You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day.

I'm your host, Elise Hugh.

I sometimes wonder if some of the world's greatest challenges and failures can actually be boiled down to one thing,

miscommunication. Psychology professor Tessa West shares the invisible forces at play that can

derail communication, even among the smartest, most well-intentioned teams. She unpacks why we

miss critical information even when it's right in front of us,

and offers strategies for improving professional interactions so things don't go without saying.

What happened on September 23, 1999?

This is the day that the Mars Climate Orbiter went on a mission to Mars and actually

failed considerably.

This was this device that NASA sent over to Mars.

It was designed to measure the weather on Mars

and also to serve as this communication device

for the Mars Polar Lander, which was supposed to arrive a couple months later.

It just completely failed.

It hit the atmosphere, burst into a million pieces,

leaving the folks who worked at NASA, befuddled, upset, pretty pissed off.

Now, these things happen.

Sending things into space is tricky business,

and quite frankly, as a psychologist, who am I to judge a bunch of very smart engineers

who work for NASA for failing and having a bad day at work.

But what makes this story extra special

...