NPR/TED Staff

Our lives are, in part, governed by algorithms. Professor Kevin Slavin shows how these formulas can reshape finance, culture and physical environments, with potentially harmful consequences.

Writer Randall Munroe doesn't love math, but has made a career out of solving equations. By answering outlandish hypotheticals, he uses numbers as a playground for the imagination.

Drummer Clayton Cameron tells a story about how his math skills helped him impress the godfather of soul, James Brown.

Percussionist Clayton Cameron continues his thoughts about the relationship between math and rhythm and why the number three "feels great."

Nancy Kanwisher studies the brain partly by staring at her own. She has spent countless hours in an fMRI scanner, mapping her own brain to gain insight into what makes us human.

Sensing the motives and feelings of others is a natural talent for humans. But how do we do it? Neuroscientist Rebecca Saxe explains how one region in the brain focuses on other people's thoughts.

Philosopher David Chalmers asks why humans have a sense of self, a constantly running movie full of sensation and internal chatter. He offers two ideas about the nature of consciousness.

When neuroanatomist Jill Bolte-Taylor felt her brain shut down during a stroke, she was more fascinated than panicked. Even though she spent eight years recovering, she's grateful for the stroke.

Neuroscientist Suzana Herculano-Houzel turns brains into soup so she can meticulously count the neurons and determine why human brains are unique.

Christopher Ryan says that human beings are sexual omnivores and hopes that a better understanding of sexual fidelity may end discrimination, shame and unrealistic expectations.

Nick Hanauer is a rich guy with several houses, but is he greedy? He argues that an increase in minimum wage would be good for everyone.

Ken Jennings has made a career of being the know-it-all. But then he challenged a supercomputer, Watson — and lost. Jennings explains how it felt to have a computer beat him and crush his pride.

Activist Dave Meslin says even though we're apathetic about local politics, we're hardly sloths.

Parul Sehgal, an editor at The New York Times Book Review, says as dangerous as envy can be, it can teach us a lot about who we are and what we really want.

Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett explains how his city sidestepped gluttony and collectively dropped one million pounds.

While looking at the problem of gun violence, Dr. Gary Slutkin wondered — what if it could be treated like a communicable disease? His program, Cure Violence, aims to do just that, with real results.

Equality advocate Ash Beckham offers a fresh story about empathy and openness — and it involves pancakes.

"Secrets ... can be shocking, or silly, or soulful," says Frank Warren, the founder of PostSecret. He shares a few of the half-million secrets that strangers have sent him on postcards.

Journalist Glenn Greenwald makes the case for why you need to care about privacy, even if you're "not doing anything to hide."

Charmian Gooch's mission is to "out" corrupt companies. She details how global corruption trackers follow the money — to some surprisingly familiar places.