29 November 2007
African fractals: Ron Eglash on TED.com
"I am a mathematician, and I would like to stand on your roof." This is how Ron Eglash greeted many African families while researching the intriguing fractal patterns he noticed in villages across the continent. He talks about his work exploring the rigorous fractal math underpinning African architecture, art and even hair braiding -- and his cool math tools for students. (Recorded June 2007 in Arusha, Tanzania. Duration: 16:51.)
Watch Ron Eglash's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.
Read more about Ron Eglash on TED.com.
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27 November 2007
Secrets of movement, from geckos and roaches: Robert Full on TED.com
Biologist Robert Full shares his fascination with spiny cockroach legs that allow them to scuttle at full speed across loose mesh and gecko feet that have billions of nano-bristles to run straight up walls. His talk, complete with wonderful slow-mo video of cockroach, crab and gecko gaits, explains his goal of creating the perfect robotic "distributed foot." (Recorded February 2005 in Monterey, California. Duration: 19:24.)
Watch Robert Full's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.
Read more about Robert Full on TED.com.
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26 November 2007
Announcing TEDAfrica 2008!
Chris Anderson and Emeka Okafor write:
We're delighted to tell you that there will be another TED conference in Africa next year, and that we hope to make it an annual event on the continent!
TEDAfrica will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, September 29-October 1, 2008 (save the date!), and will follow the format of this year's TEDGlobal conference in Arusha, Tanzania.
The conference will be organized by a wonderful local team, including TED Fellow Kelo Kubu, and the conference will be operated out of a new South Africa-based nonprofit organization devoted to promoting a better future for the continent, the TEDAfrica Foundation. TED will be supporting the foundation both financially and logistically, to help ensure that the event maintains and builds on the quality and success of the Arusha event.
We hope to see you in Cape Town!
And team member Kelo Kubu writes:
It has been an honor and a privilege to be part of the TEDAfrica process . The team is naturally excited to be hosting TEDAfrica 2008, and we look forward to the challenge of generating the usual TED cocktail of inspiration and magic. The task is undoubtedly a daunting one, but Africa provides the perfect platform and Cape Town the ideal location for yet another memorable event.
We look forward to welcoming the world to the southernmost tip of Africa to share, spread and nurture groundbreaking ideas that could open new possibilities to growth and prosperity on the continent.
Photo of Chris Anderson and Emeka Okafor onstage at TEDGlobal 2007 courtesy Soyapi Mumba/flickr
21 November 2007
Why be optimistic? Larry Brilliant at Skoll World Forum, on TED.com
Recorded at the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, Oxford, UK: 2006 TED Prize winner and Google.org director Larry Brilliant uses a clip from an old Frank Capra movie to show that we've known about global warming for 50 years -- yet in half a century, we've done almost nothing to solve it. He explores this and other megatrends that could inspire pessimism. But, he says, there is a more powerful case for optimism. (Recorded March 2007 in Oxford, UK. Duration: 21:01.)
The Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford, UK, is an annual gathering of innovators from all over the world who are creating positive change across critical issue areas.
Larry Brilliant's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.
Read more about Larry Brilliant on TED.com.
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21 November 2007
Announcing 2008 TED Prize winners
Watch the video announcement >>
The TED Prize was introduced in 2005, and it is unlike any other award. Although the winners receive a prize of $100,000 each, the real prize is that they are granted a WISH. "A wish to change the world." There are no formal restrictions on the wish. We ask our winners to think big and to be creative. The goal is that it creates an incredible sense of excitement and common purpose. It inspires the TED community, and all those who hear about the wish, to offer their help in making the wish come true.
Three winners are chosen each year. They could be anyone with world-changing potential: inventors or entrepreneurs, designers or artists, visionaries or mavericks, story-tellers or persuaders. But they must be people who the judges believe have the ability to inspire others to do something great for the world.
Our new winners will announce their wishes at TED2008 in Monterey, on February 28, 2008, and their presentations will be released online to the world shortly afterward.
