Nonprofits & Activism

The wonders of the molecular world, animated | Janet Iwasa

Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more. Some biological structures are so small that scientists can’t see them with even the most powerful microscopes. That’s where molecular animator and TED Fellow Janet Iwasa gets creative. Explore vast, unseen molecular worlds as she shares mesmerizing animations that…

Published

on

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

Some biological structures are so small that scientists can’t see them with even the most powerful microscopes. That’s where molecular animator and TED Fellow Janet Iwasa gets creative. Explore vast, unseen molecular worlds as she shares mesmerizing animations that imagine how they might work.

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:

53 Comments

  1. EyesOfByes

    May 6, 2020 at 6:11 pm

    But can it run Crysis?

  2. Cheryl Taylor

    May 6, 2020 at 6:17 pm

    Very interesting

  3. targeted individual SSRi

    May 6, 2020 at 6:17 pm

    Welcome to Gattica..

  4. Gzpo

    May 6, 2020 at 6:41 pm

    I’m so glad you did this presentation. I knew that there were those who made these animations of things we cannot see. Now I know that there is some one imagining some one’s conceptualizations abstracted from empirical tests. Its the best we can do until some one invents a way for us to actually see these critters at work. I imagine; therefore, I am.

  5. legendary clasher

    May 6, 2020 at 6:45 pm

    Dyenin is actually very interesting

  6. The Truth of the Matter

    May 6, 2020 at 6:46 pm

    Id hit it…

  7. Stephen Catton

    May 6, 2020 at 6:50 pm

    Very interesting

  8. The Truth of the Matter

    May 6, 2020 at 6:53 pm

    And people say this all happened because one protein molecule miraculously stabilized against all astronomical odds for the necessary time needed to bump into another molecule that had miraculously stabilized against all astronomical odds…then not destroying each other…nay…binding and folding into a chain that had enough information to spur a divide…or reproduction. All by chance…millions of times. Mmhmm…I have a nice bridge to sell some folks btw. Contact me.

  9. Nika - I love S*X : * TAP ON MY PHOTO

    May 6, 2020 at 7:24 pm

    cool ☝ 🍃 🙌 🐴

  10. Psycho Social Creation

    May 6, 2020 at 7:25 pm

    How does cells constantly change? 🤲🏻

  11. Omy

    May 6, 2020 at 7:27 pm

    So science is just guess work?

    • iluan Hernandez

      May 6, 2020 at 9:20 pm

      Not quite. The guess is only the very first step. From an initial hypothesis you have to design an experiment. That is, you have to think “If my guess is right, what observable things should be true and what should be not true” and “how do I make sure that what I observe is not consequence of something else”. Then you have to do the experiment, that is actually observe your predictions.
      Of course, because experiments are hard to design and do properly, you have to make sure your initial guess is backed up with as much previous observations as possible.
      In the field of molecular biology, our guesses (hypothesis) sometimes become really hard to explain to our team members, let alone the people outside the field, so we use animations like these to explain things clearly (Well, those who can afford an animator do, the rest of us just use diagrams and stuff).
      If you want to observe molecules in 3D with good details you need to do something called crystalography, but you don’t get dynamics, you only get snapshots. Also, it is super expensive, time consuming and the slightest mistake can mean you get no results at all after days of work.

  12. polpiw dam

    May 6, 2020 at 7:28 pm

    Yes yes ok

  13. Teacher Mahammad

    May 6, 2020 at 7:48 pm

    Hello everyone. First of all i love ted videos. I produce interesting and useful videos about learning languages, personal development and so on. If it is your interest sphere, please check my channel. If you like the videos u can subscribe it to see the next ones. This will help me to motivate myself and produce better content day by day. thanks everyone

  14. Event Horizon

    May 6, 2020 at 7:48 pm

    It’s an animation of a hypothesis, but still interesting.Would be really amazing to actually “see” it !

  15. MrFatilo

    May 6, 2020 at 8:09 pm

    Yea this totally isn’t designed! LOL.
    Atheiism… the dumbest religion mankind ever knew.

  16. Luz Roslyn

    May 6, 2020 at 8:55 pm

    Thats is vey goid info. Very intelligent showing. And sharing the knowledge is awesome. Thanks ang i like it

  17. Славянка Slavianka

    May 6, 2020 at 9:08 pm

    Странные люди, македонский язык в субтитрах есть, а русского нет.

  18. Sunny Singh

    May 6, 2020 at 9:10 pm

    this is amazing wow

  19. Nordeen Abdellah

    May 6, 2020 at 9:19 pm

    What a wonderful molecular world and a smart and beautiful scientist.

  20. Rocstoneau

    May 6, 2020 at 9:52 pm

    How wonderfully made we are.

  21. Robert Stark

    May 6, 2020 at 9:55 pm

    Thank you for this wonderful video!

