Steven Pinker is one of several TED speakers who’s given a talk about the art of verbal language. Photo: James Duncan Davidson

TED Talks cover an incredible breadth of topics – from mathematical origami to self-repairing architecture to personalized medicine. Some talks explore what lies at the very essence of TED — the act of talking. The 10 talks below explore the various dynamics of speech — from phonology to cognition to the socio-cultural role of language in society. These talks at times offer insight into the struggle for self-expression and at other times engage in contentious linguistic debates. As a whole, they provide a holistic and layered view of speech and language. Because what would TED be without talking?

Roger Ebert: Remaking my voiceRoger Ebert: Remaking my voice We deeply miss Roger Ebert. In this poignant talk from TED2011, he shared his remarkable rediscovery of self-expression after losing his voice in the fight against jaw cancer. While he couldn’t speak for the last few years of his life, he explained how he found a captive audience on Twitter and through his blog. The talk, presented by Ebert, along with his wife and two friends, offers an inspirational glimpse into the life of someone who overcame incredible adversity.

Julian Treasure: 5 ways to listen betterJulian Treasure: 5 ways to listen better A speaker is nothing without a listener, but as it stands, we retain only a quarter of what we hear. In this talk from TEDGlobal 2011, Julian Treasure offers five tips to better navigate our cacophonous soundscape and savor the noise around us. Following Treasures’s advice, we’ll become better communicators and will live in a better world. As he says, “A conscious listening world is a world of connection, of understanding and of peace.”

Terry Moore: Why is 'x' the unknown?Terry Moore: Why is ‘x’ the unknown? Basing his argument on our physical capacity to produce sounds, Terry Moore provides a phonetic explanation for a question we’ve all asked ourselves. This is a short and sweet talk from TED2012.

Mark Pagel: How language transformed humanityMark Pagel: How language transformed humanity “Our destiny is to be one world with one language,” argues biologist Mark Pagel in this talk from TEDGlobal 2011. Outlining the social function of language evolution, he highlights the importance of language in fostering cooperation in an increasingly globalized world. In the end, it’s worth making “all this fuss about a puff of air emanating from our mouth.”

Wade Davis: Dreams from endangered culturesWade Davis: Dreams from endangered cultures A fascinating speaker, with the opposite perspective. In this talk from TED2003, National Geographic Explorer Wade Davis emphasizes the importance of a diversity of languages and cultures in our world. What the world needs is not one universal language, but rather a respect for the unique values and worldview tied up in each linguistic system. Language loss is happening at an alarmingly rapid rate: 50% of the world’s languages are facing extinction — about one language dies every two weeks. “Language is a flash of the human spirit,” argues Davis.

Patricia Ryan: Don't insist on English!Patricia Ryan: Don’t insist on English! In this talk from TEDxDubai, Patricia Ryan – who has lived in the Gulf region for 30 years — argues for a multilingual education system. She asks: What if Einstein had to pass the TOEFL? We equate English with intelligence, but some of the world’s best thinkers may not be English speakers. In different linguistic systems, we’re able to conceive of different concepts. Until we encourage multilingualism, we can never know what we know.

Steven Pinker: What our language habits revealSteven Pinker: What our language habits reveal Linguist Steven Pinker argues that language is a window into what makes humans tick in this compelling talk from TEDGlobal 2005. From metaphors to bribes to threats, indirect language speaks volumes about the inner workings of individuals and the societies we live in. By understanding the “cognitive machinery to conceptualize the world,” we will better understand ourselves.

James Geary, metaphorically speakingJames Geary, metaphorically speaking Metaphors give us Shakespeare, scientific discoveries and an understanding of financial crises. Metaphors are central to how we see the world, allowing us to understand complex or foreign concepts by putting them into a familiar context. Fun fact: we speak on average six metaphors per minute! In this cleverly worded talk from TEDGlobal 2009, James Geary explores the powerful force of the deeply influential word constructs that shape our reality.

Melissa Marshall: Talk nerdy to meMelissa Marshall: Talk nerdy to me Great communication from scientists and engineers will change the world, says professor Melissa Marshall in her talk from TEDGlobal 2012. Left-brain thinkers don’t need to dumb it down to make their ideas accessible to people without a technical bent, she argues. In this funny talk, Marshall provides a mathematical formula for perfect scientific communication.

