TED-Ed A brief history of plastic

From: TED-Ed - Sunday Sep 13, 2020 02:03 pm

A brief history of plastic

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A brief history of plastic
By John Wesley Hyatt, directed by Sharon Colman
For centuries, billiard balls were made of ivory from elephant tusks. But when excessive hunting caused elephant populations to decline, they began to look for alternatives. John Wesley Hyatt took up the challenge. In five years, he invented a new material called celluloid, which would become known as the first plastic. Trace the history of the material that ushered in the “plastics century.”
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Are all of your memories real?
By Daniel L. Schacter, directed by Ana Luísa Farinha
In a 1990’s study, participants recalled getting lost in a shopping mall as children. Some shared these memories in vivid detail, but there was one problem: none of these people had actually gotten lost in a mall. They produced these false memories after psychologists told them they’d gotten lost and parents confirmed it. So what’s going on? Daniel Schacter explores the fallibility of our memory.
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Global plastic waste is a problem that affects us all, and all of us can be part of the solution. TED-Ed, with the support of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, launched #AllTogetherCleanup to unite students around the world to understand and help solve the global plastic waste problem. Learn more and take action on ed.ted.com/cleanup.
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TED-Ed Student Talks

Alex Kennedy would say she has a lot of labels: 'troublemaker', 'wild' - and perhaps her least favorite - 'disadvantaged'. Reckoning with her own labels has been a process of self-discovery. What began as anger and frustration at society's limited and limiting view of her and the neighborhood she grew up in, grew into a startling realization: was she letting her labels define her?

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