TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences — the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK each summer — TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site. TEDTalks began as a simple attempt to share what happens at TED with the world. Those “ideas worth spreading” rapidly attracted a global audience. Here is a full list of the more than 750 TEDTalks available online.
| 1 | Al Gore | 15 ways to avert a climate crisis | With the same humor and humanity he exuded in An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore spells out 15 ways that individuals can address climate change immediately, from buying a hybrid to inventing a new, hotter “brand name” for global warming. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/1 |
| 2 | Amy Smith | Simple designs that could save millions of childrens’ lives | Fumes from indoor cooking fires kill more than 2 million children a year in the developing world. MIT engineer Amy Smith details an exciting but simple solution: a tool for turning farm waste into clean-burning charcoal. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/2 |
| 3 | Ashraf Ghani | How to fix broken states | Ashraf Ghani’s passionate and powerful 10-minute talk, emphasizing the necessity of both economic investment and design ingenuity to rebuild broken states, is followed by a conversation with TED curator Chris Anderson on the future of Afghanistan. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/3 |
| 4 | Burt Rutan | Entrepreneurs are the future of space flight | In this passionate talk, legendary spacecraft designer Burt Rutan lambasts the US government-funded space program for stagnating and asks entrepreneurs to pick up where NASA has left off. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/4 |
| 5 | Chris Bangle | Great cars are Art | American designer Chris Bangle explains his philosophy that car design is an art form in its own right, with an entertaining — and ultimately moving — account of the BMW Group’s Deep Blue project, intended to create the SUV of the future. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/5 |
| 6 | Craig Venter | A voyage of DNA, genes and the sea | Genomics pioneer Craig Venter takes a break from his epic round-the-world expedition to talk about the millions of genes his team has discovered so far in its quest to map the ocean’s biodiversity. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/6 |
| 7 | David Pogue | When it comes to tech, simplicity sells | New York Times columnist David Pogue takes aim at technology’s worst interface-design offenders, and provides encouraging examples of products that get it right. To funny things up, he bursts into song. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/7 |
| 8 | David Rockwell | Building the Ground Zero viewing platform | In this emotionally charged conversation with journalist Kurt Andersen, designer David Rockwell discusses the process of building a viewing platform at Ground Zero shortly after 9/11. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/8 |
| 9 | Dean Kamen | Rolling along, helping students and the third world | Inventor Dean Kamen lays out his argument for the Segway and offers a peek into his next big ideas (portable energy and water purification for developing countries). | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/9 |
| 10 | Dr. Dean Ornish | The world now eats (and dies) like Americans | Stop wringing your hands over AIDS, cancer and the avian flu. Cardiovascular disease kills more people than everything else combined — and it’s mostly preventable. Dr. Dean Ornish explains how changing our eating habits will save lives. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/10 |
| 11 | Jane Goodall | What separates us from the apes? | Jane Goodall hasn’t found the missing link, but she’s come closer than nearly anyone else. The primatologist says the only real difference between humans and chimps is our sophisticated language. She urges us to start using it to change the world. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/11 |
| 12 | Eva Vertes | My dream about the future of medicine | Eva Vertes — only 19 when she gave this talk — discusses her journey toward studying medicine and her drive to understand the roots of cancer and Alzheimer’s. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/12 |
| 13 | Frank Gehry | Nice building. Then what? | In a wildly entertaining discussion with Richard Saul Wurman, architect Frank Gehry gives TEDsters his take on the power of failure, his recent buildings, and the all-important “Then what?” factor. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/13 |
| 14 | Golan Levin | The truly soft side of software | Engineer and artist Golan Levin pushes the boundaries of what’s possible with audiovisuals and technology. In an amazing TED display, he shows two programs he wrote to perform his original compositions. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/14 |
| 16 | Helen Fisher | The science of love, and the future of women | Anthropologist Helen Fisher takes on a tricky topic — love — and explains its evolution, its biochemical foundations and its social importance. She closes with a warning about the potential disaster inherent in antidepressant abuse. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/16 |
| 18 | Janine Benyus | 12 sustainable design ideas from nature | In this inspiring talk about recent developments in biomimicry, Janine Benyus provides heartening examples of ways in which nature is already influencing the products and systems we build. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/18 |
| 19 | Kevin Kelly | How does technology evolve? Like we did | Tech enthusiast Kevin Kelly asks “What does technology want?” and discovers that its movement toward ubiquity and complexity is much like the evolution of life. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/19 |
| 20 | Malcolm Gladwell | What we can learn from spaghetti sauce | Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell gets inside the food industry’s pursuit of the perfect spaghetti sauce — and makes a larger argument about the nature of choice and happiness. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/20 |
| 21 | Mena Trott | How blogs are building a friendlier world | The founding mother of the blog revolution, Movable Type’s Mena Trott, talks about the early days of blogging, when she realized that giving regular people the power to share our lives online is the key to building a friendlier, more connected world. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/21 |
| 22 | Michael Shermer | Why people believe strange things | Why do people see the Virgin Mary on a cheese sandwich or hear demonic lyrics in “Stairway to Heaven”? Using video and music, skeptic Michael Shermer shows how we convince ourselves to believe — and overlook the facts. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/22 |
| 23 | Peter Gabriel | Fighting injustice with a videocamera | Musician and activist Peter Gabriel shares his very personal motivation for standing up for human rights with the watchdog group WITNESS — and tells stories of citizen journalists in action. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/23 |
| 24 | Pilobolus | A performance merging dance and biology | Two Pilobolus dancers perform “Symbiosis.” Does it trace the birth of a relationship? Or the co-evolution of symbiotic species? Music: “God Music,” George Crumb; “Fratres,” Arvo Part; “Morango‚ĶAlmost a Tango,” Thomas Oboe Lee. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/24 |
| 25 | Richard Baraniuk | Goodbye, textbooks; hello, open-source learning | Rice University professor Richard Baraniuk explains the vision behind Connexions, his open-source, online education system. It cuts out the textbook, allowing teachers to share and modify course materials freely, anywhere in the world. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/25 |
| 26 | Rives | “If I controlled the Internet” (a poem) | How many poets could cram eBay, Friendster and Monster.com into 3-minute poem worthy of a standing ovation? Enjoy Rives’ unique talent. | TEDSalon 2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/26 |
| 27 | Ross Lovegrove | The power and beauty of organic design | Designer Ross Lovegrove expounds his philosophy of “fat-free” design and offers insight into several of his extraordinary products, including the Ty Nant water bottle and the Go chair. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/27 |
| 28 | Seth Godin | Sliced bread and other marketing delights | In a world of too many options and too little time, our obvious choice is to just ignore the ordinary stuff. Marketing guru Seth Godin spells out why, when it comes to getting our attention, bad or bizarre ideas are more successful than boring ones. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/28 |
| 29 | Steven Levitt | Why do crack dealers still live with their moms? | Freakonomics author Steven Levitt presents new data on the finances of drug dealing. Contrary to popular myth, he says, being a street-corner crack dealer isn’t lucrative: It pays below minimum wage. And your boss can kill you. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/29 |
| 30 | Steven Levitt | Are children’s carseats necessary? | Steven Levitt shares data that shows car seats are no more effective than seatbelts in protecting kids from dying in cars. However, during the Q&A, he makes one crucial caveat. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/30 |
| 31 | Thom Mayne | Architecture is a new way to connect to the world | Architect Thom Mayne has never been one to take the easy option, and this whistle-stop tour of the buildings he’s created makes you glad for it. These are big ideas cast in material form. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/31 |
| 32 | Vik Muniz | Art with wire, thread, sugar, chocolate | Vik Muniz makes art from pretty much anything, be it shredded paper, wire, clouds or diamonds. Here he describes the thinking behind his work and takes us on a tour of his incredible images. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/32 |
| 33 | Thomas Barnett | The Pentagon’s new map for war and peace | In this bracingly honest talk, international security strategist Thomas Barnett outlines a post-Cold War solution for the foundering U.S. military that is both sensible and breathtaking in its simplicity: Break it in two. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/33 |
| 34 | Phil Borges | Documenting our endangered cultures | Photographer Phil Borges shows rarely seen images of people from the mountains of Dharamsala, India, and the jungles of the Ecuadorean Amazon. In documenting these endangered cultures, he intends to help preserve them. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/34 |
| 35 | James Watson | The double helix and today’s DNA mysteries | Nobel laureate James Watson opens TED2005 with the frank and funny story of how he and his research partner, Francis Crick, discovered the structure of DNA. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/35 |
| 36 | Robert Neuwirth | The “shadow cities” of the future | Robert Neuwirth, author of Shadow Cities , finds the world’s squatter sites — where a billion people now make their homes — to be thriving centers of ingenuity and innovation. He takes us on a tour. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/36 |
| 37 | Jimmy Wales | How a ragtag band created Wikipedia | Jimmy Wales recalls how he assembled “a ragtag band of volunteers,” gave them tools for collaborating and created Wikipedia, the self-organizing, self-correcting, never-finished online encyclopedia. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/37 |
| 38 | Ray Kurzweil | How technology’s accelerating power will transform us | Inventor, entrepreneur and visionary Ray Kurzweil explains in abundant, grounded detail why, by the 2020s, we will have reverse-engineered the human brain and nanobots will be operating your consciousness. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/38 |
| 39 | Aubrey de Grey | Why we age and how we can avoid it | Cambridge researcher Aubrey de Grey argues that aging is merely a disease — and a curable one at that. Humans age in seven basic ways, he says, all of which can be averted. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/39 |
| 40 | Frans Lanting | A lyrical view of life on Earth | In this stunning slideshow, celebrated nature photographer Frans Lanting presents The LIFE Project, a poetic collection of photographs that tell the story of our planet, from its eruptive beginnings to its present diversity. Soundtrack by Philip Glass. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/40 |
| 41 | Nicholas Negroponte | The vision behind One Laptop Per Child | Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the MIT Media Laboratory, describes how the One Laptop Per Child project will build and distribute the “$100 laptop.” | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/41 |
| 42 | Sir Martin Rees | Earth in its final century? | Speaking as both an astronomer and “a concerned member of the human race,” Sir Martin Rees examines our planet and its future from a cosmic perspective. He urges action to prevent dark consequences from our scientific and technological development. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/42 |
| 43 | Paul Bennett | Design is in the details | Showing a series of inspiring, unusual and playful products, British branding and design guru Paul Bennett explains that design doesn’t have to be about grand gestures, but can solve small, universal and overlooked problems. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/43 |
| 44 | Nick Bostrom | Humanity’s biggest problems aren’t what you think they are | Oxford philosopher and transhumanist Nick Bostrom examines the future of humankind and asks whether we might alter the fundamental nature of humanity to solve our most intrinsic problems. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/44 |
| 45 | Sirena Huang | Dazzling set by 11-year-old violinist | Violinist Sirena Huang gives a technically brilliant and emotionally nuanced performance. In a charming interlude, the 11-year-old praises the timeless design of her instrument. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/45 |
| 46 | Jennifer Lin | Magical improv from 14-year-old pianist | Pianist and composer Jennifer Lin gives a magical performance, talks about the process of creativity and improvises a moving solo piece based on a random sequence of notes. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/46 |
| 30 | David Deutsch | What is our place in the cosmos? | Legendary scientist David Deutsch puts theoretical physics on the back burner to discuss a more urgent matter: the survival of our species. The first step toward solving global warming, he says, is to admit that we have a problem. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/30 |
| 48 | Saul Griffith | Hardware solutions to everyday problems | Inventor and MacArthur fellow Saul Griffith shares some innovative ideas from his lab — from “smart rope” to a house-sized kite for towing large loads. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/48 |
| 49 | Joshua Prince-Ramus | Designing the Seattle Central Library | Architect Joshua Prince-Ramus takes the audience on dazzling, dizzying virtual tours of three recent projects: the Central Library in Seattle, the Museum Plaza in Louisville and the Charles Wyly Theater in Dallas. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/49 |
| 50 | Stefan Sagmeister | Yes, design can make you happy | Graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister takes the audience on a whimsical journey through moments of his life that made him happy — and notes how many of these moments have to do with good design. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/50 |
| 51 | Amory Lovins | We must win the oil endgame | In this energizing talk, Amory Lovins lays out his simple plan for weaning the US off oil and revitalizing the economy. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/51 |
| 53 | Majora Carter | Greening the ghetto | In an emotionally charged talk, MacArthur-winning activist Majora Carter details her fight for environmental justice in the South Bronx — and shows how minority neighborhood suffer most from flawed urban policy. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/53 |
| 54 | Cameron Sinclair | TED Prize wish: Open-source architecture to house the world | Accepting his 2006 TED Prize, Cameron Sinclair demonstrates how passionate designers and architects can respond to world housing crises. He unveils his TED Prize wish for a network to improve global living standards through collaborative design. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/54 |
| 55 | Jehane Noujaim | TED Prize wish: Unite the world on Pangea Day, a global day of film | In this hopeful talk, Jehane Noujaim unveils her 2006 TED Prize wish: to bring the world together for one day a year through the power of film. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/55 |
| 56 | Edward Burtynsky | TED Prize wish: Share the story of Earth’s manufactured landscapes | Accepting his 2005 TED Prize, photographer Edward Burtynsky makes a wish: that his images — stunning landscapes that document humanity’s impact on the world — help persuade millions to join a global conversation on sustainability. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/56 |
| 57 | Robert Fischell | TED Prize wish: Finding new cures for migraine, depression, malpractice | Accepting his 2005 TED Prize, inventor Robert Fischell makes three wishes: redesigning a portable device that treats migraines, finding new cures for clinical depression and reforming the medical malpractice system. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/57 |
| 58 | Larry Brilliant | TED Prize wish: Help stop the next pandemic | Accepting the 2006 TED Prize, Dr. Larry Brilliant talks about how smallpox was eradicated from the planet, and calls for a new global system that can identify and contain pandemics before they spread. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/58 |
| 59 | Bono | TED Prize wish: Join my call to action on Africa | Musician and activist Bono accepts the 2005 TED Prize with a riveting talk, arguing that aid to Africa isn’t just another celebrity cause; it’s a global emergency. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/59 |
| 60 | Anna Deavere Smith | Four American characters | Writer and actor Anna Deavere Smith gives life to author Studs Terkel, convict Paulette Jenkins, a Korean shopkeeper and a bull rider, excerpts from her solo show “On the Road: A Search for American Character.” | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/60 |
| 61 | Steven Johnson | A guided tour of the Ghost Map | Author Steven Johnson takes us on a 10-minute tour of The Ghost Map , his book about a cholera outbreak in 1854 London and the impact it had on science, cities and modern society. | TEDSalon 2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/61 |
| 62 | Bjorn Lomborg | Our priorities for saving the world | Given $50 billion to spend, which would you solve first, AIDS or global warming? Danish political scientist Bjorn Lomborg comes up with surprising answers. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/62 |
| 63 | Charles Leadbeater | The rise of the amateur professional | In this deceptively casual talk, Charles Leadbeater weaves a tight argument that innovation isn’t just for professionals anymore. Passionate amateurs, using new tools, are creating products and paradigms that companies can’t. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/63 |
| 64 | Eve Ensler | Finding happiness in body and soul | Eve Ensler, creator of The Vagina Monologues, shares how a discussion about menopause with her friends led to talking about all sorts of sexual acts onstage, waging a global campaign to end violence toward women and finding her own happiness. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/64 |
| 65 | Jeff Han | Unveiling the genius of multi-touch interface design | Jeff Han shows off a cheap, scalable multi-touch and pressure-sensitive computer screen interface that may spell the end of point-and-click. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/65 |
| 66 | Sir Ken Robinson | Do schools kill creativity? | Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/66 |
| 67 | Peter Donnelly | How juries are fooled by statistics | Oxford mathematician Peter Donnelly reveals the common mistakes humans make in interpreting statistics — and the devastating impact these errors can have on the outcome of criminal trials. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/67 |
| 68 | Robert Wright | How cooperation (eventually) trumps conflict | Author Robert Wright explains “non-zero-sumness” — the network of linked fortunes and cooperation that has guided our evolution to this point — and how we can use it to help save humanity today. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/68 |
| 69 | Wade Davis | Cultures at the far edge of the world | With stunning photos and stories, National Geographic Explorer Wade Davis celebrates the extraordinary diversity of the world’s indigenous cultures, which are disappearing from the planet at an alarming rate. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/69 |
| 70 | Richard St. John | Secrets of success in 8 words, 3 minutes | Why do people succeed? Is it because they’re smart? Or are they just lucky? Neither. Analyst Richard St. John condenses years of interviews into an unmissable 3-minute slideshow on the real secrets of success. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/70 |
| 71 | Rick Warren | Living a life of purpose | Pastor Rick Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life, reflects on his own crisis of purpose in the wake of his book’s wild success. He explains his belief that God’s intention is for each of us to use our talents and influence to do good. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/71 |
| 72 | Chris Anderson (Wired) | Technology’s Long Tail | Chris Anderson, the editor of WIRED , explores the four key stages of any viable technology: setting the right price, gaining market share, displacing an established technology and, finally, becoming ubiquitous. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/72 |
| 73 | Carl Honore | Slowing down in a world built for speed | Journalist Carl Honore believes the Western world’s emphasis on speed erodes health, productivity and quality of life. But there’s a backlash brewing, as everyday people start putting the brakes on their all-too-modern lives. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/73 |
| 74 | Alex Steffen | Inspired ideas for a sustainable future | Worldchanging.com founder Alex Steffen argues that reducing humanity’s ecological footprint is incredibly vital now, as the western consumer lifestyle spreads to developing countries. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/74 |
| 75 | Sasa Vucinic | Why a free press is the best investment | A free press — papers, magazines, radio, TV, blogs — is the backbone of any true democracy (and a vital watchdog on business). Sasa Vucinic, a journalist from Belgrade, talks about his new fund, which supports media by selling “free press bonds.” | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/75 |
| 76 | Susan Savage-Rumbaugh | Apes that write, start fires and play Pac-Man | Savage-Rumbaugh’s work with bonobo apes, which can understand spoken language and learn tasks by watching, forces the audience to rethink how much of what a species can do is determined by biology — and how much by cultural exposure. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/76 |
| 77 | Sheila Patek | Measuring the fastest animal on earth | Biologist Sheila Patek talks about her work measuring the feeding strike of the mantis shrimp, one of the fastest movements in the animal world, using video cameras recording at 20,000 frames per second. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/77 |
| 78 | Al Seckel | Your brain is badly wired — enjoy it! | Al Seckel, a cognitive neuroscientist, explores the perceptual illusions that fool our brains. Loads of eye tricks help him prove that not only are we easily fooled, we kind of like it. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/78 |
| 79 | Iqbal Quadir | The power of the mobile phone to end poverty | Iqbal Quadir tells how his experiences as a kid in poor Bangladesh, and later as a banker in New York, led him to start a mobile phone operator connecting 80 million rural Bangladeshi — and to become a champion of bottom-up development. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/79 |
| 80 | Juan Enriquez | Decoding the future with genomics | Scientific discoveries, futurist Juan Enriquez notes, demand a shift in code, and our ability to thrive depends on our mastery of that code. Here, he applies this notion to the field of genomics. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/80 |
| 81 | Nora York | “What I Want” | Nora York gives a stunning performance of her song “What I Want,” with Jamie Lawrence (keyboards), Steve Tarshis (guitar) and Arthur Kell (bass). | TEDSalon 2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/81 |
| 82 | Dean Kamen | New prosthetic arm for veterans | Inventor Dean Kamen previews the prosthetic arm he’s developing at the request of the US Department of Defense. His quiet commitment to using technology to solve problems — while honoring the human spirit — has never been more clear. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/82 |
| 83 | E.O. Wilson | TED Prize wish: Help build the Encyclopedia of Life | As E.O. Wilson accepts his 2007 TED Prize, he makes a plea on behalf of all creatures that we learn more about our biosphere — and build a networked encyclopedia of all the world’s knowledge about life. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/83 |
| 84 | James Nachtwey | TED Prize wish: Share a vital story with the world | Accepting his 2007 TED Prize, war photographer James Nachtwey shows his life’s work and asks TED to help him continue telling the story with innovative, exciting uses of news photography in the digital era. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/84 |
| 85 | Bill Clinton | TED Prize wish: Let’s build a health care system in Rwanda | Accepting the 2007 TED Prize, Bill Clinton asks for help in bringing health care to Rwanda — and the rest of the world. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/85 |
| 86 | Julia Sweeney | “Letting Go of God” (an excerpt) | Julia Sweeney (God Said, “Ha!”) performs the first 15 minutes of her 2006 solo show Letting Go of God. When two young Mormon missionaries knock on her door one day, it touches off a quest to completely rethink her own beliefs. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/86 |
| 87 | Ze Frank | What’s so funny about the Web? | Performer and web toymaker Ze Frank delivers a hilarious nerdcore standup routine, then tells us what he’s seriously passionate about: helping people create and interact using simple, addictive web tools. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/87 |
| 89 | Ben Saunders | Three things to know before you ski to the North Pole | Arctic explorer Ben Saunders recounts his harrowing solo ski trek to the North Pole, complete with engaging anecdotes, gorgeous photos and never-before-seen video. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/89 |
| 90 | Neil Gershenfeld | The beckoning promise of personal fabrication | MIT professor Neil Gershenfeld talks about his Fab Lab — a low-cost lab that lets people build things they need using digital and analog tools. It’s a simple idea with powerful results. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/90 |
| 91 | Jacqueline Novogratz | Investing in Africa’s own solutions | Jacqueline Novogratz applauds the world’s heightened interest in Africa and poverty, but argues persuasively for a new approach. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/91 |
| 92 | Hans Rosling | Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you’ve ever seen | You’ve never seen data presented like this. With the drama and urgency of a sportscaster, statistics guru Hans Rosling debunks myths about the so-called “developing world.” | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/92 |
| 93 | Barry Schwartz | The paradox of choice | Psychologist Barry Schwartz takes aim at a central tenet of western societies: freedom of choice. In Schwartz’s estimation, choice has made us not freer but more paralyzed, not happier but more dissatisfied. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/93 |
| 94 | Dan Dennett | A secular, scientific rebuttal to Rick Warren | Philosopher Dan Dennett calls for religion — all religion — to be taught in schools, so we can understand its nature as a natural phenomenon. Then he takes on The Purpose-Driven Life, disputing its claim that, to be moral, one must deny evolution. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/94 |
| 96 | Tony Robbins | Why we do what we do, and how we can do it better | Tony Robbins discusses the “invisible forces” that motivate everyone’s actions — and high-fives Al Gore in the front row. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/96 |
| 97 | Dan Gilbert | Why are we happy? Why aren’t we happy? | Dan Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness, challenges the idea that we’ll be miserable if we don’t get what we want. Our “psychological immune system” lets us feel truly happy even when things don’t go as planned. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/97 |
| 98 | Richard Dawkins | The universe is queerer than we can suppose | Biologist Richard Dawkins makes a case for “thinking the improbable” by looking at how the human frame of reference limits our understanding of the universe. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/98 |
| 99 | Jill Sobule | A happy song about global warming | A happy song about global warming, from Jill Sobule. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/99 |
| 101 | Caroline Lavelle | A cello performance that casts a spell | Caroline Lavelle plays the cello like a sorceress casting a spell, occasionally hiding behind her wild mane of blond hair as she sings of pastoral themes. She performs “Farther than the Sun,” backed by Thomas Dolby on keyboards. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/101 |
| 102 | Dan Dennett | Can we know our own minds? | Philosopher Dan Dennett makes a compelling argument that not only don’t we understand our own consciousness, but that half the time our brains are actively fooling us. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/102 |
| 103 | Evelyn Glennie | How to listen to music with your whole body | In this soaring demonstration, deaf percussionist Evelyn Glennie illustrates how listening to music involves much more than simply letting sound waves hit your eardrums. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/103 |
| 104 | William McDonough | The wisdom of designing Cradle to Cradle | Green-minded architect and designer William McDonough asks what our buildings and products would look like if designers took into account “all children, all species, for all time.” | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/104 |
| 105 | Jeff Bezos | After the gold rush, there’s innovation ahead | The dot-com boom and bust is often compared to the Gold Rush. But Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos says it’s more like the early days of the electric industry. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/105 |
| 108 | Rives | A mockingbird remix of TED2006 | Rives recaps the most memorable moments of TED2006 in the free-spirited rhyming verse of a fantastical mockingbird lullaby. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/108 |
| 109 | Eddi Reader, Thomas Dolby | “What You Do With What You’ve Got” | Singer/songwriter Eddi Reader performs “What You Do With What You’ve Got,” a meditation on a very TED theme: how to use your gifts and talents to make a difference. With Thomas Dolby on piano. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/109 |
| 110 | Eddi Reader | “Kiteflyer’s Hill” | Singer/songwriter Eddi Reader performs “Kiteflyer’s Hill,” a tender look back at a lost love. With Thomas Dolby on piano. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/110 |
| 112 | Rev. Tom Honey | How could God have allowed the tsunami? | In the days following the tragic South Asian tsunami of 2004, the Rev. Tom Honey pondered the question, “How could a loving God have done this?” Here is his answer. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/112 |
| 113 | Richard Dawkins | An atheist’s call to arms | Richard Dawkins urges all atheists to openly state their position — and to fight the incursion of the church into politics and science. A fiery, funny, powerful talk. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/113 |
| 114 | Tom Rielly | A comic send-up of TED2006 | Satirist Tom Rielly delivers a wicked parody of the 2006 TED conference, taking down the $100 laptop, the plight of the polar bear, and people who mention, one too many times, that they work at Harvard. Watch for a special moment between Tom and Al Gore. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/114 |