We’re just a week into 2013, and the year seems filled with possibility. The turn of the New Year is generally an occasion to look back and reflect on the year that’s passed — the victories and defeats, the lives lost and the experiences found. But after we look back, we inevitably turn forward. We make resolutions and predictions for the year to come, taking educated guesses as we gaze into the abyss of the unknown. Here,10 TED Talks that offer visions for the future.

Music comes in all shapes and sizes, as these talks illustrate. From an electric drum suit called “thunderwear” to an ancient stringed wheel to an arresting rare organ, the instruments featured in these talks reshape our soundscape and offer inspiration in the cacophonous world around us.

In the information age we have access to more data and knowledge than at any previous point in human history. But more accessible data doesn’t necessarily mean more processable data — tax returns, court cases and newspaper archives may be available to the public, but they are often hard to interpret and understand. Data artists process this mess of information for us and break it down into comprehensible pieces, often enhancing it by placing it in deeper contexts and by finding surprising patterns. The designers and artists below are on the cutting edge of this work, experimenting with new technologies to take numbers and facts and turn them into beautiful multimedia works of art and knowledge.

Nathalie Miebach: Art made of storms
Nathalie Miebach’s art is both beautiful and informative: she sculpts colorful models using weather data, and then converts this information into musical scores. Thus she makes weather patterns — something inherently invisible to the naked eye — “visible, tactile and audible.” In this short talk from TEDGlobal 2011, she describes her nuanced ways of translating information into different mediums, blurring the lines between art and science.

Aaron Koblin: Artfully visualizing our humanity
Numbers can humanize us. Artist Aaron Koblin uses data to discover the patterns we make as a collective whole, so that we can better understand society and ourselves. Koblin’s groundbreaking work harnesses modern technology to produce art that is sometimes crowdsourced and collectively produced, and sometimes hyper individualized. Here, he describes his work at TED2011.

Hans Rosling: Stats that reshape your world-view
This is the first of many great things to come from data whiz Hans Rosling. In this seminal talk from TED2006, Rosling beautifully and energetically illustrates fascinating trends about global health and wealth distribution.

David McCandless: The beauty of data visualization
Graphic designer and “data detective” David McCandless is trying to make sense of the world by compressing and overlapping information, he says at TEDGlobal 2010. His gorgeous data visualizations squeeze an enormous amount of knowledge into digestible tidbits, throwing the data into new light as he contextualizes it. By making information beautiful, he makes it make sense. (Check out McCandless’ latest work, an interactive visual that lets you calculate the number of alien civilizations in our galaxy.)

Jer Thorp: Make data more human
Information artist Jer Thorp traverses the “terrain of data” to tell narratives of human experiences. These elegant data-driven stories are based on information collected from smartphones or newspapers, but breathe life back into the lives we live. In this talk from TEDxVancouver, Thorp explains how this human-centered approach to data analysis is the best route to take as technology becomes more and more central to our daily lives.

Hans Rosling: Religions and babies
Data master Rosling takes us through the effect of religion on birth rates across the globe in his most recent talk from TEDxSummit. Intersecting separate data sets enable Rosling to deeply explain human patterns of population growth and reach surprising and fascinating conclusions about how we are born and how humanity will continue to grow. (Rosling has a lot to say and a lot to show us. Check out his prolific library of talks about data visualizations.)

With just over a month to go before the 2012 presidential election, eyes around the world are on the United States. Will Americans vote to give Barack Obama another four years in the White House, or will the country opt for a turnabout and vote Mitt Romney into office? The election may well come down to a few select issues. So what matters most to Americans? The TED Blog was very surprised to read this Gallup poll from late July highlighting the issues that citizens most want the next president to prioritize. Since these are topics that speakers often address on the TED stage, every week until the election we’ll be bringing you a new playlist focusing on one of the top-rated issues.

