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This week on TED.com January 9, 2016

Talk of the week James Veitch: This is what happens when you reply to spam email 09:48 minutes · Filmed Dec 2015 · Posted Jan 2016 · TEDGlobal>Geneva Suspicious emails: unclaimed insurance bonds, diamond-encrusted safe deposit boxes, close friends marooned in a foreign country. They pop up in our inboxes, and standard procedure is to delete on sight. But what happens when you reply? Follow along as writer and comedian James Veitch narrates a hilarious, weeks-long exchange with a spammer who offered to cut him in on a hot deal. Watch now »

Playlist of the week Talks to form better habits There's never a bad time to start a good habit. Let these talks set the framework for a healthier, happier life. Watch » 7 TED Talks • Total run time 1:28:17

More TED Talks Does more data lead to better decisions? Not always. In this fascinating talk about how Netflix chooses new shows, data scientist Sebastian Wernicke breaks down what goes wrong when we make decisions based purely on data -- and suggests a brainier way to use it. Watch » Astronomer Aomawa Shields searches for clues that life might exist elsewhere in the universe, by examining the atmospheres of distant exoplanets. As she says: "Trying to measure the atmospheric composition of an exoplanet ... is like trying to see a fruit fly passing in front of a car's headlight. OK, now imagine that car is 100 trillion miles away." Watch » At TEDxMarin in California, engineer David Sedlak shares four practical (and surprising) ideas for solving the water crisis in his drought-plagued home state. It's time, he says, to shift our water supply towards new, local sources of water -- to withstand the challenges climate change may throw at us soon. A fascinating talk about a resource many of us take for granted. Watch » Why is there something rather than nothing? Why does so much interesting stuff exist in the universe? Particle physicist Harry Cliff works on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and he has some potentially bad news for people who seek answers to these questions. Despite the best efforts of scientists (and the help of the biggest machine on the planet), we may never be able to explain all the weird features of nature. Is this the end of physics? Watch »

Read more on ideas.ted.com Snow: Giant art made out of snowflakes » How to draw a fractal the size of a soccer field? With a little math and a lot of legwork Recovery: Revisiting Liberia, a year after Ebola » In these peaceful streets, a hard battle was fought -- and won -- against a killer disease. Work: The business case against overtime » One way to improve productivity? Give workers a break Brain: How to understand our brains? Grow them » How one scientist is growing "mini-brains" in her lab Ocean: This jellyfish is saying: "Help!" » Amazing ways undersea creatures use light to communicate

Quote of the Week “ A wise person knows when and how to make the exception to every rule. A wise person knows how to improvise. Real-world problems are often ambiguous and ill-defined and the context is always changing. A wise person is like a jazz musician -- using the notes on the page, but dancing around them, inventing combinations that are appropriate for the situation and the people at hand." Barry Schwarz Our loss of wisdom

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