Photo: Craig Ruttle/Associated Press

The world lost one of its literary giants today. Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe has died at the age 82.

For Nigerians, Achebe was a national treasure. He was the first African writer to attract international acclaim, and an outspoken leader with far-reaching influence on both politics and culture. Emeka Okafor, who produced the TEDGlobal conference in Tanzania 5 years ago and is Achebe’s relative, says, ”He was in many ways the conscience of Nigeria. Unflinching in his critiques, a monumental figure.”

For me, Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart (1958) was my first real glimpse at Africa beyond the negative headlines (famine, disease, war) and the nature documentaries. His story was a stark portrayal of the devastating impact of colonization on traditional African societies, told through the lens of a single individual. It changed the way I think, helping me see the much bigger picture behind the headlines from Africa (and elsewhere), and understand the true impact of colonization on the continent.

The young Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie captures this notion beautifully in her TED Talk, given almost exactly 50 years later. As she says, to understand Africa today, you have to begin the story earlier.

A particularly moving line in this talk: “Because of writers like Chinua Achebe and Camara Laye … I realized that people like me, girls with skin the color of chocolate, whose kinky hair could not form ponytails, could also exist in literature.”

One of the greatest privileges of co-curating TED isn’t just getting to work with incredible speakers, but also talking with those in the audience. Danny Hillis gave a sobering presentation, “The Internet could crash. We need a Plan B,” at TED2013, detailing his concern at the exponential growth of the Internet, and the need for a back-up plan should all else fail.

Who better to respond to this idea than the system’s so-called “Father,” Vint Cerf, who I knew was in the audience? Vint (who just this morning accepted the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering for his ground-breaking work on the Internet) agreed to answer a few questions about Danny’s talk from the stage. In the process, he gave the TED audience his perspective on the continued evolution of the system he helped design, and provided us with both a fascinating history lesson and his own manifesto for what to do now. Here’s an edited look at what he told us.

Everyone loves a good quote. They challenge us. They change us. They make us think and make us laugh. They are — in their most compressed and contagious form — ideas. So today, we’re launching TED Quotes, a new initiative that collects memorable quotes from TEDTalks, groups them by category, and makes them as easy to share as our talks themselves.

To celebrate our Valentine’s Day launch, we offer you these heart-fluttering favorites:

“A world without love is a deadly place.” — Helen Fisher

“[You need] eight hugs a day. You’ll be happier and the world will be a better place.” — Paul Zak

“People live for love. They kill for love. They die for love. They have songs, poems, novels, sculptures, paintings, myths, legends. It’s one of the most powerful brain systems on Earth for both great joy and great sorrow.” — Helen Fisher

“My wife could turn to me and she may say, ‘Why do you love me?’ And I can with all honesty look her in the eye and say, ‘Because our pheromones matched our olfactory receptors.’” — Robin Ince

Designed to make TEDTalks even more accessible, digestible and shareable, the TED Quotes section of TED.com serves as a resource for both discovering new TEDTalks and finding culturally relevant quotes for any purpose, from a boardroom pitch to a wedding toast. We’ve sorted hundreds of the best quotes into TED-like topics, from technology, entertainment and design, to collaboration, DNA, and, yes, love.

But this isn’t just about a greeting-card quips. In today’s social-media driven world, quotes have a new power: They’ve emerged as one of the most widely shared content forms online. So with this initiative, we’re now treating individual quotes within TEDTalks as shareable media objects.

When you share a quote, you’re linked back to a page that allows you to either watch the full talk, or jump straight to the moment the quote was uttered. Viewers can then, if so inspired, re-share the same quote on Twitter, Facebook, email and other channels. By making the ideas within a talk even more findable and shareable, we hope to spread ideas even farther …

Explore ted.com/quotes >>

On June 27, 2006, we flipped the switch on TEDTalks, bringing talks from TED to the world for the first time. It was early days for online video — YouTube was just a year old; the video iPod had been around for six months — so we launched with six talks and modest goals, and have been amazed by what’s happened since. Five years and nearly 1,000 videos later, TEDTalks have been watched 500 million times, and translated into 81 languages by volunteers worldwide.

