TED Health

TED

TED speakers answer questions you never even knew you had, and share ideas you won't hear anywhere else, all around how we can live healthier lives

  • 28 minutes 27 seconds
    A medical mythbuster's mission to improve health care | Joel Bervell
    Joel Bervell was one of the only Black students in his medical school program. After noticing how misconceptions about race were embedded in health care, he turned to social media to raise awareness about the harmful impact of biases in medicine. He unpacks the long history of race-based health care disparities — and shows what the medical field can do to better serve all patients. After the talk, Joel and Shoshana talk about the role AI and tech play in perpetuating biases and Joel's forthcoming animated children tv show, The Doctor Is In.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    18 February 2025, 5:00 am
  • 12 minutes 51 seconds
    What long COVID taught me about life (and data) | Giorgia Lupi
    Data isn’t just about numbers or trends — it’s about capturing the stories that shape our lives, says information designer Giorgia Lupi. Following a long COVID diagnosis, she tracked her symptoms meticulously over four years, the data culminating in a visual “New York Times” narrative that resonated deeply with many others suffering from chronic illness. Lupi invites us to consider data not as a rigid or objective truth, but as a living language used to better understand ourselves, offering a surprising shift in perspective — depending on where you look.

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    11 February 2025, 5:00 am
  • 10 minutes 20 seconds
    The hidden forces behind your food choices | Sarah Lake
    What we eat is less about what we choose and more about what’s offered to us, says food and climate expert Sarah Lake. Unpacking how governments and companies have driven up meat consumption in the US through extensive marketing, she explains how we could employ these same forces to incentivize plant-based eating — for the sake of the planet, public health and global food security.

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    4 February 2025, 5:00 am
  • 32 minutes 3 seconds
    Could psychedelics help patients in therapy? | Benjamin Lewis
    It's time to make psychiatry more psychedelic, says psychiatrist Benjamin Lewis. Sharing results from his clinical trial on psychedelic-assisted therapy, he highlights how group therapy paired with the safe use of psilocybin, a compound found in magic mushrooms, has the potential to improve mental health conditions like depression and burnout. After the talk, Dr. Anthony Back, a palliative care physician, joins Shoshana to discuss his study on using psilocybin-assisted therapy to treat burnout among frontline healthcare workers.

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    28 January 2025, 5:00 am
  • 32 minutes 8 seconds
    Do you really need 8 hours of sleep? | Body Stuff with Dr. Jen Gunter
    We all know a good night’s sleep is essential, but for many people, sleeping well (or falling asleep at all) can be difficult and even stressful – and there’s no shortage of tales about what prevents people from catching their ZZZs. In this episode of Body Stuff with Dr. Jen Gunter, Dr. Jen digs into "how to sleep'' culture – from blue light blockers to sleep hygiene enthusiasts, to the 8 hours a night rule to… witches?! Don’t sleep on this episode–because it might just have you skipping the melatonin supplements and rethinking sleep rituals – before jumping into bed for a well-deserved snooze. Read the full transcript for this episode at https://go.ted.com/BSTscript11

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    21 January 2025, 5:00 am
  • 6 minutes 24 seconds
    Why is it so dangerous to step on a rusty nail? | Louise Thwaites
    In the 5th century, a shipmaster was suffering from a nasty infection that caused his jaws to press together, his teeth to lock up, and the muscles in his neck and spine to spasm. Today we know this account to be one of the first recorded cases of tetanus. So, what causes this peculiar infection? Louise Thwaites explores how tetanus affects our bodies, and how we can prevent it. This lesson was directed by Andrew Foerster, Rewfoe, narrated by Pen-Pen Chen and the music is by Jason Stamatyades.

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    14 January 2025, 5:00 am
  • 15 minutes 17 seconds
    Can dogs detect the next pandemic before it begins? | Glen J. Golden
    What if animals like dogs, ferrets, mice and raccoons could help sniff out the next pandemic? Exploring the science of smell, neurobiologist Glen J. Golden delves into the development of a "mechanical nose" that could detect diseases by identifying specific odor profiles. Until that technology is fully developed, he explains how we can train humanity's furry allies to identify illnesses — and help stop the spread in its tracks.

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    7 January 2025, 5:00 am
  • 13 minutes 44 seconds
    My mission to change the narrative of mental health | Glenn Close
    Legendary actor and mental health advocate Glenn Close is on a quest to change how we think about mental health, starting with her decision to speak out about her own family's struggles — a brave choice considering the stigma that pervades the topic. This week, we're revisiting this sweeping conversation with TEDWomen curator Pat Mitchell, where Close shares the inspiration behind the advocacy group she founded to combat the crisis, underscoring the transformative power of community and the critical need for comprehensive mental health care systems.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    31 December 2024, 5:00 am
  • 41 minutes 5 seconds
    The TED AI Show: AI therapy is here. What does it mean for you?

    We may think the complexities of the human mind can only be understood by other humans. Yet research on chatbots and psychology suggests non-human bots can actually help improve mental health. In this episode of The TED AI show, another podcast from the TED Audio Collective, host Bilawal Sidhu talks with Dr. Alison Darcy, the founder of mental health app Woebot, and Brian Chandler, an app user, to learn what chatbots reveal about our inner lives and what they can (and can’t) do when it comes to emotional wellness.


    Check out the 99% Invisible episode we reference in the episode here: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-eliza-effect/


    For transcripts for The TED AI Show, visit go.ted.com/TTAIS-transcripts


    Find more of The TED AI Show wherever you get your podcasts.


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    24 December 2024, 5:00 am
  • 14 minutes
    Are life-saving medicines hiding in the world's coldest places? | Normand Voyer
    Could the next wonder drug be somewhere in Canada's snowy north? This week, we’re revisiting a talk that takes us to a breathtakingly frigid landscape, where chemist Normand Voyer uncovers the mysterious molecular treasures hidden within plants that thrive in the cold. These scarcely investigated organisms could hold immense medical promise, he says — so long as we work quickly enough to discover them.

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    17 December 2024, 5:00 am
  • 31 minutes 12 seconds
    A special episode from Before We Go
    TED Health's very own Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider has a new podcast Before We Go. You heard the first episode earlier this year so we wanted to share the second episode in the series -- if you'd like more from Before We Go, check it out wherever you are listening to this.

    Before We Go follows Shoshana's personal and emotionally charged journey after her father was diagnosed with terminal cancer in the summer of 2022. His doctors were encouraged when testing showed that the cancer was related to a BRCA genetic mutation, which meant that it might respond to new, targeted therapies. But that also meant that Shoshana and her sister were also at risk for developing life-threatening cancers. With the help of renowned experts and some of the professionals who helped her along the way, Shoshana tells her story of love, loss, family, mortality, and the unexpected paths we take to find meaning and purpose in the face of life's greatest challenges.

    In this episode, Shoshana reflects on the death of her paternal grandmother, Joy Ungerleider, who died of the same cancer Steven now faces. The family learns that Steven's cancer is BRCA-related, and hope rises with the possibility that targeted therapy may offer him many months, if not years, of quality life. But he would first need to endure several months of harsh chemotherapy. See behind the scenes and join the conversation on Instagram @beforewegopodcast.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    10 December 2024, 5:00 am
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