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TED Talks Daily

The thrill of not knowing all the answers | Harini Bhat

with Harini Bhatt

Published November 20, 2025
View Show Notes

About This Episode

On TED Talks Daily, scientist and storyteller Harini Bhatt describes how embracing not knowing transformed her from a self-described "wannabe know-it-all" into the creator of the YouTube channel Today I Learned Science. She shares how following her curiosity about the Teotihuacan pyramids led to her first viral video and a mission to translate rigorous scientific research into captivating stories for everyone. Through striking examples-from a brain turned to glass, to new ideas about the origins of life, to watching an embryo implant in real time-she argues that science belongs to anyone willing to stay gloriously curious and keep asking why.

Topics Covered

Science communication Curiosity Content creation Conspiracy theories Citizen science Women in STEM Meta-learning Storytelling Origins of life Personal narrative

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Quick Takeaways

  • Harini Bhatt argues that in a culture obsessed with certainty and hot takes, the willingness to say "I don't know" and follow curiosity is a superpower.
  • Her YouTube channel took off not because of her formal expertise in pharmacy, but because viewers resonated with her shared curiosity about topics like ancient architecture.
  • She frames science as a set of human stories about curiosity and perseverance that should be accessible and thrilling to everyone, not just specialists.
  • Examples like a glassified brain, revised ideas about the origins of life, and real-time embryo implantation show how current research can radically shift what we know.
  • Bhatt encourages listeners to "find your Teotihuacan"-a topic that fascinates them precisely because they don't understand it-and to stay unapologetically curious.

Podcast Notes

Podcast introduction and framing of the talk

Host introduces TED Talks Daily and the episode theme

TED Talks Daily is described as bringing new ideas to spark curiosity[2:46]
• Elise Hu explicitly identifies herself as the host
Framing question about a world that prizes certainty and quick success[2:56]
• The host notes that contemporary culture often values certainty, hot takes, and quick success
Introduction of Harini Bhatt and her YouTube channel[3:03]
• Elise says Harini is a scientist and storyteller
• Harini built a popular YouTube channel called "Today I Learned Science"
Description of what drives Harini's channel[3:03]
• The host emphasizes that curiosity, not credentials, drives discovery on Harini's channel
Examples of topics Harini explores[3:03]
• Elise mentions "ancient brains that turn to glass" as one example topic
• She also mentions "the origins of life itself" as another topic
Framing science as accessible to everyone[3:19]
• Elise says Harini reminds us that science is not just for scientists
• She adds that science is for all of us who are willing to ask why and marvel at the answers

Opening image: the glass brain and the power of not knowing

Harini engages the audience with a mysterious image

Invitation for the audience to admit not knowing[3:59]
• Harini asks the audience to raise their hand if they do not know what the pictured object is
Revealing the object as a glassified human brain[3:33]
• She explains that the object is a human brain that turned to glass during the Mount Vesuvius eruption
Strange specificity of the phenomenon[3:47]
• Harini notes that only this man's brain turned to glass, not his other organs
• She says this has left scientists baffled about how ash clouds could create such precise temperature conditions

Introducing the theme of the talk: not knowing

Positioning ignorance as the right place to be for this talk[3:59]
• Harini tells the audience that if they didn't know what the object was, they are exactly where they should be
Stating that the talk is about the power of not knowing[3:59]
• She explicitly says the talk is about "the power of not knowing"

Critique of a culture obsessed with certainty and expertise

Description of current culture's expectations

Culture rewards having the right answer immediately[4:07]
• Harini says we live in a culture obsessed with having the right answer immediately
Social media's role in amplifying confidence over curiosity[4:07]
• She observes that social media rewards confident hot takes over curious questions
Expectation to be an expert in everything[4:29]
• Harini says everyone is supposed to be an expert in everything all the time
Fear of getting things wrong and being canceled[4:17]
• She notes that if you get something remotely wrong, the response is "Cancel"
Emotional toll of this environment[4:24]
• Harini sums up this state of affairs as exhausting

Harini contrasts this with her own chosen approach

She believes she has found another way[4:24]
• Harini explicitly says, "But I think I found another way"
Growth of her channel based on shared curiosity[4:36]
• She recounts that when she started her channel, Today I Learned, over two million people followed in two years
• She emphasizes they did not follow for expert opinions or hot takes, but for shared curiosity