In fact, we’ve seen a number of key milestones in the last month: We welcomed our millionth fan on Facebook and our millionth iPad app download, and marked the 2000th TEDx event.

We’re filled with gratitude for the global community that has made all of this possible: the TEDx organizers, the translators, the corporate partners who support our work, the speakers who offered the world their words, and the wider TED community, who amplify the talks, and continually energize us with their own ideas.

To honor this global community, today we’re launching our first talk on TED.com delivered in a language other than English. (It has English subtitles by default.) It’s a powerful talk from a TEDx in San Miguel de Allende, in which Emiliano Salinas confronts the culture of violence and fear in Mexico — and calls on ordinary citizens to stand up, one by one, against terror and corruption. Thanks to the growing global reach of TEDx, and our army of translators, we can expect to see great talks in many different languages in the future.

As we approach the next five years, we’re thrilled by the prospect of sharing the best speakers in any language.

And we’d love to hear from you! Jump in to our Twitter feed or Facebook fan page and answer the question: Why do YOU watch TEDTalks?

Photo: TED / James Duncan Davidson

The first question many people raise is why we decided to launch TEDWomen. The idea for the conference was brought to us by Pat Mitchell (legendary journalist and president of the Paley Center). We loved the idea for its journalistic interest: Over the past few years, there’s been a flood of fascinating data from the worlds of education, microfinance and more — showing an essential link between investing in women and girls and economic growth, public health, political stability … This story is important, and we think it deserves to be further explored on the TED stage, in a rich, varied, thoughtful way. Read more about what we have planned (and why).

So the intent behind the conference is to seek out talks about women and girls (not just by them). As with every TED, the speaker program will include men and women, and also a few women & men presenting together. The program we’re envisioning is varied, surprising, diverse. Focused on ideas and innovations.

Now, I understand (after reading some insightful comments) that the launch of TEDWomen raises the question: Are we segregating women? The answer is “No.” We’re not launching TEDWomen instead of balancing out our speaker line-up. This is a “Yes, and” rather than an “either/or.” We generally have 30-40% women speakers at all TED events. Though this isn’t ideal, it’s improving, and we’re proud of that. If you look — for example — at the program for TEDGlobal (held last week in Oxford), you’ll find an extraordinary group of women, from Kiva co-founder Jessica Jackley to Half the Sky author Sheryl WuDunn to psycho-economist Sheena Iyengar to author Elif Shafak to neuro-technologist Tan Le to cognitive scientist Laurie Santos to musician/activist Annie Lennox. There were similar lineups at TED2010 and TEDIndia, and many more remarkable women booked for TED2011. We passionately strive for a balanced program in all our conferences, and will continue to!

So why launch TEDWomen? Because we wanted to have a long and thoughtful conversation. We’ve been discussing these new ideas about women at every TED, but we know there’s more to say. There are so many rich and varied stories looking at women through this lens: as change agents, intellectual innovators, idea champions — and we’re looking forward to exploring them.

We really appreciate the viewpoint of everyone who has weighed in — either with excitement or concerns. This dialog is important in helping us focus on the conversation ahead and refine our own message. We’re listening and responding, and we’re excited to continue the conversation … email us at tedwomen@ted.com, or follow us on Twitter @TEDWomen.

At TED2010, Chef Dan Barber drew a standing ovation with his unlikely love story about fish: sustainably farmed, outrageously delicious fish, which offers a model for the future of food production. A key figure in the farm-to-table movement, Dan occupies an unusual space as chef-scholar: His op/eds appear regularly in The New York Times and elsewhere; and he prepares genius menus nightly at his two Blue Hill Restaurants — one in New York City and one at the Stone Barns farm in Pocantico Hills, NY. We caught up with Dan in New York to better understand the meaty issues he raised in his talk.

In your talk, you made it clear that you hate the question, “How are you going to feed the world?” But you sure answered it convincingly. So — at the risk of alienating you — can local, organic farming feed the world?

