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"A team at the Carnegie Institution for Science subjected the material to pressures up to 1.4 million times atmospheric pressure at sea level, and temperatures up to 2,200C. They found that it pulls off the trick of changing its electrical properties without any shifting of shape - it can be an insulator or conductor depending just on temperature and pressure. Combined with computer simulations of just what was going on with the material's electrons, the group claim that the results show a new type of metallisation. "At high temperatures, the atoms in iron oxide crystals are arranged with the same structure as common table salt," said Ronald Cohen, a co-author of the study. "Just like table salt, iron oxide at ambient conditions is a good insulator-it does not conduct electricity.""

Host Bill Nye looks back over the past two centuries, in which chemistry has brought us from a time when atoms were a hypothesis to an age where scientists may be able to combine particles on the atomic level into micro-machines. Learn how electricity transforms chemicals, elements can combine into more complex molecules, and the combination of nonliving substances produced organic compounds that led to pharmacology. Nye examines the second half of the 19th century, a time dominated by discoveries relating to light, electrons, radioactivity, and the periodic table of the elements as well as 20th century advances in science.

Shawn Frayne talks about his new method of transforming wind power into electric energy. http://www.humdingerwind.com

In September this year, two research groups independently reported the existence of monopoles - "particles" which carry an overall magnetic charge. But they exist only in the spin ice crystals. These crystals are made up of pyramids of charged atoms, or ions, arranged in such a way that when cooled to exceptionally low temperatures, the materials show tiny, discrete packets of magnetic charge.

Plugging gadgets into a socket in the wall, or loading them with batteries - or maybe even unfurling a solar panel - is how most of us think of getting electricity. But what about plugging them into your body?

"The engineer at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the US is currently finalising designs for a series of turbines that could be used to harness the immense energy of the Gulf Stream, flowing deep in the Atlantic Ocean."

Chemical extraction of gold from microprocessor electronics.

"Learn how to safely open a D cell, and remove its sweet, sweet chemical innards. D cells are favorable as their large size facilitates investigation, and they contain the greatest magnitude of useable chemicals."

"Take a trip with a tower worker as he "free climbs" a 1,700+ ft tower. Stair way to heaven."

"Ever wonder how much energy is used by your different major appliances or electronics? Or how much energy all such appliances and electronics in the U.S. use? Here's some info on that for four big ones: TVs, computers, clothes dryers, and refrigerators."

At age 14, in poverty and famine, a Malawian boy built a windmill to power his family's home. Now at 22, William Kamkwamba, who speaks at TED, here, for the second time, shares in his own words the moving tale of invention that changed his life.

"An ambitious solar energy project on a massive scale is about to get underway in the Arizona desert. EnviroMission is undergoing land acquisition and site-specific engineering to build its first full-scale solar tower - and when we say full-scale, we mean it! The mammoth 800-plus meter (2625 ft) tall tower will instantly become one of the world's tallest buildings. Its 200-megawatt power generation capacity will reliably feed the grid with enough power for 150,000 US homes, and once it's built, it can be expected to more or less sit there producing clean, renewable power with virtually no maintenance until it's more than 80 years old."

Professor Walter Lewin's video lecture series on electromagnetism

Murray and Becky Monk yearned for the best of both worlds: life in the breathtaking wilds of northwestern Ontario and the conveniences of modern life. They turned their wish into reality by moving to the solitude of a remote lake and setting up their own eco-friendly power system.