One of the most pressing issue for our next president to think about, according to those polled, is “dealing with terrorism and other international threats.” A whopping 86% of those surveyed rated job creation as either “very important” or “extremely important.” Which makes sense because, as Obama and Romney spar over unemployment and government benefits, always present in the conversation is an elusive search for peace in an increasingly complex global community.

The 12 talks below approach the themes of terrorism and security from a number of diverse backgrounds, reflecting the multidimensional nature of 21st century military and security policy. These talks range from personal stories about how the 9/11 attacks affected the speakers’ lives to analytic explorations of the inner-workings of the Pentagon to the economics and logistics of terror operations — and everything in between. And, of course, no discussion of violence and war is complete without a discussion of its inverse, peace.

Jason McCue: Terrorism is a failed brand
In today’s powerful talk, given at TEDGlobal 2012, reputation management expert Jason McCue outlines a new way to fight terrorism—by looking at it as a brand, like Coca-Cola. “If you look at terrorism as a brand, you’ll come to realize that it’s a pretty flawed product,” says McCue. “It’s bad for your health. It’s bad for who it effects, and it’s no better if you’re a suicide bomber. It doesn’t do what it says on the tin — you’re not really going to get 72 virgins in heaven and you’re not really going to end capitalism.” Because the brand of terrorism  has “an Achilles heel,” says McCue, we should be looking to attack the brand’s myths and, at the same time, demonstrate that we have a truly better product.

9/11 healing: The mothers who found forgiveness, friendship
An unlikely friendship between two mothers caught in the throes of geopolitical terrorism share their son’s stories — one a victim of the Twin Towers collapse, another on trial as a terror suspect — in this deeply moving talk from TEDWomen. Hoping to derive positivity from their suffering for other mothers, these two women bridged cultural gaps, looking to find forgiveness and learn from each other.

Loretta Napoleoni: The intricate economics of terrorism
Economist Loretta Napoleoni tracks the rise of transnational terror organizations and the under-the-table transactions that fund and enable terror activity. In this enlightening talk from TEDGlobal 2009, Napoleoni shares surprising revelations about the origins of the cash that funds the terror economy and highlights the surprisingly close proximity of western nations.

Thomas Barnett: Rethinking America’s military strategy
International security strategist Thomas Barnett’s job is to bridge the gap between war and everything else. In this candid talk from TED2005, Barnett looks at US security with a wide-angle, glancing into the past to project what is needed for the future. Honing in on specific flaws and successes, Barnett gives a realistic and intimate look at the inner goings-on of the US military.

James Stavridis: A Navy Admiral’s thoughts on global security
Navy Admiral James Stavridis advocates an open-source system of global security in this inspired talk from TEDGlobal 2012. To make ourselves safer, he argues, we need to collaborate and break down our barriers.

Hasan Elahi: FBI, here I am!
After being questioned for six months by the FBI following the attacks of September 11, artist and professor Hasah Elahi decided to cut out the FBI as the middleman in the information gathering process. He realized, having had to justify seemingly meaningless moments of his existence to the FBI, that by sharing mundane moments of his life — a precursor to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram — that he could beat the FBI to the punch and take control of the barrage of information available about him on the internet. As he explained at TEDGlobal 2011, to secure a private life, he decided to share everything.

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy: Inside a school for suicide bombers
Documentary maker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy walks through the Taliban’s five-step process of recruiting children suicide bombers in this astonishing talk with startling video clips from TED2010. Providing a perspective deeply contextualized in poverty and religion, Obaid-Chinoy explores the living conditions of the Taliban’s “sacrificial lambs.”

Joseph Nye on global power shifts
We need to redefine and realign national interests for positive-sum multi-national gain, said former assistant secretary of defense Joseph Nye at TEDGlobal 2010. As power dynamics shift and forceful power is mixed with what Nye calls soft power — the power of influence — Nye highlights the potential for the 21st century to be a period of cooperation and mutual benefit.

Marc Goodman: A vision of crimes in the future
Security expert Marc Goodman has spent his career studying criminals and terrorists, examining how groups co-opt technology for nefarious purposes. In this chilling talk from TEDGlobal 2012, Goodman outlines how burgeoning advances — like 3D printing and personalized medicine — could be exploited by terrorists. But there is a solution, he says. By making citizens a part of the security process, Goodman says that we can better anticipate threats and be prepared to counter them.