Here’s what I know: Conventional agriculture has never succeeded in feeding the world, and it’s never produced anything good to eat. For the future, we need to look toward alternatives. Does that mean a world full of local and organic farms? Yes, those ideas will certainly become more important as we move forward—they’ve been proven to work (just look at the recent International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development, the most comprehensive study to date on the future of agriculture), and they’re critical to conserving the planet’s natural resources. But I also think we need to radically reconsider what agriculture looks like—perhaps it involves models like Veta La Palma, or agroforestry, or perennial wheat polycultures, like the ones being developed at The Land Institute. These are systems that demonstrate natural resilience and ecological stability, which are essential for facing the challenges ahead.

Your TEDtalk presents itself as a really gentle tale, but it’s actually a pretty radical proposition for rethinking food production. Talk to me about where you think agriculture has gone wrong.

When you say that agriculture has gone wrong, it sounds like you’re advocating for a system that’s 200 years old. I couldn’t be further from that; I love technology. But I do think we’re heading for a vastly different food experience, in our lifetimes. I think the conventional food system — which is based on lots of cheap energy, lots of cheap labor, lots of available water, lots of soil erosion — is going to be a dead man walking 20 years from now. And that’s because the things it relies upon are not going to be available.

If you look at the carrying capacity of agricultural areas throughout the world, their ecological habitats are changing. So I think we’re looking at — in our lifetime — great collapses of food services. We need the humbleness and clarity to see that our food, while benefitting from technological advances, has benefitted even more from free ecological resources: Cheap energy, lots of water everywhere, and a stable climate. But studies have shown these are eroding. And if you take these away — if you don’t have those in abundance — you’re not only going to NOT feed the world, you’re not going to be able to eat the way we do now. We’re going to be forced into a new system. The question is: Is that going to be a traumatic transition, or are we going to start preparing for it now?

The typical and very loud argument against organic farming is that it can’t scale, that the yields aren’t high enough. How do you respond to that?

Yield is a tricky topic, especially if you have an agenda. I know this from our own farming: You can look at yield a lot of different ways. When a study says that conventional farms produce more per acre than organic farms, they’re talking about yield, not total output.

Yield is generally defined by economists as yield for a particular crop. When you farm in a monoculture, that’s easy to measure. But when you farm organically, you grow several different crops. So your yield per individual crop is lower, but your total output of caloric foods is higher.

Read more after the jump – including the single most important thing you can do to improve your food supply >>And then there’s the transaction cost of getting from the farm to the marketplace: THAT’S the expensive part; that’s the problem for organic farmers. It’s much more expensive to distribute products from diverse farms. Monocultured farms are much easier — one variety, one pick up, one drop off to Walmart, etc.

So you argue that acre-for-acre, over time, the yield on an organic farm surpasses that of conventional farms.

Yes. The TOTAL CALORIC yield on an organic farm far surpasses a conventional farm. That’s on every credible study out there. That’s not even an issue.

Let’s talk about grain. Because if you’re talking about feeding the world, it’s really about grain. Now, if you’re an organic corn farmer, by definition, you can’t grow corn every year. You have to get nitrogen back in the soil. So you’ll grow corn, and then you’ll grow a legume, and so you’ll fix the nitrogen and improve the soil structure. Now, if you’re a conventional farmer, you’re growing just corn and nothing else but corn. So you might look at this system and say the conventional farmer got more corn. But what that doesn’t show is that the organic farmer also got soybeans, switchgrass, vetch, alfalfa …

So an organic farm will absolutely yield less corn, but that doesn’t mean you’re yielding less food. It just means you’re producing less corn.

And presumably this is a healthier system, right? If you have greater diversity of crops, you have a greater diversity of food that the population is eating.

That’s a really important point. Because the reason the conventional corn farmer is doing what he’s doing is because of our diets. It isn’t just the agribusiness corporations pulling levers behind the curtain, it’s also the decisions we’re making as individuals. If we diversify our diets — if we eat less processed food, or switch to animals raised on grass instead of corn — it supports a healthier system.

So that’s why I think it’s important to get people to realize they have a very powerful set of decisions to make when they eat. And those decisions have a huge effect on how the world works. That’s very powerful! I mean: How many issues raised at TED can one get up from their seat and say: “Today I’m going to do something about that.” With food, you can vote for the kinds of food you want three times a day.