| 115 | Thomas Dolby, Rachelle Garniez | “La Vie en Rose” | Featuring the vocals and mischievous bell-playing of accordionist and singer Rachelle Garniez, the TED House Band — led by Thomas Dolby on keyboard — delivers this delightful rendition of the Edith Piaf standard “La Vie en Rose.” | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/115 |
| 116 | Dan Dennett | Ants, terrorism, and the awesome power of memes | Starting with the simple tale of an ant, philosopher Dan Dennett unleashes a devastating salvo of ideas, making a powerful case for the existence of memes — concepts that are literally alive. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/116 |
| 117 | Natalie MacMaster, Thomas Dolby | Fiddling in reel time | Violinist Natalie MacMaster and TED Musical Director Thomas Dolby play Dolby’s original song “Blue Is a River” in this ethereal duet — with a little dancing. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/117 |
| 118 | Sergey Brin and Larry Page | Inside the Google machine | Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin offer a peek inside the Google machine, sharing tidbits about international search patterns, the philanthropic Google Foundation, and the company’s dedication to innovation and employee happiness. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/118 |
| 119 | Stew | “Black Men Ski” | What happens when a black man visits Aspen? Singer/songwriter Stew and his band are about to let you know. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/119 |
| 121 | James Howard Kunstler | The tragedy of suburbia | In James Howard Kunstler’s view, public spaces should be inspired centers of civic life and the physical manifestation of the common good. Instead, he argues, what we have in America is a nation of places not worth caring about. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/121 |
| 122 | David Kelley | The future of design is human-centered | IDEO’s David Kelley says that product design has become much less about the hardware and more about the user experience. He shows video of this new, broader approach, including footage from the Prada store in New York. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/122 |
| 123 | Stewart Brand | Why squatter cities are a good thing | Rural villages worldwide are being deserted, as billions of people flock to cities to live in teeming squatter camps and slums. Stewart Brand says this is a good thing. Why? It’ll take you 3 minutes to find out. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/123 |
| 125 | Jeff Hawkins | Brain science is about to fundamentally change computing | Treo creator Jeff Hawkins urges us to take a new look at the brain — to see it not as a fast processor, but as a memory system that stores and plays back experiences to help us predict, intelligently, what will happen next. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/125 |
| 126 | Tierney Thys | Swim with giant sunfish in the open ocean | Marine biologist Tierney Thys asks us to step into the water to visit the world of the Mola mola , or giant ocean sunfish. Basking, eating jellyfish and getting massages, this behemoth offers clues to life in the open sea. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/126 |
| 127 | Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala | How to help Africa? Do business there | We know the negative images of Africa — famine and disease, conflict and corruption. But, says Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, there’s another, less-told story happening in many African nations: one of reform, economic growth and business opportunity. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/127 |
| 128 | John Doerr | Seeking salvation and profit in greentech | “I don’t think we’re going to make it,” John Doerr proclaims, in an emotional talk about climate change and investment. Spurred on by his daughter, who demanded he fix the mess the world is heading for, he and his partners. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/128 |
| 129 | Blaise Aguera y Arcas | Jaw-dropping Photosynth demo | Blaise Aguera y Arcas leads a dazzling demo of Photosynth, software that could transform the way we look at digital images. Using still photos culled from the Web, Photosynth builds breathtaking dreamscapes and lets us navigate them. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/129 |
| 130 | Bob Thurman | Becoming Buddha — on the Web | In our hyperlinked world, we can know anything, anytime. And this mass enlightenment, says Buddhist scholar Bob Thurman, is our first step toward Buddha nature. | TEDSalon 2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/130 |
| 131 | Anand Agarawala | BumpTop desktop is a beautiful mess | Anand Agarawala presents BumpTop, a user interface that takes the usual desktop metaphor to a glorious, 3-D extreme, transforming file navigation into a freewheeling playground of crumpled documents and clipping-covered “walls.” | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/131 |
| 100 | Ethel | “Blue Room” | The avant-garde string quartet Ethel performs the third movement from Phil Kline’s four-part suite “The Blue Room and Other Stories.” Searching melodic lines show off the deep, emotional musicality of these passionate players. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/100 |
| 139 | Stephen Lawler | Look! Up in the sky! It’s Virtual Earth! | Microsoft’s Stephen Lawler gives a whirlwind tour of Virtual Earth, moving up, down and through its hyper-real cityscapes with dazzlingly fluidity, a remarkable feat that requires staggering amounts of data to bring into focus. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/139 |
| 140 | Hans Rosling | New insights on poverty and life around the world | Researcher Hans Rosling uses his cool data tools to show how countries are pulling themselves out of poverty. He demos Dollar Street, comparing households of varying income levels worldwide. Then he does something really amazing. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/140 |
| 141 | Bill Stone | Journey to the center of the Earth … and beyond! | Bill Stone, a maverick cave explorer who has plumbed Earth’s deepest abysses, discusses his efforts to mine lunar ice for space fuel and to build an autonomous robot for studying Jupiter’s moon Europa. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/141 |
| 142 | Alan Russell | Why can’t we grow new body parts? | Alan Russell studies regenerative medicine — a breakthrough way of thinking about disease and injury, using a process that can signal the body to rebuild itself. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/142 |
| 143 | Emily Oster | What do we really know about the spread of AIDS? | Emily Oster re-examines the stats on AIDS in Africa from an economic perspective and reaches a stunning conclusion: Everything we know about the spread of HIV on the continent is wrong. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/143 |
| 144 | Jonathan Harris | The Web’s secret stories | Jonathan Harris wants to make sense of the emotional world of the Web. With deep compassion for the human condition, his projects troll the Internet to find out what we’re all feeling and looking for. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/144 |
| 145 | Deborah Gordon | How do ants know what to do? | With a dusty backhoe, a handful of Japanese paint markers and a few students in tow, Deborah Gordon digs up ant colonies in the Arizona desert in search of keys to understanding complex systems. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/145 |
| 146 | Will Wright | Toys that make worlds | In a friendly, high-speed presentation, Will Wright demos his newest game, Spore, which promises to dazzle users even more than his previous masterpieces. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/146 |
| 130 | David Bolinsky | Fantastic voyage inside a cell | Medical animator David Bolinsky presents 3 minutes of stunning animation that show the bustling life inside a cell. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/130 |
| 148 | Rives | Is 4 a.m. the new midnight? | Poet Rives does 8 minutes of lyrical origami, folding history into a series of coincidences surrounding that most surreal of hours, 4 o’clock in the morning. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/148 |
| 149 | Allison Hunt | How I got my new hip | When Allison Hunt found out that she needed a new hip — and that Canada’s national health care system would require her to spend nearly 2 years on a waiting list (and in pain) — she took matters into her own hands. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/149 |
| 151 | George Ayittey | Cheetahs vs. Hippos for Africa’s future | Ghanaian economist George Ayittey unleashes a torrent of controlled anger toward corrupt leaders in Africa — and calls on the “Cheetah generation” to take back the continent. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/151 |
| 152 | Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala | Let’s have a deeper discussion on aid | Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the former finance minister of Nigeria, sums up four days of intense discussion on aid versus trade on the closing day of TEDGlobal 2007, and shares a personal story explaining her own commitment to this cause. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/152 |
| 153 | William Kamkwamba | How I built my family a windmill | When he was just 14 years old, Malawian inventor William Kamkwamba built his family an electricity-generating windmill from spare parts, working from rough plans he found in a library book. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/153 |
| 154 | Euvin Naidoo | Africa as an investment | South African investment banker Euvin Naidoo explains why investing in Africa can make great business sense. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/154 |
| 155 | Chris Abani | Learning the stories of Africa | In this deeply personal talk, Nigerian writer Chris Abani says that “what we know about how to be who we are” comes from stories. He searches for the heart of Africa through its poems and narrative, including his own. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/155 |
| 156 | Patrick Awuah | Educating a new generation of African leaders | Patrick Awuah makes the case that a liberal arts education is critical to forming true leaders. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/156 |
| 157 | Jacqueline Novogratz | Tackling poverty with “patient capital” | Jacqueline Novogratz shares stories of how “patient capital” can bring sustainable jobs, goods, services — and dignity — to the world’s poorest. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/157 |
| 158 | Vusi Mahlasela | “Thula Mama” | South African singer-songwriter Vusi Mahlasela dedicates his song, “Thula Mama,” to all women — and especially his grandmother. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/158 |
| 159 | Andrew Mwenda | Let’s take a new look at African aid | In this provocative talk, journalist Andrew Mwenda asks us to reframe the “African question” — to look beyond the media’s stories of poverty, civil war and helplessness and see the opportunities for creating wealth and happiness throughout the continent. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/159 |
| 161 | Erin McKean | Redefining the dictionary | Is the beloved paper dictionary doomed to extinction? In this infectiously exuberant talk, leading lexicographer Erin McKean looks at the many ways today’s print dictionary is poised for transformation. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/161 |
| 162 | Theo Jansen | The art of creating creatures | Artist Theo Jansen demonstrates the amazingly lifelike kinetic sculptures he builds from plastic tubes and lemonade bottles. His creatures are designed to move — and even survive — on their own. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/162 |
| 163 | Steven Pinker | A brief history of violence | Steven Pinker charts the decline of violence from Biblical times to the present, and argues that, though it may seem illogical and even obscene, given Iraq and Darfur, we are living in the most peaceful time in our species’ existence. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/163 |
| 164 | Steven Pinker | The stuff of thought | In an exclusive preview of his book The Stuff of Thought , Steven Pinker looks at language and how it expresses what goes on in our minds — and how the words we choose communicate much more than we realize. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/164 |
| 165 | Hod Lipson | Robots that are “self-aware” | Hod Lipson demonstrates a few of his cool little robots, which have the ability to learn, understand themselves and even self-replicate. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/165 |
| 167 | Stephen Petranek | 10 ways the world could end | How might the world end? Stephen Petranek lays out the challenges that face us in the drive to preserve the human race. Will we be wiped out by an asteroid? Eco-collapse? How about a particle collider gone wild? | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/167 |
| 168 | Zeresenay Alemseged | Finding the origins of humanity | Paleoanthropologist Zeresenay Alemseged looks for the roots of humanity in Ethiopia’s badlands. Here he talks about finding the oldest skeleteon of a humanoid child — and how Africa holds the clues to our humanity. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/168 |
| 169 | Vusi Mahlasela | “Woza” | After Vusi Mahlasela’s 3-song set at TEDGlobal, the audience wouldn’t let him go. His encore, “Woza,” showcases his brilliant guitar playing and multilingual lyrics. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/169 |
| 170 | Jeff Skoll | Making movies that make change | Film producer Jeff Skoll ( An Inconvenient Truth ) talks about his film company, Participant Productions, and the people who’ve inspired him to do good. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/170 |
| 171 | Deborah Scranton | Scenes from “The War Tapes” | Filmmaker Deborah Scranton talks about and shows clips from her documentary The War Tapes, which puts cameras in the hands of soldiers fighting in Iraq. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/171 |
| 172 | John Maeda | Simplicity patterns | The MIT Media Lab’s John Maeda lives at the intersection of technology and art, a place that can get very complicated. Here he talks about paring down to basics. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/172 |
| 174 | Norman Foster | Building on the green agenda | Architect Norman Foster discusses his own work to show how computers can help architects design buildings that are green, beautiful and “basically pollution-free.” From the 2007 DLD Conference, Munich; www.dld-conference.com | DLD 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/174 |
| 175 | Sugata Mitra | Can kids teach themselves? | Speaking at LIFT 2007, Sugata Mitra talks about his Hole in the Wall project. Young kids in this project figured out how to use a PC on their own — and then taught other kids. He asks, what else can children teach themselves? | LIFT 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/175 |
| 176 | Paul MacCready | Flying on solar wings | Paul MacCready — aircraft designer, environmentalist, and lifelong lover of flight — talks about his long career. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/176 |
| 177 | Larry Brilliant | The case for informed optimism | We’ve known about global warming for 50 years and done little about it, says Google.org director Larry Brilliant. In spite of this and other depressing trends, he’s optimistic and tells us why. From Skoll World Forum, Oxford, UK, www.skollfoundation.org | Skoll World Forum 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/177 |
| 178 | Carolyn Porco | Fly me to the moons of Saturn | Planetary scientist Carolyn Porco shows images from the Cassini voyage to Saturn, focusing on its largest moon, Titan, and on frozen Enceladus, which seems to shoot jets of ice. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/178 |
| 179 | Kenichi Ebina | Hip-hop dance and a little magic | Kenichi Ebina moves his body in a manner that appears to defy the limits imposed by the human skeleton. He combines breakdancing and hip-hop with mime using movements that are simultaneously precise and fluid. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/179 |
| 181 | Richard Branson | Life at 30,000 feet | Richard Branson talks to TED’s Chris Anderson about the ups and the downs of his career, from his multibillionaire success to his multiple near-death experiences — and reveals some of his (very surprising) motivations. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/181 |
| 182 | Maira Kalman | The illustrated woman | Author and illustrator Maira Kalman talks about her life and work, from her covers for The New Yorker to her books for children and grown-ups. She is as wonderful, as wise and as deliciously off-kilter in person as she is on paper. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/182 |
| 150 | Paul Rothemund | Casting spells with DNA | Paul Rothemund writes code that causes DNA to arrange itself into a star, a smiley face and more. Sure, it’s a stunt, but it’s also a demonstration of self-assembly at the smallest of scales — with vast implications for the future of making things. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/150 |
| 184 | Vilayanur Ramachandran | A journey to the center of your mind | Vilayanur Ramachandran tells us what brain damage can reveal about the connection between celebral tissue and the mind, using three startling delusions as examples. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/184 |
| 185 | Eleni Gabre-Madhin | Building a commodities market in Ethiopia | Economist Eleni Gabre-Madhin outlines her ambitious vision to found the first commodities market in Ethiopia. Her plan would create wealth, minimize risk for farmers and turn the world’s largest recipient of food aid into a regional food basket. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/185 |
| 186 | Rokia Traore | “M’Bifo” | Rokia Traore sings the moving “M’Bifo,” accompanied on the n’goni, a lute-like Malian stringed instrument with a soulful timbre. A quietly mesmerizing performance. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/186 |
| 187 | Larry Lessig | How creativity is being strangled by the law | Larry Lessig, the Net’s most celebrated lawyer, cites John Philip Sousa, celestial copyrights and the “ASCAP cartel” in his argument for reviving our creative culture. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/187 |
| 188 | Raul Midon | “All the Answers” and “Tembererana” | Singer/guitarist Raul Midon performs “All the Answers” in a world premiere at TED2007, followed by the sprightly “Tembererana.” | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/188 |
| 189 | Sherwin Nuland | My history of electroshock therapy | Surgeon and author Sherwin Nuland discusses the development of electroshock therapy as a cure for severe, life-threatening depression — including his own. It’s a moving and heartfelt talk about relief, redemption and second chances. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/189 |
| 190 | Jan Chipchase | Our cell phones, ourselves | Nokia researcher Jan Chipchase’s investigation into the ways we interact with technology has led him from the villages of Uganda to the insides of our pockets. He’s made some unexpected discoveries along the way. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/190 |
| 191 | Matthieu Ricard | Habits of happiness | What is happiness, and how can we all get some? Biochemist turned Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard says we can train our minds in habits of well-being, to generate a true sense of serenity and fulfillment. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/191 |
| 192 | David Keith | A surprising idea for “solving” climate change | Environmental scientist David Keith proposes a cheap, effective, shocking means to address climate change: What if we injected a huge cloud of ash into the atmosphere to deflect sunlight and heat? | TEDSalon 2007:Hot Science | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/192 |
| 193 | Juan Enriquez | Why can’t we grow new energy? | Juan Enriquez challenges our definition of bioenergy. Oil, coal, gas and other hydrocarbons are not chemical but biological products, based on plant matter — and thus, growable. Our whole approach to fuel, he argues, needs to change. | TEDSalon 2007:Hot Science | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/193 |
| 194 | Murray Gell-Mann | Beauty and truth in physics | Armed with a sense of humor and laypeople’s terms, Nobel winner Murray Gell-Mann drops some knowledge on TEDsters about particle physics, asking questions like, Are elegant equations more likely to be right than inelegant ones? | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/194 |
| 195 | Robert Full | Secrets of movement, from geckos and roaches | Biologist Robert Full shares slo-mo video of some captivating critters. Take a closer look at the spiny legs that allow cockroaches to scuttle across mesh and the nanobristle-packed feet that let geckos to run straight up walls. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/195 |
| 196 | David Pogue | A 4-minute medley on the music wars | New York Times tech columnist David Pogue performs a satirical mini-medley about iTunes and the downloading wars, borrowing a few notes from Sonny and Cher and the Village People. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/196 |
| 197 | Philippe Starck | Why design? | Designer Philippe Starck — with no pretty slides to show — spends 18 minutes reaching for the very roots of the question “Why design?” Listen carefully for one perfect mantra for all of us, genius or not. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/197 |
| 198 | Ron Eglash | African fractals, in buildings and braids | I am a mathematician, and I would like to stand on your roof.’ That is how Ron Eglash greeted many African families he met while researching the fractal patterns he’d noticed in villages across the continent. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/198 |
| 199 | Arthur Benjamin | Lightning calculation and other “Mathemagic” | In a lively show, mathemagician Arthur Benjamin races a team of calculators to figure out 3-digit squares, solves another massive mental equation and guesses a few birthdays. How does he do it? He’ll tell you. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/199 |
| 200 | Daniel Goleman | Why aren’t we all Good Samaritans? | Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence , asks why we aren’t more compassionate more of the time. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/200 |
| 201 | Lakshmi Pratury | The lost art of letter-writing | Lakshmi Pratury remembers the lost art of letter-writing and shares a series of notes her father wrote to her before he died. Her short but heartfelt talk may inspire you to set pen to paper, too. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/201 |
| 202 | Gever Tulley | 5 dangerous things you should let your kids do | Gever Tulley, founder of the Tinkering School, spells out 5 dangerous things you should let your kids do. From TED University 2007. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/202 |
| 203 | Yossi Vardi | Help fight local warming | Investor and prankster Yossi Vardi delivers a careful lecture on the dangers of blogging. Specifically, for men. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/203 |
| 204 | Isabel Allende | Tales of passion | Author and activist Isabel Allende discusses women, creativity, the definition of feminism — and, of course, passion — in this talk. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/204 |
| 205 | J.J. Abrams | The mystery box | J.J. Abrams traces his love for the unseen mystery — a passion that’s evident in his films and TV shows, including Cloverfield, Lost and Alias — back to its magical beginnings. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/205 |
| 206 | David Gallo | Underwater astonishments | David Gallo shows jaw-dropping footage of amazing sea creatures, including a color-shifting cuttlefish, a perfectly camouflaged octopus, and a Times Square’s worth of neon light displays from fish who live in the blackest depths of the ocean. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/206 |
| 200 | Paola Antonelli | Treating design as art | Paola Antonelli, design curator at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, wants to spread her appreciation of design — in all shapes and forms — around the world. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/200 |
| 208 | Ben Dunlap | The story of a passionate life | Wofford College president Ben Dunlap tells the story of Sandor Teszler, a Hungarian Holocaust survivor who taught him about passionate living and lifelong learning. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/208 |
| 209 | Bill Strickland | Rebuilding America, one slide show at a time | Bill Strickland tells a quiet and astonishing tale of redemption through arts, music, and unlikely partnerships. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/209 |
| 210 | Alison Jackson | A surprising look at celebrity | By making photographs that seem to show our favorite celebs (Diana, Elton John) doing what we really, secretly, want to see them doing, Alison Jackson explores our desire to get personal with celebs. Contains graphic images. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/210 |
| 211 | Chris Anderson (TED) | A vision for TED | When Curator Chris Anderson gave this talk in 2002, TED’s future was hanging in the balance. Here, he attempts to persuade TEDsters that his vision for turning his for-profit conference into a nonprofit event would work. It did. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/211 |
| 212 | Robin Chase | Getting cars off the road and data into the skies | Robin Chase founded Zipcar, the world’s biggest car-sharing business. That was one of her smaller ideas. Here she travels much farther, contemplating road-pricing schemes that will shake up our driving habits and a mesh network vast as the Interstate. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/212 |
| 213 | Jaime Lerner | Sing a song of sustainable cities | Jaime Lerner reinvented urban space in his native Curitiba, Brazil. Along the way, he changed the way city planners worldwide see what’s possible in the metropolitan landscape. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/213 |
| 214 | Michael Pollan | The omnivore’s next dilemma | What if human consciousness isn’t the end-all and be-all of Darwinism? What if we are all just pawns in corn’s clever strategy game to rule the Earth? Author Michael Pollan asks us to see the world from a plant’s-eye view. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/214 |
| 215 | David Macaulay | All roads lead to Rome Antics | David Macaulay relives the winding and sometimes surreal journey toward the completion of Rome Antics, his illustrated homage to the historic city. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/215 |
| 216 | Howard Rheingold | Way-new collaboration | Howard Rheingold talks about the coming world of collaboration, participatory media and collective action — and how Wikipedia is really an outgrowth of our natural human instinct to work as a group. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/216 |
| 217 | Eve Ensler | Security and insecurity | Playwright Eve Ensler explores our modern craving for security — and why it makes us less secure. Listen for inspiring, heartbreaking stories of women making change. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/217 |
| 218 | Pamelia Kurstin | Theremin, the untouchable music | Virtuoso Pamelia Kurstin performs and discusses her theremin, the not-just-for-sci-fi electronic instrument that is played without being touched. Songs include “Autumn Leaves,” “Lush Life” and David Mash’s “Listen, Words Are Gone.” | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/218 |
| 219 | Moshe Safdie | What makes a building unique? | Looking back over his long career, architect Moshe Safdie delves into four of his design projects and explains how he labored to make each one truly unique for its site and its users. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/219 |
| 220 | Joseph Lekuton | A parable for Kenya | Joseph Lekuton, a member of parliament in Kenya, starts with the story of his remarkable education, then offers a parable of how Africa can grow. His message of hope has never been more relevant. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/220 |
| 221 | George Dyson | Let’s take a nuclear-powered rocket to Saturn | Author George Dyson spins the story of Project Orion, a massive, nuclear-powered spacecraft that could have taken us to Saturn in five years. His insider’s perspective and a secret cache of documents bring an Atomic Age dream to life. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/221 |
| 222 | Jill Sobule, Julia Sweeney | The Jill and Julia Show | Two TED favorites, Jill Sobule and Julia Sweeney, team up for a delightful set that mixes witty songwriting with a little bit of social commentary. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/222 |
| 223 | Raspyni Brothers | Welcome to Vaudeville 2.0 | Illustrious jugglers the Raspyni Brothers show off their uncanny balance, agility, coordination and willingness to sacrifice (others). Now, if you’ll just stand completely still… | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/223 |
| 224 | Roy Gould, Curtis Wong | WorldWide Telescope | Educator Roy Gould and researcher Curtis Wong show a sneak preview of Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope, which compiles images from telescopes and satellites to build a comprehensive, interactive view of our universe. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/224 |
| 225 | Steve Jurvetson | The joy of rockets | Moneyman Steve Jurvetson takes TEDsters inside his awesome hobby — launching model rockets — by sharing some gorgeous photos, his infectious glee and just a whiff of danger. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/225 |
| 227 | Craig Venter | On the verge of creating synthetic life | “Can we create new life out of our digital universe?” Craig Venter asks. His answer is “yes” — and pretty soon. He walks through his latest research and promises that we’ll soon be able to build and boot up a synthetic chromosome. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/227 |
| 228 | Alan Kay | A powerful idea about teaching ideas | With all the intensity and brilliance for which he is known, Alan Kay envisions better techniques for teaching kids by using computers to illustrate experience in ways — mathematically and scientifically — that only computers can. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/228 |
| 229 | Jill Bolte Taylor | My stroke of insight | Jill Bolte Taylor got a research opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: She had a massive stroke, and watched as her brain functions — motion, speech, self-awareness — shut down one by one. An astonishing story. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/229 |
| 230 | Nicholas Negroponte | From 1984, 4 predictions about the future (3 of them correct) | With surprising accuracy, Nicholas Negroponte predicts what will happen with CD-ROMs, web interfaces, service kiosks, the touchscreen interface of the iPhone and his own One Laptop per Child project. | TED1(1984) | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/230 |
| 231 | Frank Gehry | From 1990, defending a vision for architecture | Before he was a legend, architect Frank Gehry takes a whistlestop tour of his early work, from his house in Venice Beach to the American Center in Paris, which was under construction (and much on his mind) when he gave this talk. | N/A | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/231 |
| 232 | Neil Turok | 2008 TED Prize wish: An African Einstein | Accepting his 2008 TED Prize, physicist Neil Turok speaks out for talented young Africans starved of opportunity: by unlocking and nurturing the continent’s creative potential, we can create a change in Africa’s future. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/232 |
| 233 | Dave Eggers | 2008 TED Prize wish: Once Upon a School | Accepting his 2008 TED Prize, author Dave Eggers asks the TED community to personally, creatively engage with local public schools. With spellbinding eagerness, he talks about how his 826 Valencia tutoring center inspired others around the world to open | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/233 |
| 234 | Karen Armstrong | 2008 TED Prize wish: Charter for Compassion | People want to be religious, says scholar Karen Armstrong; we should act to help make religion a force for harmony. She asks the TED community to help her build a Charter for Compassion — to help restore the Golden Rule as the central global religious do | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/234 |