Jody Williams: A realistic vision for world peace
“We can change this world,” said Nobel Peace laureate Jody Williams at TEDWomen. Outlining women’s roles in bringing peace to violent and sometimes terror-ridden countries, she highlights the power of individuals to attain peace.

Peter van Uhm: Why I chose a gun
“Sometimes only the gun can stand between good and evil.” In this thought-provoking talk from TEDxAmsterdam, Netherlands Chief of Defense Peter van Uhm shares the experiences that lead him to go into the military to help keep the peace, and why he thinks that guns in the hands of good people are so important.

Rory Stewart: Time to end the war in Afghanistan
Rory Stewart isn’t your typical Member of Parliament. An author and adventurer, he walked across Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks and later founded a charity in Kabul. In this extraordinary talk from TEDGlobal 2011, he powerfully argues for bringing home the troops in Afghanistan, not only because deployment has lead to more violence but because the perpetual optimism of Western military leaders is making failure “invisible, inconceivable and inevitable.”

“The brain lady”
Brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor gave a classic TEDTalk about becoming a part of her own research when she had a massive stroke. In the talk “Jill Bolte Taylor’s stroke of insight,” she describes in heartbreaking detail the experience of losing control of her brain functions one by one, as well as the road toward recovering them.

“Statistics guy”
Hans Rosling is synonymous with statistics in the TED world. One of the most frequent TED speakers, this data guru breaks down facts and figures about global health and international development into easily digestible pieces. Here, his first talk, “Stats that reshape your world-view.”

“Little colored things on fingers”
Pranav Mistry has developed technology that allows you take photos with your hands, watch embedded videos in print newspapers, and even turn a piece of paper into a tablet computer. With the aim to better integrate information technology and everyday objects, Mistry may just change the way we interact with the physical world around us. Watch his talk, “The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology.”

“Professor who assigns students less work” 
The number of options we have is often inversely related to our happiness, says psychologist Barry Schwartz. In the talk “The paradox of choice,” he explains how having too many choices ultimately leads to indecision and inaction. In the case of his college students, it’s not that they’re less intelligent than students in the past, but rather that they’re preoccupied with big decisions, struggling to choose between options that didn’t exist 30 years ago.

“Male speaker talking about liberals and conservatives”
Using moral psychology as the foundation to his talk, Jonathan Haidt explains the five morals of humanity, and how this correlates to conservatism and progressivism. The talk “The moral roots of liberals and conservatives” is a mind-stretching exercise in understanding and respecting other perspectives for the benefit of society at large.

“Universities without walls”
In the talk “Learning from a barefoot movement,” innovative educator Bunker Roy describes his Barefoot College, where the only disqualifying factor is having a Master’s degree or Ph.D. The program, run in villages throughout rural India, teaches adults and children professional skills on a schedule and in a setting that works for them.

“Bearded man says we’ll live to 1000 years old”
The first 1000-year-old is already living, according to Aubrey de Grey. This Cambridge researcher has found solutions to the seven basic ways humans age, starting with a simple 30-year life prolongation that would allow us to reach “longevity escape velocity.” After establishing the biological feasibility of this proposition, de Grey walks through the tangible steps needed to achieve this incredible feat in the talk “A roadmap to end aging.”

“Babies’ brains”
Child psychologist Allison Gopnik explains that babies and children begin learning and processing information well before we previously thought. In the surprising talk “What do babies think?” Gopnik delves into humanity’s youngest minds.

“The ‘Who’s the man now’ woman”
In the talk “New data on the rise of women” from TEDWomen 2010, journalist Hanna Rosin shares promising new data tracking the global rise of the supposedly “fairer sex,” with economic shifts and rising education driving the shift. In her talk, Rosin explores what implications this changing gender dynamic holds for society.

“Science prodigy with the Hungarian grandmother”
Eva Vertes was still a teenager when she gave the talk “Looking to the future of medicine” about cancer and Alzheimer’s research at TED2005. In this talk, the then-19-year-old shares her narrative of entering the medical research world and also describes her upcoming cancer research.