21 November 2007
Stem cell news is a step forward for regenerative medicine
This morning's pair of announcements on human stem cell research marks a step forward for regenerative medicine -- the study of regrowing or repairing body parts, using the body's own processes. Alan Russell's 2006 TEDTalk is a fascinating roundup of what regenerative medicine could bring: revolutionary treatments for heart disease, severe burns, even the loss of a part of the body.
Human stem cells are a vital tool in this discipline -- as are many other bits and pieces. Esquire magazine has an in-depth and charming story about another doctor in Alan Russell's Pittsburgh lab, Dr. Stephen Badylak, and his work with what the magazine calls "pixie dust" ... ground-up pig bladder.
21 November 2007
AIDS overestimates
The New York Times reported yesterday that the UN's agency on AIDS dramatically overestimated its count of current and new infections:
The agency, Unaids, will lower the number of people it believes are infected worldwide, to 33.2 million from the 39.5 million it estimated late last year.
Much of the difference comes from new reporting methods in some African countries and in India -- an idea dovetailing with the work of economist Emily Oster. Oster's 2007 TEDTalk takes a critical look at global AIDS figures -- and how they drive the world's approaches to stemming the disease.
On his blog, Emeka Okafor writes, "The AIDS industry should be called to account." But these revised numbers, though lower than before, are still high. We must not lose our sense of urgency on AIDS in Africa and throughout the world.
18 November 2007
Talks from partner conferences on TED.com
Ever since we started putting TEDTalks online in July 2006, all of the talks and performances on TED.com -- more than 160 so far -- were recorded at a TED event: at our annual gathering in Monterey; at TEDGlobal in Oxford, UK, and Arusha, Tanzania; or during one of our TED Salons.
Now we join some very good company in a new phase of global idea sharing. Starting soon, we will begin releasing selected talks recorded at other conferences around the world. We are particularly happy that four important conferences have partnered with us to share ideas through TED.com. They are:
+ the DLD (Digital Life Design) conference (January, Munich, Germany)
+ the LIFT Conference (February, Geneva, Switzerland)
+ the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship (March, Oxford, UK)
+ the Picnic conference (September, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
These are very diverse gatherings, attracting diverse audiences. Yet they all have at their core the same intention: They bring together bright minds to share ideas and ignite action. They take place in Europe, but are globally minded. We're proud to be partnering with them. Watch for the upcoming talks by Indian self-education theorist Sugata Mitra, "continuous partial attention" guru Linda Stone and Google.org's director Larry Brilliant -- with more to follow in the coming months.
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15 November 2007
Why can't we grow new energy? Juan Enriquez on TED.com
Biologist and futurist Juan Enriquez talks about the potential of bioenergy. Our current energy sources -- coal, oil, gas -- are ultimately derived from ancient plants -- they're "concentrated sunlight." He asks, Can we learn from that process and accelerate it? Can we get to the point where we grow our own energy as efficiently as we grow wheat? (Less than a month after this talk, his company announced a process to do just that.) (Recorded September 2007 in New York City. Duration: 18:16.)
Watch Juan Enriquez's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.
Read more about Juan Enriquez on TED.com.
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15 November 2007
Time to get your XO laptop, and to give one
Since Nicholas Negroponte presented his idea for a "100-dollar-laptop" at TED2006, the project has been going through many ups and downs, enthusiasms and criticisms, and had occupied a lot of media space.
The XO laptop is now here. The cost at this stage is nearly double, but the machine is awesome. Mass production started earlier this month in a Quanta manufacturing plant near Shanghai, and while a few countries such as Uruguay and Mongolia will buy them bulk and distribute them in schools, you -- but only if you live in the US and Canada -- can also buy one until November 26. Actually, two: you can get one if you donate another one to a child in a developing nation. Smart idea. Total cost: $399 plus shipping, with $200 considered a tax-deductible donation. Go to the Give One Get One site. Twelve days to go. Expectations are that the first release of 25'000 will sell out pretty fast.