Let’s talk about those decisions we’re making. You’re obviously extremely diligent in researching just how sustainable a particular fish is…

I know. It’s annoying…

It’s not annoying. It’s just time-consuming. So for the rest of us who aren’t experts — but who want to eat responsibly and healthfully — what are a few things we can do that will actually make a difference?

Buying at a farmers market is the biggest difference you can make overnight. People complain that cities don’t have fresh, sustainable food, but it’s just not true. In New York, San Francisco, LA — everywhere, there’s an explosion of farmers markets. So the number one thing to do is to shop at these markets, because generally you’re dealing with farmers who are local and small-scale. And if they’re small-scale, they’re generally diverse. They’re generally trying to figure out how to produce the best food with the least input cost – in terms of ecological resources. And that’s a very exciting system to support.

The second thing you could do is grow your own food. It sounds crazy, but it’s not. If you’re across the street here, in New York, you could grow herbs in your windowsill. If you’re in the suburbs, you can plant in your back lawn. It’s not about providing 100% of your food; it’s about doing something that connects you to a natural system, and gets you closer to the food you’re eating.

Another thing is to talk to the manager at your local supermarket. They’re very responsive in trying to procure the kinds of fruits and vegetables that you want. And there are also political outlets, in terms of who you vote for. It’s like what Gandhi said, “Almost everything you do will seem insignificant, but it’s important that you do it.”

It’s interesting: 10 years ago you wouldn’t have had me at TED, and we wouldn’t have been sitting here talking about this. There’s been a huge change in consciousness.

Along those lines: At TED we think a lot about how ideas spread. You’ve been involved with this particular idea on many fronts — through your restaurant, your farm, your op/eds… What are the key ways that the idea of the local food movement has spread?

It’s all about the flavor. Because when you taste really fresh, delicious food — food that’s been grown the right way — you become greedy for more. And then you are by definition being an environmentalist, because that’s the food that’s the most ecologically responsible, and by definition you’re a nutritionist — because that’s the food that’s the most nutrient-dense. And you’re being a community activitist, because you’re engaged in the kind of community system you want to support. So a lot of important things flow from good food. But at the end of the day, it’s about food that tastes good. This idea has spread through hedonism.

Why does conventionally raised food taste so bland?

Well, there are a couple of reasons. The main reason is that it’s bred for yield. If you’re breeding a tomato — or a carrot, or a sheep to produce lamb — you can choose from a lot of characteristics. The characteristic of choice for the last 40 years has been yield. The second characteristic is: How long can it travel? How long can it last on a supermarket shelf or in your refrigerator? When you’re breeding for those characteristics, well, those are the characterisitics you’re going to get. It has almost nothing to do with farming, actually. It’s all about breeding.

The second issue is that conventionally raised produce takes a long time to get to you, so the flavor diminishes. And they’re picking fruits and vegetables when they’re not ripe. In a small local system, they’re generally picking it the day before they go to market.

Another factor is that conventional farming relies on chemical additions to the soil. These boost yield, but do nothing to boost flavor. You get flavor from flavinoids, and you get flavinoids from biologically diverse soil — this means there are nutrients in the soil that are feeding the plant, as it’s being grown, and you’re tasting that.

With animals, too, conventional systems aim for the greatest yield. So we’re raising animals in the cheapest possible way, and that includes feeding them really cheaply. When you’re feeding corn to a pig that normally thrives on a diverse diet, or to a sheep that’s naturally an herbivore, you’re going to get flavors that are really dumbed down.

Like the salmon in your talk: The one that tasted like the chicken it had been fed.

Right. That’s a good example. You get a salmon, but you don’t get a salmon with good flavor.

What are some of the new technologies or new techniques being used on modern organic farms — at Stone Barns for example — that excite you?

