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How we experience awe — and why it matters | Beau Lotto and Cirque du Soleil

Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized Talk recommendations and more. Neuroscientist Beau Lotto conducted an ambitious study with Cirque du Soleil on the emotion of awe and its psychological and behavioral benefits. In this talk and live performance, he shares some of their findings — and stands back as…

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Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized Talk recommendations and more.

Neuroscientist Beau Lotto conducted an ambitious study with Cirque du Soleil on the emotion of awe and its psychological and behavioral benefits. In this talk and live performance, he shares some of their findings — and stands back as Cirque du Soleil dancers create their own awe-inducing spectacle.

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The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You’re welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know. For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), submit a Media Request here:

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27 Comments

27 Comments

  1. Nhung Phan

    November 18, 2019 at 10:48 pm

    Hello, I come from Vietnam. This is my first time watching TED with the desire to improve my English skills. Thank you very much.

    • Ramroom

      November 19, 2019 at 9:58 am

      Good luck !

    • Nhung Phan

      November 19, 2019 at 10:22 am

      @Ramroom thanks.

  2. xRays6

    November 18, 2019 at 11:20 pm

    quality! and that sand art was nuts!

  3. Jack D'Ripa

    November 18, 2019 at 11:23 pm

    Pretentious waffle. TED is barrel scraping on a regular basis.

  4. MGU

    November 18, 2019 at 11:25 pm

    I feel this ted talk says absolutely nothing.

  5. Anish Tiwari

    November 19, 2019 at 12:07 am

    This was an awe full experience…????

  6. Courdney Bell

    November 19, 2019 at 12:32 am

    All the off rhythm white people killing me lmao

  7. Tim Barnett

    November 19, 2019 at 1:51 am

    It was amazing day! Dive partner Kenny & I have scuba camp at West side San juan Island, pot full of cooking abs, Lin Cod, sea bass,etc. an smell brought people to our camp. We feed 2 great lake wreck divers, than want to see octopus, sharks, we want you to scare the shot out of us! Ok we can do that! So we showed them George (for G. Washington), an octopus at lime kilm that we took visitors to met! George was 14ft 6 in long, we knew, that was one task we were doing for Labs! They did an emergency accent and Kenny an I had to grab fins an bodies for control at depth! Take us to shore! I took them all to shore an motored up to Stuart an Vancouver Island. An Orca killer whale woke me with the sounds of his breath heading toward me, using me as a target an swam right under my 16ft zodiac rubber raft! Give me some thumbs up an ill tell the rest of the story, you already know some, Cool!

  8. COLD HEART

    November 19, 2019 at 2:08 am

    ????

  9. Lara Smith

    November 19, 2019 at 2:21 am

    ????I hate the dark after all satan loves darkness

  10. Geoff Lovig

    November 19, 2019 at 2:41 am

    Note to self. “Fear is a state of certainty”……imagined or real!!!!!!?

  11. Jordan Red

    November 19, 2019 at 5:10 am

    1:13

  12. varada sukanya

    November 19, 2019 at 5:52 am

    Awe… I need it everyday. So I’ll find it in every scenario…

  13. Apex-Funplayer

    November 19, 2019 at 6:11 am

    Now THAT was a Ted talk.

  14. Stefan Nikola

    November 19, 2019 at 7:02 am

    Closure? The only closure I ever experience is when I self-destruct. That’s not a very satisfying way to experience closure.

  15. sideswiped

    November 19, 2019 at 7:15 am

    awe, trying to bate me, you wont learn anything by trying to boost your fake delusions of superiority

  16. Ronny Djupesland

    November 19, 2019 at 7:19 am

    This guy is a con artist. Don’t listen to him please.

  17. ADEB SIZ

    November 19, 2019 at 7:44 am

    Awe

  18. Hebrews.12.4.

    November 19, 2019 at 11:00 am

    The most aweless explanation about awe.

  19. God Of Brake

    November 19, 2019 at 11:16 am

    Mannnn……i wish every ted x confereneces to be like thatttt????????????????????????????…the moat amazing ted talk everrrrrr

  20. Black Forest

    November 19, 2019 at 11:31 am

    Tschaka Tschaka ????

  21. DesiBookLover

    November 19, 2019 at 1:11 pm

    That sounds like gibberish. I guess that’s my fault with my biases and lack of awe.

  22. Sáng

    November 19, 2019 at 2:02 pm

    I love him. Love from Vietnam.

  23. Arnold M. Ford

    November 19, 2019 at 2:32 pm

    AWESOME !!!

  24. Bianra is meh

    November 19, 2019 at 2:39 pm

    Hello sir. This is justva great content. I cant believe someone actually trying to make this one??

  25. Stephen Rose

    November 19, 2019 at 2:51 pm

    Took me 3 mins in before I realised that lady was doing this live

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The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less) — plus originals, podcasts and exclusive content. Look for videos on Technology, Entertainment and Design as well as science, business, global issues, the arts and more. Visit for our entire library, transcripts, translations and personalized recommendations.

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TED videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with the TED Talks Usage Policy: . For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), submit a request at

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