14 November 2007
Earth-rise and Earth-set
Consider it a bonus track to the great speech by Carolyn Porco last March at TED07, when she showed amazing images of Saturn and its moons. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) has just released video footage taken by the the onboard high-definition camera of their spacecraft Kaguya, showing extraordinary images of the Moon's surface and the Earth "rising" and "setting" beyond the Moon's horizon. (Clicking on the link on their page opens up a second window: let the whole video download -- it takes a while -- before watching it).
Earth-rise:
Earth-set:
(Cross-posted on LunchOverIP)
13 November 2007
Geo-engineering to slow global warming: David Keith on TED.com
Environmental scientist David Keith talks about a cheap, effective, shocking solution to climate change: What if we injected a huge cloud of particles into the atmosphere, to deflect sunlight and heat? As an emergency measure to slow a melting ice cap, it could work. Keith discusses why geo-engineering like this is a good idea, why it's a terrible one -- and who, despite the cost, might be tempted to use it. (Recorded September 2007 in New York City. Duration: 16:04.)
Watch David Keith's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.
Read more about David Keith on TED.com.
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13 November 2007
Iqbal Quadir's new Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at MIT
TEDGLOBAL2005 speaker and GrameenPhone founder Iqbal Quadir is launching a new center for Development and Entrepreneurship at MIT, thanks to a $50 million structured gift from Legatum, a Dubai-based investment firm.
The Legatum Center "will help MIT students start enterprises in developing countries, to foster organic and durable economic growth and more equitable societies", Iqbal told us in an e-mail. He will act as the Center's Exec Director, while Prof. Alex Pentland, Director of the Human Dynamics research group at the MIT Media Lab, will be the Faculty Director.
"We will champion bottom-up economic growth, rather than the prevalent top-down, state-led, aid-funded projects that by and large have not worked", Iqbal added. That was also at the core of his TEDGLOBAL2005 talk (on this topic, watch also the talks by Ashraf Ghani and Jacqueline Novogratz or several speakers from TEDGLOBAL2007 in Arusha). The Center's primary activity (starting next Fall) will be running a fellowship program for MIT students who intend to create scalable, socially responsible enterprises.
13 November 2007
Peter Gabriel's "Hub"
Witness, the non-profit led by Peter Gabriel (watch his TED2006 talk) has launched "The Hub", an online platform allowing anyone to use camcorders, cell phones and cameras to upload, share, and discuss human rights-related footage, as well as organize advocacy campaigns. A few months ago, announcing the project, Peter had described it as "a sort of YouTube + Wikipedia for human rights" intended to make human right abuses "not forgotten nor discarded".
12 November 2007
Phil Borges Reception in San Francisco
If you happen to be in the Bay Area Wednesday night, November 14, TED2006 Speaker Phil Borges has a gallery reception in San Francisco and you're invited:
FiftyCrows Gallery
49 Geary Street, Second Floor, Suite 225
From 6 PM to 9 PM.
An RSVP is required, send an email to goodevents@goodmagazine.com. Here the flyer:
11 November 2007
"Do people have fun in Africa?"
A powerful question from Tanzanian blogger Ndesanjo Macha:
...Africa stands for a lot more than the press –- sorry folks, the U.S. press –- gives it credit for. I pointed this out a few weeks ago: Using a simple search method at the New York Times, the terms “AIDS” + “Africa” brought back 250 stories published in the past year. What I didn’t say then was that searching the terms “Africa” + “fun” returned 91 hits. ... Searching “Africa” + “pleasure” = 69 hits, most of them in movies.
So, where is the fun?
It's a theme that TEDGlobal speaker Andrew Mwenda, a journalist himself, develops in his TEDTalk: Too often, the world's image of Africa is driven by news stories of AIDS, corruption, hopelessness. When we open our eyes to the broader picture, we can see Africa as a place to build, to do business, to tell stories, to have fun.
09 November 2007
SimCity plays with One Laptop per Child
Game publisher Electronic Arts has donated the original SimCity, Will Wright's groundbreaking 1989 computer game, to Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop per Child initiative.