Stone Barns is not a Shaker village, and we’re not Luddite in our methods or practices. While we support organic farming, we do so in a thoroughly modern context, employing the most innovative, up to date, and efficient technologies to move food forward. One example is the refractometer—a small, handheld device that measures Brix, the sugar content of a fruit or vegetable. Traditionally it was used to help winemakers determine when to harvest their grapes. But it also provides a tool for testing the nutritional value—and, from my perspective—the flavor of a simple carrot. By testing with the refractometer, farmers can make sure their vegetables have an adequately high sugar content before they harvest, and, if not, have a chance to correct the error. Likewise, I know grass-fed beef purveyors who are using ultrasound machines to perfect the consistency of their product. They ultrasound the animal between the 12th and 13th rib to check for marbling— if it’s not sufficient, the farmer can change the animal’s diet or ultimately decide to switch to a different breed entirely.

Genetically modified foods are often invoked as a necessary ingredient for feeding the world. I suspect you’re generally opposed to the practice. Are there cases where it makes sense? Golden rice, for example?

I’m not radically opposed to the science of genetic modification, but so far there’s been no evidence of significant progress, in part because it’s embedded within the same tired agribusiness thinking. Yes, there is a way to use biotechnology, but the research needs to be conducted independently (not for profits and patents), and understood as one tool in a toolkit, rather than a silver bullet. Autar Mattoo, a scientist who works for the USDA, exemplifies that. Autar argues for what he calls a “bio-sustainability” solution—marrying genetic engineering with sustainable principles. His research has shown a synergism between transgenic tomatoes and organic cover crop. It’s brilliant stuff.

Do you find yourself over time delving deeper into the chemical nature of the food you’re working with?

I do, I’m so regretful that I wasn’t a better biology student. If I had it do over again, I’d spend more time on that. Because at the end of the day, it IS about the biology.

You were an English and Poli Sci major at Tufts. Did your family worry you were throwing your education away when you decided to become a chef?

When I told my Dad I was going to be a chef, he said, “Son, I love books. But I don’t read for a living.”

But he was also very supportive in the end. You know, it was also a different decision back then. Chefs weren’t rock stars. There was no Food Network.

In your earlier talk on TED.com, you make a controversial case for foie gras. I hear you also raise and serve a veal that even non-veal eaters (like me) can stomach. Is there any food that’s black-and-white? Anything you absolutely won’t cook with?

Tomatoes in February.

Do you have any guilty pleasures, food-wise?

People always ask me this. I should come up with one! But the thing is, I feel guilty about everything. I’m an upper East Side Jew. What don’t I feel guilty about?

This year, I tweeted about it, and got many requests to share the list. And so, here they are …

Pre-TED reads 1/9: Denialism, by Michael Specter @specterm. How fear of science is preventing progress. Powerful. Loved.

Pre-TED reads 2/9: The Art Instinct, by Denis Dutton (of @aldaily) Beautiful prose arguing that art is a human universal.

Pre-TED reads 3/9: Connected, by Nicholas Christakis @connected_book The shocking proof of how deeply we’re affected by our friends’ friends.

Pre-TED reads 4/9: The Wisdom of Whores, by @ElizabethPisani How POORLY we spend billions of $ trying to prevent AIDS

Pre-TED reads 5/9: I Am an Emotional Creature, by Eve Ensler. Embrace your inner girl!

Pre-TED reads 6/9: Whole Earth Discipline, by Stewart Brand. Environmentalism reconsidered, for the realities of a new era. Or: Why nuclear power, GM foods & squatter cities are green.

Pre-TED reads 7/9: No Small Matter: Science on the Nanoscale, by George Whitesides. Tiny, lovely things in image & prose

Pre-TED reads 8/9: This Will Change Everything, edited by John Brockman @edge. Short, sharp essays by who’s who of TED world. I think one could safely call this “brain candy.”

Pre-TED reads 9/9: Fair Game, by Valerie Plame Wilson, the ‘outed’ CIA agent, who’ll talk at TED about the need for nuclear disarmament. I’m fascinated by this woman!

And, finally, pre-TED listening: Natalie Merchant’s 1st studio album in 7 yrs. Soon-to-be released: Leave Your Sleep Love, love, love.