| 235 | Siegfried Woldhek | The true face of Leonardo Da Vinci? | Mona Lisa is one of the best-known faces on the planet. But would you recognize an image of Leonardo da Vinci? Illustrator Siegfried Woldhek uses some thoughtful image-analysis techniques to find what he believes is the true face of Leonardo. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/235 |
| 236 | Christopher deCharms | Looking inside the brain in real time | Neuroscientist and inventor Christopher deCharms demonstrates a new way to use fMRI to show brain activity — thoughts, emotions, pain — while it is happening. In other words, you can actually see how you feel. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/236 |
| 237 | Clifford Stoll | 18 minutes with an agile mind | Clifford Stoll captivates his audience with a wildly energetic sprinkling of anecdotes, observations, asides — and even a science experiment. After all, by his own definition, he’s a scientist: “Once I do something, I want to do something else.” | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/237 |
| 239 | David Hoffman | Catch Sputnik mania! | Filmmaker David Hoffman shares footage from his feature-length documentary Sputnik Mania, which shows how the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik in 1957 led to both the space race and the arms race — and jump-started science and math education around the w | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/239 |
| 241 | Jakob Trollback | Rethinking the music video | What would a music video look like if it were directed by the music, purely as an expression of a great song, rather than driven by a filmmaker’s concept? Designer Jakob Trollback shares the results of his experiment in the form. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/241 |
| 242 | Stephen Hawking | Asking big questions about the universe | In keeping with the theme of TED2008, professor Stephen Hawking asks some Big Questions about our universe — How did the universe begin? How did life begin? Are we alone? — and discusses how we might go about answering them. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/242 |
| 243 | Al Gore | New thinking on the climate crisis | In this brand-new slideshow (premiering on TED.com), Al Gore presents evidence that the pace of climate change may be even worse than scientists recently predicted. He challenges us to act. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/243 |
| 244 | Paul Koontz | Tourist snapshots from North Korea | While on vacation in Asia in 2007, Paul Koontz got the rare chance to spend a few days in North Korea as a tourist. He brought along his kids and his camera. In this talk, he shares his experiences, from quotidian details to grand spectacle. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/244 |
| 245 | Johnny Lee | Creating tech marvels out of a $40 Wii Remote | Building sophisticated educational tools out of cheap parts, Johnny Lee demos his cool Wii Remote hacks, which turn the $40 video game controller into a digital whiteboard, a touchscreen and a head-mounted 3-D viewer. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/245 |
| 246 | Tod Machover, Dan Ellsey | Releasing the music in your head | Tod Machover of MIT’s Media Lab is devoted to extending musical expression to everyone, from virtuosos to amateurs, and in the most diverse forms, from opera to video games. He and composer Dan Ellsey shed light on what’s next. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/246 |
| 230 | Yochai Benkler | Open-source economics | Yochai Benkler explains how collaborative projects like Wikipedia and Linux represent the next stage of human organization. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/230 |
| 248 | Alisa Miller | Why we know less than ever about the world | Alisa Miller, head of Public Radio International, talks about why — though we want to know more about the world than ever — the US media is actually showing less. Eye-opening stats and graphs. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/248 |
| 249 | Ernest Madu | Bringing world-class health care to the poorest | Dr. Ernest Madu runs the Heart Institute of the Caribbean in Kingston, Jamaica, where he proves that — with careful design, smart technical choices, and a true desire to serve — it’s possible to offer world-class healthcare in the developing world. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/249 |
| 250 | Amy Tan | Where does creativity hide? | Novelist Amy Tan digs deep into the creative process, looking for hints of how hers evolved. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/250 |
| 251 | Brian Greene | The universe on a string | Physicist Brian Greene explains superstring theory, the idea that minscule strands of energy vibrating in 11 dimensions create every particle and force in the universe. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/251 |
| 252 | Dr. Dean Ornish | Your genes are not your fate | Dean Ornish shares new research that shows how adopting healthy lifestyle habits can affect a person at a genetic level. For instance, he says, when you live healthier, eat better, exercise, and love more, your brain cells actually increase. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/252 |
| 253 | Brian Cox | An inside tour of the world’s biggest supercollider | “Rock-star physicist” Brian Cox talks about his work on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Discussing the biggest of big science in an engaging, accessible way, Cox brings us along on a tour of the massive project. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/253 |
| 254 | They Might Be Giants | Wake up! It’s They Might Be Giants | In a very, very early-morning set, They Might Be Giants rock the final day of TED2007. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/254 |
| 255 | Hector Ruiz | The power to connect the world | Hector Ruiz, the executive chair of AMD, wants to give Internet access to everyone. In this talk, he shares his extraordinary life story and describes AMD’s 50×15 initiative that calls for connecting 50 percent of the world by 2015. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/255 |
| 258 | Paul Stamets | 6 ways mushrooms can save the world | Mycologist Paul Stamets lists 6 ways the mycelium fungus can help save the universe: cleaning polluted soil, making insecticides, treating smallpox and even flu … | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/258 |
| 259 | Paul Ewald | Can we domesticate germs? | Evolutionary biologist Paul Ewald drags us into the sewer to discuss germs. Why are some more harmful than others? How could we make the harmful ones benign? Searching for answers, he examines a disgusting, fascinating case: diarrhea. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/259 |
| 260 | Michael Moschen | Juggling rhythm and motion | Michael Moschen puts on a quietly mesmerizing show of juggling. Don’t think juggling is an art? You might just change your mind after watching Moschen in motion. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/260 |
| 261 | Joshua Klein | The amazing intelligence of crows | Hacker and writer Joshua Klein is fascinated by crows. (Notice the gleam of intelligence in their little black eyes?) After a long amateur study of corvid behavior, he’s come up with an elegant machine that may form a new bond between animal and human. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/261 |
| 263 | Mark Bittman | What’s wrong with what we eat | In this fiery and funny talk, New York Times food writer Mark Bittman weighs in on what’s wrong with the way we eat now (too much meat, too few plants; too much fast food, too little home cooking), and why it’s putting the entire planet at risk. | EG07 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/263 |
| 264 | Robert Ballard | Exploring the ocean’s hidden worlds | Ocean explorer Robert Ballard takes us on a mindbending trip to hidden worlds underwater, where he and other researchers are finding unexpected life, resources, even new mountains. He makes a case for serious exploration and mapping. Google Ocean, anyone? | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/264 |
| 265 | Rokia Traore | “Kounandi” | Singer-songwriter Rokia Traore performs “Kounandi,” a breathtaking song that blends Malian instruments with a modern, heartfelt vocal. Note: This song is not available for download. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/265 |
| 266 | Yves Behar | Creating objects that tell stories | Designer Yves Behar digs up his creative roots to discuss some of the iconic objects he’s created (the Leaf lamp, the Jawbone headset). Then he turns to the witty, surprising, elegant objects he’s working on now — including the “$100 laptop.” | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/266 |
| 267 | Arthur Ganson | Sculpture that’s truly moving | Sculptor and engineer Arthur Ganson talks about his work — kinetic art that explores deep philosophical ideas and is gee-whiz fun to look at. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/267 |
| 268 | Seyi Oyesola | Rich hospital, poor hospital | Dr. Seyi Oyesola takes a searing look at health care in underdeveloped countries. His photo tour of a Nigerian teaching hospital — all low-tech hacks and donated supplies — drives home the challenge of doing basic health care there. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/268 |
| 269 | Susan Blackmore | Memes and “temes” | Susan Blackmore studies memes: ideas that replicate themselves from brain to brain like a virus. She makes a bold new argument: Humanity has spawned a new kind of meme, the teme, which spreads itself via technology — and invents ways to keep itself alive | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/269 |
| 270 | Paul Collier | 4 ways to improve the lives of the “bottom billion” | Around the world right now, one billion people are trapped in poor or failing countries. How can we help them? Economist Paul Collier lays out a bold, compassionate plan for closing the gap between rich and poor. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/270 |
| 271 | Nathan Myhrvold | A life of fascinations | Nathan Myhrvold talks about a few of his latest fascinations — animal photography, archeology, BBQ and generally being an eccentric genius multimillionaire. Listen for wild stories from the (somewhat raunchy) edge of the animal world. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/271 |
| 272 | Philip Zimbardo | How ordinary people become monsters … or heroes | Philip Zimbardo knows how easy it is for nice people to turn bad. In this talk, he shares insights and graphic unseen photos from the Abu Ghraib trials. Then he talks about the flip side: how easy it is to be a hero, and how we can rise to the challenge. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/272 |
| 273 | Wade Davis | The worldwide web of belief and ritual | Anthropologist Wade Davis muses on the worldwide web of belief and ritual that makes us human. He shares breathtaking photos and stories of the Elder Brothers, a group of Sierra Nevada indians whose spiritual practice holds the world in balance. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/273 |
| 274 | Clay Shirky | Institutions vs. collaboration | In this prescient 2005 talk, Clay Shirky shows how closed groups and companies will give way to looser networks where small contributors have big roles and fluid cooperation replaces rigid planning. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/274 |
| 276 | Murray Gell-Mann | Do all languages have a common ancestor? | After speaking at TED2007 on elegance in physics, the amazing Murray Gell-Mann gives a quick overview of another passionate interest: finding the common ancestry of our modern languages. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/276 |
| 278 | George Dyson | The birth of the computer | Historian George Dyson tells stories from the birth of the modern computer — from its 16th-century origins to the hilarious notebooks of some early computer engineers. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/278 |
| 279 | Chris Jordan | Picturing excess | Artist Chris Jordan shows us an arresting view of what Western culture looks like. His supersized images picture some almost unimaginable statistics — like the astonishing number of paper cups we use every single day. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/279 |
| 280 | Robert Full | How engineers learn from evolution | Insects and animals have evolved some amazing skills — but, as Robert Full notes, many animals are actually over-engineered. The trick is to copy only what’s necessary. He shows how human engineers can learn from animals’ tricks. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/280 |
| 282 | David Hoffman | How would you feel if you lost everything? | Nine days before TED2008, filmmaker David Hoffman lost almost everything he owned in a fire that destroyed his home, office and 30 years of passionate collecting. He looks back at a life that’s been wiped clean in an instant — and looks forward. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/282 |
| 285 | Adam Grosser | A new vision for refrigeration | Adam Grosser talks about a project to build a refrigerator that works without electricity — to bring the vital tool to villages and clinics worldwide. Tweaking some old technology, he’s come up with a system that works. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/285 |
| 286 | Benjamin Zander | Classical music with shining eyes | Benjamin Zander has two infectious passions: classical music, and helping us all realize our untapped love for it — and by extension, our untapped love for all new possibilities, new experiences, new connections. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/286 |
| 287 | Nellie McKay | “Clonie” | Singer-songwriter Nellie McKay performs the semi-serious song “Clonie” — about creating the ultimate companion. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/287 |
| 288 | Nicholas Negroponte | One Laptop per Child, two years on | Nicholas Negroponte talks about how One Laptop per Child is doing, two years in. Speaking at the EG conference while the first XO laptops roll off the production line, he recaps the controversies and recommits to the goals of this far-reaching project. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/288 |
| 290 | Sxip Shirey, Rachelle Garniez | Breath, music, passion | Composer Sxip Shirey makes music from the simple, dramatic act of breathing — alone and together. Open your ears to a passionate 3 minutes. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/290 |
| 292 | Peter Diamandis | Stephen Hawking hits zero g | X Prize founder Peter Diamandis talks about how he helped Stephen Hawking fulfill his dream of going to space — by flying together into the upper atmosphere and experiencing weightlessness at zero g. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/292 |
| 294 | Chris Abani | Telling stories of our shared humanity | Chris Abani tells stories of people: People standing up to soldiers. People being compassionate. People being human and reclaiming their humanity. It’s “ubuntu,” he says: the only way for me to be human is for you to reflect my humanity back at me. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/294 |
| 296 | Nellie McKay | “Mother of Pearl” and “If I Had You” | The wonderful Nellie McKay sings “Mother of Pearl” (with the immortal first line “Feminists don’t have a sense of humor”) and “If I Had You” from her sparkling set at TED2008. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/296 |
| 297 | Rick Smolan | A girl, a photograph, a homecoming | Photographer Rick Smolan tells the unforgettable story of a young Amerasian girl, a fateful photograph, and an adoption saga with a twist. | EG07 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/297 |
| 298 | Raul Midon | “Everybody” and “Peace on Earth” | Guitarist and singer Raul Midon plays “Everybody” and “Peace on Earth” during his 2007 set at TED. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/298 |
| 299 | Corneille Ewango | A hero of the Congo Basin forest | Botanist Corneille Ewango talks about his work at the Okapi Faunal Reserve in the Congo Basin — and his heroic work protecting it from poachers, miners and raging civil wars. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/299 |
| 300 | Torsten Reil | Using biology to make better animation | Torsten Reil talks about how the study of biology can help make natural-looking animated people — by building a human from the inside out, with bones, muscles and a nervous system. He spoke at TED in 2003; see his work now in GTA4. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/300 |
| 301 | A.J. Jacobs | My year of living biblically | Speaking at the most recent EG conference, author, philosopher, prankster and journalist A.J. Jacobs talks about the year he spent living biblically — following the rules in the Bible as literally as possible. | EG07 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/301 |
| 306 | Freeman Dyson | Let’s look for life in the outer solar system | Physicist Freeman Dyson suggests that we start looking for life on the moons of Jupiter and out past Neptune, in the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud. He talks about what such life would be like — and how we might find it. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/306 |
| 307 | Helen Fisher | The brain in love | Why do we crave love so much, even to the point that we would die for it? To learn more about our very real, very physical need for romantic love, Helen Fisher and her research team took MRIs of people in love — and people who had just been dumped. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/307 |
| 308 | Billy Graham | Technology, faith and human shortcomings | Speaking at TED in 1998, Rev. Billy Graham marvels at technology’s power to improve lives and change the world — but says the end of evil, suffering and death will come only after the world accepts Christ. A legendary talk from TED’s archives. | TED1998 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/308 |
| 310 | Keith Barry | Brain magic | First, Keith Barry shows us how our brains can fool our bodies — in a trick that works via podcast too. Then he involves the audience in some jaw-dropping (and even a bit dangerous) feats of brain magic. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/310 |
| 312 | Martin Seligman | What positive psychology can help you become | Martin Seligman talks about psychology — as a field of study and as it works one-on-one with each patient and each practitioner. As it moves beyond a focus on disease, what can modern psychology help us to become? | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/312 |
| 313 | Marisa Fick-Jordan | The wonders of Zulu wire art | In this short, image-packed talk, Marisa Fick-Jordan talks about how a village of traditional Zulu wire weavers built a worldwide market for their dazzling work. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/313 |
| 315 | Louise Leakey | Digging for humanity’s origins | Louise Leakey asks, “Who are we?” The question takes her to the Rift Valley in Eastern Africa, where she digs for the evolutionary origins of humankind — and suggests a stunning new vision of our competing ancestors. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/315 |
| 316 | Jonathan Harris | The art of collecting stories | At the EG conference in December 2007, artist Jonathan Harris discusses his latest projects, which involve collecting stories: his own, strangers’, and stories collected from the Internet, including his amazing “We Feel Fine.” | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/316 |
| 318 | Reed Kroloff | Architecture, modern and romantic | Reed Kroloff gives us a new lens for judging new architecture: is it modern, or is it romantic? Look for glorious images from two leading practices — and a blistering critique of the 9/11 planning process. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/318 |
| 319 | Kevin Kelly | Predicting the next 5,000 days of the web | At the 2007 EG conference, Kevin Kelly shares a fun stat: The World Wide Web, as we know it, is only 5,000 days old. Now, Kelly asks, how can we predict what’s coming in the next 5,000 days? | EG07 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/319 |
| 320 | Kwabena Boahen | Making a computer that works like the brain | Researcher Kwabena Boahen is looking for ways to mimic the brain’s supercomputing powers in silicon — because the messy, redundant processes inside our heads actually make for a small, light, superfast computer. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/320 |
| 321 | Robert Lang | Idea + square = origami | Robert Lang is a pioneer of the newest kind of origami — using math and engineering principles to fold mind-blowingly intricate designs that are beautiful and, sometimes, very useful. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/321 |
| 322 | Bruno Bowden, Rufus Cappadocia | Origami, blindfolded and to music | After Robert Lang’s talk on origami at TED2008, Bruno Bowden stepped onstage with a challenge — he would fold one of Lang’s astonishingly complicated origami figures, blindfolded, in under 2 minutes. He’s accompanied by the cellist Rufus Cappadocia. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/322 |
| 323 | Spencer Wells | Building a family tree for all humanity | All humans share some common bits of DNA, passed down to us from our African ancestors. Geneticist Spencer Wells talks about how his Genographic Project will use this shared DNA to figure out how we are — in all our diversity — truly connected. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/323 |
| 324 | David Griffin | Photography connects us with the world | The photo director for National Geographic, David Griffin knows the power of photography to connect us to our world. In a talk filled with glorious images, he talks about how we all use photos to tell our stories. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/324 |
| 325 | Nellie McKay | “The Dog Song” | Animal fan Nellie McKay sings a sparkling tribute to her dear dog. She suggests we all do the same: “Just go right to the pound/ And find yourself a hound/ And make that doggie proud/ ’cause that’s what it’s all about.” | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/325 |
| 326 | Patricia Burchat | The search for dark energy and dark matter | Physicist Patricia Burchat sheds light on two basic ingredients of our universe: dark matter and dark energy. Comprising 96% of the universe between them, they can’t be directly measured, but their influence is immense. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/326 |
| 327 | Lennart Green | Close-up card magic | Like your uncle at a family party, the rumpled Swedish doctor Lennart Green says, “Pick a card, any card.” But what he does with those cards is pure magic — flabbergasting, lightning-fast, how-does-he-do-it? magic. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/327 |
| 328 | Ian Dunbar | Dog-friendly dog training | Speaking at the 2007 EG conference, trainer Ian Dunbar asks us to see the world through the eyes of our beloved dogs. By knowing our pets’ perspective, we can build their love and trust. It’s a message that resonates well beyond the animal world. | EG07 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/328 |
| 329 | John Q. Walker | Re-creating great performances | Imagine hearing great, departed pianists play again today, just as they would in person. John Q. Walker demonstrates how recordings can be analyzed for precise keystrokes and pedal motions, then played back on computer-controlled grand pianos. | EG07 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/329 |
| 330 | Ory Okolloh | The making of an African activist | Ory Okolloh tells the story of her life and her family — and how she came to do her heroic work reporting on the doings of Kenya’s parliament. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/330 |
| 331 | Paul Rothemund | The astonishing promise of DNA folding | In 2007, Paul Rothemund gave TED a short summary of his specialty, DNA folding. Now he lays out in clear, adundant detail the immense promise of this field — to create tiny machines that assemble themselves. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/331 |
| 333 | Jonathan Drori | Why we don’t understand as much as we think we do | Starting with four basic questions (that you may be surprised to find you can’t answer), Jonathan Drori looks at the gaps in our knowledge — and specifically, what we don’t about science that we might think we do. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/333 |
| 334 | Einstein the Parrot | Talking and squawking TED2006 | This whimsical wrap-up of TED2006 — presented by Einstein, the African grey parrot, and her trainer, Stephanie White — simply tickles. Watch for the moment when Einstein has a moment with Al Gore. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/334 |
| 335 | Peter Diamandis | Taking the next giant leap in space | Peter Diamandis says it’s our moral imperative to keep exploring space — and he talks about how, with the X Prize and other incentives, we’re going to do just that. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/335 |
| 339 | Peter Hirshberg | The Web and TV, a sibling rivalry | In this absorbing look at emerging media and tech history, Peter Hirshberg shares some crucial lessons from Silicon Valley and explains why the web is so much more than “better TV.” | EG07 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/339 |
| 340 | Jane Goodall | Helping humans and animals live together in Africa | The legendary chimpanzee researcher Jane Goodall talks about TACARE and her other community projects, which help people in booming African towns live side-by-side with threatened animals. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/340 |
| 341 | Jonathan Haidt | The real difference between liberals and conservatives | Psychologist Jonathan Haidt studies the five moral values that form the basis of our political choices, whether we’re left, right or center. In this eye-opening talk, he pinpoints the moral values that liberals and conservatives tend to honor most. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/341 |
| 343 | David Gallo | The deep oceans: a ribbon of life | With vibrant video clips captured by submarines, David Gallo takes us to some of Earth’s darkest, most violent, toxic and beautiful habitats, the valleys and volcanic ridges of the oceans’ depths, where life is bizarre, resilient and shockingly abundant. | TED1998 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/343 |
| 344 | Irwin Redlener | How to survive a nuclear attack | The face of nuclear terror has changed since the Cold War, but disaster-medicine expert Irwin Redlener reminds us the threat is still real. He looks at some of history’s farcical countermeasures and offers practical advice on how to survive an attack. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/344 |
| 345 | Keith Bellows | Celebrating the camel | Keith Bellows gleefully outlines the engineering marvels of the camel, a vital creature he calls “the SUV of the desert.” Though he couldn’t bring a live camel to TED, he gets his camera crew as close as humanly possible to a one-ton beast in full rut. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/345 |
| 346 | Brewster Kahle | A digital library, free to the world | Brewster Kahle is building a truly huge digital library — every book ever published, every movie ever released, all the strata of web history … It’s all free to the public — unless someone else gets to it first. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/346 |
| 330 | Carmen Agra Deedy | Spinning a story of Mama | Storyteller Carmen Agra Deedy spins a funny, wise and luminous tale of parents and kids, starring her Cuban mother. Settle in and enjoy the ride — Mama’s driving! | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/330 |
| 348 | Ann Cooper | Reinventing the school lunch | Speaking at the 2007 EG conference, “renegade lunch lady” Ann Cooper talks about the coming revolution in the way kids eat at school — local, sustainable, seasonal and even educational food. | EG07 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/348 |
| 349 | Laura Trice | The power of saying thank you | In this deceptively simple 3-minute talk, Dr. Laura Trice muses on the power of the magic words “thank you” — to deepen a friendship, to repair a bond, to make sure another person knows what they mean to you. Try it. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/349 |
| 350 | Caleb Chung | Come play with Pleo the dinosaur | Pleo the robot dinosaur acts like a living pet — exploring, cuddling, playing, reacting and learning. Inventor Caleb Chung talks about Pleo and his wild toy career at EG07, on the week that Pleo shipped to stores for the first time. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/350 |
| 351 | Marvin Minsky | Health, population and the human mind | Listen closely — Marvin Minsky’s arch, eclectic, charmingly offhand talk on health, overpopulation and the human mind is packed with subtlety: wit, wisdom and just an ounce of wily, is-he-joking? advice. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/351 |
| 353 | David S. Rose | 10 things to know before you pitch a VC for money | Thinking startup? David S. Rose’s rapid-fire TED U talk on pitching to a venture capitalist tells you the 10 things you need to know about yourself — and prove to a VC — before you fire up your slideshow. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/353 |
| 354 | Steven Pinker | Chalking it up to the blank slate | Steven Pinker’s book The Blank Slate argues that all humans are born with some innate traits. Here, Pinker talks about his thesis, and why some people found it incredibly upsetting. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/354 |
| 355 | Rodney Brooks | How robots will invade our lives | In this prophetic talk from 2003, roboticist Rodney Brooks talks about how robots are going to work their way into our lives — starting with toys and moving into household chores … and beyond. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/355 |
| 356 | Stefan Sagmeister | Things I have learned in my life so far | Rockstar designer Stefan Sagmeister delivers a short, witty talk on life lessons, expressed through surprising modes of design (including … inflatable monkeys?). | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/356 |
| 358 | Noah Feldman | Politics and religion are technologies | Noah Feldman makes a searing case that both politics and religion — whatever their differences — are similar technologies, designed to efficiently connect and manage any group of people. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/358 |
| 359 | Liz Diller | Architecture is a special effects machine | In this engrossing EG talk, architect Liz Diller shares her firm DS+R’s more unusual work, including the Blur Building, whose walls are made of fog, and the revamped Alice Tully Hall, which is wrapped in glowing wooden skin. | EG07 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/359 |
| 360 | James Nachtwey | Use my photographs to stop the worldwide XDR-TB epidemic | Photojournalist James Nachtwey sees his TED Prize wish come true, as we share his powerful photographs of XDR-TB, a drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis that’s touching off a global medical crisis. Learn how to help at https://www.xdrtb.org | TED Prize Wish | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/360 |
| 361 | David Perry | Will videogames become better than life? | Game designer David Perry says tomorrow’s videogames will be more than mere fun to the next generation of gamers. They’ll be lush, complex, emotional experiences — more involving and meaningful to some than real life. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/361 |
| 362 | Steven Johnson | The Web and the city | Outside.in’s Steven Johnson says the Web is like a city: built by many people, completely controlled by no one, intricately interconnected and yet functioning as many independent parts. While disaster strikes in one place, elsewhere, life goes on. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/362 |
| 363 | Doris Kearns Goodwin | Learning from past presidents in moments of crisis | Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin talks about what we can learn from American presidents, including Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon Johnson. Then she shares a moving memory of her own father, and of their shared love of baseball. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/363 |
| 364 | James Burchfield | Sound stylings by a human beatbox | Human beatbox James “AudioPoet” Burchfield performs an intricate three-minute breakdown — sexy, propulsive hip-hop rhythms and turntable textures — all using only his voice. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/364 |
| 365 | Jared Diamond | Why societies collapse | Why do societies fail? With lessons from the Norse of Iron Age Greenland, deforested Easter Island and present-day Montana, Jared Diamond talks about the signs that collapse is near, and how — if we see it in time — we can prevent it. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/365 |
