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December 2012

Education

The best of TED-Ed: How math guides ships at sea

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You learn something new every day. This is especially true if you watch TED-Ed lessons, which use animation to bring to life topics as varied as “Insults by Shakespeare” and “Pizza Physics.” As a holiday gift, we’re bringing you a few of the TED-Ed’s team’s favorite talks of the year. Here, a second look at the lesson []

Comments we loved this year: The polite critique

Science

Comments we loved this year: The polite critique

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TED Talks often get 100 or more comments — a mixed bag of kudos, critiques and questions. Looking back on the year, here are a few comments that wowed us. Every video on TED.com is carefully selected, but not every TEDster will like every talk. Disagree with a speaker’s logic, methods or sources? We want []

Education

The best of TED-Ed: The art of the metaphor

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The adage goes: You learn something new every day. This is especially true if you watch TED-Ed lessons, which bring to life educational topics as varied as “insults by Shakespeare” and “pizza physics” with animation. As a holiday gift, we’re bringing you the TED-Ed’s team’s favorite talks of the year that, despite being amazing, didn’t get the []

Comments we loved this year: The words of support

Global Issues

Comments we loved this year: The words of support

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TED Talks often get 100 or more comments — usually a mixed bag of kudos, critiques and questions. Looking back on the year, we’d like to share a few comments that wowed us. These intelligent, observant contributions took the talks beyond their 18 minutes and into an ongoing conversation. Every speaker appreciates a “Great job!” []

11 talks that freaked us out in 2012

Global Issues

11 talks that freaked us out in 2012

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[ted id=1583 width=560 height=315] Vicki Arroyo’s hometown is New Orleans, and after Hurricane Katrina struck, she knew firsthand the looming threat of climate change. In this eye-opening talk from TEDGlobal 2012, “Let’s prepare for our new climate,” Arroyo reveals the startling truths about droughts, rising water levels and natural disasters — that they may only []

Education

The best of TED-Ed: How to rethink thinking

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The adage goes: You learn something new every day. This is especially true if you watch TED-Ed lessons, which bring to life educational topics as varied as “insults by Shakespeare” and “pizza physics” with animation. As a holiday gift, the TED-Ed team picked their favorite talks of the year. Here, a second look at the []

Culture

Favorites of 2012: The power of a flashbulb

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. 2012 was the year of radical openness at TED. In that spirit, while our office is closed for winter break, TED’s editorial staffers have selected their favorite talks of the year, giving you a peek into both our process and our personalities. We hope you enjoy.. TED editorial meetings are a flurry of sound. []

TED Weekends: A meditation on asteroids

Science

TED Weekends: A meditation on asteroids

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In Phil Plait’s talk from TEDxBoulder, “How to defend earth from asteroids,” he astonishes the audience, sharing how a single rock hurtling through space could damage our civilization as we know it. This weekend, TED Weekends on the Huffington Post features Plait’s spine-tingling talk. Below, some of our favorite essays from this edition, about those big []

News

In Short: Big kid Legos, plus outer space real estate

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Enjoy this sampling of the stories from around the internet that captured our interest this week: Kids at heart, rejoice! Makeblock — essentially, Lego for adults — have officially launched. CNN takes a look at these open-source toys. Want to find more Lego fans? Watch Hillel Cooperman’s TED Talk about the outlandish reaches of Lego []

And the countdown to Armageddon continues…

Global Issues

And the countdown to Armageddon continues…

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[ted id=167 width=560 height=315] By Stephen Petranek So, the world hasn’t come to an end yet. But the insecurities and fears about the so-called Mayan Calendar prediction that Earth as we know it will cease to exist today has created such a ruckus that Michigan officials closed 33 schools in preparation and NASA has devoted []