.

The pastoralists in Africa sustainably produce meat and milk to help feed the continent. But their way of life — and work — is under threat. Food systems advocate Shruthi Baskaran-Makanju explains how best to preserve these vital communities and why they're key to solving the nutritional challenges of Africa's children.

How can you find strength during life's most difficult moments? Author Suleika Jaouad's experience detailed in the documentary "American Symphony," an intimate portrait of her life as she grapples with illness, is a testament to finding a pathway to healing through artistic expression. In this sweeping conversation with TED's Susan Zimmerman, Jaouad reveals how following curiosity can lead to inspiration — even when it feels like there is none to be found. (Visit ted.com/membership to join TED today and access more exclusive events like this one.)

On paper, law professor Samar Ali and public affairs strategist Clint Brewer seem to come from very different — and perhaps opposing — backgrounds. But their friendship shows why political polarization in the US isn't as intractable as we might think. In an enlightening conversation, they talk about how to address deepening divides in the US and around the globe — and show the value in discarding the "scare script" by which we demonize others. (This conversation is hosted by TED curator Cloe Shasha Brooks.)