Harini's personal journey from wannabe know-it-all to curiosity-driven creator

Her earlier identity as a "know-it-all"

Self-description as a recovering or failed know-it-all[4:43]
• Harini calls herself a recovering know-it-all
• She further clarifies she was actually a wannabe know-it-all who was failing spectacularly at it

Academic background and obsession with certainty

Doctoral studies at UCSF[4:48]
• Harini says that during her doctorate at UCSF, she was obsessed with certainty
Desire to have the right answer before the question[4:54]
• She describes wanting to have the right answer before anyone even asked the question

Early constraint on her science videos

Starting to post science videos during COVID[4:58]
• When COVID hit, Harini started posting science videos as a creative outlet
Rule to only talk about what she already knew[5:10]
• She imposed a rule on herself: "Only post about things you know, Harini"
Sticking to pharmacy topics as her supposed expertise[5:04]
• She rigidly stuck to pharmacy topics, which she labels her supposed area of expertise
Unimpressive impact of those early videos[4:58]
• Harini jokes that this pharmacy content was "real riveting stuff"

Teotihuacan as the turning point in Harini's approach

Encounter with the Teotihuacan pyramids

Visit to Mexico and Teotihuacan[5:17]
• Harini describes going to Mexico and standing in front of the Teotihuacan pyramids
• She notes the physical context of being in the blazing heat
Realization of not knowing basic facts about the site[4:36]
• Harini realized she had no idea what she was looking at
• She lists questions: Who built this? Why here? Where did they go?

Emotional shift from embarrassment to aliveness

Choosing curiosity over embarrassment[5:45]
• Instead of feeling embarrassed that she didn't know, Harini says she felt alive
Sensory description of curiosity[5:45]
• She describes every carving as a mystery that made her brain tingle
• She compares this feeling to how pharmaceutical calculations never made her brain tingle

From personal curiosity to content creation

Late-night research driven by curiosity[5:45]
• Harini says that night she could not stop researching Teotihuacan
• She clarifies she was researching not to become an expert, but to feed her curiosity
Creation and posting of the Teotihuacan video[5:53]
• She made a video about Teotihuacan and posted it
Low expectations based on prior performance[6:12]
• Harini went to sleep expecting her usual three likes from her parents and her husband

Unexpected virality and its implications

Sudden surge of followers[6:01]
• She woke up to 40,000 new followers
Disconnect between formal education and viral success[6:12]
• Harini notes her first viral video had nothing to do with her eight years of higher education
• The video was about her, a human being, "nerding out" over ancient architecture
Highlighting archaeologists' work through her content[6:18]
• She mentions sharing the incredible work of archaeologists who spent lifetimes studying Teotihuacan

Core insight: people follow curiosity, not credentials

Realization about why her audience was growing

Understanding what attracted followers[6:01]
• Harini concludes people were not following her because she was an expert
• She states they were following her because she was curious
Claim that curiosity is contagious[6:34]
• Harini explicitly says, "And curiosity is contagious"

Information overload, misinformation, and the role of credible science communication

Paradox of abundant information and misinformation

Infinite information coexisting with infinite misinformation[6:42]
• Harini describes a paradox: we have infinite access to information but also infinite misinformation
Conspiracy theories versus peer-reviewed studies[6:47]
• She observes that conspiracy theories get more clicks than peer-reviewed studies
Confident nonsense versus careful science[6:47]
• Harini notes that confident nonsense grows faster than careful science

Her mission to champion credible voices and accessible science

Seeing an opportunity in the chaos[6:53]
• She says that in this chaos, championing credible voices and making their work accessible seemed to unlock something in people
Audience response in the form of "TIL" comments[6:42]
• After the Teotihuacan video, her comments exploded with "TIL" (Today, I Learned)

Clarifying the mission of her channel

Translating rigorous research into captivating content[7:09]
• Harini states her mission became to take rigorous, mind-blowing research and make it so captivating that late-night scrollers stop and say, "wait, what?"
Emphasis that science is for everyone[7:23]
• She insists that science is for everyone, not dumbed down, but translated with the excitement it deserves
Renaming her channel to reflect the new mission[7:32]
• Harini says she changed her channel name that night and did not look back

