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Why You Fear the Unknown — and What It Can Teach You | Maya Shankar and Simone Stolzoff | TED

Cognitive scientist Maya Shankar and author Simone Stolzoff have each spent years studying how people navigate uncertainty (and why it often feels so difficult). In this conversation, they discuss why your discomfort with not having the answers might be holding you back — and how leaning into life’s unpredictable moments can unlock resilience, growth and…

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Cognitive scientist Maya Shankar and author Simone Stolzoff have each spent years studying how people navigate uncertainty (and why it often feels so difficult). In this conversation, they discuss why your discomfort with not having the answers might be holding you back — and how leaning into life’s unpredictable moments can unlock resilience, growth and new possibilities. (This conversation was part of an exclusive TED Membership event. TED Membership is the best way to support and engage with the big ideas you love from TED. To learn more, visit ted.com/membership.) (Recorded at TED Membership on May 21, 2026)

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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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6 Comments

6 Comments

  1. @TardigradeTough

    September 20, 2026 at 11:09 am

    Don’t tar everybody with the same brush, some of us welcome the unknown, theres that much unknown you’d be a nervous wreck if you was scared of it all

  2. @mdfeardaus143

    September 20, 2026 at 1:41 pm

    😢I sent Anwen Reid’s anxiety quiz to two friends immediately after finishing it. Not because I’m already completely convinced by the result, but because now I need to know whether we all get totally different descriptions or whether there’s some overlap.

  3. @Jasonxbr

    September 20, 2026 at 2:18 pm

    There is nothing to fear but 😨 itself- 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 in this case uncertainty- but once the subconscious goes offline- then all bets are off. 😂😂😂😂😂😂

  4. @frequentuser360

    September 21, 2026 at 11:27 am

    68,000 views and 5 comments?

  5. @TheGoodEnoughJob

    September 21, 2026 at 11:44 am

    Thanks so much for having Maya and me on the show :). Check out How to Not Know and The Other Side of Change if you’re interested!

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People & Blogs

Would you let your friend pay for dinner? #TEDTalks

The check lands on the table. Everyone freezes. Do you let your friend pay and call it a gift? Insist on covering it? Or promise to get the next one? Corner Piece host Sabrina puts Taha, Melissa and the audience to the test, and it turns out “what do we owe each other?” is a…

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The check lands on the table. Everyone freezes.
Do you let your friend pay and call it a gift? Insist on covering it? Or promise to get the next one?
Corner Piece host Sabrina puts Taha, Melissa and the audience to the test, and it turns out “what do we owe each other?” is a much harder question than it sounds.
Visit to hear how it plays out.

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People & Blogs

The Joy of Foraging Your Own Food | Alexis Nikole Nelson | TED

There’s a whole world of food growing right outside our doors — in our backyards, on sidewalks, in the parks we walk through every day — and most of us pass by it without a second glance. Alexis Nikole Nelson wants to change that. A self-described “ethnobotany nerd,” she’s spent years teaching people how to…

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There’s a whole world of food growing right outside our doors — in our backyards, on sidewalks, in the parks we walk through every day — and most of us pass by it without a second glance. Alexis Nikole Nelson wants to change that. A self-described “ethnobotany nerd,” she’s spent years teaching people how to forage the wild food hiding in plain sight. She explores how paying closer attention to what’s already around us can reconnect us to the land, our communities and each other. (This conversation, hosted by TED’s Whitney Pennington Rodgers, was part of an exclusive TED Membership event. TED Membership is the best way to support and engage with the big ideas you love from TED. To learn more, visit ted.com/membership.) (Recorded at TED Membership on September 9, 2026)

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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

#TED #TEDTalks #Food

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What If You Could Read the DNA of Your Future Child? | Noor Siddiqui | TED

For all of human history, a baby’s DNA was determined by chance at conception: the so-called genetic lottery. “That era is over,” says Noor Siddiqui, whose company builds screening tools to read the whole genome of embryos in an effort to give parents more genetic information than standard IVF. She makes the case that this…

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For all of human history, a baby’s DNA was determined by chance at conception: the so-called genetic lottery. “That era is over,” says Noor Siddiqui, whose company builds screening tools to read the whole genome of embryos in an effort to give parents more genetic information than standard IVF. She makes the case that this kind of technology helps families understand and reduce health risks, raising the question: How much should we know about our children’s DNA before birth? (Followed by a brief Q&A with TED’s vision steward Sal Khan) (Recorded at TED2026 on April 15, 2026)

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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.

Watch more:

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

#TED #TEDTalks #Health

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