NPR/TED Staff

Despite their powerful computing capability, our screens have no way of knowing how we feel. Computer scientist Rana el Kaliouby says that's about to change.

Anthropologist Amber Case says our technology is changing us into cyborgs. She argues we have become a screen-staring, button-clicking new version of Homo sapiens.

Host Guy Raz raises the curtain on a special two-part TED Radio Hour episode, exploring an uneasy moment in our evolution when we are becoming more and more dependent on our screens.

Pediatrician Dimitri Christakis explains how different forms of screen time affects kids and their ability to learn and develop.

Today airstrikes involve generals dictating — and soldiers carrying out — orders behind screens. Strategist P.W. Singer describes how screens have complicated the nature of war.

Filmmaker Chris Milk uses cutting-edge technology to create a film experience that immerses the viewer. He explains how virtual reality has allowed him to create the "ultimate empathy machine."

The 2014 ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was one of the fastest fundraising efforts in history. Nancy Frates recounts how her love for her son Pete plunged her into leading a worldwide awareness campaign.

Taylor Wilson is a self-taught nuclear physicist who sees every obstacle as a challenge. He describes how — at age 14 — he built a working nuclear fusion reactor in his garage.

Author and journalist A.J. Jacobs has made a career of being an amateur. He talks about the year he spent living biblically — following the rules in the Bible as literally as possible.

Actor and writer Julia Sweeney says parenting has always made her feel like an amateur — but especially when her 8-year-old started asking some smart questions about animal reproduction.

After setting a new personal goal, often your first instinct is to tell someone. But entrepreneur Derek Sivers says you're better off keeping it to yourself.

We often discover cancer after it's too late to treat. Jorge Soto is in the process of creating a simple, fast and cheap method for early cancer detection and all it takes is a few drops of blood.

Dr. David Agus believes that current research is too narrowly focused on the specifics of cancer. Instead, he thinks broader, more interdisciplinary methods are needed to control and treat it.

Giving away something that could make you a billion dollars sounds foolish. But Dr. Jay Bradner believes it's essential to share even the most prized scientific discoveries if we hope to cure cancer.

Dr. Dean Ornish studied how lifestyle changes could help people with chronic heart disease; he wanted to figure out if there was a way to do the same with some types of cancer.

Debra Jarvis had breast cancer, but it doesn't define her, she says. Jarvis explains how clinging to the identity of "survivor" sometimes stifles personal growth.

Even little kids like big ideas. These TED Radio Hour episodes are host Guy Raz's favorites to play for his own children. So if you know a kid who's interested in the world, share this playlist with them for hours of intriguing listening.

Why do some people spend years trying ...

The isolated tribes of the Amazon are getting dispersed or dying out. Ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin describes what we'll lose if their culture and collective wisdom vanish with them.

Community organizer Rob Hopkins argues that individuals, towns and communities have a large role to play in lowering our dependence on fossil fuels.

Ecologist Jon Foley says agriculture is the "most powerful force unleashed on this planet since the end of the ice age." He says we're using too much to irrigate and we have to rethink how we farm.