Example of curiosity-driven science: origins of life experiment revisited

Introducing the geologist Juan Manuel Garcia Ruiz

Age and role of the scientist[7:45]
• Harini describes a 72-year-old geologist, Juan Manuel Garcia Ruiz
His decision not to retire but to revisit a classic experiment[7:45]
• She notes he could have retired, but instead chose to recreate the famous 1952 primordial soup experiment
Reference to the original 1952 experiment[7:53]
• Harini explains the 1952 experiment showed how life began on Earth

Key modification: using Teflon instead of glass

Change from glass to Teflon container[8:02]
• She says Garcia Ruiz used Teflon instead of a glass container like the original experiment
Initial result: nothing happens[8:09]
• Harini states that the result of using Teflon was "Nothing"

Discovery that silica in glass was essential

Realization of glass's active role[8:10]
• She explains it turned out the glass, specifically the silica, was key
Adding silica back in and the new results[8:15]
• When silica was added back, they did not just get amino acids
• Harini reports they obtained all five DNA building blocks
• They also produced protocells, described as self-organizing structures that came right before actual life

Implications for the timeline of life on Earth

Potential shift in understanding of when life began[8:50]
• Harini translates this to mean that life on Earth may have started hundreds of millions of years earlier than previously thought

Gap between scientific importance and public awareness

Claim that such work should be widely known[8:32]
• She says this discovery should be breaking the Internet
Reality that most people will never hear about it[8:41]
• Harini notes that most people will never hear about this work
Defining the gap she is trying to bridge[8:44]
• She identifies this lack of awareness as the gap she is trying to bridge with her channel

Science as human stories and the example of embryo implantation

Science as belonging to everyone

Scientific discoveries framed as human stories[8:56]
• Harini states that when researchers discover how life began or how ancient brains turned to glass, these are ultimately human stories
• She highlights curiosity, perseverance, and asking brave questions as elements of these stories
Desire for everyone to feel the thrill of discovery[9:04]
• Harini says everyone deserves to feel that electrifying "I can't believe we just learned that" moment

2025 observation of embryo implantation

First-time real-time observation of embryo implantation[9:11]
• She says that for the first time in 2025, scientists witnessed a human embryo implanting into uterine-like tissue in real time
New insight into embryo behavior[9:20]
• From this observation, Harini says they learned embryos are possibly following uterine contractions like GPS signals
Recognition that implantation can be physically painful[9:28]
• She states this process is actually physically painful

Validation of women's lived experiences

Connecting scientific findings to common experiences[9:48]
• Harini refers to countless women who felt a sharp twinge and wondered if they'd imagined it
Statement that science caught up with what bodies knew[9:39]
• She asserts that those women did not imagine it; science just caught up to what their bodies already knew
Answering a major unknown in human development[9:43]
• Harini says scientists finally answered one of human development's biggest black boxes
• She adds that this also validated millions of women's experiences

Reflections on how discovery and learning really work

Discoveries driven by obsession with the unknown

Clarifying why people make discoveries[9:56]
• Harini says people do not make discoveries because they already know things
• She argues they make discoveries because they get obsessed with the stuff they don't know

Nonlinear nature of learning

Learning as an endless loop[10:07]
• Harini states that learning isn't linear; it's a beautiful, endless loop

Collective curiosity sparked by sharing Teotihuacan

Inviting others into curiosity[10:12]
• She says that when she shared her Teotihuacan obsession, she invited 40,000 other people to be curious with her
Positioning science as captivating entertainment[10:17]
• Harini says she showed people that science can be as captivating as any Netflix series

What her doctorate and her channel each taught her

Skills gained from her doctoral training[10:26]
• She notes her doctorate taught her how to read studies and think critically
Insight from running her channel[10:26]
• Harini says her channel taught her that everyone deserves access to that knowledge

Call to action: find your Teotihuacan and stay curious

Invitation to identify a personally fascinating unknown

Prompt to find a subject that lights you up[10:36]
• Harini challenges the audience to find their Teotihuacan-the thing that lights them up from the inside
Emphasis on being drawn by not understanding[10:39]
• She specifies that this thing should fascinate them not because they understand it, but because they don't

Examples of potential curiosity targets

Suggestions of topics to be curious about[11:02]
• Harini suggests it might be quantum physics
• She also suggests it might be how sourdough starter is basically a pet you can eat

