TEDTalks are undoubtedly one of the best things to have graced the internet in the past decade.  If you’re not familiar with TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design), they hold conferences where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give talks of 18 minutes or less on any subject of their choosing, which they then publish via YouTube for anyone with an internet connection to watch for free.  There’s over 2100 talks now available – if you haven’t seen them you should venture down the rabbit hole (but have some free time)!

TED have now created TED-Ed, its youth and education initiative.  Every TED-Ed Original Video represents a creative collaboration between experts.  Such experts may include TED Speakers and TED Fellows, as well as educators, designers, animators, screenwriters, directors, science writers, historians, journalists and editors.  These original animated videos, paired with questions and resources, make up what they refer to as TED-Ed Lessons.

These too are fabulous!  Several videos relevant to our hobby include:

Is Radiation Dangerous?

Electric Vocabulary

Light waves, visible and invisible

And, as the final mindbender – the best explanation of Space/Time I’ve seen – how are you on Galilean transformations, Lorentz transformations & contractions and time dilation?

The fundamentals of space-time

Part 2 is here, and finally part 3 is here.  Venture down the TED-Ed rabbit hole here, I guarantee you’ll learn something interesting!