Sebastian Thrun talks about Google’s amazing driverless car — and his very personal quest to save lives and reduce traffic accidents. Jawdropping video shows the DARPA Challenge-winning car motoring through city traffic with no one behind the wheel; dramatic test drive footage from TED2011 demonstrates how fast the thing can really go. (Recorded at TED2011, […]
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/21651186 w=525&h=294] New video from TEDActive’s Desert Party: On the final evening of TEDActive, the all-star house band Dinah Shore Jr. welcomed the Nightwatchman — guitar legend Tom Morello, ex of Rage Against the Machine. He jumped onstage with Wendy Melvoin (of Wendy & Lisa, and Prince’s longtime bandmate), Annie Clark (of St. Vincent) […]
“Puppets always have to try to be alive,” says Adrian Kohler of the Handspring Puppet Company, a gloriously ambitious troupe of human and wooden actors. Beginning with the tale of a hyena’s subtle paw, puppeteers Kohler and Basil Jones build to the story of their latest astonishment: the wonderfully lifelike Joey, the War Horse, who […]
When first discovered in 2010, the Stuxnet computer worm posed a baffling puzzle. Beyond its unusually high level of sophistication loomed a more troubling mystery: its purpose. Ralph Langner and team helped crack the code that revealed this digital warhead’s final target — and its covert origins. In a fascinating look inside cyber-forensics, he explains […]
Via the TEDx Blog: Patrick Newell, organizer of TEDxTokyo, has been collecting and sharing news from TEDx communities affected by the recent tragic events in Japan. He sends this report: The effects of the earthquake that struck the Tohoko region of Japan on Friday, March 11, has had an impact all around the world. Here […]
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/21083101 w=525&h=294] Last weekend, TED’s Film + Video director, Jason Wishnow, made this video for Maitri, an AIDS hospice in San Francisco. There’s some NSFW language, yes, but it’s memorable, and an important message. Interested in learning more? Our writer Shanna Carpenter assembled this playlist for last December’s World AIDS Day: Elizabeth Pisani: Sex, […]
At TEDxDubai, longtime English teacher Patricia Ryan asks a provocative question: Is the world’s focus on English preventing the spread of great ideas in other languages? (For instance: what if Einstein had to pass the TOEFL?) It’s a passionate defense of translating and sharing ideas. (Recorded at TEDxDubai, December 2010, in Dubai, UAE. Duration: 10:35) […]
TED’s musical director, Thomas Dolby, releases his new EP Oceanea today, a preview to his upcoming full-length A Map of the Floating City — set to be his first studio record in two decades. You can download Oceanea on iTunes or from Thomas’ website (where you can also read about the EP’s production). Metro calls […]
“The human voice: mysterious, spontaneous, primal.” With these words, soprano Claron McFadden invites us to explore the mysteries of breathing and singing, as she performs the challenging “Aria,” by John Cage. (Recorded at TEDxAmsterdam, November 2010, in Amsterdam, NL. Duration: 10:55) [ted id=1105] Watch Claron McFadden’s talk on TED.com where you can download it, rate […]
Esther Chae’s one-woman show, So the Arrow Flies, is about North Korean espionage, post-9/11 themes of conflicting ideologies, government sanctioned torture, and how changing political tides affect one’s family. After learning how the piece resonated with international audiences, Esther is eager to take her work to a whole new level. Like the protagonist in Glass […]
Two years ago this past Wednesday, March 23, 2009, was TEDxUSC, the first TEDx event. The TEDx Blog created a collage using Storify to capture some of this week’s birthday wishes. Read the story “Happy 2nd Birthday TEDx!” on the TEDx Blog.
This past Tuesday at 3pm Indian Standard Time, an inspiring group of thinkers gathered in New Delhi to talk about new ideas in world health and development coming out of India, during TEDxChange @ TEDxDelhi. Recognizing that 3pm IST is the middle of the night for many people who’d like to watch, the Gates Foundation […]
Yesterday, TED posted a jaw-dropping talk from Paul Root Wolpe that rounds up new bio-engineering experiments, most involving animals, that push our current ethical systems to their limits. From bioengineered glow-in-the-dark pets to supersized salmon, from ratbots to the mouse that grows a human ear — Wolpe asks us to think deeply about what bioengineered […]
Eythor Bender of Berkeley Bionics brings onstage two amazing exoskeletons, HULC and eLEGS — robotic add-ons that could one day allow a human to carry 200 pounds without tiring, or allow a wheelchair user to stand and walk. It’s a powerful onstage demo, starring wheelchair user Amanda Boxtel, with implications for human potential of all […]
I’m just back from Tunisia where I attended (and spoke at) TEDxCarthage, held in Tunis. It has been a short visit, only two days (and this post is just a quick note without pretense). But it was a very intense visit, and I come back with a lot of hope and optimism for the future […]
At TEDxPeachtree, ethicist Paul Root Wolpe describes an astonishing series of recent bio-engineering experiments, from hybrid pets to mice that grow human ears. He asks: isn’t it time to set some ground rules? (Recorded at TEDxPeachtree, November 2010, in Atlanta, GA. Duration: 19:42) [ted id=1103] Watch Paul Root Wolpe’s talk on TED.com where you can […]