| 366 | Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi | Creativity, fulfillment and flow | Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi asks, “What makes a life worth living?” Noting that money cannot make us happy, he looks to those who find pleasure and lasting satisfaction in activities that bring about a state of “flow.” | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/366 |
| 370 | John Markoff | Why newspapers still matter (and why tech news belongs on the front page) | At the EG conference, John Markoff talks about why newspapers still matter — even in the days of RSS. He gives an inside look at editorial process at the New York Times, and talks about some of his tech stories that should have been front-page news. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/370 |
| 371 | Garrett Lisi | A beautiful new theory of everything | Physicist and surfer Garrett Lisi presents a controversial new model of the universe that — just maybe — answers all the big questions. If nothing else, it’s the most beautiful 8-dimensional model of elementary particles and forces you’ve ever seen. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/371 |
| 372 | Paola Antonelli | Design and the elastic mind | MOMA design curator Paola Antonelli previews the groundbreaking show Design and the Elastic Mind — full of products and designs that reflect the way we think now. | EG07 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/372 |
| 374 | John Hodgman | A brief digression on matters of lost time | Humorist John Hodgman rambles through a new story about aliens, physics, time, space and the way all of these somehow contribute to a sweet, perfect memory of falling in love. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/374 |
| 375 | Virginia Postrel | The power of glamour | In a timely talk, cultural critic Virginia Postrel muses on the true meaning, and the powerful uses, of glamour — which she defines as any calculated, carefully polished image designed to impress and persuade. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/375 |
| 377 | Dr. Dean Ornish | Healing and other natural wonders | Dean Ornish talks about simple, low-tech and low-cost ways to take advantage of the body’s natural desire to heal itself. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/377 |
| 379 | Paul MacCready | Nature vs. humans, and what we can do about it | In 1998, aircraft designer Paul MacCready looks at a planet on which humans have utterly dominated nature, and talks about what we all can do to preserve nature’s balance. His contribution: solar planes, superefficient gliders and the electric car. | TED1998 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/379 |
| 381 | Kristen Ashburn | Heartrending pictures of AIDS | In this moving talk, documentary photographer Kristen Ashburn shares unforgettable images of the human impact of AIDS in Africa. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/381 |
| 383 | Rives | A 3-minute story of mixed emoticons | Rives — star of the Bravo special “Ironic Iconic America” — tells a typographical fairy tale that’s short and bittersweet. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/383 |
| 385 | Keith Schacht, Zach Kaplan | Products (and toys) from the future | The Inventables guys, Zach Kaplan and Keith Schacht, demo some amazing new materials and how we might use them. Look for squishy magnets, odor-detecting ink, “dry” liquid and a very surprising 10-foot pole. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/385 |
| 386 | Newton Aduaka | The story of Ezra, a child soldier | Filmmaker Newton Aduaka shows clips from his powerful, lyrical feature film “Ezra,” about a child soldier in Sierra Leone. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/386 |
| 388 | Graham Hawkes | Fly the seas on a submarine with wings | Graham Hawkes takes us aboard his graceful, winged submarines to the depths of planet Ocean (a.k.a. “Earth”). It’s a deep blue world we landlubbers rarely see in 3D. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/388 |
| 390 | James Surowiecki | The moment when social media became the news | James Surowiecki pinpoints the moment when social media became an equal player in the world of news-gathering: the 2005 tsunami, when YouTube video, blogs, IMs and txts carried the news — and preserved moving personal stories from the tragedy. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/390 |
| 391 | John Francis | I walk the Earth | For almost three decades, John Francis has been a planetwalker, traveling the globe by foot and sail with a message of environmental respect and responsibility (for 17 of those years without speaking). A funny, thoughtful talk with occasional banjo. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/391 |
| 392 | Tim Brown | The powerful link between creativity and play | At the 2008 Serious Play conference, designer Tim Brown talks about the powerful relationship between creative thinking and play — with many examples you can try at home (and one that maybe you shouldn’t). | Art Center Design Conference 2008: Serious Play | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/392 |
| 393 | Luca Turin | The science of scent | What’s the science behind a sublime perfume? With charm and precision, biophysicist Luca Turin explains the molecular makeup — and the art — of a scent. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/393 |
| 394 | Lee Smolin | How science is like democracy | Physicist Lee Smolin talks about how the scientific community works: as he puts it, “we fight and argue as hard as we can,” but everyone accepts that the next generation of scientists will decide who’s right. And, he says, that’s how democracy works, too. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/394 |
| 395 | Samantha Power | Shaking hands with the devil | Samantha Power tells a story of a complicated hero, Sergio Vieira de Mello. This UN diplomat walked a thin moral line, negotiating with the world’s worst dictators to help their people survive crisis. It’s a compelling story told with a fiery passion. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/395 |
| 396 | Isaac Mizrahi | Fashion, passion, and about a million other things | Fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi spins through a dizzying array of inspirations — from ’50s pinups to a fleeting glimpse of a hole in a shirt that makes him shout “Stop the cab!” Inside this rambling talk are real clues to living a happy, creative life. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/396 |
| 399 | Charles Elachi | The story of the Mars Rovers | At Serious Play 2008, Charles Elachi shares stories from NASA’s legendary Jet Propulsion Lab — including tales and video from the Mars Rover project. | Art Center Design Conference 2008: Serious Play | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/399 |
| 400 | Ursus Wehrli | Tidying up art | Ursus Wehrli shares his vision for a cleaner, more organized, tidier form of art — by deconstructing the paintings of modern masters into their component pieces, sorted by color and size. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/400 |
| 402 | Stewart Brand | Building a home for the Clock of the Long Now | Stewart Brand works on the Clock of the Long Now, a timepiece that counts down the next 10,000 years. It’s a beautiful project that asks us to think about the far, far future. Here, he discusses a tricky side problem with the Clock: Where can we put it? | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/402 |
| 403 | Franco Sacchi | Welcome to Nollywood | Zambia-born filmmaker Franco Sacchi tours us through Nollywood, Nigeria’s booming film industry (the world’s 3rd largest). Guerrilla filmmaking and brilliance under pressure from crews that can shoot a full-length feature in a week. | TEDGlobal 2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/403 |
| 404 | George Smoot | The design of the universe | At Serious Play 2008, astrophysicist George Smoot shows stunning new images from deep-space surveys, and prods us to ponder how the cosmos — with its giant webs of dark matter and mysterious gaping voids — got built this way. | Art Center Design Conference 2008: Serious Play | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/404 |
| 405 | Bill Joy | What I’m worried about, what I’m excited about | Technologist and futurist Bill Joy talks about several big worries for humanity — and several big hopes in the fields of health, education and future tech. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/405 |
| 406 | Dan Barber | A surprising parable of foie gras | At the Taste3 conference, chef Dan Barber tells the story of a small farm in Spain that has found a humane way to produce foie gras. Raising his geese in a natural environment, farmer Eduardo Sousa embodies the kind of food production Barber believes in. | Taste3 2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/406 |
| 407 | Andy Hobsbawm | Do the green thing | Andy Hobsbawm shares a fresh ad campaign about going green — and some of the fringe benefits. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/407 |
| 408 | Gregory Petsko | The coming neurological epidemic | Biochemist Gregory Petsko makes a convincing argument that, in the next 50 years, we’ll see an epidemic of neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, as the world population ages. His solution: more research into the brain and its functions. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/408 |
| 409 | Richard Preston | Climbing the world’s biggest trees | Science writer Richard Preston talks about some of the most enormous living beings on the planet, the giant trees of the US Pacific Northwest. Growing from a tiny seed, they support vast ecosystems — and are still, largely, a mystery. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/409 |
| 410 | Philip Rosedale | Second Life, where anything is possible | Why build a virtual world? Philip Rosedale talks about the virtual society he founded, Second Life, and its underpinnings in human creativity. It’s a place so different that anything could happen. | Art Center Design Conference 2008: Serious Play | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/410 |
| 411 | Larry Burns | Reinventing the car | General Motors veep Larry Burns previews cool next-gen car design: sleek, customizable (and computer-enhanced) vehicles that run clean on hydrogen — and pump energy back into the electrical grid when they’re idle. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/411 |
| 412 | Nick Sears | Presenting the Orb | Inventor Nick Sears demos the first generation of the Orb, a rotating persistence-of-vision display that creates glowing 3D images. A short, cool tale of invention. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/412 |
| 413 | David Holt | The stories and song of Appalachia | Folk musician and storyteller David Holt plays the banjo and shares photographs and old wisdom from the Appalachian Mountains. He also demonstrates some unusual instruments like the mouth bow — and a surprising electric drum kit he calls “thunderwear.” | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/413 |
| 414 | Eva Zeisel | The playful search for beauty | The ceramics designer Eva Zeisel looks back on a 75-year career. What keeps her work as fresh today (her latest line debuted in 2008) as in 1926? Her sense of play and beauty, and her drive for adventure. Listen for stories from a rich, colorful life. | TED2001 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/414 |
| 415 | Michael Milken | Leveraging big ideas to make change | Michael Milken talks about using your own particular set of skills to make real change in the world. In his case, the energetic mind that once created exotic bonds is now driving the “Manhattan Project of cancer” — with lifesaving results. | TED11(2001) | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/415 |
| 416 | Dennis vanEngelsdorp | Where have the bees gone? | Bees are dying in droves. Why? Leading apiarist Dennis vanEngelsdorp looks at the gentle, misunderstood creature’s important place in nature and the mystery behind its alarming disappearance. | Taste3 2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/416 |
| 418 | Jay Walker | A library of human imagination | Jay Walker, curator of the Library of Human Imagination, conducts a surprising show-and-tell session highlighting a few of the intriguing artifacts that backdropped the 2008 TED stage. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/418 |
| 419 | Benjamin Wallace | Does happiness have a price tag? | Can happiness be bought? To find out, author Benjamin Wallace sampled the world’s most expensive products, including a bottle of 1930 Chateau Cheval Blanc, 8 ounces of Kobe beef and the fabled (notorious) Kopi Luwak coffee. His critique may surprise you. | Taste3 2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/419 |
| 420 | Dan Gilbert | Exploring the frontiers of happiness | Dan Gilbert presents research and data from his exploration of happiness — sharing some surprising tests and experiments that you can also try on yourself. Watch through to the end for a sparkling Q&A with some familiar TED faces. | TEDGlobal 2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/420 |
| 421 | Penelope Boston | Life on Mars? Let’s look in the caves | So the Mars Rovers didn’t scoop up any alien lifeforms. Scientist Penelope Boston thinks there’s a good chance — a 25 to 50 percent chance, in fact — that life might exist on Mars, deep inside the planet’s caves. She details how we should look and why. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/421 |
| 422 | Steven Strogatz | How things in nature tend to sync up | Mathematician Steven Strogatz shows how flocks of creatures (like birds, fireflies and fish) manage to synchronize and act as a unit — when no one’s giving orders. The powerful tendency extends into the realm of objects, too. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/422 |
| 423 | Nicholas Negroponte | Bringing One Laptop per Child to Colombia: TED in the Field | TED follows Nicholas Negroponte to Colombia as he delivers laptops inside territory once controlled by guerrillas. His partner? Colombia’s Defense Department, who see One Laptop per Child as an investment in the region. (And you too can get involved.) | TED in the Field | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/423 |
| 424 | Jennifer 8. Lee | Who was General Tso? and other mysteries of American Chinese food | Reporter Jennifer 8. Lee talks about her hunt for the origins of familiar Chinese-American dishes — exploring the hidden spots where these two cultures have (so tastily) combined to form a new cuisine. | Taste3 2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/424 |
| 426 | Kary Mullis | Celebrating the scientific experiment | Biochemist Kary Mullis talks about the basis of modern science: the experiment. Sharing tales from the 17th century and from his own backyard-rocketry days, Mullis celebrates the curiosity, inspiration and rigor of good science in all its forms. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/426 |
| 427 | John Maeda | My journey in design, from tofu to RISD | Designer John Maeda talks about his path from a Seattle tofu factory to the Rhode Island School of Design, where he became president in 2008. Maeda, a tireless experimenter and a witty observer, explores the crucial moment when design met computers. | Art Center Design Conference 2008: Serious Play | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/427 |
| 428 | Paul Sereno | What can fossils teach us? | Strange landscapes, scorching heat and (sometimes) mad crocodiles await scientists seeking clues to evolution’s genius. Paleontologist Paul Sereno talks about his surprising encounters with prehistory — and a new way to help students join the adventure. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/428 |
| 429 | Paul Moller | Take a ride in the Skycar | Paul Moller talks about the future of personal air travel — the marriage of autos and flight that will give us true freedom to travel off-road. He shows two things he’s working on: the Moller Skycar (a jet + car) and a passenger-friendly hovering disc. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/429 |
| 430 | Greg Lynn | How calculus is changing architecture | Greg Lynn talks about the mathematical roots of architecture — and how calculus and digital tools allow modern designers to move beyond the traditional building forms. A glorious church in Queens (and a titanium tea set) illustrate his theory. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/430 |
| 431 | Rob Forbes | Ways of seeing | Rob Forbes, the founder of Design Within Reach, shows a gallery of snapshots that inform his way of seeing the world. Charming juxtapositions, found art, urban patterns — this slideshow will open your eyes to the world around you. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/431 |
| 432 | Scott McCloud | Understanding comics | In this unmissable look at the magic of comics, Scott McCloud bends the presentation format into a cartoon-like experience, where colorful diversions whiz through childhood fascinations and imagined futures that our eyes can hear and touch. | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/432 |
| 433 | Peter Reinhart | The art of baking bread | Batch to batch, crust to crust … In tribute to the beloved staple food, baking master Peter Reinhart reflects on the cordial couplings (wheat and yeast, starch and heat) that give us our daily bread. Try not to eat a slice. | Taste3 2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/433 |
| 434 | Joseph Pine | What do consumers really want? | Customers want to feel what they buy is authentic, but “Mass Customization” author Joseph Pine says selling authenticity is tough because, well, there’s no such thing. He talks about a few experiences that may be artificial but make millions anyway. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/434 |
| 435 | Paula Scher | Great design is serious (not solemn) | Paula Scher looks back at a life in design (she’s done album covers, books, the Citibank logo …) and pinpoints the moment when she started really having fun. Look for gorgeous designs and images from her legendary career. | Art Center Design Conference 2008: Serious Play | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/435 |
| 436 | David Carson | Design, discovery and humor | Great design is a never-ending journey of discovery — for which it helps to pack a healthy sense of humor. Sociologist and surfer-turned-designer David Carson walks through a gorgeous (and often quite funny) slide deck of his work and found images. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/436 |
| 437 | Barry Schuler | An introduction to genomics | What is genomics? How will it affect our lives? In this intriguing primer on the genomics revolution, entrepreneur Barry Schuler says we can at least expect healthier, tastier food. He suggests we start with the pinot noir grape, to build better wines. | Taste3 2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/437 |
| 439 | Jamais Cascio | Tools for building a better world | We all want to make the world better — but how? Jamais Cascio looks at some specific tools and techniques that can make a difference. It’s a fascinating talk that might just inspire you to act. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/439 |
| 440 | Peter Ward | Earth’s mass extinctions | Asteroid strikes get all the coverage, but “Medea Hypothesis” author Peter Ward argues that most of Earth’s mass extinctions were caused by lowly bacteria. The culprit, a poison called hydrogen sulfide, may have an interesting application in medicine. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/440 |
| 441 | Sherwin Nuland | A meditation on hope | Surgeon and writer Sherwin Nuland meditates on the idea of hope — the desire to become our better selves and make a better world. It’s a thoughtful 12 minutes that will help you focus on the road ahead. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/441 |
| 442 | Woody Norris | Inventing the next amazing thing | Woody Norris shows off two of his inventions that treat sound in new ways, and talks about his untraditional approach to inventing and education. As he puts it: “Almost nothing has been invented yet.” So — what’s next? | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/442 |
| 443 | Aimee Mullins | Running on high-tech legs | In this TED archive video from 1998, paralympic sprinter Aimee Mullins talks about her record-setting career as a runner, and about the amazing carbon-fiber prosthetic legs (then a prototype) that helped her cross the finish line. | TED1998 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/443 |
| 445 | Joe DeRisi | Hunting the next killer virus | Biochemist Joe DeRisi talks about amazing new ways to diagnose viruses (and treat the illnesses they cause) using DNA. His work may help us understand malaria, SARS, avian flu — and the 60 percent of everyday viral infections that go undiagnosed. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/445 |
| 430 | Natalie MacMaster | Playing the Cape Breton fiddle | Natalie MacMaster and her musical partner Donnell Leahy play several tunes from the Cape Breton tradition — a sprightly, soulful style of folk fiddling. It’s an inspired collaboration that will have you clapping (and maybe dancing) along. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/430 |
| 450 | Bill Gross | Great ideas for finding new energy | Bill Gross, the founder of Idealab, talks about his life as an inventor, starting with his high-school company selling solar energy plans and kits. Learn here about a groundbreaking system for solar cells — and some questions we haven’t yet solved. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/450 |
| 451 | Bill Gates | How I’m trying to change the world now | Bill Gates hopes to solve some of the world’s biggest problems using a new kind of philanthropy. In a passionate and, yes, funny 18 minutes, he asks us to consider two big questions and how we might answer them. (And see the Q&A on the TED Blog.) | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/451 |
| 453 | Elizabeth Gilbert | A different way to think about creative genius | Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person “being” a genius, all of us “have” a genius. It’s a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/453 |
| 455 | Milton Glaser | How great design makes ideas new | From the TED archives: The legendary graphic designer Milton Glaser dives deep into a new painting inspired by Piero della Francesca. From here, he muses on what makes a convincing poster, by breaking down an idea and making it new. | TED1998 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/455 |
| 457 | David Merrill | Siftables, the toy blocks that think | MIT grad student David Merrill demos Siftables — cookie-sized, computerized tiles you can stack and shuffle in your hands. These future-toys can do math, play music, and talk to their friends, too. Is this the next thing in hands-on learning? | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/457 |
| 462 | Barry Schwartz | The real crisis? We stopped being wise | Barry Schwartz makes a passionate call for “practical wisdom” as an antidote to a society gone mad with bureaucracy. He argues powerfully that rules often fail us, incentives often backfire, and practical, everyday wisdom will help rebuild our world. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/462 |
| 463 | Juan Enriquez | Beyond the crisis, mindboggling science and the arrival of Homo evolutis | Even as mega-banks topple, Juan Enriquez says the big reboot is yet to come. But don’t look for it on your ballot — or in the stock exchange. It’ll come from science labs, and it promises keener bodies and minds. Our kids are going to be … different. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/463 |
| 464 | Jose Antonio Abreu | Help me bring music to kids worldwide (TED Prize winner!) | Jose Antonio Abreu is the charismatic founder of a youth orchestra system that has transformed thousands of kids’ lives in Venezuela. Here he shares his amazing story and unveils a TED Prize wish that could have a big impact in the US and beyond. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/464 |
| 466 | Gustavo Dudamel and the Teresa Carreno Youth Orchestra | A musical sensation from Venezuela | The Teresa Carre?±o Youth Orchestra contains the best high school musicians from Venezuela’s life-changing music program, El Sistema. Led here by Gustavo Dudamel, they play Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10, 2nd movement, and Arturo M?°rquez’ Danz??n No. 2. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/466 |
| 467 | Sylvia Earle | Here’s how to protect the blue heart of the planet (TED Prize winner!) | Legendary ocean researcher Sylvia Earle shares astonishing images of the ocean — and shocking stats about its rapid decline — as she makes her TED Prize wish: that we will join her in protecting the vital blue heart of the planet. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/467 |
| 468 | Jill Tarter | Why the search for alien intelligence matters (TED Prize winner!) | The SETI Institute’s Jill Tarter makes her TED Prize wish: to accelerate our search for cosmic company. Using a growing array of radio telescopes, she and her team listen for patterns that may be a sign of intelligence elsewhere in the universe. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/468 |
| 469 | Ed Ulbrich | How Benjamin Button got his face | Ed Ulbrich, the digital-effects guru from Digital Domain, explains the Oscar-winning technology that allowed his team to digitally create the older versions of Brad Pitt’s face for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/469 |
| 300 | Charles Moore | Sailing the Great Pacific Garbage Patch | Capt. Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation first discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — an endless floating waste of plastic trash. Now he’s drawing attention to the growing, choking problem of plastic debris in our seas. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/300 |
| 301 | Richard Pyle | Exploring the reef’s Twilight Zone | In this illuminating talk, Richard Pyle shows us thriving life on the cliffs of coral reefs and groundbreaking diving technologies he has pioneered to explore it. He and his team risk everything to reveal the secrets of undiscovered species. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/301 |
| 302 | Miru Kim | Making art of New York’s urban ruins | At the 2008 EG Conference, artist Miru Kim talks about her work. Kim explores industrial ruins underneath New York and then photographs herself in them, nude — to bring these massive, dangerous, hidden spaces into sharp focus. | EG08 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/302 |
| 303 | Evan Williams | How Twitter’s spectacular growth is being driven by unexpected uses | In the year leading up to this talk, the web tool Twitter exploded in size (up 10x during 2008 alone). Co-founder Evan Williams reveals that many of the ideas driving that growth came from unexpected uses invented by the users themselves. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/303 |
| 304 | Brenda Laurel | Why didn’t girls play videogames? | A TED archive gem. At TED in 1998, Brenda Laurel asks: Why are all the top-selling videogames aimed at little boys? She spent two years researching the world of girls (and shares amazing interviews and photos) to create a game that girls would love. | TED1998 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/304 |
| 305 | Willie Smits | A 20-year tale of hope: How we re-grew a rainforest | By piecing together a complex ecological puzzle, biologist Willie Smits has found a way to re-grow clearcut rainforest in Borneo, saving local orangutans — and creating a thrilling blueprint for restoring fragile ecosystems. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/305 |
| 306 | Nalini Nadkarni | Unveiling the beautiful, fragile world of rainforest treetop ecosystems | A unique ecosystem of plants, birds and monkeys thrives in the treetops of the rainforest. Nalini Nadkarni explores these canopy worlds — and shares her findings with the world below, through dance, art and bold partnerships. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/306 |
| 307 | Mike Rowe | Celebrating work — all kinds of work | Mike Rowe, the host of “Dirty Jobs,” tells some compelling (and horrifying) real-life job stories. Listen for his insights and observations about the nature of hard work, and how it’s been unjustifiably degraded in society today. | EG08 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/307 |
| 308 | Eric Lewis | Striking chords to rock the jazz world | Eric Lewis, an astonishingly talented crossover jazz pianist — seen by many for the first time at TED2009 — sets fire to the keys with his shattering rendition of Evanescence’s chart-topper, “Going Under.” | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/308 |
| 480 | Don Norman | The three ways that good design makes you happy | In this talk from 2003, design critic Don Norman turns his incisive eye toward beauty, fun, pleasure and emotion, as he looks at design that makes people happy. He names the three emotional cues that a well-designed product must hit to succeed. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/480 |
| 481 | Pattie Maes, Pranav Mistry | Unveiling the “Sixth Sense,” game-changing wearable tech | This demo — from Pattie Maes’ lab at MIT, spearheaded by Pranav Mistry — was the buzz of TED. It’s a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment. Imagine “Minority Report” and then some. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/481 |
| 482 | Aimee Mullins | How my legs give me super-powers | Athlete, actor and activist Aimee Mullins talks about her prosthetic legs — she’s got a dozen amazing pairs — and the superpowers they grant her: speed, beauty, an extra 6 inches of height … Quite simply, she redefines what the body can be. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/482 |
| 483 | Stuart Brown | Why play is vital — no matter your age | A pioneer in research on play, Dr. Stuart Brown says humor, games, roughhousing, flirtation and fantasy are more than just fun. Plenty of play in childhood makes for happy, smart adults — and keeping it up can make us smarter at any age. | Art Center Design Conference 2008: Serious Play | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/483 |
| 484 | Tim Berners-Lee | The next Web of open, linked data | 20 years ago, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. For his next project, he’s building a web for open, linked data that could do for numbers what the Web did for words, pictures, video: unlock our data and reframe the way we use it together. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/484 |
| 485 | Dan Dennett | Cute, sexy, sweet and funny — an evolutionary riddle | Why are babies cute? Why is cake sweet? Philosopher Dan Dennett has answers you wouldn’t expect, as he shares evolution’s counterintuitive reasoning on cute, sweet and sexy things (plus a new theory from Matthew Hurley on why jokes are funny). | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/485 |
| 487 | Dan Ariely | Why we think it’s OK to cheat and steal (sometimes) | Behavioral economist Dan Ariely studies the bugs in our moral code: the hidden reasons we think it’s OK to cheat or steal (sometimes). Clever studies help make his point that we’re predictably irrational — and can be influenced in ways we can’t grasp. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/487 |
| 488 | Adam Savage | My quest for the dodo bird, and other obsessions | At EG’08, Adam Savage talks about his fascination with the dodo bird, and how it led him on a strange and surprising double quest. It’s an entertaining adventure through the mind of a creative obsessive. | EG08 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/488 |
| 489 | Bruce McCall | Nostalgia for a future that never happened | Bruce McCall paints a future that never happened — full of flying cars, polo-playing tanks and the RMS Tyrannic, “The Biggest Thing in All the World.” At Serious Play ’08, he narrates a brisk and funny slideshow of his faux-nostalgic art. | Art Center Design Conference 2008: Serious Play | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/489 |
| 490 | Kamal Meattle | How to grow your own fresh air | Researcher Kamal Meattle shows how an arrangement of three common houseplants, used in specific spots in a home or office building, can result in measurably cleaner indoor air. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/490 |
| 492 | Saul Griffith | Inventing a super-kite to tap the energy of high-altitude wind | In this brief talk, Saul Griffith unveils the invention his new company Makani Power has been working on: giant kite turbines that create surprising amounts of clean, renewable energy. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/492 |