“The woman in a red sweater talking about green marketing”
Tree expert Nalini Nadkarni uses unconventional methods — dance, poetry and music — to translate and communicate her scientific findings to diverse audiences in the non-academic world. Her passion and commitment drive her research, which she describes in this inspiring talk, titled “Conserving the canopy.”

“Robot says cookie monster is very bad”
“Robots are all about people,” says scientist Cynthia Breazeal, who designs robots capable of integrating themselves into the daily lives of humans. In the talk “The rise of personal robots,” Breazeal describes how robots can help us become more creative and innovative, help bridge long-distance communication, or even be our encouraging sidekick during weight loss.

“Man doesn’t speak for 17 years”
Environmentalist John Francis has spent the past 30 years traveling the globe, spreading the word about the green movement. For half that time, however, he was completely silent. The remarkable talk “John Francis walks the Earth” will leave you thinking not only about how you treat people, but about how you treat the planet.

“2-year-old who says ‘water’”
MIT researcher Deb Roy charted the “wordscape” of his own home — what words were most frequently said in which rooms and what effect that had on his son’s language learning. Roy utilized incredible technology to collect an astoundingly robust data set, and while doing so he began to stretch the biological capabilities of human memory. Check out his talk, “The birth of a word.”

Work comes in all shapes and sizes — there’s no one-size-fits-all model for what humans do to make a living. We can see this in the countless TEDTalks from people telling stories about what they do, be it single-handedly creating a polyphonic orchestra, performing magical stunts on city streets, or even studying fungi. While we aren’t all glamourous actors or pioneers of the internet, all of our work is noble and worth celebrating. To commemorate Labor Day, here are seven great TEDTalks that explore the dynamics of work from all angles.

Shawn Achor: The happy secret to better work

It’s commonly assumed that success will lead to happiness. But in the talk above, positive psychologist Shawn Achor argues the exact opposite: it’s happiness that leads to success. Happier people are more creative, have increased energy, and perform at a higher level — all of the factors needed in being successful. And, he tells us, we are all capable of making ourselves happier through small changes in our everyday lives.

Jason Fried: Why work doesn’t happen at work
“We’ve traded our work day in for work moments,” Jason Fried tells us in a talk from TEDxMidwest about the challenge of being truly productive in an office environment. We are faced with a barrage of involuntary distractions: between meetings and check-ins with managers, our truly productive time is broken down into 15-minute blocks — hardly enough time for creative brekathroughs. Fried offers provocative suggestions for making work a place where you can once again work.

Auret van Heerden: Making global labor fair
Transnational companies are growing at an alarming rate, but regulation of the good these companies produce as well as the treatment of their workers is lacking, argues Aret van Heerden, head of the Fair Labor Association. He is working to make a space for international collaboration and regulation to address these issues of human rights and quality control. In this insightful talk, van Heerden makes the case for why fair global labor practices are better for us all.

Nigel Marsh: How to make work-life balance work
Author Nigel Marsh reminds us that we need to proactively take our work-life balance into our own hands and stop waiting for our employers to do it for us. Small changes can dramatically improve the quality of your life and the relationships in it. And the more of us who do it, the better it is for society. Together, we can reshape society’s conception of a life well lived.

Mike Rowe: Learning from dirty jobs
Mike Rowe makes a living by telling stories about other people’s jobs. From sheep herders to dairy farmers to crab fishermen, Rowe has explored a wide range of professions, and had some outrageous experiences along the way as the host of “Dirty Jobs.” In this outlandish talk, Rowe tells us about his humbling experiences learning from professionals in the craziest jobs.

Sheryl Sandberg: Why we have too few women leaders
Women are not making it to the top of professional ladders anywhere in the world, a fact that deeply concerns Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. In this talk from TEDWomen, she explores the possible causes of this disparity — and what women can do about it.

Niels Diffrient rethinks the way we sit down
Ergonomic designer Neils Diffrient has devoted his life to designing the most comfortable office chairs possible. With human bodies driving his furniture modelings, Diffrient has helped redefine the way we sit in the during the workday.

