The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads tagged with “TED”

The Central Mystery of Quantum Mechanics, Animated
The Central Mystery of Quantum Mechanics, Animated

How a lineage of scientists pieced together the puzzle revealing the dual nature of the universe.

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Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, Animated: History’s Greatest Parable Exploring the Nature of Reality
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, Animated: History’s Greatest Parable Exploring the Nature of Reality

“Life is like being chained up in a cave forced to watch shadows flitting across a stone wall.”

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What Mathematics Reveals About the Secret of Lasting Relationships and the Myth of Compromise
What Mathematics Reveals About the Secret of Lasting Relationships and the Myth of Compromise

Why 37% is the magic number, what alien civilizations have to do with your soul mate, and how to master the “negativity threshold” ideal for Happily Ever After.

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How Playing Music Benefits Your Brain More than Any Other Activity
How Playing Music Benefits Your Brain More than Any Other Activity

“Playing music is the brain’s equivalent of a full-body workout.”

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Why We Lost Leisure: David Steindl-Rast on Purposeful Work, Play, and How to Find Meaning in the Magnificent Superfluities of Life
Why We Lost Leisure: David Steindl-Rast on Purposeful Work, Play, and How to Find Meaning in the Magnificent Superfluities of Life

“A piece of music doesn’t come to an end when its purpose is accomplished. It has no purpose, strictly speaking. It is the playful unfolding of meaning.”

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Our Microbes, Ourselves: How the Trillions of Tiny Organisms Living Inside Us Are Redefining What It Means to Be Human
Our Microbes, Ourselves: How the Trillions of Tiny Organisms Living Inside Us Are Redefining What It Means to Be Human

“You are mostly not you… We are not individuals; we are ecosystems.”

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The Infinite Hotel Paradox: A Brilliant Animated Thought Experiment to Help You Grasp the Mind-Bending Concept of Infinity
The Infinite Hotel Paradox: A Brilliant Animated Thought Experiment to Help You Grasp the Mind-Bending Concept of Infinity

What a hospitable night manager can do for our finite human minds.

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How a Dog Actually “Sees” the World Through Smell
How a Dog Actually “Sees” the World Through Smell

“The world of scents is at least as rich as the world of sight.”

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Why Bees Build Perfect Hexagons
Why Bees Build Perfect Hexagons

The space-economics of honey and wax.

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At What Point Are You Actually Dead?
At What Point Are You Actually Dead?

The science of why you can’t resurrect a dead body but might be able to, sort of, in the future.

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