| 494 | Jacqueline Novogratz | From a Nairobi slum, a tale of hope | Jacqueline Novogratz tells a moving story of an encounter in a Nairobi slum with Jane, a former prostitute, whose dreams of escaping poverty, of becoming a doctor and of getting married were fulfilled in an unexpected way. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/494 |
| 495 | David Pogue | Cool new things you can do with your mobile phone | In this engaging talk from the EG’08 conference, New York Times tech columnist David Pogue rounds up some handy cell phone tools and services that can boost your productivity and lower your bills (and your blood pressure). | EG08 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/495 |
| 498 | John Wooden | Coaching for people, not points | With profound simplicity, Coach John Wooden redefines success and urges us all to pursue the best in ourselves. In this inspiring talk he shares the advice he gave his players at UCLA, quotes poetry and remembers his father’s wisdom. | TED2001 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/498 |
| 499 | Nathan Wolfe | Hunting the next killer virus | Virus hunter Nathan Wolfe is outwitting the next pandemic by staying two steps ahead: discovering deadly new viruses where they first emerge — passing from animals to humans among poor subsistence hunters in Africa — before they claim millions of lives. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/499 |
| 500 | C.K. Williams | Poetry for all seasons of life | Poet C.K. Williams reads his work at TED2001. As he colors scenes of childhood resentments, college loves, odd neighbors and the literal death of youth, he reminds us of the unique challenges of living. | TED2001 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/500 |
| 501 | Jacek Utko | Can design save the newspaper? | Jacek Utko is an extraordinary Polish newspaper designer whose redesigns for papers in Eastern Europe not only win awards, but increase circulation by up to 100%. Can good design save the newspaper? It just might. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/501 |
| 502 | Ueli Gegenschatz | Fulfilling the dream of flight in a high-tech wingsuit | Wingsuit jumping is the leading edge of extreme sports — an exhilarating feat of almost unbelievable daring, where skydivers soar through canyons at over 100MPH. Ueli Gegenschatz talks about how (and why) he does it, and shows jawdropping film. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/502 |
| 503 | Christopher C. Deam | Restyling the classic Airstream trailer | In this low-key, image-packed talk from 2002, designer Christopher C. Deam talks about his makeover of an American classic: the Airstream travel trailer. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/503 |
| 504 | P.W. Singer | Military robots and the future of war | In this powerful talk, P.W. Singer shows how the widespread use of robots in war is changing the realities of combat. He shows us scenarios straight out of science fiction — that now may not be so fictitious. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/504 |
| 506 | Nathaniel Kahn | My father, my architect | Nathaniel Kahn shares clips from his documentary “My Architect,” about his quest to understand his father, the legendary architect Louis Kahn. It’s a film with meaning to anyone who seeks to understand the relationship between art and love. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/506 |
| 507 | Bruce Bueno de Mesquita | Three predictions on the future of Iran, and the math to back it up | Bruce Bueno de Mesquita uses mathematical analysis to predict (very often correctly) such messy human events as war, political power shifts, Intifada … After a crisp explanation of how he does it, he offers three predictions on the future of Iran. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/507 |
| 509 | Bonnie Bassler | Discovering bacteria’s amazing communication system | Bonnie Bassler discovered that bacteria “talk” to each other, using a chemical language that lets them coordinate defense and mount attacks. The find has stunning implications for medicine, industry — and our understanding of ourselves. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/509 |
| 510 | Emily Levine | A trickster’s theory of everything | Philosopher-comedian Emily Levine talks (hilariously) about science, math, society and the way everything connects. She’s a brilliant trickster, poking holes in our fixed ideas and bringing hidden truths to light. Settle in and let her ping your brain. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/510 |
| 511 | Renny Gleeson | Busted! The sneaky moves of anti-social smartphone users | In this funny (and actually poignant) 3-minute talk, social strategist Renny Gleeson breaks down our always-on social world — where the experience we’re having right now is less interesting than what we’ll tweet about it later. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/511 |
| 512 | Shai Agassi | A bold plan for mass adoption of electric cars | Forget about the hybrid auto — Shai Agassi says it’s electric cars or bust if we want to impact emissions. His company, Better Place, has a radical plan to take entire countries oil-free by 2020. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/512 |
| 515 | Gregory Stock | How biotech will drive our evolution | In this prophetic 2003 talk — just days before Dolly the sheep was stuffed — biotech ethicist Gregory Stock looked forward to new, more meaningful (and controversial) technologies, like customizable babies, whose adoption might drive human evolution. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/515 |
| 516 | JoAnn Kuchera-Morin | Tour the AlloSphere, a stunning new way to see scientific data | JoAnn Kuchera-Morin demos the AlloSphere, an entirely new way to see and interpret scientific data, in full color and surround sound inside a massive metal sphere. Dive into the brain, feel electron spin, hear the music of the elements … | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/516 |
| 517 | Tim Ferriss | How to feel like the Incredible Hulk | Productivity guru Tim Ferriss’ fun, encouraging anecdotes show how one simple question — “What’s the worst that could happen?” — is all you need to learn to do anything. | EG 2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/517 |
| 518 | Matthew Childs | Matthew Childs’ 9 life lessons from rock climbing | In this talk from TED University 2009, veteran rock climber Matthew Childs shares nine pointers for rock climbing. These handy tips bear on an effective life at sea level, too. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/518 |
| 519 | Margaret Wertheim | Margaret Wertheim on the beautiful math of coral | Margaret Wertheim leads a project to re-create the creatures of the coral reefs using a crochet technique invented by a mathematician — celebrating the amazements of the reef, and deep-diving into the hyperbolic geometry underlying coral creation. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/519 |
| 520 | Niels Diffrient | Niels Diffrient rethinks the way we sit down | Design legend Niels Diffrient talks about his life in industrial design (and the reason he became a designer instead of a jet pilot). He details his quest to completely rethink the office chair starting from one fundamental data set: the human body. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/520 |
| 521 | Nate Silver | Nate Silver: Does race affect votes? | Nate Silver has answers to controversial questions about race in politics: Did Obama’s race hurt his votes in some places? Stats and myths collide in this fascinating talk that ends with a remarkable insight on how town planning can promote tolerance. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/521 |
| 523 | Erik Hersman | Erik Hersman on reporting crisis via texting | At TEDU 2009, Erik Hersman presents the remarkable story of Ushahidi, a GoogleMap mashup that allowed Kenyans to report and track violence via cell phone texts following the 2008 elections, and has evolved to continue saving lives in other countries. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/523 |
| 524 | Ben Katchor | Ben Katchor’s comics of bygone New York | In this captivating talk from the TED archive, cartoonist Ben Katchor reads from his comic strips. These perceptive, surreal stories find the profound hopes and foibles of history (and modern New York) preserved in objects like light switches and signs. | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/524 |
| 525 | Alex Tabarrok | Alex Tabarrok on how ideas trump crises | The “dismal science” truly shines in this optimistic talk, as economist Alex Tabarrok argues free trade and globalization are shaping our once-divided world into a community of idea-sharing more healthy, happy and prosperous than anyone’s predictions. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/525 |
| 526 | Michael Merzenich | Michael Merzenich on re-wiring the brain | Neuroscientist Michael Merzenich looks at one of the secrets of the brain’s incredible power: its ability to actively re-wire itself. He’s researching ways to harness the brain’s plasticity to enhance our skills and recover lost function. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/526 |
| 527 | Sarah Jones | Sarah Jones as a one-woman global village | In this hilariously lively performance, actress Sarah Jones channels an opinionated elderly Jewish woman, a fast-talking Dominican college student and more, giving TED2009 just a sample of her spectacular character range. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/527 |
| 529 | Laurie Garrett | Laurie Garrett on lessons from the 1918 flu | In 2007, as the world worried about a possible avian flu epidemic, Laurie Garrett, author of “The Coming Plague,” gave this powerful talk to a small TED University audience. Her insights from past pandemics are suddenly more relevant than ever. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/529 |
| 531 | Brian Cox | Brian Cox: What went wrong at the LHC | In this short talk from TED U 2009, Brian Cox shares what’s new with the CERN supercollider. He covers the repairs now underway and what the future holds for the largest science experiment ever attempted. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/531 |
| 532 | Sean Gourley | Sean Gourley on the mathematics of war | By pulling raw data from the news and plotting it onto a graph, Sean Gourley and his team have come up with a stunning conclusion about the nature of modern war — and perhaps a model for resolving conflicts. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/532 |
| 533 | Mae Jemison | Mae Jemison on teaching arts and sciences together | Mae Jemison is an astronaut, a doctor, an art collector, a dancer … Telling stories from her own education and from her time in space, she calls on educators to teach both the arts and sciences, both intuition and logic, as one — to create bold thinker | TED2002 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/533 |
| 534 | Tom Shannon | Tom Shannon’s anti-gravity sculpture | Tom Shannon shows off his gravity-defying, otherworldly sculpture — made of simple, earthly materials — that floats and spins like planets on magnets and suspension wire. It’s science-inspired art at its most heavenly. | TED2003 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/534 |
| 535 | Al Gore | Al Gore warns on latest climate trends | At TED2009, Al Gore presents updated slides from around the globe to make the case that worrying climate trends are even worse than scientists predicted, and to make clear his stance on “clean coal.” | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/535 |
| 537 | Louise Fresco | Louise Fresco on feeding the whole world | Louise Fresco argues that a smart approach to large-scale, industrial farming and food production will feed our planet’s incoming population of nine billion. Only foods like (the scorned) supermarket white bread, she says, will nourish on a global scale. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/537 |
| 538 | Seth Godin | Seth Godin on the tribes we lead | Seth Godin argues the Internet has ended mass marketing and revived a human social unit from the distant past: tribes. Founded on shared ideas and values, tribes give ordinary people the power to lead and make big change. He urges us to do so. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/538 |
| 540 | Hans Rosling | Hans Rosling on HIV: New facts and stunning data visuals | Hans Rosling unveils new data visuals that untangle the complex risk factors of one of the world’s deadliest (and most misunderstood) diseases: HIV. He argues that preventing transmissions — not drug treatments — is the key to ending the epidemic. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/540 |
| 541 | Eric Lewis | Eric Lewis plays chaos and harmony | Eric Lewis explores the piano’s expressive power as he pounds and caresses the keys (and the strings) in a performance during the 2009 TED Prize session. He plays an original song, a tribute to ocean and sky and the vision of the TED Prize winners. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/541 |
| 544 | Naturally 7 | Naturally 7 beatboxes a whole band | One-of-a-kind R&B group Naturally 7 beatboxes an orchestra’s worth of instruments to groove through their smooth single, “Fly Baby.” | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/544 |
| 545 | Nandan Nilekani | Nandan Nilekani’s ideas for India’s future | Nandan Nilekani, visionary CEO of outsourcing pioneer Infosys, explains four brands of ideas that will determine whether India can continue its recent breakneck progress. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/545 |
| 530 | Ray Anderson | Ray Anderson on the business logic of sustainability | At his carpet company, Ray Anderson has increased sales and doubled profits while turning the traditional “take / make / waste” industrial system on its head. In a gentle, understated way, he shares a powerful vision for sustainable commerce. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/530 |
| 548 | Dan Ariely | Dan Ariely asks, Are we in control of our own decisions? | Behavioral economist Dan Ariely, the author of Predictably Irrational, uses classic visual illusions and his own counterintuitive (and sometimes shocking) research findings to show how we’re not as rational as we think when we make decisions. | EG 2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/548 |
| 549 | Mary Roach | Mary Roach: 10 things you didn’t know about orgasm | “Bonk” author Mary Roach delves into obscure scientific research, some of it centuries old, to make 10 surprising claims about sexual climax, ranging from the bizarre to the hilarious. (This talk is aimed at adults. Viewer discretion advised.) | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/549 |
| 551 | Carolyn Porco | Carolyn Porco: Could a Saturn moon harbor life? | Carolyn Porco shares exciting new findings from the Cassini spacecraft’s recent sweep of one of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus. Samples gathered from the moon’s icy geysers hint that an ocean under its surface could harbor life. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/551 |
| 552 | Yves Behar | Yves Behar’s supercharged motorcycle design | Yves Behar and Forrest North unveil Mission One, a sleek, powerful electric motorcycle. They share slides from distant (yet similar) childhoods that show how collaboration kick-started their friendship — and shared dreams. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/552 |
| 553 | Joachim de Posada | Joachim de Posada says, Don’t eat the marshmallow yet | In this short talk from TED U, Joachim de Posada shares a landmark experiment on delayed gratification — and how it can predict future success. With priceless video of kids trying their hardest not to eat the marshmallow. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/553 |
| 554 | Jay Walker | Jay Walker on the world’s English mania | Jay Walker explains why two billion people around the world are trying to learn English. He shares photos and spine-tingling audio of Chinese students rehearsing English — “the world’s second language” — by the thousands. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/554 |
| 555 | Michelle Obama | Michelle Obama’s plea for education | Speaking at a London girls’ school, Michelle Obama makes a passionate, personal case for each student to take education seriously. It is this new, brilliant generation, she says, that will close the gap between the world as it is and the world as it should be. | Best of the Web | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/555 |
| 556 | Jonathan Drori | Jonathan Drori: Why we’re storing billions of seeds | In this brief talk from TED U 2009, Jonathan Drori encourages us to save biodiversity — one seed at a time. Reminding us that plants support human life, he shares the vision of the Millennium Seed Bank, which has stored over 3 billion seeds to date from dwindling yet essential plant species. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/556 |
| 557 | Kaki King | Kaki King rocks out to “Pink Noise” | Kaki King, the first female on Rolling Stone’s “guitar god” list, rocks out to a full live set at TED2008, including her breakout single, “Playing with Pink Noise.” Jaw-dropping virtuosity meets a guitar technique that truly stands out. | TED2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/557 |
| 558 | Liz Coleman | Liz Coleman’s call to reinvent liberal arts education | Bennington president Liz Coleman delivers a call-to-arms for radical reform in higher education. Bucking the trend to push students toward increasingly narrow areas of study, she proposes a truly cross-disciplinary education — one that dynamically combines all areas of study to address the great problems of our day. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/558 |
| 560 | Ray Kurzweil | Ray Kurzweil: A university for the coming singularity | Ray Kurzweil’s latest graphs show that technology’s breakneck advances will only accelerate — recession or not. He unveils his new project, Singularity University, to study oncoming tech and guide it to benefit humanity. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/560 |
| 561 | Yann Arthus-Bertrand | Yann Arthus-Bertrand captures fragile Earth in wide-angle | In this image-filled talk, Yann Arthus-Bertrand displays his three most recent projects on humanity and our habitat — stunning aerial photographs in his series “The Earth From Above,” personal interviews from around the globe featured in his web project “6 billion Others,” and his soon-to-be-released movie, “Home,” which documents human impact on the environment through breathtaking video. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/561 |
| 562 | Felix Dennis | Publisher Felix Dennis’ odes to vice and consequences | Media big shot Felix Dennis roars his fiery, funny, sometimes racy original poetry, revisiting haunting memories and hard-won battle scars from a madcap — yet not too repentant — life. Best enjoyed with a glass of wine. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/562 |
| 563 | Pete Alcorn | Pete Alcorn on the world in 2200 | In this short, optimistic talk from TED2009, Pete Alcorn shares a vision of the world of two centuries from now — when declining populations and growing opportunity prove Malthus was wrong. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/563 |
| 565 | Kevin Surace | Kevin Surace invents eco-friendly drywall | Kevin Surace suggests we rethink basic construction materials — such as the familiar wallboard — to reduce the huge carbon footprint generated by the manufacturing and construction of our buildings. He introduces EcoRock, a clean, recyclable and energy-efficient drywall created by his team at Serious Materials. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/565 |
| 566 | John La Grou | John La Grou plugs smart power outlets | John La Grou unveils an ingenious new technology that will smarten up the electrical outlets in our homes, using microprocessors and RFID tags. The invention, Safeplug, promises to prevent deadly accidents like house fires — and to conserve energy. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/566 |
| 570 | Nancy Etcoff | Nancy Etcoff on the surprising science of happiness | Cognitive researcher Nancy Etcoff looks at happiness — the ways we try to achieve and increase it, the way it’s untethered to our real circumstances, and its surprising effect on our bodies. | TED2004 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/570 |
| 571 | Robert Full | Robert Full: Learning from the gecko’s tail | Biologist Robert Full studies the amazing gecko, with its supersticky feet and tenacious climbing skill. But high-speed footage reveals that the gecko’s tail harbors perhaps the most surprising talents of all. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/571 |
| 572 | Richard St. John | Richard St. John: “Success is a continuous journey” | In his typically candid style, Richard St. John reminds us that success is not a one-way street, but a constant journey. He uses the story of his business’ rise and fall to illustrate a valuable lesson — when we stop trying, we fail. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/572 |
| 573 | Jane Poynter | Jane Poynter: Life in Biosphere 2 | Jane Poynter tells her story of living two years and 20 minutes in Biosphere 2 — an experience that provoked her to explore how we might sustain life in the harshest of environments. This is the first TED talk drawn from an independently organized TEDx event, held at the University of Southern California. | TEDxUSC | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/573 |
| 575 | Clay Shirky | Clay Shirky: How social media can make history | While news from Iran streams to the world, Clay Shirky shows how Facebook, Twitter and TXTs help citizens in repressive regimes to report on real news, bypassing censors (however briefly). The end of top-down control of news is changing the nature of politics. | TED@State | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/575 |
| 578 | Diane Benscoter | Diane Benscoter on how cults rewire the brain | Diane Benscoter spent five years as a “Moonie.” She shares an insider’s perspective on the mind of a cult member, and proposes a new way to think about today’s most troubling conflicts and extremist movements. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/578 |
| 580 | Catherine Mohr | Catherine Mohr: Surgery’s past, present and robotic future | Surgeon and inventor Catherine Mohr tours the history of surgery (and its pre-painkiller, pre-antiseptic past), then demos some of the newest tools for surgery through tiny incisions, performed using nimble robot hands. Fascinating — but not for the squeamish. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/580 |
| 581 | Qi Zhang | Qi Zhang’s electrifying organ performance | Organ virtuoso Qi Zhang plays her electric rendering of “Ridiculous Fellows” from Prokofiev’s “The Love for Three Oranges” orchestral suite. This exhilarating performance from TEDx USC features the Yamaha Electone Stagea, a rare, imported instrument specially programmed by Qi herself. | TEDxUSC | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/581 |
| 582 | Philip Zimbardo | Philip Zimbardo prescribes a healthy take on time | Psychologist Philip Zimbardo says happiness and success are rooted in a trait most of us disregard: the way we orient toward the past, present and future. He suggests we calibrate our outlook on time as a first step to improving our lives. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/582 |
| 584 | Paul Collier | Paul Collier’s new rules for rebuilding a broken nation | Long conflict can wreck a country, leaving behind poverty and chaos. But what’s the right way to help war-torn countries rebuild? At TED@State, Paul Collier explains the problems with current post-conflict aid plans, and suggests 3 ideas for a better approach. | TED@State | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/584 |
| 585 | Katherine Fulton | Katherine Fulton: You are the future of philanthropy | In this uplifting talk, Katherine Fulton sketches the new future of philanthropy — one where collaboration and innovation allow regular people to do big things, even when money is scarce. Giving five practical examples of crowd-driven philanthropy, she calls for a new generation of citizen leaders. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/585 |
| 586 | Ray Zahab | Ray Zahab treks to the South Pole | Extreme runner Ray Zahab shares an enthusiastic account of his record-breaking trek on foot to the South Pole — a 33-day sprint through the snow. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/586 |
| 587 | Arthur Benjamin | Arthur Benjamin’s formula for changing math education | Someone always asks the math teacher, “Am I going to use calculus in real life?” And for most of us, says Arthur Benjamin, the answer is no. He offers a bold proposal on how to make math education relevant in the digital age. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/587 |
| 588 | Gever Tulley | Gever Tulley teaches life lessons through tinkering | Gever Tulley usesengaging photos and footage to demonstrate the valuable lessons kids learn at his Tinkering School. When given tools, materials and guidance, these young imaginations run wild and creative problem-solving takes over to build unique boats, bridges and even a rollercoaster! | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/588 |
| 589 | Daniel Libeskind | Daniel Libeskind’s 17 words of architectural inspiration | Daniel Libeskind builds on very big ideas. Here, he shares 17 words that underlie his vision for architecture — raw, risky, emotional, radical — and that offer inspiration for any bold creative pursuit. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/589 |
| 590 | Eames Demetrios | The design genius of Charles + Ray Eames | The legendary design team Charles and Ray Eames made films, houses and classic midcentury modern furniture. Eames Demetrios, their grandson, shows rarely seen films and archival footage in a lively, loving tribute to their creative process. | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/590 |
| 591 | Tom Wujec | Tom Wujec on 3 ways the brain creates meaning | Information designer Tom Wujec talks through three areas of the brain that help us understand words, images, feelings, connections. In this short talk from TEDU, he asks: How can we best engage our brains to help us better understand big ideas? | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/591 |
| 592 | Sophal Ear | Sophal Ear: Escaping the Khmer Rouge | TED Fellow Sophal Ear shares the compelling story of his family’s escape from Cambodia under the rule of the Khmer Rouge. He recounts his mother’s cunning and determination to save her children. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/592 |
| 594 | Kary Mullis | Kary Mullis’ next-gen cure for killer infections | Drug-resistant bacteria kills, even in top hospitals. But now tough infections like staph and anthrax may be in for a surprise. Nobel-winning chemist Kary Mullis, who watched a friend die when powerful antibiotics failed, unveils a radical new cure that shows extraordinary promise. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/594 |
| 598 | Stewart Brand | Stewart Brand proclaims 4 environmental ‘heresies’ | The man who helped usher in the environmental movement in the 1960s and ’70s has been rethinking his positions on cities, nuclear power, genetic modification and geo-engineering. This talk at the US State Department is a foretaste of his major new book, sure to provoke widespread debate. | TED@State | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/598 |
| 599 | Olafur Eliasson | Olafur Eliasson: Playing with space and light | In the spectacular large-scale projects he’s famous for (such as “Waterfalls” in New York harbor), Olafur Eliasson creates art from a palette of space, distance, color and light. This idea-packed talk begins with an experiment in the nature of perception. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/599 |
| 601 | Daniel Kraft | Daniel Kraft invents a better way to harvest bone marrow | Daniel Kraft demos his Marrow Miner — a new device that quickly harvests life-saving bone marrow with minimal pain to the donor. He emphasizes that the adult stem cells found in bone marrow can be used to treat many terminal conditions, from Parkinson’s to heart disease. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/601 |
| 602 | Jim Fallon | Jim Fallon: Exploring the mind of a killer | Psychopathic killers are the basis for some must-watch TV, but what really makes them tick? Neuroscientist Jim Fallon talks about brain scans and genetic analysis that may uncover the rotten wiring in the nature (and nurture) of murderers. In a too-strange-for-fiction twist, he shares a fascinating family history that makes his work chillingly personal. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/602 |
| 603 | Nina Jablonski | Nina Jablonski breaks the illusion of skin color | Nina Jablonski says that differing skin colors are simply our bodies’ adaptation to varied climates and levels of UV exposure. Charles Darwin disagreed with this theory, but she explains, that’s because he did not have access to NASA. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/603 |
| 604 | Gordon Brown | Gordon Brown: Wiring a web for global good | We’re at a unique moment in history, says UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown: we can use today’s interconnectedness to develop our shared global ethic — and work together to confront the challenges of poverty, security, climate change and the economy. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/604 |
| 605 | Alain de Botton | Alain de Botton: A kinder, gentler philosophy of success | Alain de Botton examines our ideas of success and failure — and questions the assumptions underlying these two judgments. Is success always earned? Is failure? He makes an eloquent, witty case to move beyond snobbery to find true pleasure in our work. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/605 |
| 606 | Golan Levin | Golan Levin makes art that looks back at you | Golan Levin, an artist and engineer, uses modern tools — robotics, new software, cognitive research — to make artworks that surprise and delight. Watch as sounds become shapes, bodies create paintings, and a curious eye looks back at the curious viewer. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/606 |
| 607 | Elaine Morgan | Elaine Morgan says we evolved from aquatic apes | Elaine Morgan is a tenacious proponent of the aquatic ape hypothesis: the idea that humans evolved from primate ancestors who dwelt in watery habitats. Hear her spirited defense of the idea — and her theory on why mainstream science doesn’t take it seriously. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/607 |
| 608 | Paul Romer | Paul Romer’s radical idea: Charter cities | How can a struggling country break out of poverty if it’s trapped in a system of bad rules? Economist Paul Romer unveils a bold idea: “charter cities,” city-scale administrative zones governed by a coalition of nations. (Could Guant?°namo Bay become the next Hong Kong?) | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/608 |
| 610 | Willard Wigan | Willard Wigan: Hold your breath for micro-sculpture | Willard Wigan tells the story of how a difficult and lonely childhood drove him to discover his unique ability — to create art so tiny that it can’t be seen with the naked eye. His slideshow of figures, as seen through a microscope, can only be described as mind-boggling. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/610 |
| 613 | Michael Pritchard | Michael Pritchard’s water filter turns filthy water drinkable | Too much of the world lacks access to clean drinking water. Engineer Michael Pritchard did something about it — inventing the portable Lifesaver filter, which can make the most revolting water drinkable in seconds. An amazing demo from TEDGlobal 2009. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/613 |
| 614 | Janine Benyus | Janine Benyus: Biomimicry in action | Janine Benyus has a message for inventors: When solving a design problem, look to nature first. There you’ll find inspired designs for making things waterproof, aerodynamic, solar-powered and more. Here she reveals dozens of new products that take their cue from nature with spectacular results. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/614 |
| 615 | Emmanuel Jal | Emmanuel Jal: The music of a war child | For five years, young Emmanuel Jal fought as a child soldier in the Sudan. Rescued by an aid worker, he’s become an international hip-hop star and an activist for kids in war zones. In words and lyrics, he tells the story of his amazing life. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/615 |
| 618 | Dan Pink | Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation | Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don’t: Traditional rewards aren’t always as effective as we think. Listen for illuminating stories — and maybe, a way forward. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/618 |