As we crisscrossed the globe to find you fresh perspectives for TED2013 in our worldwide Talent Search, a common theme emerged: cultural heritage in the 21st century. The tangible, intangible and natural elements that define our ways of life touch every aspect of our existence — from language to landscapes to religion to architecture. And they are in constant flux, with global cultural exchanges on the rise as our world becomes more interconnected. Below, unique narratives from Talent Search speakers about navigating the tensions between modernity and tradition in an ever-globalizing world.

Ihsan Fethi: Iraq’s destroyed cultural heritage
TED@Tunis
“Cultural destruction is a crime against humanity,” argues Ihsan Fethi, an Iraqi architectural conservationist. In this talk, he provides examples of the “cultural suicide” that Iraqis are committing by demolishing historical architectural gems in cities all over the country.

Chen Xi Huang: The ancient art of hand puppetry
TED@Shanghai
The ancient Chinese art of hand puppetry is alive and well in the capable hands of Chen Xi Huang, an 82-year-old puppet master. The art form is slowly falling out of practice, but a small part of this cultural heritage is now preserved in this explanation and performance.

Yasser Bahjatt: How Arab sci-fi could dream a better future
TED@Doha
If you want to advance science, you need to have a strong sci-fi culture. Computer engineer Yasser Bahjatt is creating an open platform for sci-fi writers and artists in the Arab world to collaborate in creating 21st-century sci-fi to revitalize the scientific and literary culture that has flourished throughout the course of humanity.

Joe McPherson: The meteoric rise of Korean food
Did you know that there 167 documented types of kimchi? McPherson founded the website ZenKimchi, a love letter to the food, and in this talk explains why it took Korean cuisine time to boom in popularity around the globe. His observation: that the American palate has had to adapt to Korean food, instead of the other way around.

Majede Najar: Why I wear a hijab
TED@Vancouver
“I am a proud hijabi,” proclaims Majede Najar in this talk from TED@Vancouver. This 16-year-old Iranian-Canadian describes the way she navigates her multiple identities — religious, cultural, ethnic — in her life in Candada.

Jiaojiao Chen: Forgotten stories from China’s history
TED@Shanghai
Photographer and storyteller Jiaojiao Chen is preserving the ordinary stories of daily life in a country that “selectively documents parts of its history.” By collecting photos, objects and stories from average Chinese citizens, she hopes to capture moments of China’s rich history and culture that are all-too-easily forgotten.

Gabriel Otsuka: An 11-year-old plays classical Brazilian piano
TED@SaoPaulo
Since learning to play the piano at age 7, Gabriel Otsuka has had great reverence for classical Brazilian technique. In this talk, he performs several of his favorite pieces.

Ira Trivedi: The case for arranged marriages
Indian novelist Ira Trivedi notes that a huge cultural shift has taken place in India, with the older generation espousing traditional arranged marriage and a younger generation idealizing love. In this talk, she talks about the hidden costs of the shift. While she once considered arranged marriage archaic, she now sees it an option.

Azzam Alwash: Lessons from Iraq’s beautiful marshes
TED@Tunis
Azzam Alwash calls for a “blue revolution” in the wake of the Arab Spring: for Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey to collaborate across boundaries to manage water resources of the Tigris and Euphrates river. Iraq’s marshes — commonly considered  the cradle of civilization — are being destroyed, and the citizens of these countries must come together to protect humanity’s environmental heritage.

Yunhe Liu: Expression through nunchaku
TED@Shanghai
Tradition and modernity come together in Yunhe Liu’s nunchaku performance that captures the essence of the ancient art while incorporating contemporary freedom and creativity.

Dong Woo Jang (age 14): Crafting the perfect bow
Dong Woo Jang is an 8th grader in Seoul, Korea, who discovered an unusual piece of bamboo in his neighborhood. The discovery led to a fascination with archaic Korean bows, a long lost art.

Check out more wonderful playlists from the TED Talent Search. Rating of these talks will close on August 31, also known as tomorrow.