Reconnecting with childlike questioning

Invoking the persistent "why" of childhood[10:48]
• She tells the audience to seek whatever makes them feel like the kid who asked "why" over and over until their parents wanted to scream
Anecdote about her husband's nickname for her[10:56]
• Harini recalls that when she started dating her husband, he called her "20 questions"
Encouragement to bring that questioning energy[11:00]
• She urges listeners to bring that "20 questions" energy to the table

Closing statement of her philosophy

Summarizing motto about curiosity[11:02]
• Harini gives a TLDR: stay gloriously, unapologetically curious
Playful note about her next research topic[11:10]
• She says she has to go research how the real city Atlanta is buried beneath our feet
Formal thank you and end of talk[11:13]
• Harini ends by saying "Thank you"

TED outro and production credits

Identification of the speaker and event

Recap of who spoke and where[11:23]
• The host states that was Harini Bhatt speaking at TED Next 2025

Reference to TED's curation guidelines

Invitation to learn about TED's curation[11:27]
• Listeners are told that if they are curious about TED's curation, they can find out more at TED.com/curationguidelines

Positioning of TED Talks Daily within TED Audio Collective

Statement about the show[11:30]
• It is stated that TED Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective

Acknowledgment of fact-checking and production team

Fact-checking credit[11:35]
• The talk is said to have been fact-checked by the TED Research Team
Production and editing credits[11:40]
• The episode is described as produced and edited by Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Green, Lucy Little, and Tansika Sangmarnivong
Mixing and additional support credits[11:48]
• The episode was mixed by Christopher Faisy-Bogan
• Additional support came from Emma Taubner and Daniela Balarezo

Host sign-off

Elise Hu's closing remark[11:51]
• Elise Hu says she will be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for the listener's feed and thanks listeners for listening

Lessons Learned

Actionable insights and wisdom you can apply to your business, career, and personal life.

1

Curiosity about what you don't know is a more powerful driver of discovery and creativity than trying to appear like an expert who already has all the answers.

Reflection Questions:

  • • What topics or questions currently make you feel uncertain but genuinely intrigued rather than intimidated?
  • • How could you shift one situation in your life from trying to prove you know enough to openly exploring what you don't know yet?
  • • What concrete step could you take this week to lean into a question you can't answer instead of hiding that uncertainty?
2

Sharing authentic, enthusiastic curiosity can be more engaging and impactful than relying solely on formal credentials or traditional markers of expertise.

Reflection Questions:

  • • Where in your work or personal life are you downplaying your genuine excitement because you think you need to look more "expert"?
  • • How might your communication change if you led with what fascinates you instead of what you think will impress others?
  • • What is one thing you could share publicly this week-not as an expert, but as a curious learner-and with whom will you share it?
3

Translating rigorous, complex knowledge into accessible, captivating stories helps bridge the gap between important discoveries and the people whose lives they affect.

Reflection Questions:

  • • What specialized knowledge or experience do you have that others around you would benefit from but currently find hard to access?
  • • How could you turn one complex idea you care about into a clear, engaging story for a non-expert friend or colleague?
  • • What specific audience could you start serving by explaining something you understand in simpler, more compelling terms?
4

Scientific findings often confirm and validate lived experiences, showing the value of listening to people's bodies, stories, and observations alongside formal research.

Reflection Questions:

  • • When have your own or someone else's lived experiences seemed real but lacked scientific or official validation at the time?
  • • How might you better honor people's subjective experiences in your decision-making, even before external proof arrives?
  • • What is one context this week where you could ask more about how something feels to others, not just what the data says?
5

Intentionally seeking out a personal "Teotihuacan"-a mystery that lights you up precisely because you don't understand it-can reignite a childlike, persistent habit of asking why.

Reflection Questions:

  • • What subject, phenomenon, or place has recently made you feel a spark of curiosity, even if you know almost nothing about it yet?
  • • How could you carve out time and space in the next month to explore this interest purely for the sake of learning, without needing it to be "useful"?
  • • What small ritual or practice could you adopt (like keeping a list of "why" questions) to keep that sense of playful, persistent curiosity alive?

Episode Summary - Notes by Devon

The thrill of not knowing all the answers | Harini Bhat
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