| 619 | Eric Giler | Eric Giler demos wireless electricity | Eric Giler wants to untangle our wired lives with cable-free electric power. Here, he covers what this sci-fi tech offers, and demos MIT’s breakthrough version, WiTricity — a near-to-market invention that may soon recharge your cell phone, car, pacemaker. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/619 |
| 620 | Hans Rosling | Hans Rosling: Let my dataset change your mindset | Talking at the US State Department this summer, Hans Rosling uses his fascinating data-bubble software to burst myths about the developing world. Look for new analysis on China and the post-bailout world, mixed with classic data shows. | TED@State | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/620 |
| 621 | Natasha Tsakos | Natasha Tsakos’ multimedia theatrical adventure | Natasha Tsakos presents part of her one-woman, multimedia show, “Upwake.” As the character Zero, she blends dream and reality with an inventive virtual world projected around her in 3D animation and electric sound. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/621 |
| 622 | Cary Fowler | Cary Fowler: One seed at a time, protecting the future of food | The varieties of wheat, corn and rice we grow today may not thrive in a future threatened by climate change. Cary Fowler takes us inside a vast global seed bank, buried within a frozen mountain in Norway, that stores a diverse group of food-crop for whatever tomorrow may bring. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/622 |
| 623 | Joshua Silver | Josh Silver demos adjustable liquid-filled eyeglasses | Josh Silver delivers his brilliantly simple solution for correcting vision at the lowest cost possible — adjustable, liquid-filled lenses. At TEDGlobal 2009, he demos his affordable eyeglasses and reveals his global plan to distribute them to a billion people in need by 2020. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/623 |
| 625 | Geoff Mulgan | Geoff Mulgan: Post-crash, investing in a better world | As we reboot the world’s economy, Geoff Mulgan poses a question: Instead of sending bailout money to doomed old industries, why not use stimulus funds to bootstrap some new, socially responsible companies — and make the world a little bit better? | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/625 |
| 626 | Evan Grant | Evan Grant: Making sound visible through cymatics | Evan Grant demonstrates the science and art of cymatics, a process for making soundwaves visible. Useful for analyzing complex sounds (like dolphin calls), it also makes complex and beautiful designs. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/626 |
| 627 | Steve Truglia | Steve Truglia: A leap from the edge of space | At his day job, Steve Truglia flips cars, walks through fire and falls out of buildings — pushing technology to make stunts bigger, safer, more awesome. He talks us through his next stunt: the highest jump ever attempted, from the very edge of space. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/627 |
| 628 | James Balog | James Balog: Time-lapse proof of extreme ice loss | Photographer James Balog shares new image sequences from the Extreme Ice Survey, a network of time-lapse cameras recording glaciers receding at an alarming rate, some of the most vivid evidence yet of climate change. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/628 |
| 629 | Lewis Pugh | Lewis Pugh swims the North Pole | Lewis Pugh talks about his record-breaking swim across the North Pole. He braved the icy waters (in a Speedo) to highlight the melting icecap. Watch for astonishing footage — and some blunt commentary on the realities of supercold-water swims. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/629 |
| 630 | Rebecca Saxe | Rebecca Saxe: How we read each other’s minds | Sensing the motives and feelings of others is a natural talent for humans. But how do we do it? Here, Rebecca Saxe shares fascinating lab work that uncovers how the brain thinks about other peoples’ thoughts — and judges their actions. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/630 |
| 631 | Vishal Vaid | Vishal Vaid’s hypnotic song | Vishal Vaid and his band explore a traditional South Asian musical form in this mesmerizing improv performance. Sit back and let his music transport you. | TED2006 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/631 |
| 633 | Misha Glenny | Misha Glenny investigates global crime networks | Journalist Misha Glenny spent several years in a courageous investigation of organized crime networks worldwide, which have grown to an estimated 15% of the global economy. From the Russian mafia, to giant drug cartels, his sources include not just intelligence and law enforcement officials but criminal insiders. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/633 |
| 634 | Bjarke Ingels | Bjarke Ingels: 3 warp-speed architecture tales | Danish architect Bjarke Ingels rockets through photo/video-mingled stories of his eco-flashy designs. His buildings not only look like nature — they act like nature: blocking the wind, collecting solar energy — and creating stunning views. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/634 |
| 635 | John Lloyd | John Lloyd inventories the invisible | Nature’s mysteries meet tack-sharp wit in this hilarious, 10-minute mix of quips and fun lessons, as comedian, writer and TV man John Lloyd plucks at the substance of several things not seen. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/635 |
| 637 | Oliver Sacks | Oliver Sacks: What hallucination reveals about our minds | Neurologist and author Oliver Sacks brings our attention to Charles Bonnett syndrome — when visually impaired people experience lucid hallucinations. He describes the experiences of his patients in heartwarming detail and walks us through the biology of this under-reported phenomenon. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/637 |
| 639 | Imogen Heap | Imogen Heap plays “Wait It Out” | Imogen Heap plays a powerful stripped-down version of “Wait It Out,” from her new record, Ellipse. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/639 |
| 640 | Jonathan Zittrain | Jonathan Zittrain: The Web as random acts of kindness | Feeling like the world is becoming less friendly? Social theorist Jonathan Zittrain begs to difffer. The Internet, he suggests, is made up of millions of disinterested acts of kindness, curiosity and trust. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/640 |
| 641 | Evgeny Morozov | Evgeny Morozov: How the Net aids dictatorships | TED Fellow and journalist Evgeny Morozov punctures what he calls “iPod liberalism” — the assumption that tech innovation always promotes freedom, democracy — with chilling examples of ways the Internet helps oppressive regimes stifle dissent. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/641 |
| 642 | William Kamkwamba | William Kamkwamba: How I harnessed the wind | 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. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/642 |
| 643 | Taryn Simon | Taryn Simon photographs secret sites | Taryn Simon exhibits her startling take on photography — to reveal worlds and people we would never see otherwise. She shares two projects: one documents otherworldly locations typically kept secret from the public, the other involves haunting portraits of men convicted for crimes they did not commit. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/643 |
| 644 | Jacqueline Novogratz | Jacqueline Novogratz: A third way to think about aid | The debate over foreign aid often pits those who mistrust “charity” against those who mistrust reliance on the markets. Jacqueline Novogratz proposes a middle way she calls patient capital, with promising examples of entrepreneurial innovation driving social change. | TED@State | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/644 |
| 645 | Parag Khanna | Parag Khanna maps the future of countries | Many people think the lines on the map no longer matter, but Parag Khanna says they do. Using maps of the past and present, he explains the root causes of border conflicts worldwide and proposes simple yet cunning solutions for each. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/645 |
| 646 | Tim Brown | Tim Brown urges designers to think big | Tim Brown says the design profession is preoccupied with creating nifty, fashionable objects — even as pressing questions like clean water access show it has a bigger role to play. He calls for a shift to local, collaborative, participatory “design thinking.” | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/646 |
| 630 | Karen Armstrong | Karen Armstrong: Let’s revive the Golden Rule | Weeks from the Charter for Compassion launch, Karen Armstrong looks at religion’s role in the 21st century: Will its dogmas divide us? Or will it unite us for common good? She reviews the catalysts that can drive the world’s faiths to rediscover the Golden Rule. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/630 |
| 648 | Garik Israelian | Garik Israelian: How spectroscopy could reveal alien life | Garik Israelian is a spectroscopist, studying the spectrum emitted by a star to figure out what it’s made of and how it might behave. It’s a rare and accessible look at this discipline, which may be coming close to finding a planet friendly to life. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/648 |
| 649 | Stefan Sagmeister | Stefan Sagmeister: The power of time off | Every seven years, designer Stefan Sagmeister closes his New York studio for a yearlong sabbatical to rejuvenate and refresh their creative outlook. He explains the often overlooked value of time off and shows the innovative projects inspired by his time in Bali. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/649 |
| 650 | Carolyn Steel | Carolyn Steel: How food shapes our cities | Every day, in a city the size of London, 30 million meals are served. But where does all the food come from? Architect Carolyn Steel discusses the daily miracle of feeding a city, and shows how ancient food routes shaped the modern world. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/650 |
| 651 | David Logan | David Logan on tribal leadership | At TEDxUSC, David Logan talks about the five kinds of tribes that humans naturally form — in schools, workplaces, even the driver’s license bureau. By understanding our shared tribal tendencies, we can help lead each other to become better individuals. | TED in the Field | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/651 |
| 652 | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story | Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice — and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/652 |
| 653 | Beau Lotto | Beau Lotto: Optical illusions show how we see | Beau Lotto’s color games puzzle your vision, but they also spotlight what you can’t normally see: how your brain works. This fun, first-hand look at your own versatile sense of sight reveals how evolution tints your perception of what’s really out there. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/653 |
| 654 | Sam Martin | Sam Martin: The quirky world of “manspaces” | Author Sam Martin shares photos of a quirky world hobby that’s trending with the XY set: the “manspace.” (They’re custom-built hangouts where a man can claim a bit of his own territory to work, relax, be himself.) Grab a cold one and enjoy. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/654 |
| 655 | Eric Sanderson | Eric Sanderson pictures New York — before the City | 400 years after Hudson found New York harbor, Eric Sanderson shares how he made a 3D map of Mannahatta’s fascinating pre-city ecology of hills, rivers, wildlife — accurate down to the block — when Times Square was a wetland and you couldn’t get delivery. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/655 |
| 657 | David Hanson | David Hanson: Robots that “show emotion” | David Hanson’s robot faces look and act like yours: They recognize and respond to emotion, and make expressions of their own. Here, an “emotional” live demo of the Einstein robot offers a peek at a future where robots truly mimic humans. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/657 |
| 658 | Rory Sutherland | Rory Sutherland: Life lessons from an ad man | Advertising adds value to a product by changing our perception, rather than the product itself. Rory Sutherland makes the daring assertion that a change in perceived value can be just as satisfying as what we consider “real” value — and his conclusion has interesting consequences for how we look at life. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/658 |
| 659 | Henry Markram | Henry Markram builds a brain in a supercomputer | Henry Markram says the mysteries of the mind can be solved — soon. Mental illness, memory, perception: they’re made of neurons and electric signals, and he plans to find them with a supercomputer that models all the brain’s 100,000,000,000,000 synapses. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/659 |
| 660 | Julian Treasure | Julian Treasure: The 4 ways sound affects us | Playing sound effects both pleasant and awful, Julian Treasure shows how sound affects us in four significant ways. Listen carefully for a shocking fact about noisy open-plan offices. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/660 |
| 661 | John Gerzema | John Gerzema: The post-crisis consumer | John Gerzema says there’s an upside to the recent financial crisis — the opportunity for positive change. Speaking at TEDxKC, he identifies four major cultural shifts driving new consumer behavior and shows how businesses are evolving to connect with thoughtful spending. | TEDxKC | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/661 |
| 662 | Paul Debevec | Paul Debevec animates a photo-real digital face | At TEDxUSC, computer graphics trailblazer Paul Debevec explains the scene-stealing technology behind Digital Emily, a digitally constructed human face so realistic it stands up to multiple takes. | TEDxUSC | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/662 |
| 663 | Itay Talgam | Itay Talgam: Lead like the great conductors | An orchestra conductor faces the ultimate leadership challenge: creating perfect harmony without saying a word. In this charming talk, Itay Talgam demonstrates the unique styles of six great 20th-century conductors, illustrating crucial lessons for all leaders. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/663 |
| 664 | Marc Koska | Marc Koska: 1.3m reasons to re-invent the syringe | Reuse of syringes, all too common in under-funded clinics, kills 1.3 million each year. Marc Koska clues us in to this devastating global problem with facts, photos and hidden-camera footage. He shares his solution: a low-cost syringe that can’t be used twice. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/664 |
| 665 | Ian Goldin | Ian Goldin: Navigating our global future | As globalization and technological advances bring us hurtling towards a new integrated future, Ian Goldin warns that not all people may benefit equally. But, he says, if we can recognize this danger, we might yet realize the possibility of improved life for everyone. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/665 |
| 666 | David Deutsch | David Deutsch: A new way to explain explanation | For tens of thousands of years our ancestors understood the world through myths, and the pace of change was glacial. The rise of scientific understanding transformed the world within a few centuries. Why? Physicist David Deutsch proposes a subtle answer. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/666 |
| 667 | Rachel Armstrong | Rachel Armstrong: Architecture that repairs itself? | Venice is sinking. To save it, Rachel Armstrong says we need to outgrow architecture made of inert materials and, well, make architecture that grows itself. She proposes a not-quite-alive material that does its own repairs and sequesters carbon, too. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/667 |
| 669 | Becky Blanton | Becky Blanton: The year I was homeless | Becky Blanton planned to live in her van for a year and see the country, but when depression set in and her freelance job ended, her camping trip turned into homelessness. In this intimate talk, she describes her experience of becoming one of America’s working homeless. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/669 |
| 670 | Marcus du Sautoy | Marcus du Sautoy: Symmetry, reality’s riddle | The world turns on symmetry — from the spin of subatomic particles to the dizzying beauty of an arabesque. But there’s more to it than meets the eye. Here, Oxford mathematician Marcus du Sautoy offers a glimpse of the invisible numbers that marry all symmetrical objects. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/670 |
| 672 | Matthew White | Matthew White gives the euphonium a new voice | The euphonium, with its sweet brass sound, is rarely heard outside of traditional brass bands. Cutting loose on the euph, prodigy Matthew White performs Nat McIntosh’s hip-hop-inflected “The Warrior Comes Out to Play.” | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/672 |
| 673 | Jackie Tabick | Rabbi Jackie Tabick: The balancing act of compassion | While we all agree that compassion is a great idea, Rabbi Tabick acknowledges there are challenges to its execution. She explains how a careful balance of compassion and justice allows us to do good deeds, and keep our sanity. | TEDSalon 2009 Compassion | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/673 |
| 674 | Dayananda Saraswati | Swami Dayananda Saraswati: The profound journey of compassion | Swami Dayananda Saraswati unravels the parallel paths of personal development and attaining true compassion. He walks us through each step of self-realization, from helpless infancy to the fearless act of caring for others. | Chautauqua Institution | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/674 |
| 675 | James Forbes | Rev. James Forbes: Compassion at the dinner table | Join Rev. James Forbes at the dinner table of his Southern childhood, where his mother and father taught him what compassion really means day to day — sharing with those who need love. | Chautauqua Institution | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/675 |
| 676 | Feisal Abdul Rauf | Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf: Lose your ego, find your compassion | Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf combines the teachings of the Qur‚Äôan, the stories of Rumi, and the examples of Muhammad and Jesus, to demonstrate that only one obstacle stands between each of us and absolute compassion — ourselves. | TEDSalon 2009 Compassion | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/676 |
| 677 | Robert Thurman | Robert Thurman: Expanding your circle of compassion | It‚Äôs hard to always show compassion — even to the people we love, but Robert Thurman asks that we develop compassion for our enemies. He prescribes a seven-step meditation exercise to extend compassion beyond our inner circle. | Chautauqua Institution | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/677 |
| 679 | Robert Wright | Robert Wright: The evolution of compassion | Robert Wright uses evolutionary biology and game theory to explain why we appreciate the Golden Rule (“Do unto others…”), why we sometimes ignore it and why there‚Äôs hope that, in the near future, we might all have the compassion to follow it. | TEDSalon 2009 Compassion | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/679 |
| 680 | Stefana Broadbent | Stefana Broadbent: How the Internet enables intimacy | We worry that IM, texting, Facebook are spoiling human intimacy, but Stefana Broadbent’s research shows how communication tech is capable of cultivating deeper relationships, bringing love across barriers like distance and workplace rules. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/680 |
| 681 | Cameron Sinclair | Cameron Sinclair: The refugees of boom-and-bust | At TEDGlobal U, Cameron Sinclair shows the unreported cost of real estate megaprojects gone bust: thousands of migrant construction laborers left stranded and penniless. To his fellow architects, he says there is only one ethical response. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/681 |
| 682 | Rachel Pike | Rachel Pike: The science behind a climate headline | In 4 minutes, atmospheric chemist Rachel Pike provides a glimpse of the massive scientific effort behind the bold headlines on climate change, with her team — one of thousands who contributed — taking a risky flight over the rainforest in pursuit of data on a key molecule. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/682 |
| 683 | Edward Burtynsky | Edward Burtynsky photographs the landscape of oil | In stunning large-format photographs, Edward Burtynsky follows the path of oil through modern society, from wellhead to pipeline to car engine — and then beyond to the projected peak-oil endgame. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/683 |
| 684 | Cynthia Schneider | Cynthia Schneider: The surprising spread of “Idol” TV | Cynthia Schneider looks at two international “American Idol”-style shows — one in Afghanistan, and one in the United Arab Emirates — and shows the surprising effect that these reality-TV competitions are creating in their societies. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/684 |
| 685 | Pranav Mistry | Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology | At TEDIndia, Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data — including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper “laptop.” In an onstage Q&A, Mistry says he’ll open-source the software behind SixthSense, to open its possibilities to all. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/685 |
| 686 | Devdutt Pattanaik | Devdutt Pattanaik: East vs. West — the myths that mystify | Devdutt Pattanaik takes an eye-opening look at the myths of India and of the West — and shows how these two fundamentally different sets of beliefs about God, death and heaven help us consistently misunderstand one another. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/686 |
| 688 | Mallika Sarabhai | Mallika Sarabhai: Dance to change the world | At TEDIndia, Mallika Sarabhai, a dancer/actor/politician, tells a transformative story in dance — and argues that the arts may be the most powerful way to effect change, whether political, social or personal. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/688 |
| 689 | Shashi Tharoor | Shashi Tharoor: Why nations should pursue “soft” power | India is fast becoming a superpower, says Shashi Tharoor — not just through trade and politics, but through “soft” power, its ability to share its culture with the world through food, music, technology, Bollywood. He argues that in the long run it’s not the size of the army that matters as much as a country’s ability to influence the world’s hearts and minds. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/689 |
| 691 | Mathieu Lehanneur | Mathieu Lehanneur demos science-inspired design | Naming science as his chief inspiration, Mathieu Lehanneur shows a selection of his ingenious designs — an interactive noise-neutralizing ball, an antibiotic course in one layered pill, asthma treatment that reminds kids to take it, a living air filter, a living-room fish farm and more. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/691 |
| 692 | Fields Wicker-Miurin | Fields Wicker-Miurin: Learning from leadership’s “missing manual” | Leadership doesn’t have a user’s manual, but Fields Wicker-Miurin says stories of remarkable, local leaders are the next best thing. At a TED salon in London, she shares three. | TEDSalon London 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/692 |
| 694 | Tom Wujec | Tom Wujec demos the 13th-century astrolabe | Rather than demo another new technology, Tom Wujec reaches back to one of our earliest but most ingenious devices — the astrolabe. With thousands of uses, from telling time to mapping the night sky, this old tech reminds us that the ancient can be as brilliant as the brand-new. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/694 |
| 695 | Hans Rosling | Hans Rosling: Asia’s rise — how and when | Hans Rosling was a young guest student in India when he first realized that Asia had all the capacities to reclaim its place as the world’s dominant economic force. At TEDIndia, he graphs global economic growth since 1858 and predicts the exact date that India and China will outstrip the US. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/695 |
| 696 | Rob Hopkins | Rob Hopkins: Transition to a world without oil | Rob Hopkins reminds us that the oil our world depends on is steadily running out. He proposes a unique solution to this problem — the Transition response, where we prepare ourselves for life without oil and sacrifice our luxuries to build systems and communities that are completely independent of fossil fuels. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/696 |
| 698 | Magnus Larsson | Magnus Larsson: Turning dunes into architecture | Architecture student Magnus Larsson details his bold plan to transform the harsh Sahara desert using bacteria and a surprising construction material: the sand itself. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/698 |
| 700 | Gordon Brown | Gordon Brown on global ethic vs. national interest | Can the interests of an individual nation be reconciled with humanity’s greater good? Can a patriotic, nationally elected politician really give people in other countries equal consideration? Following his TEDTalk calling for a global ethic, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown fields questions from TED Curator Chris Anderson. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/700 |
| 701 | Andrea Ghez | Andrea Ghez: The hunt for a supermassive black hole | With new data from the Keck telescopes, Andrea Ghez shows how state-of-the-art adaptive optics are helping astronomers understand our universe’s most mysterious objects: black holes. She shares evidence that a supermassive black hole may be lurking at the center of the Milky Way. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/701 |
| 702 | Anupam Mishra | Anupam Mishra: The ancient ingenuity of water harvesting | With wisdom and wit, Anupam Mishra talks about the amazing feats of engineering built centuries ago by the people of India’s Golden Desert to harvest water. These structures are still used today — and are often superior to modern water megaprojects. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/702 |
| 704 | Sunitha Krishnan | Sunitha Krishnan fights sex slavery | Sunitha Krishnan has dedicated her life to rescuing women and children from sex slavery, a multimilion-dollar global market. In this courageous talk, she tells three powerful stories, as well as her own, and calls for a more humane approach to helping these young victims rebuild their lives. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/704 |
| 705 | Scott Kim | Scott Kim takes apart the art of puzzles | At the 2008 EG conference, famed puzzle designer Scott Kim takes us inside the puzzle-maker’s frame of mind. Sampling his career’s work, he introduces a few of the most popular types, and shares the fascinations that inspired some of his best. | EG 2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/705 |
| 706 | Rory Bremner | Rory Bremner’s one-man world summit | Scottish funnyman Rory Bremner convenes a historic council on the TEDGlobal stage — as he lampoons Gordon Brown, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and a cast of other world leaders with his hilarious impressions and biting commentary. See if you can catch a few sharp TED in-jokes. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/706 |
| 300 | Marc Pachter | Marc Pachter: The art of the interview | Marc Pachter has conducted live interviews with some of the most intriguing characters in recent American history as part of a remarkable series created for the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. He reveals the secret to a great interview and shares extraordinary stories of talking with Steve Martin, Clare Booth Luce and more. | EG 2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/300 |
| 709 | Thulasiraj Ravilla | Thulasiraj Ravilla: How low-cost eye care can be world-class | India’s revolutionary Aravind Eye Care System has given sight to millions. Thulasiraj Ravilla looks at the ingenious approach that drives its treatment costs down and quality up, and why its methods should trigger a re-think of all human services. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/709 |
| 710 | Shereen El Feki | Shereen El Feki: Pop culture in the Arab world | At TEDGlobal University, Shereen El Feki shows how some Arab cultures are borrowing trademarks of Western pop culture — music videos, comics, even Barbie — and adding a culturally appropriate twist. The hybridized media shows how two civilizations, rather than dividing, can dovetail. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/710 |
| 712 | Loretta Napoleoni | Loretta Napoleoni: The intricate economics of terrorism | Loretta Napoleoni details her rare opportunity to talk to the secretive Italian Red Brigades — an experience that sparked a lifelong interest in terrorism. She gives a behind-the-scenes look at its complex economics, revealing a surprising connection between money laundering and the US Patriot Act. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/712 |
| 713 | Ryan Lobo | Ryan Lobo: Photographing the hidden story | Ryan Lobo has traveled the world, taking photographs that tell stories of unusual human lives. In this haunting talk, he reframes controversial subjects with empathy, so that we see the pain of a Liberian war criminal, the quiet strength of UN women peacekeepers and the perseverance of Delhi’s underappreciated firefighters. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/713 |
| 714 | Alexis Ohanian | Alexis Ohanian: How to make a splash in social media | In a funny, rapid-fire 4 minutes, Alexis Ohanian of Reddit tells the real-life fable of one humpback whale’s rise to Web stardom. The lesson of Mister Splashy Pants is a shoo-in classic for meme-makers and marketers in the Facebook age. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/714 |
| 715 | Charles Anderson | Charles Anderson discovers dragonflies that cross oceans | While living and working as a marine biologist in Maldives, Charles Anderson noticed sudden explosions of dragonflies at certain times of year. He explains how he carefully tracked the path of a plain, little dragonfly called the globe skimmer, only to discover that it had the longest migratory journey of any insect in the world. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/715 |
| 716 | James Geary | James Geary, metaphorically speaking | Aphorism enthusiast and author James Geary waxes on a fascinating fixture of human language: the metaphor. Friend of scribes from Aristotle to Elvis, metaphor can subtly influence the decisions we make, Geary says. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/716 |
| 717 | Shaffi Mather | Shaffi Mather: A new way to fight corruption | Shaffi Mather explains why he left his first career to become a social entrepreneur, providing life-saving transportation with his company 1298 for Ambulance. Now, he has a new idea and plans to begin a company to fight the booming business of corruption in public service, eliminating it one bribe at a time. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/717 |
| 718 | Steven Cowley | Steven Cowley: Fusion is energy’s future | Physicist Steven Cowley is certain that nuclear fusion is the only truly sustainable solution to the fuel crisis. He explains why fusion will work — and details the projects that he and many others have devoted their lives to, working against the clock to create a new source of energy. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/718 |
| 719 | Asher Hasan | Asher Hasan’s message of peace from Pakistan | One of a dozen Pakistanis who came to TEDIndia despite security hassles entering the country, TED Fellow Asher Hasan shows photos of ordinary Pakistanis that drive home a profound message for citizens of all nations: look beyond disputes, and see the humanity we share. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/719 |
| 720 | Steve Jobs | Steve Jobs: How to live before you die | At his Stanford University commencement speech, Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple and Pixar, urges us to pursue our dreams and see the opportunities in life’s setbacks — including death itself. | Stanford University | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/720 |
| 721 | Michael Sandel | Michael Sandel: What’s the right thing to do? | Is torture ever justified? Would you steal a drug that your child needs to survive? Is it sometimes wrong to tell the truth? How much is one human life worth? In the “Justice” program that bears his name, Harvard professor Michael Sandel probes these questions — and asks what you think, and why. | Justice with Michael Sandel | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/721 |
