Have you met TED yet?

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) began as a conference in 1984 to bring together from these three worlds. It has expanded to encompass the brightest minds in science, business, and the arts. From the yearly conference in Long Beach, TEDtalks emerged, free video of each of the TED conference lectures available at www.ted.com. According to the website, "We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other."

There are currently over 500 talks available, covering a wide range of topics and each around 20 minutes or less. These videos were released under a Creative Commons license, making them perfect for use in the classroom or online. The website allows you to search through the videos based on subject or theme. Each video is closed captioned and many are translated into multiple languages.

Be careful... once you start looking through TEDtalks, you may find you can't stop! Here are a few of our favorites:

Pattie Mayes demos the "SixthSense"
Mike Rowe celebrates Dirty Jobs
Jane Chen: A warm embrace that saves lives