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How sugar affects the brain - Nicole Avena
Understanding sugar's impact on your brain chemistry.
Welcome to CK-12 Foundation | CK-12 Foundation
Complete high school chemistry with labs and practice problems.
TED-Ed: Do You Really Need 10,000 Steps a Day?
For years, Jean Béliveau walked from country to country, with the goal of circumnavigating the globe on foot. While few people have the time or desire to walk such extreme lengths, research shows that adding even a modest amount of walking to your daily routine can dramatically improve your health. So, what exactly happens to your body when you increase your step count? Shannon Odell investigates.
TED-Ed: Making Sense of How Life Fits Together
From something as miniscule as a cell to the biosphere we all call home, living things fit together in numerous interesting ways. Bobbi Seleski catalogs biology from our body and beyond, tracking how unicellular organisms, tissues, organs, organ systems, organisms, populations, communities, ecosystems, and our biosphere build off of each other and work together.
TED-Ed: A Climate Change Solution Under Our Feet
There's two times more carbon in the Earth's soil than in all of its vegetation and the atmosphere — combined. Biogeochemist Asmeret Asefaw Berhe dives into the science of soil and shares how we could use its awesome carbon-trapping power to offset climate change.
TED-Ed: What's the Best Position to Sleep In?
Sleep positions go by countless creative names— the zombie, mountain climber, free faller, soldier, and more. Yet sleep experts typically simplify them into the basic types: side, stomach, or back. Individual sleep styles are highly personal, but how we spend the night affects our bodies and health in several ways. So, what’s the best position to sleep in? Rachel Marie E. Salas investigates.
TED-Ed: How Does Caffeine Keep Us Awake?
Over 100,000 metric tons of caffeine are consumed around the world every year. That’s equivalent to the weight of 14 Eiffel Towers! Caffeine helps us feel alert, focused, and energetic, even if we haven’t had enough sleep — but it can also raise our blood pressure and make us feel anxious. So how does it keep us awake? Hanan Qasim shares the science behind the world’s most widely used drug.
TED-Ed: Strengths and Weaknesses of Acids and Bases
Vinegar may have a powerful smell, but did you know it's actually a weak acid? In the chemical economy, acids actively give away their protons while bases actively collect them -- but some more aggressively than others. George Zaidan and Charles Morton use the currency of subatomic particles to explain this unseen exchange.
TED-Ed: Is Perfectionism Just Procrastination in Disguise?
What separates struggling artists from successful ones? Looking to creative geniuses like Mozart, Edison and Monet, video creator Jon Youshaei explains why aiming to be prolific — despite flops and failures along the way — is the key to unlocking your creative success.
TED-Ed: Can the Economy Grow Forever?
Many economists think that an eternally growing economy is necessary to keep improving people’s lives, and that if the global economy stops growing, people would fight more over the fixed amount of value that exists, rather than working to generate new value. Which raises the question: is infinite growth possible on a finite planet? Explore how economies can balance efficiency with sustainability.
TED-Ed: How the Stamp Act Divided a Nation
You may think that things are heated in Washington today, but the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 had members of Congress so angry they pulled out their weapons -- and formed the Republican Party. The issues? Slavery and states' rights, which led the divided nation straight into the Civil War. Ben Labaree, Jr. explains how Abraham Lincoln's party emerged amidst the madness.
TED-Ed: How to Manage Time According to Machines
Human beings and computers alike share the challenge of how to get as much done as possible in a limited time. Over the last fifty or so years, computer scientists have learned a lot of good strategies for managing time effectively — and they have a lot of experience with what can go wrong. Brian Christian shares how we can use some of these insights to help make the most of our own lives.
TED-Ed: What Triggers a Chemical Reaction?
Chemicals are in everything we see, and the reactions between them can look like anything from rust on a spoon to an explosion on your stovetop. But why do these reactions happen in the first place? Kareem Jarrah answers this question by examining the two underlying forces that drive both endothermic and exothermic chemical reactions: enthalpy and entropy.
TED-Ed: How Cancer Cells Behave Differently
How do cancer cells grow? How does chemotherapy fight cancer (and cause negative side effects)? The answers lie in cell division. George Zaidan explains how rapid cell division is cancer’s "strength" -- and also its weakness.
TED-Ed: How Stretching Actually Changes Your Muscles
An athlete is preparing for a game. They’ve put on their gear and done their warmup, and now it’s time for one more routine — stretching. Typically, athletes stretch before physical activity to avoid injuries like strains and tears. But does stretching actually prevent these issues? And if so, how long do the benefits of stretching last? Malachy McHugh explores the finer points of flexibility.
TED-Ed: What Can DNA Tests Tell Us About Our Ancestry?
Two sisters take the same DNA test. The results show that one sister is 10% French, the other 0%. Both sisters share the same two parents, and therefore the same set of ancestors. So how can one be 10% more French than the other? Tests like these rely on our DNA to answer questions about our ancestry, but DNA actually can’t tell us everything. Prosanta Chakrabarty explores the accuracy of DNA tests.
TED-Ed: Why Our Muscles Get Tired
You're lifting weights. The first time feels easy, but each lift takes more and more effort until you can’t continue. Inside your arms, the muscles responsible for the lifting have become unable to contract. What’s going on? Christian Moro explains how exactly our muscles operate, and what causes them to become fatigued.
TED-Ed: How Do We Study Living Brains?
As far as we know, there’s only one thing in our solar system sophisticated enough to study itself: the human brain. But this self-investigation is challenging because a living brain is shielded by skull, swaddled in tissue, and made up of billions of tiny cells. How do we study living brains without harming their owners? Elizabeth Waters and John Borghi explain how EEGs, fMRIs, and PETs work.
TED-Ed: How CRISPR Lets You Edit DNA
From the smallest single-celled organism to the largest creatures on Earth, every living thing is defined by its genes. With recent advancements, scientists can change an organism’s fundamental features in record time using gene editing tools such as CRISPR. But where did this medical marvel come from and how does it work? Andrea M. Henle examines the science behind this new technology.