  22. Team Sonic Mania 2020

    May 6, 2020 at 11:13 pm

    Sure

  23. Sir John Shearer kt.

    May 6, 2020 at 11:19 pm

    That is amazing!!!

  24. Hanssan Abidal_E2lh

    May 6, 2020 at 11:35 pm

  25. The Finktron

    May 6, 2020 at 11:37 pm

    Animations like yours have allowed me and my students to understand cellular processes better than we ever could before. Thank you.

  26. Huda Murad

    May 7, 2020 at 1:46 am

    Amazing

  27. KingGordo Productions

    May 7, 2020 at 2:12 am

    Bare in mind that any man-made machine requires an intelligent designer….yet these microscopic, self-replicating “machines” are so exponentially far beyond anything that the culmination of all human engineering has been able to create. It is a logical fallacy to claim that all of this unfathomable mechanical intricacy could spawn from unintelligence, regardless of how many billions upon billions of years are available. It’s not a matter of statistical outcomes out of chaos, it’s a matter of design.

  28. Recipes and cooking

    May 7, 2020 at 2:22 am

    Welcome to my channel ❤️💎
    Recipes and cooking

  29. وصفات مع جنات

    May 7, 2020 at 2:22 am

    Welcome to my channel ❤️💎
    Recipes and cooking

  30. harsit Gamer

    May 7, 2020 at 2:43 am

    Bro can we friends

  31. thinh nhan nguyen

    May 7, 2020 at 3:42 am

    What a good talk !

  32. tigressnsnow

    May 7, 2020 at 3:54 am

    Next time I need a name it will be ANTIN

  33. Ilham qutus

    May 7, 2020 at 5:21 am

    Mantab

  34. Strange-dime-Mason

    May 7, 2020 at 6:04 am

    You a sub

  35. onyemaechi Daniel

    May 7, 2020 at 6:54 am

    Getting this type of information makes me feel so small, like a world of knowledge exists that I may never be able to learn in my lifetime. Wow!

  36. Nadia Hristova

    May 7, 2020 at 8:04 am

    That’s such a cool job. 🥺

  37. Fco G

    May 7, 2020 at 9:31 am

    Bjarke Ingels in the crowd! <3

  38. Dan B

    May 7, 2020 at 9:58 am

    I legitimately believe that if you don’t at least give credence to the notion of design in nature (non religious context) your brain may not be functioning correctly. Because to scoff at the idea, whether you agree with it or not, seems deeply unreasonable, if not a form of insanity

  39. kxmode

    May 7, 2020 at 10:35 am

    “From ComplicaTED
    to EducaTED.” Like that? You can have it. 🙂

  40. MOMSHIE SOLIETA

    May 7, 2020 at 11:27 am

    Sure… How was the molecules did that. You did great

  41. rizza mae ong

    May 7, 2020 at 1:23 pm

    “molecular animator”

    interesting profession.

  42. Johnny Cheese

    May 7, 2020 at 2:00 pm

    Each human is a galaxy of self assembled nanobots, orchestrated in vast complexity of harmonious interactions. And we haven’t really begun to discuss the brain yet….

  43. yampada rajasekhar

    May 7, 2020 at 3:14 pm

    Well information

  44. Dee Ess

    May 7, 2020 at 3:38 pm

    Jus like humans could possibly be unbelievably small organisms in an unbelievably huge organism, these unbelievably small little guys could be the same, only in Our body

  45. hana

    May 7, 2020 at 11:04 pm

    سبحان الله العظيم

  46. Gerald Marco

    May 8, 2020 at 2:46 am

    Animations like these help me and others to understand more about Biology

  47. TRENDY HACKS

    May 8, 2020 at 7:19 am

    Dream it. Wish it. Do it.

  48. George Bond

    May 8, 2020 at 8:09 am

    Machines building other machines and that microtubule highway constructing itself and deconstructing itself. You cant tell me that evolved without intelligence.

  49. Bradley Fitzik

    May 8, 2020 at 5:52 pm

    Wow it’s crazy how perfectly our bodies work on the microscopic level…

    Until these proteins stop taking orders and then try to kill us 😉

  50. Eric Hrahsel

    May 9, 2020 at 7:24 am

    How could these complex structures evolve on its own?..

    I am an agnostic, and even if God doesn’t exists or it exists, there are intelligent design everywhere.. i don’t know what is the truth anymore.

  51. gautam kumar

    May 11, 2020 at 2:44 am

    Have not understood a single thing feels so dumb, even, grammar I wrote here used Grammarly to correct . This is the dumbest phase of my life as my father just thought of me as duffer

  52. shadow fiend

    May 12, 2020 at 9:50 pm

    All that information carried out in 6 mins. This woman is oustanding.
    What a machine gun woman.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Trending

Exit mobile version