OCW
The nurse who can smell Parkinson’s
What does Parkinson's smell like? Ask nurse Joy Milne. Born with a hypersensitive nose, she spent a lifetime learning to recognize diseases through their scents. When she smelled Parkinson's on her husband years before his diagnosis, she decided to put her gift to the test. Today, her extr..
TED
What happens if you eat a silica gel packet?
Of the many, many things we’re not supposed to snack on, perhaps the most common forbidden food is silica gel. This tiny packet pops up in packaging for everything — from TVs and guitar cases to sunscreen and snack foods. So why is silica gel everywhere, and what would actually happen if you ate..
TED
Stress resets, the ultimate mental health hack
Stress is contagious — but so is calm. Psychologist Jenny Taitz explains why one stressful moment tends to snowball into the next, and shares small, immediate resets you can practice anywhere to break the spiral before it starts.
TED
I taught rats to drive. They taught me to enjoy the ride
What can happy rats teach us about human joy? Behavioral neuroscientist Kelly Lambert describes how her team trained rats to drive tiny cars to earn treats — and noticed something surprising about how effort and anticipation affect the brain. The experiment opens new questions about how reward, ag..
TED
3 surprising ways microplastics can enter your body
Plastic is everywhere. It’s in our clothes, our food, the air we breathe. And plastic is now also in our bodies. Micro and nanoplastics generally enter our bodies in one of three ways: the air, our skin, and what we eat and drink. But how exactly do these microscopic particles affect our health? D..
TED
Is luck random — or can you cultivate it?
When the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires destroyed his home and neighborhood, scientist Christian Busch encountered the opposite of serendipity:
TED