| 722 | Cat Laine | Cat Laine: Engineering a better life for all | At the BIF innovation summit, Cat Laine draws on the Greek myth of Tantalus to explain the frustration developing countries face. She shows how we might help communities rich in human capital, but poor in resources and infrastructure, with cleverly engineered solutions. | Business Innovation Factory | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/722 |
| 723 | Bertrand Piccard | Bertrand Piccard’s solar-powered adventure | For the dawn of a new decade, adventurer Bertrand Piccard offers us a challenge: Find motivation in what seems impossible. He shares his own plans to do what many say can’t be done — to fly around the world, day and night, in a solar-powered aircraft. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/723 |
| 724 | Vilayanur Ramachandran | VS Ramachandran: The neurons that shaped civilization | Neuroscientist Vilayanur Ramachandran outlines the fascinating functions of mirror neurons. Only recently discovered, these neurons allow us to learn complex social behaviors, some of which formed the foundations of human civilization as we know it. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/724 |
| 726 | Nick Veasey | Nick Veasey: Exposing the invisible | Nick Veasey shows outsized X-ray images that reveal the otherworldly inner workings of familiar objects — from the geometry of a wildflower to the anatomy of a Boeing 730. Producing these photos is dangerous and painstaking, but the reward is a superpower: looking at what the human eye can’t see. | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/726 |
| 727 | Dan Buettner | Dan Buettner: How to live to be 100+ | To find the path to long life and health, Dan Buettner and team study the world’s “Blue Zones,” communities whose elders live with vim and vigor to record-setting age. At TEDxTC, he shares the 9 common diet and lifestyle habits that keep them spry past age 100. | TEDxTC | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/727 |
| 728 | Romulus Whitaker | Romulus Whitaker: The real danger lurking in the water | The gharial and king cobra are two of India’s most iconic reptiles, and they’re endangered because of polluted waterways. Conservationist Romulus Whitaker shows rare footage of these magnificent animals and urges us to save the rivers that sustain their lives and our own. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/728 |
| 729 | Herbie Hancock | Herbie Hancock’s all-star set | Legendary jazz musician Herbie Hancock delivers a stunning performance alongside two old friends — past drummer for the Headhunters, Harvey Mason, and bassist Marcus Miller. Listen to the end to hear them sweeten the classic “Watermelon Man.” | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/729 |
| 730 | Randy Pausch | Randy Pausch: Really achieving your childhood dreams | In 2007, Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch, who was dying of pancreatic cancer, delivered a one-of-a-kind last lecture that made the world stop and pay attention. This moving talk will teach you how to really achieve your childhood dreams. Unmissable. | Carnegie Mellon University | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/730 |
| 732 | Robert Sapolsky | Robert Sapolsky: The uniqueness of humans | At Stanford University, primatologist Robert Sapolsky offers a fascinating and funny look at human behaviors which the rest of the animal kingdom would consider bizarre. | Stanford University | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/732 |
| 733 | Matt Weinstein | Matt Weinstein: What Bernie Madoff couldn’t steal from me | Matt Weinstein lost his life savings to Bernie Madoff’s notorious scam. But his response to the disaster is unexpectedly hopeful. | AORN Congress | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/733 |
| 734 | Kartick Satyanarayan | Kartick Satyanarayan: How we rescued the “dancing” bears | Traditionally, the Kalandar community of India has survived by capturing sloth bear cubs and training them to “dance” through extreme cruelty. Kartick Satyanarayan has been able to put an end to this centuries-old practice, and in so doing discovered a lesson of wider significance: make the practitioners part of the solution. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/734 |
| 735 | Kiran Sethi | Kiran Bir Sethi teaches kids to take charge | Kiran Bir Sethi shows how her groundbreaking Riverside School in India teaches kids life’s most valuable lesson: “I can.” Watch her students take local issues into their own hands, lead other young people, even educate their parents. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/735 |
| 736 | Lalitesh Katragadda | Lalitesh Katragadda: Making maps to fight disaster, build economies | As of 2005, only 15 percent of the world was mapped. This slows the delivery of aid after a disaster — and hides the economic potential of unused lands and unknown roads. In this short talk, Google’s Lalitesh Katragadda demos Map Maker, a group map-making tool that people around the globe are using to map their world. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/736 |
| 737 | Edwidge Danticat | Edwidge Danticat: Stories of Haiti | In the midst of an earlier crisis, Haitian author Edwidge Danticat reminds us of the contributions of Haiti’s vibrant culture and people. This reading offers a timely message for today — as the nation struggles in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake. | University of California | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/737 |
| 738 | Charles Fleischer | Charles Fleischer insists: All things are Moleeds | In a presentation that can only be described as epic, comedian Charles Fleischer delivers a hysterical send-up of a time-honored TED theme: the map. Geometry, numbers, charts and stamp art also factor in (somehow), as he weaves together a unique theory of everything called “Moleeds.” | TED2005 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/738 |
| 740 | Martin Luther King Jr. | Martin Luther King Jr.: I have a dream | 1963. Atop the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. stood before 200,000 supporters to call for racial equality, in what would become the defining moment of the African-American civil rights movement — and a turning point in human history. | March on Washington, 1963 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/740 |
| 741 | David Blaine | David Blaine: How I held my breath for 17 min | In this highly personal talk from TEDMED, magician and stuntman David Blaine describes what it took to hold his breath underwater for 17 minutes — a world record (only two minutes shorter than this entire talk!) — and what his often death-defying work means to him. Warning: do NOT try this at home. | TEDMED 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/741 |
| 743 | Ravin Agrawal | Ravin Agrawal: 10 young Indian artists to watch | Collector Ravin Agrawal delivers a glowing introduction to 10 of India’s most exciting young contemporary artists. Working in a variety of media, each draws on their local culture for inspiration. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/743 |
| 744 | Anthony Atala | Anthony Atala on growing new organs | Anthony Atala’s state-of-the-art lab grows human organs — from muscles to blood vessels to bladders, and more. At TEDMED, he shows footage of his bio-engineers working with some of its sci-fi gizmos, including an oven-like bioreactor (preheat to 98.6 F) and a machine that “prints” human tissue. | TEDMED 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/744 |
| 745 | Sivamani | Sivamani: Rhythm is everything, everywhere | Percussionist Sivamani delivers one of TED’s liveliest and most inventive performances yet. He uses traditional Western and Eastern instruments to create a rhythmic tour de force, along with a tub of water, corrugated metal, spoons, luggage, our stage props and even a little audience participation. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/745 |
| 746 | Richard Dawkins | Richard Dawkins: Growing up in the universe | At the Royal Institution in 1991, Richard Dawkins asks us to look at our universe with new eyes. Packed with big questions and illuminating visuals, this memorable journey through the history of life magnifies the splendor of evolution and our place in it. | Royal Institution | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/746 |
| 730 | Taylor Mali | Taylor Mali: What teachers make | Ever heard the phrase “Those who can’t do, teach”? At the Bowery Poetry Club, slam poet Taylor Mali begs to differ, and delivers a powerful, 3-minute response on behalf of educators everywhere. | Bowery Poetry Club | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/730 |
| 748 | Bill Davenhall | Bill Davenhall: Your health depends on where you live | Where you live: It impacts your health as much as diet and genes do, but it’s not part of your medical records. At TEDMED, Bill Davenhall shows how overlooked government geo-data (from local heart-attack rates to toxic dumpsite info) can mesh with mobile GPS apps to keep doctors in the loop. Call it “geo-medicine.” | TEDMED 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/748 |
| 750 | Joshua Prince-Ramus | Joshua Prince-Ramus: Building a theater that remakes itself | Joshua Prince-Ramus believes that if architects re-engineer their design process, the results can be spectacular. Speaking at TEDxSMU, Dallas, he walks us through his fantastic re-creation of the local Wyly Theater as a giant “theatrical machine” that reconfigures itself at the touch of a button. | TEDxSMU | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/750 |
| 751 | Eve Ensler | Eve Ensler: Embrace your inner girl | In this passionate talk, Eve Ensler declares that there is a girl cell in us all — a cell that we have all been taught to suppress. She tells heartfelt stories of girls around the world who have overcome shocking adversity and violence to reveal the astonishing strength of being a girl. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/751 |
| 752 | Jane Chen | Jane Chen: A warm embrace that saves lives | In the developing world, access to incubators is limited by cost and distance, and millions of premature babies die each year. TED Fellow Jane Chen shows an invention that could keep millions of these infants warm — a design that’s safe, portable, low-cost and life-saving. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/752 |
| 755 | Derek Sivers | Derek Sivers: Weird, or just different? | There’s a flip side to everything, the saying goes, and in 2 minutes, Derek Sivers shows this is true in a few ways you might not expect. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/755 |
| 756 | JK Rowling | JK Rowling: The fringe benefits of failure | At her Harvard commencement speech, “Harry Potter” author JK Rowling offers some powerful, heartening advice to dreamers and overachievers, including one hard-won lesson that she deems “worth more than any qualification I ever earned.” | Harvard University | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/756 |
| 757 | Sendhil Mullainathan | Sendhil Mullainathan: Solving social problems with a nudge | MacArthur winner Sendhil Mullainathan uses the lens of behavioral economics to study a tricky set of social problems — those we know how to solve, but don’t. We know how to reduce child deaths due to diarrhea, how to prevent diabetes-related blindness and how to implement solar-cell technology … yet somehow, we don’t or can’t. Why? | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/757 |
| 759 | Jamie Heywood | Jamie Heywood: The big idea my brother inspired | When Jamie Heywood’s brother was diagnosed with ALS, he devoted his life to fighting the disease as well. The Heywood brothers built an ingenious website where people share and track data on their illnesses — and they discovered that the collective data had enormous power to comfort, explain and predict. | TEDMED 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/759 |
| 760 | George Whitesides | George Whitesides: A lab the size of a postage stamp | Traditional lab tests for disease diagnosis can be too expensive and cumbersome for the regions most in need. George Whitesides’ ingenious answer, at TEDxBoston, is a foolproof tool that can be manufactured at virtually zero cost. | TEDxBoston | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/760 |
| 761 | David Agus | David Agus: A new strategy in the war on cancer | Traditionally, David Agus explains, cancer treatments have had a short-sighted focus on the offending individual cells. He suggests a new, cross-disciplinary approach, using atypical drugs, computer modeling and protein analysis to treat and analyze the whole body. | TEDMED 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/761 |
| 762 | Tom Shannon | Tom Shannon: The painter and the pendulum | TED visits Tom Shannon in his Manhattan studio for an intimate look at his science-inspired art. An eye-opening, personal conversation with John Hockenberry reveals how nature’s forces — and the onset of Parkinson’s tremors — interact in his life and craft. | TED in the Field | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/762 |
| 763 | Peter Eigen | Peter Eigen: How to expose the corrupt | Some of the world’s most baffling social problems, says Peter Eigen, can be traced to systematic, pervasive government corruption, hand-in-glove with global companies. At TEDxBerlin, Eigen describes the thrilling counter-attack led by his organization Transparency International. | TEDxBerlin | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/763 |
| 765 | Jamie Oliver | Jamie Oliver’s TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food | The way we eat in the developed world is causing needless death — and shortening the lives of the next generation of kids. Sharing powerful stories from his anti-obesity project in Huntington, W. Va., Jamie Oliver makes the case for an all-out assault on our ignorance of food. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/765 |
| 766 | Blaise Aguera y Arcas | Blaise Aguera y Arcas demos augmented-reality maps | In a demo that drew gasps at TED2010, Blaise Aguera y Arcas demos new augmented-reality mapping technology from Microsoft. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/766 |
| 767 | Bill Gates | Bill Gates on energy: Innovating to zero! | At TED2010, Bill Gates unveils his vision for the world’s energy future, describing the need for “miracles” to avoid planetary catastrophe and explaining why he’s backing a dramatically different type of nuclear reactor. The necessary goal? Zero carbon emissions globally by 2050. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/767 |
| 768 | David Cameron | David Cameron: The next age of government | The leader of Britain’s Conservative Party says we’re entering a new era — where governments themselves have less power (and less money) and people empowered by technology have more. Tapping into new ideas on behavioral economics, he explores how these trends could be turned into smarter policy. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/768 |
| 769 | Aimee Mullins | Aimee Mullins: The opportunity of adversity | The thesaurus might equate “disabled” with synonyms like “useless” and “mutilated,” but ground-breaking runner Aimee Mullins is out to redefine the word. Defying these associations, she shows how adversity — in her case, being born without shinbones — actually opens the door for human potential. | TEDMED 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/769 |
| 770 | Kevin Kelly | Kevin Kelly tells technology’s epic story | In this wide-ranging, thought-provoking talk from TEDxAmsterdam, Kevin Kelly muses on what technology means in our lives — from its impact at the personal level to its place in the cosmos. | TEDxAmsterdam | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/770 |
| 771 | Philip K. Howard | Philip K. Howard: Four ways to fix a broken legal system | The land of the free has become a legal minefield, says Philip K. Howard — especially for teachers and doctors, whose work has been paralyzed by fear of suits. What’s the answer? A lawyer himself, Howard has four propositions for simplifying US law. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/771 |
| 772 | Eric Topol | Eric Topol: The wireless future of medicine | Eric Topol says we’ll soon use our smartphones to monitor our vital signs and chronic conditions. At TEDMED, he highlights several of the most important wireless devices in medicine’s future — all helping to keep more of us out of hospital beds. | TEDMED 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/772 |
| 773 | Temple Grandin | Temple Grandin: The world needs all kinds of minds | Temple Grandin, diagnosed with autism as a child, talks about how her mind works — sharing her ability to “think in pictures,” which helps her solve problems that neurotypical brains might miss. She makes the case that the world needs people on the autism spectrum: visual thinkers, pattern thinkers, verbal thinkers, and all kinds of smart geeky kids. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/773 |
| 774 | Sean Carroll | Sean Carroll on the arrow of time (Part 1) | In Part 1 of his lecture at the University of Sydney, cosmologist Sean Carroll gives an entertaining and thought-provoking talk about the nature of time, the origin of entropy, and how what happened before the Big Bang might be responsible for the arrow of time we observe today. (Don’t miss Part 2 of this talk!) | University of Sydney | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/774 |
| 775 | Bobby McFerrin | Bobby McFerrin hacks your brain with music | In this fun, 3-min performance from the World Science Festival, musician Bobby McFerrin uses the pentatonic scale to reveal one surprising result of the way our brains are wired. | World Science Festival | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/775 |
| 776 | Pawan Sinha | Pawan Sinha on how brains learn to see | Pawan Sinha details his groundbreaking research into how the brain’s visual system develops. Sinha and his team provide free vision-restoring treatment to children born blind, and then study how their brains learn to interpret visual data. The work offers insights into neuroscience, engineering and even autism. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/776 |
| 777 | Raghava KK | Raghava KK: Five lives of an artist | With endearing honesty and vulnerability, Raghava KK tells the colorful tale of how art has taken his life to new places, and how life experiences in turn have driven his multiple reincarnations as an artist — from cartoonist to painter, media darling to social outcast, and son to father. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/777 |
| 778 | Sean Carroll | Sean Carroll on the arrow of time (Part 2) | In Part 2 of his lecture at the University of Sydney, cosmologist Sean Carroll continues his entertaining and thought-provoking talk about the nature of time, the origin of entropy, and how what happened before the Big Bang might be responsible for the arrow of time we observe today. (Don’t miss Part 1 of this talk!) | University of Sydney | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/778 |
| 779 | Daniel Kahneman | Daniel Kahneman: The riddle of experience vs. memory | Using examples from vacations to colonoscopies, Nobel laureate and founder of behavioral economics Daniel Kahneman reveals how our “experiencing selves” and our “remembering selves” perceive happiness differently. This new insight has profound implications for economics, public policy — and our own self-awareness. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/779 |
| 780 | Harsha Bhogle | Harsha Bhogle: The rise of cricket, the rise of India | The tale of a major global cultural phenomenon: Cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle describes the spectacular arrival of fast-paced 20-20 cricket as it parallels the rise of modern India. He traces the game from its sleepy English roots to the current world of celebrity owners and million-dollar player contracts. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/780 |
| 783 | Gary Flake | Gary Flake: is Pivot a turning point for web exploration? | Gary Flake demos Pivot, a new way to browse and arrange massive amounts of images and data online. Built on breakthrough Seadragon technology, it enables spectacular zooms in and out of web databases, and the discovery of patterns and links invisible in standard web browsing. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/783 |
| 784 | Richard Feynman | Richard Feynman: Physics is fun to imagine | In this archival footage from BBC TV, celebrated physicist Richard Feynman explains what fire, magnets, rubber bands (and more) are like at the scale of the jiggling atoms they’re made of. This accessible, enchanting conversation in physics reveals a teeming nano-world that’s just plain fun to imagine. | BBC TV | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/784 |
| 785 | James Cameron | James Cameron: Before Avatar … a curious boy | James Cameron’s big-budget (and even bigger-grossing) films create unreal worlds all their own. In this personal talk, he reveals his childhood fascination with the fantastic — from reading science fiction to deep-sea diving — and how it ultimately drove the success of his blockbuster hits “Aliens,” “The Terminator,” “Titanic” and “Avatar.” | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/785 |
| 786 | The LXD | The LXD: In the Internet age, dance evolves … | The LXD (the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers) electrify the TED2010 stage with an emerging global street-dance culture, revved up by the Internet. In a preview of Jon Chu‚Äôs upcoming Web series, this astonishing troupe show off their superpowers. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/786 |
| 787 | Srikumar Rao | Srikumar Rao: Plug into your hard-wired happiness | Srikumar Rao says we spend most of our lives learning to be unhappy, even as we strive for happiness. At Arbejdsglaede Live! 2009, he teaches us how to break free of the “I’d be happy if …” mental model, and embrace our hard-wired happiness. | Arbejdsglaede Live | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/787 |
| 788 | Tim Berners-Lee | Tim Berners-Lee: The year open data went worldwide | At TED2009, Tim Berners-Lee called for “raw data now” — for governments, scientists and institutions to make their data openly available on the web. At TED University in 2010, he shows a few of the interesting results when the data gets linked up. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/788 |
| 789 | Gary Lauder | Gary Lauder’s new traffic sign: Take Turns | Fifty percent of traffic accidents happen at intersections. Gary Lauder shares a brilliant and cheap idea for helping drivers move along smoothly: a new traffic sign that combines the properties of “Stop” and “Yield” — and asks drivers to be polite. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/789 |
| 790 | Dan Barber | Dan Barber: How I fell in love with a fish | Chef Dan Barber squares off with a dilemma facing many chefs today: how to keep fish on the menu. With impeccable research and deadpan humor, he chronicles his pursuit of a sustainable fish he could love, and the foodie’s honeymoon he’s enjoyed since discovering an outrageously delicious fish raised using a revolutionary farming method in Spain. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/790 |
| 791 | Ken Kamler | Ken Kamler: Medical miracle on Everest | When the worst disaster in the history of Mount Everest climbs occurred, Ken Kamler was the only doctor on the mountain. At TEDMED, he shares the incredible story of the climbers’ battle against extreme conditions and uses brain imaging technology to map the medical miracle of one man who survived roughly 36 hours buried in the snow. | TEDMED 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/791 |
| 792 | Eric Mead | Eric Mead: The magic of the placebo | Sugar pills, injections of nothing — studies show that, more often than you’d expect, placebos really work. At TEDMED, magician Eric Mead does a trick to prove that, even when you know something’s not real, you can still react as powerfully as if it is. (Warning: This talk is not suitable for viewers who are disturbed by needles or blood.) | TEDMED 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/792 |
| 795 | Gary Vaynerchuk | Gary Vaynerchuk: Do what you love (no excuses!) | At the Web 2.0 Expo, entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk gives a shot in the arm to dreamers and up-and-comers who face self-doubt. The Internet has made the formula for success simpler than ever, he argues. So there’s now no excuse not to do what makes you happy. | Web 2.0 Expo 2008 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/795 |
| 796 | Mark Roth | Mark Roth: Suspended animation is within our grasp | Mark Roth studies suspended animation: the art of shutting down life processes and then starting them up again. It’s wild stuff, but it’s not science fiction. Induced by careful use of an otherwise toxic gas, suspended animation can potentially help trauma and heart attack victims survive long enough to be treated. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/796 |
| 797 | Eric Dishman | Eric Dishman: Take health care off the mainframe | At TEDMED, Eric Dishman makes a bold argument: The US health care system is like computing circa 1959, tethered to big, unwieldy central systems: hospitals, doctors, nursing homes. As our aging population booms, it’s imperative, he says, to create personal, networked, home-based health care for all. | TEDMED 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/797 |
| 798 | Douglas Adams | Douglas Adams: Parrots, the universe and everything | Blind river dolphins, reclusive lemurs, a parrot as fearless as it is lovelorn … Douglas Adams’ close encounters with these rare and unusual animals reveal that evolution, ever ingenious, can be fickle too — in a University of California talk that sparkles with his trademark satiric wit. | University of California | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/798 |
| 799 | Jane McGonigal | Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world | Games like World of Warcraft give players the means to save worlds, and incentive to learn the habits of heroes. What if we could harness this gamer power to solve real-world problems? Jane McGonigal says we can, and explains how. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/799 |
| 800 | Shekhar Kapur | Shekhar Kapur: We are the stories we tell ourselves | Where does creative inspiration spring from? At TEDIndia, Hollywood/Bollywood director Shekhar Kapur (“Elizabeth,” “Mr. India”) pinpoints his source of creativity: sheer, utter panic. He shares a powerful way to unleash your inner storyteller. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/800 |
| 801 | Sam Harris | Sam Harris: Science can answer moral questions | Questions of good and evil, right and wrong are commonly thought unanswerable by science. But Sam Harris argues that science can — and should — be an authority on moral issues, shaping human values and setting out what constitutes a good life. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/801 |
| 802 | Juliana Machado Ferreira | Juliana Machado Ferreira: The fight to end rare-animal trafficking in Brazil | Biologist Juliana Machado Ferreira, a TED Senior Fellow, talks about her work helping to save birds and other animals stolen from the wild in Brazil. Once these animals are seized from smugglers, she asks, then what? | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/802 |
| 803 | Alan Siegel | Alan Siegel: Let’s simplify legal jargon! | Tax forms, credit agreements, healthcare legislation: They’re crammed with gobbledygook, says Alan Siegel, and incomprehensibly long. He calls for a simple, sensible redesign — and plain English — to make legal paperwork intelligible to the rest of us. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/803 |
| 804 | Joel Levine | Joel Levine: Why we need to go back to Mars | At TEDxNASA, planetary scientist Joel Levine shows some intriguing — and puzzling — new discoveries about Mars: craters full of ice, traces of ancient oceans, and compelling hints at the presence, sometime in the past, of life. He makes the case for going back to Mars to find out more. | TEDxNASA | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/804 |
| 805 | Robert Gupta | Robert Gupta: Music is medicine, music is sanity | Robert Gupta, violinist with the LA Philharmonic, talks about a violin lesson he once gave to a brilliant, schizophrenic musician — and what he learned. Called back onstage later, Gupta plays his own transcription of the prelude from Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/805 |
| 806 | Patsy Rodenburg | Patsy Rodenburg: Why I do theater | Patsy Rodenburg says the world needs actors more than ever. In this talk at Michael Howard Studios, she tells the story of a profound encounter that reveals the deeper role theater can play in people’s lives. | Michael Howard Studios | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/806 |
| 807 | Kevin Bales | Kevin Bales: How to combat modern slavery | In this moving yet pragmatic talk, Kevin Bales explains the business of modern slavery, a multibillion-dollar economy that underpins some of the worst industries on earth. He shares stats and personal stories from his on-the-ground research — and names the price of freeing every slave on earth right now. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/807 |
| 809 | Shukla Bose | Shukla Bose: Teaching one child at a time | Educating the poor is more than just a numbers game, says Shukla Bose. She tells the story of her groundbreaking Parikrma Humanity Foundation, which brings hope to India’s slums by looking past the daunting statistics and focusing on treating each child as an individual. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/809 |
| 811 | Kirk Citron | Kirk Citron: And now, the real news | How many of today’s headlines will matter in 100 years? 1000? Kirk Citron’s “Long News” project collects stories that not only matter today, but will resonate for decades — even centuries — to come. At TED2010, he highlights recent headlines with the potential to shape our future. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/811 |
| 813 | Jor-El | Jor-El: Last-ditch appeal to save the planet | (This clip from the classic “Superman” TV show was originally posted for April Fool’s Day, but is staying on the site by popular request.) With the planet facing a growing threat from the sun, this passionate speech from the geo-visionary known as Jor-El challenged a packed council chamber to take action before it’s too late. | Science Council, Krypton | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/813 |
| 814 | Derek Sivers | Derek Sivers: How to start a movement | With help from some surprising footage, Derek Sivers explains how movements really get started. (Hint: it takes two.) | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/814 |
| 815 | Adora Svitak | Adora Svitak: What adults can learn from kids | Child prodigy Adora Svitak says the world needs “childish” thinking: bold ideas, wild creativity and especially optimism. Kids’ big dreams deserve high expectations, she says, starting with grownups’ willingness to learn from children as much as to teach. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/815 |
| 816 | Jesse Schell | Jesse Schell: When games invade real life | Games are invading the real world — and the runaway popularity of Farmville and Guitar Hero is just the beginning, says Jesse Schell. At the DICE Summit, he makes a startling prediction: a future where 1-ups and experience points break “out of the box” and into every part of our daily lives. | DICE Summit 2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/816 |
| 818 | Elizabeth Pisani | Elizabeth Pisani: Sex, drugs and HIV — let’s get rational | Armed with bracing logic, wit and her “public-health nerd” glasses, Elizabeth Pisani reveals the myriad of inconsistencies in today’s political systems that prevent our dollars from effectively fighting the spread of HIV. Her research with at-risk populations — from junkies in prison to sex workers on the street in Cambodia — demonstrates the sometimes counter-intuitive measures that could stall the spread of this devastating disease. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/818 |
| 819 | Dean Kamen | Dean Kamen: The emotion behind invention | Soldiers who’ve lost limbs in service face a daily struggle unimaginable to most of us. At TEDMED, Dean Kamen talks about the profound people and stories that motivated his work to give parts of their lives back with his design for a remarkable prosthetic arm. | TEDMED 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/819 |
| 820 | Dennis Hong | Dennis Hong: My seven species of robot | At TEDxNASA, Dennis Hong introduces seven award-winnning, all-terrain robots — like the humanoid, soccer-playing DARwIn and the cliff-gripping CLIMBeR — all built by his team at RoMeLa, Virginia Tech. Watch to the end to hear the five creative secrets to his lab’s incredible technical success. | TEDxNASA | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/820 |