It's a wonderful example of using games as tools for learning. As EA's Steve Seabolt said in yesterday's press announcement, "SimCity is entertainment that’s unintentionally educational." Back in March, OLPC's SJ Klein talked to game developers about how important games are to the OLPC platform:
"Kids without games can certainly learn," confessed Klein, "but the first way children learn is through gaming... by seeing how things work and remaking their world... Let's give them useful worlds to make."
For more on the vision behind One Laptop per Child, watch Nicholas Negroponte's TEDTalk, given in the days after he stepped down as chair of MIT's Media Lab to work on OLPC "for the rest of my life."
Contact One Laptop per Child here >>
Watch SimCity designer Will Wright's 2007 TEDTalk to see a preview of his next game, Spore. Fresh details on Spore emerged in the UK press late last month, while Wright was in London accepting his BAFTA Fellowship: On the BBC's Radio 5 Live, he said that Spore is now fully playable, and a release is only six months out.
Image is borrowed from the unofficial OLPC news blog, One Laptop Per Child News.
08 November 2007
DNA origami: Paul Rothemund on TED.com
Paul Rothemund compares his work to "casting a spell" -- and it does seem akin to magic. By writing a set of instructions, he can cause bits of DNA to fold themselves into a smiley face, a star, a triangle. Sure, it's a stunt, but it's also a fascinating window into the possibility of self-assembly at the smallest of scales. In other words: today a smiley face, tomorrow a micro-microprocessor. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, California. Duration: 05:11.)
Watch Paul Rothemund's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.
Read more about Paul Rothemund on TED.com.
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06 November 2007
A new way to see TED2008: TED@Aspen
In partnership with the world-renowned Aspen Institute, we are proud to unveil TED@Aspen -- a brand-new way to experience the full TED2008 program, simulcast live via satellite from Monterey. You can apply now to join the 300 people who will meet in Aspen to watch the simulcast -- and some live speakers in Aspen -- and join in spectacular evening events and terrific conversations with amazing people.
We're launching this new event in response to the growing demand for TED. (TED2008 sold out more than a year in advance, and we now have a waiting list of 3,000.) We can't bring more people to our main conference in Monterey, but remote simulcasts offer another way to grow the TED community.
06 November 2007
How creativity is being strangled by the law: Larry Lessig on TED.com
Larry Lessig gets TEDsters to their feet, whooping and whistling, for this elegant presentation of “three stories and an argument.” The Net’s most adored lawyer brings together John Philip Sousa, celestial copyrights, and the “ASCAP cartel” to build a case for creative freedom. He pins down the key shortcomings of our dusty, pre-digital intellectual property laws, and reveals how bad laws beget bad code. Then, in an homage to cutting-edge artistry, he throws in some of the most hilarious remixes you’ve ever seen. (This talk, like all TED.com's content, is licensed under Creative Commons -- which Larry created.) (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, California. Duration: 19:07.)
Watch Larry Lessig's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.
Read more about Larry Lessig on TED.com.
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06 November 2007
Sirena Huang plays to honor Alice Herz-Sommer
TEDTalks favorite Sirena Huang (watch her TEDTalks performance) played in Manhattan on Sunday night; as the New York Times reports today, "A Mendelssohn concerto exquisitely performed by a 13-year-old violinist, Sirena Huang, brought down the house."
Huang played as part of a free concert to honor the 103-year-old concert pianist Alice Herz-Sommer, a survivor of the Theresienstadt concentration camp during World War II, and to honor the thousands of people who did not survive the camp. Herz-Sommer's own story, told by the Times' Clyde Haberman, is worth taking some uninterrupted time to read. It's a testament to the power of music, and a beautiful example of a passionate life well lived.
01 November 2007
Habits of happiness: Matthieu Ricard on TED.com
What is happiness, and how can we all get some? Buddhist monk, photographer and author Matthieu Ricard has devoted his life to these questions, and his answer is influenced by his faith as well as by his scientific turn of mind: We can train our minds in habits of happiness. Interwoven with his talk are stunning photographs of the Himalayas and of his spiritual community. (Recorded February 2004 in Monterey, California. Duration: 21:06.)
Watch Matthieu Ricard's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.
Read more about Matthieu Ricard on TED.com.
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