Archives > Monthly

September 2013

TED Radio Hour: Everything is Connected

Environment

TED Radio Hour: Everything is Connected

on

Take a step back and consider the exquisite network of systems that sustain life on Planet Earth. The air we breathe, the food we eat and the ground we walk on are all carefully regulated by natural systems in an intertwined dance — which means that any change we make in our environment can set []

Adelaide, Australia, in pictures: Jason Sweeney shares his favorite sights (and sounds)

Gallery

Adelaide, Australia, in pictures: Jason Sweeney shares his favorite sights (and sounds)

on

As part of this TED profile, we asked Jason Sweeney to make audio recordings at his favorite places in his home city of Adelaide, Australia. Here, hear the sounds of the city — and enjoy the accompanying photographs, shot by Kristin Alford, with commentary by Sweeney.  [soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/112426817″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] Read []

My City: sound artist Jason Sweeney on life in Adelaide

Ideas

My City: sound artist Jason Sweeney on life in Adelaide

on

Jason Sweeney lives and works in Adelaide, Australia, a city he describes as “a prototype for what a developed city in the western world could be like.” Here, he describes his life in the city. Also, see and hear his favorite Adelaideian spots in the photoessay by Kristin Alford, accompanied by audio snippets of the []

News

These 6 TED & TEDx speakers just won MacArthur’s “genius” award

on

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKByBgqxOw4&w=560&h=315] Six TED speakers have been recognized in the 2013 class of MacArthur Fellows. Each recipient will heretofore be unofficially known as a “genius” and will very officially receive a no-strings-attached prize of $625,000 to support his or her creative instincts for the benefit of society. We salute all 24 of this year’s winners, of []

How to trust intelligently

Culture

How to trust intelligently

on

“The aim [in society] is to have more trust. Well frankly, I think that’s a stupid aim,” says Baroness Onora O’Neill in today’s talk, What we don’t understand about trust. She argues that the aim to build more trust is a cliché, and instead what we need is more trustworthiness. Below O’Neill gives a more []

TED@NYC: TED’s talent search heads to Manhattan

News

TED@NYC: TED’s talent search heads to Manhattan

on

Remember TED Talks by Joshua Prager, John McWhorter, Sleepy Man Banjo Boys and Hannah Brencher? All fantastic finds from previous talent searches. Now, we’re running a similar event once again. Known as TED@NYC, the evening event will be held on October 8. It’s a chance to find fresh voices to ring out on the TED main stage and be heard on ted.com. []

In praise of ignorance

Science

In praise of ignorance

on

“Science, we generally are told, is a very well-ordered mechanism for understanding the world, for gaining facts, for gaining data,” biologist Stuart Firestein says in today’s TED talk. “I’d like to tell you that’s not the case.” Instead, Firestein proposes that science is really about ignorance — about seeking answers rather than collecting them. He []

Youth of New Orleans: TED wants you!

Youth

Youth of New Orleans: TED wants you!

on

This year’s annual TEDYouth event, themed “The Spark,” is moving south. On Saturday, November 16, we’ll bring together 400 middle and high school students at the Civic Theatre in New Orleans, Louisiana. Attendance is free, so if this sounds like something you’d be up for, you should apply to come join us » At the conference, []

Elizabeth Loftus on embedding false memories in U.S. soldiers

Science

Elizabeth Loftus on embedding false memories in U.S. soldiers

on

“We can’t reliably distinguish true memories from false memories,” declares psychologist Elizabeth Loftus in today’s talk. She’s spent the past forty years studying the memory, and has reached some mind-blowing conclusions about what we know, and what we think we know. Here, she shares more detail about her work, and suggests further reading for anyone []

Want to know more about the unreliable nature of memory? Read this

Science

Want to know more about the unreliable nature of memory? Read this

on

Elizabeth Loftus studies false memories. As she describes in her TED Talk, The fiction of memory, she has implanted erroneous memories of childhood trauma into adult study subjects as part of her work. She has pinpointed failures in eyewitness testimonies. She’s found that misinformation can reshape taste preferences. And, she’s found that people in stressful []

TED Weekends examines capitalism and charity

Business

TED Weekends examines capitalism and charity

on

Capitalism and charity. A seemingly paradoxical combination. But could running charities like businesses foster the innovation and problem-solving needed to address the most pressing issues of our time? In his talk at TED2013, The way we think about charity is dead wrong, Dan Pallotta argued that the way we think about charity is dead wrong. We []