| 821 | Jonathan Drori | Jonathan Drori: Every pollen grain has a story | Pollen goes unnoticed by most of us, except when hay fever strikes. But microscopes reveal it comes in stunning colors and shapes — and travels remarkably well. Jonathan Drori gives an up-close glimpse of these fascinating flecks of plant courtship. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/821 |
| 823 | Natalie Merchant | Natalie Merchant sings old poems to life | Natalie Merchant sings from her new album, Leave Your Sleep. Lyrics from near-forgotten 19th-century poetry pair with her unmistakable voice for a performance that brought the TED audience to its feet. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/823 |
| 824 | Michael Specter | Michael Specter: The danger of science denial | Vaccine-autism claims, “Frankenfood” bans, the herbal cure craze: All point to the public’s growing fear (and, often, outright denial) of science and reason, says Michael Specter. He warns the trend spells disaster for human progress. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/824 |
| 826 | Jonathan Klein | Jonathan Klein: Photos that changed the world | Photographs do more than document history — they make it. At TED University, Jonathan Klein of Getty Images shows some of the most iconic, and talks about what happens when a generation sees an image so powerful it can’t look away — or back. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/826 |
| 828 | Catherine Mohr | Catherine Mohr builds green | In a short, funny, data-packed talk at TED U, Catherine Mohr walks through all the geeky decisions she made when building a green new house — looking at real energy numbers, not hype. What choices matter most? Not the ones you think. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/828 |
| 830 | Mike deGruy | Mike deGruy: Hooked by an octopus | Underwater filmmaker Mike deGruy has spent decades looking intimately at the ocean. A consummate storyteller, he takes the stage at Mission Blue to share his awe and excitement — and his fears — about the blue heart of our planet. | Mission Blue Voyage | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/830 |
| 831 | Thelma Golden | Thelma Golden: How art gives shape to cultural change | Thelma Golden, curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem, talks through three recent shows that explore how art examines and redefines culture. The “post-black” artists she works with are using their art to provoke a new dialogue about race and culture — and about the meaning of art itself. | TED2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/831 |
| 832 | Eric Whitacre | Eric Whitacre: A choir as big as the Internet | 185 voices from 12 countries join a choir that spans the globe: “Lux Aurumque,” composed and conducted by Eric Whitacre, merges hundreds of tracks individually recorded and posted to YouTube. It’s an astonishing illustration of how technology can connect us. | Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/832 |
| 833 | Edith Widder | Edith Widder: Glowing life in an underwater world | Some 80 to 90 percent of undersea creatures make light — and we know very little about how or why. Bioluminescence expert Edith Widder explores this glowing, sparkling, luminous world, sharing glorious images and insight into the unseen depths (and brights) of the ocean. | Mission Blue Voyage | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/833 |
| 835 | James Randi | James Randi’s fiery takedown of psychic fraud | Legendary skeptic James Randi takes a fatal dose of homeopathic sleeping pills onstage, kicking off a searing 18-minute indictment of irrational beliefs. He throws out a challenge to the world’s psychics: Prove what you do is real, and I’ll give you a million dollars. (No takers yet.) | TED2007 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/835 |
| 836 | Frederick Balagadde | Frederick Balagadde: Bio-lab on a microchip | Drugs alone can’t stop disease in sub-Saharan Africa: We need diagnostic tools to match. TED Senior Fellow Frederick Balagadde shows how we can multiply the power and availability of an unwieldy, expensive diagnostic lab — by miniaturizing it to the size of a chip. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/836 |
| 837 | Tom Wujec | Tom Wujec: Build a tower, build a team | Tom Wujec presents some surprisingly deep research into the “marshmallow problem” — a simple team-building exercise that involves dry spaghetti, one yard of tape and a marshmallow. Who can build the tallest tower with these ingredients? And why does a surprising group always beat the average? | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/837 |
| 838 | Omar Ahmad | Omar Ahmad: Political change with pen and paper | Politicians are strange creatures, says politician Omar Ahmad. And the best way to engage them on your pet issue is a monthly handwritten letter. Ahmad shows why old-fashioned correspondence is more effective than email, phone or even writing a check — and shares the four simple steps to writing a letter that works. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/838 |
| 842 | Kavita Ramdas | Kavita Ramdas: Radical women, embracing tradition | Investing in women can unlock infinite potential around the globe. But how can women walk the line between Western-style empowerment and traditional culture? Kavita Ramdas of the Global Fund for Women talks about three encounters with powerful women who fight to make the world better — while preserving the traditions that sustain them. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/842 |
| 843 | Stephen Wolfram | Stephen Wolfram: Computing a theory of everything | Stephen Wolfram, creator of Mathematica, talks about his quest to make all knowledge computational — able to be searched, processed and manipulated. His new search engine, Wolfram Alpha, has no lesser goal than to model and explain the physics underlying the universe. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/843 |
| 844 | Roz Savage | Roz Savage: Why I’m rowing across the Pacific | Five years ago, Roz Savage quit her high-powered London job to become an ocean rower. She’s crossed the Atlantic solo, and just started the third leg of a Pacific solo row, the first for a woman. Why does she do it? Hear her reasons, both deeply personal and urgently activist. | Mission Blue Voyage | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/844 |
| 845 | George Whitesides | George Whitesides: Toward a science of simplicity | Simplicity: We know it when we see it — but what is it, exactly? In this funny, philosophical talk, George Whitesides chisels out an answer. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/845 |
| 846 | Sebastian Wernicke | Lies, damned lies and statistics (about TEDTalks) | In a brilliantly tongue-in-cheek analysis, Sebastian Wernicke turns the tools of statistical analysis on TEDTalks, to come up with a metric for creating “the optimum TEDTalk” based on user ratings. How do you rate it? “Jaw-dropping”? “Unconvincing”? Or just plain “Funny”? | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/846 |
| 830 | Esther Duflo | Esther Duflo: Social experiments to fight poverty | Alleviating poverty is more guesswork than science, and lack of data on aid’s impact raises questions about how to provide it. But Clark Medal-winner Esther Duflo says it’s possible to know which development efforts help and which hurt — by testing solutions with randomized trials. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/830 |
| 848 | Simon Sinek | Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action | Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question “Why?” His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers — and as a counterpoint Tivo, which (until a recent court victory that tripled its stock price) appeared to be struggling. | TEDxPuget Sound | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/848 |
| 849 | Thomas Dolby | Thomas Dolby: “Love Is a Loaded Pistol” | For his first studio album release in decades, musical innovator Thomas Dolby has been composing music in the uniquely inspirational setting of a restored life-boat. Here he premieres a gorgeous, evocative song from that album — about one night with a legend. He’s backed by members of the modern string quartet Ethel. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/849 |
| 850 | Jeremy Jackson | Jeremy Jackson: How we wrecked the ocean | In this bracing talk, coral reef ecologist Jeremy Jackson lays out the shocking state of the ocean today: overfished, overheated, polluted, with indicators that things will get much worse. Astonishing photos and stats make the case. | Mission Blue Voyage | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/850 |
| 851 | Anil Gupta | Anil Gupta: India’s hidden hotbeds of invention | Anil Gupta is on the hunt for the developing world’s unsung inventors — indigenous entrepreneurs whose ingenuity, hidden by poverty, could change many people’s lives. He shows how the Honey Bee Network helps them build the connections they need — and gain the recognition they deserve. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/851 |
| 852 | Nicholas Christakis | Nicholas Christakis: The hidden influence of social networks | We’re all embedded in vast social networks of friends, family, co-workers and more. Nicholas Christakis tracks how a wide variety of traits — from happiness to obesity — can spread from person to person, showing how your location in the network might impact your life in ways you don’t even know. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/852 |
| 853 | Nathan Myhrvold | Nathan Myhrvold: Could this laser zap malaria? | Nathan Myhrvold and team’s latest inventions — as brilliant as they are bold — remind us that the world needs wild creativity to tackle big problems like malaria. And just as that idea sinks in, he rolls out a live demo of a new, mosquito-zapping gizmo you have to see to believe. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/853 |
| 854 | Enric Sala | Enric Sala: Glimpses of a pristine ocean | Enric Sala shares glorious images — and surprising insights and data — from some of the most pristine areas of the ocean. He shows how we can restore more of our oceans to this healthy, balanced state, and the powerful ecological and economic benefits of doing so. | Mission Blue Voyage | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/854 |
| 855 | Dan Meyer | Dan Meyer: Math class needs a makeover | Today’s math curriculum is teaching students to expect — and excel at — paint-by-numbers classwork, robbing kids of a skill more important than solving problems: formulating them. At TEDxNYED, Dan Meyer shows classroom-tested math exercises that prompt students to stop and think. | TEDxNYED | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/855 |
| 856 | Julia Sweeney | Julia Sweeney has “The Talk” | Despite her best efforts, comedian Julia Sweeney is forced to tell a little white lie when her 8-year-old begins learning about frog reproduction — and starts to ask some very smart questions. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/856 |
| 857 | Viktor E Frankl | Viktor Frankl: Why to believe in others | In this rare clip from 1972, legendary psychiatrist and Holocaust-survivor Viktor Frankl delivers a powerful message about the human search for meaning — and the most important gift we can give others. | Toronto Youth Corps | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/857 |
| 859 | William Li | William Li: Can we eat to starve cancer? | William Li presents a new way to think about treating cancer and other diseases: anti-angiogenesis, preventing the growth of blood vessels that feed a tumor. The crucial first (and best) step: Eating cancer-fighting foods that cut off the supply lines and beat cancer at its own game. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/859 |
| 860 | Graham Hill | Graham Hill: Why I’m a weekday vegetarian | We all know the arguments that being vegetarian is better for the environment and for the animals — but in a carnivorous culture, it can be hard to make the change. Graham Hill has a powerful, pragmatic suggestion: Be a weekday veg. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/860 |
| 861 | Dee Boersma | Dee Boersma: Pay attention to penguins | Think of penguins as ocean sentinels, says Dee Boersma — they’re on the frontlines of sea change. Sharing stories of penguin life and culture, she suggests that we start listening to what penguins are telling us. | Mission Blue Voyage | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/861 |
| 862 | Richard Sears | Richard Sears: Planning for the end of oil | As the world’s attention focuses on the perils of oil exploration, we present Richard Sears’ talk from early February 2010. Sears, an expert in developing new energy resources, talks about our inevitable and necessary move away from oil. Toward … what? | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/862 |
| 863 | Craig Venter | Craig Venter unveils “synthetic life” | Craig Venter and team make a historic announcement: they’ve created the first fully functioning, reproducing cell controlled by synthetic DNA. He explains how they did it and why the achievement marks the beginning of a new era for science. | TED in the Field | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/863 |
| 865 | Ken Robinson | Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution! | In this poignant, funny follow-up to his fabled 2006 talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning — creating conditions where kids’ natural talents can flourish. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/865 |
| 866 | Johanna Blakley | Johanna Blakley: Lessons from fashion’s free culture | Copyright law’s grip on film, music and software barely touches the fashion industry … and fashion benefits in both innovation and sales, says Johanna Blakley. At TEDxUSC 2010, she talks about what all creative industries can learn from fashion’s free culture. | TEDxUSC | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/866 |
| 868 | Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy | Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy: Inside a school for suicide bombers | Filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy takes on a terrifying question: How does the Taliban convince children to become suicide bombers? Propaganda footage from a training camp is intercut with her interviews of young camp graduates. A shocking vision. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/868 |
| 869 | Seth Berkley | Seth Berkley: HIV and flu — the vaccine strategy | Seth Berkley explains how smart advances in vaccine design, production and distribution are bringing us closer than ever to eliminating a host of global threats — from AIDS to malaria to flu pandemics. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/869 |
| 870 | Sophie Hunger | Sophie Hunger plays songs of secrets, city lights | This haunting, intimate performance by European singer-songwriter Sophie Hunger features songs from her breakout debut “Monday’s Ghost” and the just-released album “1983.” | TEDGlobal 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/870 |
| 871 | Larry Lessig | Lawrence Lessig: Re-examining the remix | At TEDxNYED, former “young Republican” Larry Lessig talks about what Democrats can learn about copyright from their opposite party, considered more conservative. A surprising lens on remix culture. | TEDxNYED | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/871 |
| 872 | John Underkoffler | John Underkoffler points to the future of UI | Minority Report science adviser and inventor John Underkoffler demos g-speak — the real-life version of the film’s eye-popping, tai chi-meets-cyberspace computer interface. Is this how tomorrow’s computers will be controlled? | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/872 |
| 873 | Brian Skerry | Brian Skerry reveals ocean’s glory — and horror | Photographer Brian Skerry shoots life above and below the waves — as he puts it, both the horror and the magic of the ocean. Sharing amazing, intimate shots of undersea creatures, he shows how powerful images can help make change. | Mission Blue Voyage | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/873 |
| 874 | Christopher “moot” Poole | Christopher “moot” Poole: The case for anonymity online | The founder of 4chan, a controversial, uncensored online imageboard, describes its subculture, some of the Internet “memes” it has launched, and the incident in which its users managed a very public, precision hack of a mainstream media website. The talk raises questions about the power — and price — of anonymity. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/874 |
| 876 | Brian Cox | Brian Cox: Why we need the explorers | In tough economic times, our exploratory science programs — from space probes to the LHC — are first to suffer budget cuts. Brian Cox explains how curiosity-driven science pays for itself, powering innovation and a profound appreciation of our existence. | TEDSalon London 2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/876 |
| 877 | Adam Sadowsky | Adam Sadowsky engineers a viral music video | The band “OK Go” dreamed up the idea of a massive Rube Goldberg machine for their next music video — and Adam Sadowsky’s team was charged with building it. He tells the story of the effort and engineering behind their labyrinthine creation that quickly became a YouTube sensation. | TEDxUSC | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/877 |
| 878 | Michael Sandel | Michael Sandel: The lost art of democratic debate | Democracy thrives on civil debate, Michael Sandel says — but we’re shamefully out of practice. He leads a fun refresher, with TEDsters sparring over a recent Supreme Court case ( PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin ) whose outcome reveals the critical ingredient in justice. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/878 |
| 879 | John Kasaona | John Kasaona: How poachers became caretakers | In his home of Namibia, John Kasaona is working on an innovative way to protect endangered animal species: giving nearby villagers (including former poachers) responsibility for caring for the animals. And it’s working. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/879 |
| 880 | Rory Sutherland | Rory Sutherland: Sweat the small stuff | It may seem that big problems require big solutions, but ad man Rory Sutherland says many flashy, expensive fixes are just obscuring better, simpler answers. To illustrate, he uses behavioral economics and hilarious examples. | TEDSalon London 2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/880 |
| 881 | Stewart Brand, Mark Z. Jacobson | Debate: Does the world need nuclear energy? | Nuclear power: the energy crisis has even die-hard environmentalists reconsidering it. In this first-ever TED debate, Stewart Brand and Mark Z. Jacobson square off over the pros and cons. A discussion that’ll make you think — and might even change your mind. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/881 |
| 883 | David Byrne | David Byrne: How architecture helped music evolve | As his career grew, David Byrne went from playing CBGB to Carnegie Hall. He asks: Does the venue make the music? From outdoor drumming to Wagnerian operas to arena rock, he explores how context has pushed musical innovation. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/883 |
| 884 | Michael Shermer | Michael Shermer: The pattern behind self-deception | Michael Shermer says the human tendency to believe strange things — from alien abductions to dowsing rods — boils down to two of the brain’s most basic, hard-wired survival skills. He explains what they are, and how they get us into trouble. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/884 |
| 885 | Margaret Gould Stewart | Margaret Gould Stewart: How YouTube thinks about copyright | Margaret Gould Stewart, YouTube’s head of user experience, talks about how the ubiquitous video site works with copyright holders and creators to foster (at the best of times) a creative ecosystem where everybody wins. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/885 |
| 886 | Peter Tyack | Peter Tyack: The intriguing sound of marine mammals | Peter Tyack of Woods Hole talks about a hidden wonder of the sea: underwater sound. Onstage at Mission Blue, he explains the amazing ways whales use sound and song to communicate across hundreds of miles of ocean. | Mission Blue Voyage | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/886 |
| 887 | Cameron Herold | Cameron Herold: Let’s raise kids to be entrepreneurs | Bored in school, failing classes, at odds with peers: This child might be an entrepreneur, says Cameron Herold. At TEDxEdmonton, he makes the case for parenting and education that helps would-be entrepreneurs flourish — as kids and as adults. | TEDxEdmonton | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/887 |
| 888 | Ananda Shankar Jayant | Ananda Shankar Jayant fights cancer with dance | Renowned classical Indian dancer Ananda Shankar Jayant was diagnosed with cancer in 2008. She tells her personal story of not only facing the disease but dancing through it, and gives a performance revealing the metaphor of strength that helped her do it. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/888 |
| 889 | Chip Conley | Chip Conley: Measuring what makes life worthwhile | When the dotcom bubble burst, hotelier Chip Conley went in search of a business model based on happiness. In an old friendship with an employee and in the wisdom of a Buddhist king, he learned that success comes from what you count. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/889 |
| 891 | Marian Bantjes | Marian Bantjes: Intricate beauty by design | In graphic design, Marian Bantjes says, throwing your individuality into a project is heresy. She explains how she built her career doing just that, bringing her signature delicate illustrations to storefronts, valentines and even genetic diagrams. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/891 |
| 892 | Charles Leadbeater | Charles Leadbeater: Education innovation in the slums | Charles Leadbeater went looking for radical new forms of education — and found them in the slums of Rio and Kibera, where some of the world’s poorest kids are finding transformative new ways to learn. And this informal, disruptive new kind of school, he says, is what all schools need to become. | TEDSalon London 2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/892 |
| 893 | Aditi Shankardass | Aditi Shankardass: A second opinion on learning disorders | Developmental disorders in children are typically diagnosed by observing behavior, but Aditi Shankardass knew that we should be looking directly at their brains. She explains how a remarkable EEG device has revealed mistaken diagnoses and transformed children’s lives. | TEDIndia 2009 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/893 |
| 894 | Hillel Cooperman | Hillel Cooperman: Legos for grownups | Lego blocks: playtime mainstay for industrious kids, obsession for many (ahem!) mature adults. Hillel Cooperman takes us on a trip through the beloved bricks’ colorful, sometimes oddball grownup subculture, featuring CAD, open-source robotics and a little adult behavior. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/894 |
| 896 | Clay Shirky | Clay Shirky: How cognitive surplus will change the world | Clay Shirky looks at “cognitive surplus” — the shared, online work we do with our spare brain cycles. While we’re busy editing Wikipedia, posting to Ushahidi (and yes, making LOLcats), we’re building a better, more cooperative world. | TED@Cannes | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/896 |
| 898 | Ellen Dunham-Jones | Ellen Dunham-Jones: Retrofitting suburbia | Ellen Dunham-Jones fires the starting shot for the next 50 years’ big sustainable design project: retrofitting suburbia. To come: Dying malls rehabilitated, dead “big box” stores re-inhabited, parking lots transformed into thriving wetlands. | TEDxAtlanta | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/898 |
| 899 | Stephen Palumbi | Stephen Palumbi: Following the mercury trail | There’s a tight and surprising link between the ocean’s health and ours, says marine biologist Stephen Palumbi. He shows how toxins at the bottom of the ocean food chain find their way into our bodies, with a shocking story of toxic contamination from a Japanese fish market. His work points a way forward for saving the oceans’ health — and humanity’s. | Mission Blue Voyage | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/899 |
| 900 | Carter Emmart | Carter Emmart demos a 3D atlas of the universe | For the last 12 years, Carter Emmart has been coordinating the efforts of scientists, artists and programmers to build a complete 3D visualization of our known universe. He demos this stunning tour and explains how it’s being shared with facilities around the world. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/900 |
| 901 | Mitchell Joachim | Mitchell Joachim: Don’t build your home, grow it! | TED Fellow and urban designer Mitchell Joachim presents his vision for sustainable, organic architecture: eco-friendly abodes grown from plants and — wait for it — meat. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/901 |
| 909 | Benoit Mandelbrot | Benoit Mandelbrot: Fractals and the art of roughness | At TED2010, mathematics legend Benoit Mandelbrot develops a theme he first discussed at TED in 1984 — the extreme complexity of roughness, and the way that fractal math can find order within patterns that seem unknowably complicated. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/909 |
| 910 | Ellen Gustafson | Ellen Gustafson: Obesity + Hunger = 1 global food issue | Co-creator of the philanthropic FEED bags, Ellen Gustafson says hunger and obesity are two sides of the same coin. At TEDxEast, she launches The 30 Project — a way to change how we farm and eat in the next 30 years, and solve the global food inequalities behind both epidemics. | TEDxEast | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/910 |
| 911 | Nalini Nadkarni | Nalini Nadkarni: Life science in prison | Nalini Nadkarni challenges our perspective on trees and prisons — she says both can be more dynamic than we think. Through a partnership with the state of Washington, she brings science classes and conservation programs to inmates, with unexpected results. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/911 |
| 912 | Hans Rosling | Hans Rosling on global population growth | The world’s population will grow to 9 billion over the next 50 years — and only by raising the living standards of the poorest can we check population growth. This is the paradoxical answer that Hans Rosling unveils at TED@Cannes using colorful new data display technology (you’ll see). | TED@Cannes | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/912 |
| 914 | Carl Safina | Carl Safina: The oil spill’s unseen culprits, victims | The Gulf oil spill dwarfs comprehension, but we know this much: it’s bad. Carl Safina scrapes out the facts in this blood-boiling cross-examination, arguing that the consequences will stretch far beyond the Gulf — and many so-called solutions are making the situation worse. | TEDxOilSpill | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/914 |
| 915 | Matt Ridley | Matt Ridley: When ideas have sex | At TEDGlobal 2010, author Matt Ridley shows how, throughout history, the engine of human progress has been the meeting and mating of ideas to make new ideas. It’s not important how clever individuals are, he says; what really matters is how smart the collective brain is. | TEDGlobal 2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/915 |
| 916 | Ethan Zuckerman | Ethan Zuckerman: Listening to global voices | Sure, the web connects the globe, but most of us end up hearing mainly from people just like ourselves. Blogger and technologist Ethan Zuckerman wants to help share the stories of the whole wide world. He talks about clever strategies to open up your Twitter world and read the news in languages you don’t even know. | TEDGlobal 2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/916 |
| 917 | Elif Shafak | Elif Shafak: The politics of fiction | Listening to stories widens the imagination; telling them lets us leap over cultural walls, embrace different experiences, feel what others feel. Elif Shafak builds on this simple idea to argue that fiction can overcome identity politics. | TEDGlobal 2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/917 |
| 918 | Julian Assange | Julian Assange: Why the world needs WikiLeaks | The controversial website WikiLeaks collects and posts highly classified documents and video. Founder Julian Assange, who’s reportedly being sought for questioning by US authorities, talks to TED’s Chris Anderson about how the site operates, what it has accomplished — and what drives him. The interview includes graphic footage of a recent US airstrike in Baghdad. | TEDGlobal 2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/918 |
| 919 | Naif Al-Mutawa | Naif Al-Mutawa: Superheroes inspired by Islam | In “THE 99,” Naif Al-Mutawa’s new generation of comic book heroes fight more than crime — they smash stereotypes and battle extremism. Named after the 99 attributes of Allah, his characters reinforce positive messages of Islam and cross cultures to create a new moral framework for confronting evil, even teaming up with the Justice League of America. | TEDGlobal 2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/919 |
| 920 | Dimitar Sasselov | Dimitar Sasselov: How we found hundreds of potential Earth-like planets | Astronomer Dimitar Sasselov and his colleagues search for Earth-like planets that may, someday, help us answer centuries-old questions about the origin and existence of biological life elsewhere (and on Earth). Preliminary results show that they have found 706 “candidates” — some of which further research may prove to be planets with Earth-like geochemical characteristics. | TEDGlobal 2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/920 |
| 921 | Tan Le | Tan Le: A headset that reads your brainwaves | Tan Le’s astonishing new computer interface reads its user’s brainwaves, making it possible to control virtual objects, and even physical electronics, with mere thoughts (and a little concentration). She demos the headset, and talks about its far-reaching applications. | TEDGlobal 2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/921 |
| 922 | Kevin Stone | Kevin Stone: The bio-future of joint replacement | Arthritis and injury grind down millions of joints, but few get the best remedy — real biological tissue. Kevin Stone shows a treatment that could sidestep the high costs and donor shortfall of human-to-human transplants with a novel use of animal tissue. | TED2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/922 |
| 923 | Jeff Bezos | Jeff Bezos: What matters more than your talents | In this Princeton University graduation address, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos makes the case that our character is reflected not in the gifts we’re endowed with at birth, but by the choices we make over the course of a lifetime. | Princeton University | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/923 |
| 924 | Sheena Iyengar | Sheena Iyengar on the art of choosing | Sheena Iyengar studies how we make choices — and how we feel about the choices we make. At TEDGlobal, she talks about both trivial choices (Coke v. Pepsi) and profound ones, and shares her groundbreaking research that has uncovered some surprising attitudes about our decisions. | TEDGlobal 2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/924 |
| 925 | Susan Shaw | Susan Shaw: The oil spill’s toxic trade-off | Break down the oil slick, keep it off the shores: that’s grounds for pumping toxic dispersant into the Gulf, say clean-up overseers. Susan Shaw shows evidence it’s sparing some beaches only at devastating cost to the health of the deep sea. | TEDxOilSpill | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/925 |
| 926 | John Delaney | John Delaney: Wiring an interactive ocean | Oceanographer John Delaney is leading the team that is building an underwater network of high-def cameras and sensors that will turn our ocean into a global interactive lab — sparking an explosion of rich data about the world below. | Mission Blue Voyage | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/926 |
| 927 | Laurie Santos | Laurie Santos: A monkey economy as irrational as ours | Laurie Santos looks for the roots of human irrationality by watching the way our primate relatives make decisions. A clever series of experiments in “monkeynomics” shows that some of the silly choices we make, monkeys make too. | TEDGlobal 2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/927 |
| 928 | Lewis Pugh | Lewis Pugh’s mind-shifting Mt. Everest swim | After he swam the North Pole, Lewis Pugh vowed never to take another cold-water dip. Then he heard of Mt. Everest’s Lake Imja — a body of water at an altitude of 5300 m, entirely created by recent glacial melting — and began a journey that would teach him a radical new way to approach swimming and think about climate change. | TEDGlobal 2010 | https://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/928 |