In his recent TEDTalk, “What doctors don’t know about the drugs they prescribe,” Ben Goldacre sounded a warning about the vast numbers of pharmaceutical studies that go unpublished. “Positive findings are about twice as likely to be published as negative findings,” said Goldacre, noting that this is a big problem because it means doctors are […]
Happy All Hallows Evening, TEDsters! While you carve your pumpkins and put the final touches on your costume, here are 12 talks to get you further into the Halloween spirit. Emma Teeling: The secret of the bat genome Bats have a bad reputation, says Emma Teeling in today’s talk given at TEDxDublin. While people generally […]
Stepping onto the TED or TEDx stage — or speaking in front of any group of people, for that matter — is truly nerve-wracking. Will you remember everything you wanted to say, or get so discombobulated that you skip over major points? Will the audience be receptive to your ideas, or will you notice a […]
As a New York Times article put it this morning, “The presidential campaign entered a delicate phase on Tuesday, suddenly becoming a sideshow to the hurricane.” In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, it’s hard to remember that in just a week, Americans will be heading to the polls and, with their presidential selection, answering big questions […]
[ted id=1599 width=560 height=315] Sanjay Pradhan was thrilled when, at age six, a cart full of sweets was wheeled to his family’s doorstep in Bihar, India. The gift, however, was intended as a bribe for his father, who was responsible for building roads in India’s poorest state. “My father had developed a firm stance against […]
Hurricane Sandy is currently hovering over the Atlantic Ocean, threatening a large swath of the United States’ East Coast, from North Carolina to Maine. With coastal areas evacuated, wind and rainfall picking up quickly and many transportation systems shut down in anticipation of flooding, millions of people are currently at home, just waiting for roughest […]
[ted id=1595 width=560 height=315] Rory Stewart opens this talk from TEDxHousesofParliament with a joke: “Little Billy goes to school and his teacher asks, ‘What does your father do?’ Billy replies, ‘My father plays piano in an opium den.’” But when the teacher confronts the father about his occupation, she gets a different answer. As Stewart finishes […]
. In this exclusive (unedited) video from TEDxSummit this spring, Yahay Alabdeli tells a moving, personal story of returning to his home country, Iraq — and throwing a TEDx. In a city still recovering, still learning its true nature after years of oppression, the first TEDxBaghdad in 2011 celebrated ideas, connections, education, music. “My Baghdad […]
Early this morning TED’s Curator, Chris Anderson, appeared on CBS This Morning to talk about the TED Talks phenomenon, as we get close to a major milestone: one billion views. If you weren’t awake, or don’t have access to American morning television, watch the segment right here >> And watch for some special announcements around […]
A membership to TED Live lets you watch the TED2013 and TEDGlobal 2013 conferences live from the comfort of your home, school or business — and join a global community of conversation around ideas as they happen live. And the TED Live experience has a new component. Starting today, anyone who registers or renews will receive Apple’s brand […]
Tech and social entrepreneur Jon Gosier launched the Apps4Africa competition in 2009 to reward and jumpstart African innovators and entrepreneurs. As the competition enters its third year, Jon is finding ways to help provide long-term, holistic support for winners, helping to scale sustainable businesses across nations and the continent. Tell us a bit about yourself […]
[ted id=1602 width=560 height=315] On the TED stage, illusionist Marco Tempest has explored the nature of truth and lies, brought a stick figure to life, charted the meaning of magic and told the sad tale of inventor Nikola Tesla. In his latest performance, given this summer at TEDGlobal, Tempest turns his eye to a magician’s […]
Seafood is one of the healthiest foods you can eat. But fish and shellfish are not just yummy — they also play a part in a large and interconnected system that involves the whole earth’s well-being. In The Whole Fish: How Adventurous Eating of Seafood Can Make You Healthier, Sexier, and Help Save the Ocean, food […]
TEDActive is like TED, only with a few buttons loosened and its hair let down. An annual simulcast of the TED conference held two hours away in Palm Springs, California, TEDActive is for those who treasure ideas and want to immerse themselves in them. Last year, TEDActive participants journeyed to Joshua Tree to take sound […]
[ted id=1598] Air conditioning used to be a luxury — but as Doris Kim Sung points out in this talk from TEDxUSC, modernized society has become thoroughly air-conditioning reliant. This is largely a problem of materials, says Sung, a professor at the USC School of Architecture. Many new buildings — especially skyscrapers — are built […]
Just by living our plugged-in lives, each of us is producing a constant stream of data. Little snippets are left behind of what we search, what we buy, where we go, what we tweet … This endless flow of numbers is referred to as “big data,” data sets so large that they require sophisticated parsing […]