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:

“Imagine if we could combine the power of a global ethic with our new power to communicate and organize globally.” - UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown

“Next time you see someone in a Ferrari, don’t think: ‘They’re greedy.” Think: “This is someone incredibly vulnerable and in need of love.” - Alain De Botton, on the challenge of modern society, in which we — and others — measure our worth by what we “do” and what we own

“I thought it might be helpful to cut five years from retirement and intersperse them in my working years.” - Designer Stefan Sagmeister on taking sabbaticals every seven years

“You wouldn’t expect a black hole to be a kind neighbor to a stellar nursery.” - Astronomer Andrea Ghez on the curious fact that the stars closest to super-massive black holes appear to be relatively young, in contradiction to what she predicted

“What we call intellectual inquiry is often the pursuit of the abstract over the real and tangible.” - Comedian Stephen Fry on the need to combine intellect and passion in all our pursuits

“I have to be careful I don’t inhale my work. That’s happened to me.” - Willard Wigan on manipulating the tiny shards of glass and shreds of fiber from which he creates sculptures so small they fit in the eye of a needle

“I have a global vision for vision: To get 1 billion people wearing the eyeglasses they need by the year 2020.” - Josh Silver on the roll-out plan for his low-cost, adjustable eyeglasses

“Great music and art are just moments in time. But we can use them to bring people together.” - Mark Johnson, producer of “Playing for Change,” videos of musicians around the world, playing a single song

“I’d like to tell you about the greatest stunt on earth: a parachute jump from space” - stuntman Steve Truglia

The evening paid tribute to legendary biologist (and beloved TED Prize winner) E.O Wilson, on the occasion of his 80th birthday, but the program was really a love letter to science itself — for its importance, yes, but also for the inspiration and wonder it offers, and for its deep but often-unacknowledged kinship with the arts.

“Tonight, science and art, long-lost lovers, reunite” Alan Alda said, as he opened the show. And that sensibility pervaded the program, as it blended science and the arts in innovative and unusual ways — from a sequence of broadway musical stars singing light-hearted tributes to science (For example, a guided tour of the periodic table, set to the tune of Gilbert & Sullivan’s “I am the very model of a modern major general”. Brilliant!) to an intellectual pas de deux, featuring Brian Greene waxing eloquent on the nature of the universe, and Joshua Bell performing lyrically on the violin.

The evening included several heartfelt odes to Wilson — the transcendent cellist YoYo Ma performed playfully as young “ants” wiggle-danced around him (Wilson’s career was built on his research on ants); Anna Deavere Smith impersonated Wilson as only she could. And Nobel winner James Watson (of Watson & Crick double-helix fame) paid homage in his own eccentric way: “When we first met, Ed thought I was the most unpleasant person he’d ever known,” Watson explained to a chuckling audience. “And when I first met Ed, I didn’t think there was any point in knowing him. Because everyone knew: Biology was the dumb part of science.”

READ MORE: The NY premiere of Frans Lanting’s LIFE, live performance of the Philip Glass score and Wilson’s central message.

Photos: Robert Leslie. Courtesy WSFWatson and Wilson ultimately became great friends and colleagues. And Watson conceded, in his endearing curmudgeonly way: “We should all be happy that he hasn’t died prematurely.”

The centerpiece of the evening was the soaring New York premiere of Frans Lanting’s, “LIFE: A Journey Through Time.” The multimedia performance sets Lanting’s extraordinary images of the natural world to a Philip Glass score, performed live by the St Luke’s Orchestra and conducted by creative collaborator Marin Alsop.

Lanting, a National Geographic photographer and poet on the side, presented an early version of the LIFE project at TED2005, and it’s extraordinary to mark its progress and evolution. LIFE is now a book and traveling exhibit, as well as a live performance. It captures the beauty and drama of the natural world through a choreographed collage of contrast and color, pattern and motion. A tiny gazelle at the foot of an elephant; a lion half-hidden in twilight grass; a dove soaring; a frog staring; insects, amoebas, volcanoes, sand dunes. Stunningly beautiful, it leaves the audience struck by both the unity and diversity of life.

And the powerful live performance underscored Wilson’s central messages: The beauty and interconnectedness of life, and our urgent need to engage the broader public with the natural world. During a short speech at the reception following the event, Wilson called on everyone to rise to this challenge. “Entire species are slipping away, and we’re just nattering on,” Wilson said. “We must turn our attention to the natural world. And we need everyone’s attention.”

Photos: Robert Leslie. Courtesy WSF