Photo: Liz Jacobs

This is the final week of nominations for the TED Prize, which means you only have three more days to nominate a person with a wish to inspire the world for the $1 million honor. Have a mentor who has molded your mind? A friend with an inspired idea? A neighbor with big plans? Tell us about them now, using the official nomination form. This year, you can even nominate yourself.

With the August 31 deadline just around the corner, we asked you what you would do for the world with the $1 million cash prize. And since your great responses continue to roll in, we’re bringing you more inspiring ideas shared thus far in our TED conversation, in blog comments, and through our Facebook page.

“I’d use the money to start a NPO or support existing organizations for the development of urban and suburban community gardens to feed families and local food banks.” — Grant Hensarling

“I’d invest the money to create a big think tank of people from around the globe in order to come up with an actionable solution of how to prevent the abuse of drugs which may be a cause for so many other harms and problems.” — Tanja Burgdorfer

“Rooftops specifically make up a large footprint in cities, and could be used in small or big ways to help increase production of a variety of produce, to manage runoff water, and to establish a growing, green environment in cities. I would use a million dollars to fund a project to encourage green roofs.” — Jacob Richmond

“Hunger kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. I’d invest that money on farming and animal husbandry in poor countries. This would provide jobs and cheap food for the poor and hungry people. Since you can’t eradicate world hunger with only $1M, I’d put all the effort on growing the business and hopefully after some 100 years the business would be big enough to eliminate world hunger.” — Ali Mahdavi

“Fund a private mental health organization and create a network of volunteers throughout the country taking on the daily needs of those with mental disease or severe disorders.” — Rob Becker

“Give 1,000 aid workers (local and international, cleaner to country director) a social change investment fund of $1,000, over which they have total personal discretion. Task each of us to find an ‘under-the-radar’ grassroots organization, leader, or initiative worthy of support.” — Jennifer Lentfer

“I would spend half of it to identify children forced into child labor in India and help them get into school. Another part would be to build a [crowdsourcing] platform to fund medical requirements of the ones who cannot afford it otherwise. Nothing is more shameful in being human than to see another fellow dying only because he/she cannot afford the right treatment.” — Soumyo Das

“Best to create a sustainable mechanism that propagates itself. I would start a collaborative effort to build a co-op for college kids. The kids learn to build sustainable buildings after school. By sustainable, I mean rooftop solarium garden that feeds them full time, wind/solar/bicycle power, and a DIY woodwork or CNC based workshop instead of a car garage.” — Wayne Scott Edwards

“Create a programme for children in war torn countries where they use multimedia to tell their own stories and bring a sense of reality of their experience to the world.” — Erika Harriford

“We are only talking about $1m here. And the potential for infrastructure to get destroyed is still pretty high. Better to have prolific portable systems.” — Payden Bulli

“I feel that an education can greatly improve an individual as well as a community. I would like to create a foundation that provides a matching college/learning scholarship for students who work while they study. My goal with this approach is that students would leave college with more experience working, less student debt.” — Sterling Miller

“I would start a foundation to connect adults and children as young as 10 with mentorships in a wide variety of fields.” — Sean Canton

“Create a small scale hydroponic system like VerticalHarvest.org to grow local food. This will reduce the dependency on other crops, weather related issues like droughts, and will provide local organic food year round to local communities. Many small scale systems already exist, this would be used to automate the system and develop a process that can be reproduced worldwide in any environment by anyone.”  — Erez Yaron

“I would develop an online math program for people wanting to go back to community college to get new job skills in the US.” — Joanna Schneier

“I would start a non-profit called Sound Foundation focused on affordable introductory vocational training for electronic music and media arts. The primary goal would be to enact structural change within the K-12 educational system by creating a program that produces self sustaining revenue and remove reliance on government assistance and private donations.” — Michael Steel

“Pyramid-scheme micro credits for startups in economically underdeveloped countries. Instead of interest rates the credit would only be granted with one obligation, so called ‘instead rates’ :o): Those who succeed and remain stable have to grant a micro credit themselves under the same condition to help others, etc., etc., etc.” — Jan-Bernd Pauli

“I would start a pilot program to educate institutional cooks on ethnic cooking so that immigrant children in schools, and adults in hospitals and nursing homes could have access to nutritious food relevant to their cultures.”

