TEDBlog August, 2009 Archive
04 August 2009
Turning filthy water drinkable: Michael Pritchard on TED.com
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 turn the most revolting water drinkable in seconds. An amazing demo from TEDGlobal 2009. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2009, July 2009 in Oxford, UK. Duration: 09:32)
Twitter URL: http://on.ted.com/29
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03 August 2009
New insight on an ancient disease: Malaria, like HIV, came from chimps
At TED2009, Stanford Professor and virus hunter Nathan Wolfe explained that most human diseases — AIDS, SARS, swine flu — originally came from animals. Today, Wolfe and his team announced an intriguing discovery that throws new light on an ancient disease, and provides new hope for its cure: Malaria, long believed to have evolved with humans, actually originated with chimpanzees and jumped to humans later on.
By collecting blood samples from nearly 100 wild and wild-born chimpanzees in central Africa — including those in the photo above, in Cameroon’s Mfou National Park (Photo: Nathan Wolfe/GVFI) –Wolfe and his team discovered eight new variants of the parasite that causes malaria in chimps. Only one strain of chimp malaria was previously known, and it was believed that it had evolved separately from human malaria.
With this new treasure trove of genetic data, Wolfe and his team at the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative were able to analyze the disease’s lineage more closely. They found that chimp malaria was far more genetically diverse — and therefore older — than its human form, and concluded that a strain of malaria jumped from chimps to humans (perhaps thousands or tens of thousands of years ago). This strain evolved into the parasite that now causes a staggering 500 million cases of human malaria — and 1 million deaths — annually.
“This discovery shows that malaria jumped from chimps to humans, in much the same way that HIV did,” Wolfe said in a phone interview. “This has interesting implications for my work, because it provides historical context: We’re clearly seeing an acceleration of the rate at which viruses jump from animals to humans. But this is an ancient phenomena. Pandemics born thousands of years ago are still around. And pandemics born today might be around thousands of years from now.”
The discovery, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also presents new possibilities for a cure. Scientists often tap pathogens in the same family in order to develop vaccines and treatments. For example, “vaccinia” — a mild virus in the “pox virus” family — was used to create the Small Pox vaccine; it initiates a mild immune response in humans, and the antibodies work against Small Pox as well. It’s possible, Wolfe said, that one of the eight newly discovered malaria strains “could hold the key to a future vaccine.”
That would be good news for Wolfe, who’s been infected by malaria three times, and nearly died of it five years ago.
But — old grudges aside — the discovery is interesting to Wolfe on a more abstract level, because: “It solves a fundamental mystery,” Wolfe said. “Malaria is as old as human history. People have always wondered about malaria and where it came from. And our assumptions were wrong.”
Read more about the discovery on Wired News and CNN.
Watch Nathan Wolfe’s 2009 TEDTalk:
03 August 2009
Hold your breath for micro-sculpture: Willard Wigan on TED.com
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. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2009, July 2009 in Oxford, UK. Duration: 19:43)
Twitter URL: http://on.ted.com/27
Watch Willard Wigan’s talk from TEDGlobal 2009 on TED.com where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 475+ TEDTalks.
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01 August 2009
Supercomputer visualizations show the guts of exploding stars
Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory are using the IBM Blue Gene supercomputer to model supernovas, and New Scientist has published a gallery of snapshots from the fiery visualizations. The images uncover the beautiful symmetry — and chaos — flowing through these explosive events.
TEDTalks stars Carolyn Porco, Brian Cox and George Smoot also use powerful computers to model big bangs and other phenomena in astrophysics.
(Look for Henry Markram’s talk from TEDGlobal 2009 on TED.com in the coming weeks. Markram uses the Blue Gene supercomputing architecture for a different purpose: modeling the intricate workings of the brain.)
01 August 2009
The week in comments
It reads like everyone was inspired by the talks this week (including two more released from TEDGlobal 2009), which feature philosopher Alain de Botton on success, scientist Elaine Morgan on aquatic apes and artist/software engineer Golan Levin on his interactive art. Lets get to the comments:
On Elaine Morgan’s talk: We evolved from aquatic apes:
Elaine Morgan is rocking the boat in darwin’s theory … — heyamir via Twitter
Isn’t it possible that our ancestors did just enough swimming and diving to change our phenotypes? This theory would also explain carnivorous behavior if these primates had to dive for fish to live. I like it. — Jake via Facebook
On Golan Levin’s talk: Making art that looks back at you:
a really fun way to bring robots to life. make them more than just pieces of machines — Ah via Facebook
I actually like the last invention the most. Will the future AI see and interact in this form? Its kinda like a dawn of Terminator. — Lee
On Alain de Botton’s talk: A kinder, gentler philosophy of success:
Alain just put in words what I and many of my friends have been experiencing.
I am out of work now but instead of feeling sorry for myself I am looking at how to use my executive management experience to launch a business that is more true to my dreams. — Tammy via Facebook
Alain’s writing has always been such an amazing insight into human nature… He so eloquently puts our thoughts and subconscious into words. I was excited to hear his TED talk and it certainly wasn’t a disappointment! In person, he’s even wittier than his books… If that’s possible?!? Thank you Alain and thank you TED! — Emma via Facebook
Thanks to all of you for your insightful reactions.
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