TED Talks Daily TED Audio Collective

How does language shape our politics? Journalist Isaac Saul explores how subtle word choices can inhibit productive dialogue about significant issues — and shows how small (but important) changes can help us all have better conversations with people who think differently than us.

"You can write a song and you can not tell the truth, but your song will suck," says pop star Kesha. So what's the secret to making a great pop song? She explains the special alchemy of her own hits like "TiK ToK" and "Praying" and gives a stunning debut performance of her new song, "Cathedral." (Note: This talk contains mature language.)

To transition to clean energy and green technology like electric cars, the world needs massive amounts of essential minerals. Environmental peacemaker Saleem Ali explains the conflicts already arising between countries rushing to mine and extract these precious minerals — and shows how the world can find a way to cooperate rather than fight resource wars.

“While language models may help generate new ideas, they cannot attack the hard part of science, which is simulating the necessary physics,” says AI professor Anima Anandkumar. She explains how her team developed neural operators — AI trained on the finest details of the real world — to bridge this gap, sharing recent projects ranging from improved weather forecasting to cutting-edge medical device design that demonstrate the power of AI with universal physical understanding.

"Life is an endless sushi conveyor belt of things that are going to test you and teach you at the same time," says writer Laurel Braitman. Exploring the relationship between bravery and fear, she shares hard-won wisdom on love, loss, self-forgiveness and how to embrace the full spectrum of human emotions.

For the past 20 years StoryCorps has been traveling the country gathering the stories and wisdom of ordinary Americans and archiving them at the Library of Congress. StoryCorps founder Dave Isay — winner of the 2015 TED Prize — has created an unprecedented document of the dreams and fears that touch us all. In an interview with Elise, Dave shares about a new project, One Small Step, which aims to help reduce toxic polarization – one conversation at a time.