“1 million represents a lot. We have here in Sudan set several projects to assist with rights to live a life of luxury.
I would like to take the issue of reconstruction of infrastructure and the establishment of centers for information technology development and schools to teach children and create an environment conducive to innovation and the development of the private sectors by opening employment opportunities through establishment of links between the individual and society within the income unlimited and push the economy to a first round in the development of Sudan.” — Khalid Ahmed

“I would use it as seed money to help finance my life goal of being part of saving ten million lives by getting information on location-independent technologies (which can be made by locals out of local materials, with only the most basic of local tools. e.g. biochar, rocket stoves, and ceramic water filters) to every community in every developing nation in the world.” — Keith Olson

“I’d like to invest the money in El Salvador to buy thousands of acres around the country in every community to plant millions of organic plants, fruits, vegetables and put on the market for free without a profit.” — Marion Ventura

“ I would start an after-school program in low-income areas that taught kids how to cook.” — Mary Krause

“It’s estimated that 40% of youth homelessness is LGBT kids who have left or been thrown out of their homes. While working with some friends to help a kid in the USA, we found that there are limited resources, and worse, that they’re not well publicized, linked to things like the suicide hotlines or the Trevor Project, and don’t have the staff or funding to work with the number of kids impacted. My goal would be to support the groups like Albert Kennedy Trust and Ali Forney in the UK and US, and develop a coordinating capability that would be sustainable, and deliver not only housing but coordinate counseling, education and job training, with regional and local authorities.” — Jeff McEldowney

Join the conversation or share your ideas below about what you would do for the world with $1 million below. And don’t forget to nominate yourself or others for the TED Prize by August 31, using the official nomination forms.

Here, six TEDTalks that I’m taking inspiration from, to help me apply the laid-back philosophy I learned to love in Argentina to situations unique to college students.

Sherry Turkle: Connected, but alone?
In the fast-paced and increasingly wired atmosphere of college campuses, we seem to be developing a tech habit that we can’t kick. Face-to-face interactions are on the decline as people defer more socializing to texting and social media. Psychologist Sherry Turkle argues that we’re creating an illusion of togetherness as we replace each other with technology, we’re losing the capacity for solitude while becoming more and more alone.

Dan Gilbert: The surprising science of happiness
Whether you are a rising senior trying to solidify hazy post-graduate plans or a freshman trying to pick a major — or even what to do on a Friday night — college students have a lot of choices to make. This wealth of opportunities can be exciting or stressful, but according to Dan Gilbert, the outcomes of these decisions have less bearing on our happiness than we might initially think. Gilbert’s talk offers encouraging insights into the psychology of happiness, explaining that we tend to adapt to situations even when things don’t initially seem to work out the way we would have liked. Listen to this talk, and you might find yourself becoming a more confident decision-maker.

Chip Kidd: Designing books is no laughing matter. OK, it is.
This hilarious talk by book jacket designer Chip Kidd will give you a new appreciation for hardbacks — and may even inspire you to read a chapter of that bio textbook collecting dust under your bed. Kidd explains his design process from start to finish, detailing how he captured the essence of hundreds of pages of text in the iconic covers of Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park and Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84. He reminds us that we lose something special about print books in our Kindles and iPads.

Rives: The 4 a.m. mystery
College is full of late nights — cram sessions for final exams, parties that go until the wee hours of the morning, and deep conversations with close friends. The poet Rives pays homage to this mystical and enigmatic hour, 4 a.m.

Aaron Koblin: Artfully visualizing our humanity
We’re all smarter together than we are alone, says artist Aaron Koblin. You’ll see those dreaded group projects and interminable group study sessions in a new light after watching this beautiful and inspirational talk about the power of collaboration in the digital age, where we can all contribute something small to make a whole greater than ourselves.

Barry Schwartz: Our loss of wisdom
Barry Schwartz’s message of questioning the rules that shape our society will certainly resonate with college students. Highlighting the fault lines in American society, he argues that the rules and regulations that structure our world are in contradiction with the wisdom that would better our society. Wisdom is made, not born, he reminds us, and it is in our power to create a wiser community.