TED Talks Daily

Dr. Shari Barkin, a pediatrician and academic leader who works on community-focused research, offers practical ideas for raising healthy kids. She talks about small, contextual changes at home and school. Topics include phone-free family rituals, family-based group programs, partnering with community resources, and simple parent-child habits to model healthy behavior.

Emily Esfahani Smith, writer and psychologist who studies meaning and well-being, speaks about why meaning outlasts fleeting happiness. She contrasts happiness with purpose and belonging. She outlines four pillars of meaning and offers small daily practices. She discusses how transitions, mortality, and storytelling can clarify values and anchor life.

Guy Winch, a licensed psychologist and author focused on emotional health, explains why off-hours rumination fuels burnout. He shares why replaying work stresses harms recovery. He outlines measuring rumination, setting strict guardrails and home rituals, and turning worries into concrete problem-solving. Practical tips for reclaiming free time and restoring satisfaction.

Maegan Stephens, communication expert and co-author of About Listening, studies how leaders and teams listen at work. She explains four distinct listening styles and why flexible listening beats one-size-fits-all approaches. Short, practical breakdowns show when to evaluate, absorb, validate, or move things forward. A single question helps you choose the right response.

Priyanka Vergadia, a technologist who brings AI products to market and advises businesses, explains why humans matter where context, intent and lived experience shape decisions. She tells stories about diagnosing product problems, questioning AI recommendations, and prioritizing audience quality over raw engagement. Short, vivid scenes show how teaming with AI can make people irreplaceably human.

Seif Hamisi, a Kenyan conservationist who builds community-led, market-based wildlife solutions. He recalls lions vanishing from his village. He explains why conservation has failed when it ignores local livelihoods. He outlines capitalist approaches that turn nature into income through grazing reform, carbon projects and community conservancies.

John Wixted, a memory scientist who studies eyewitness ID and legal implications, challenges the idea that memory is usually unreliable. He argues for testing memory early and explains fair photo-lineup practices. He also discusses when initial confident IDs or lineup rejections can be trustworthy and why some convictions went wrong when early tests were ignored.

Love coach Francesca Hogi is dedicated to helping daters find “lasting love in the midst of a broken dating culture.” In this episode, Francesca shares her approach to analyzing romantic patterns and feeling more empowered in your love life. From discussing romantic manifestations to reflecting on bell hooks’ claim that humans are unskilled at love, Chris and Francesca talk about the ways you can be more open to finding love.Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bryony Cole, a sextech researcher studying AI companionship and ethical synthetic intimacy, explores what we trade when we turn to machines for closeness. She discusses why AI’s effortless availability is so alluring. She lays out three questions to evaluate synthetic relationships. She warns that human messiness and boundaries matter for genuine connection.

Yohanis Riek, a South Sudanese physician and social entrepreneur who founded YoCare to deliver primary care in remote communities. He recounts his journey from conflict to medicine. He discusses mobile clinics, community training that turns patients into providers, the impact of sudden funding cuts, and why health programs must be locally owned and aligned with national systems.