Photos: James Duncan Davidson

Beardyman, né Darren Foreman, is a London-based beatboxer and inventor who has always been frustrated by the limitations of the human voice and body. After all, Beardyman’s instrument is his voice — and he only has one. No one, for example, can sing two notes at the same time. So naturally, Beardyman built a machine to deal with his problem: a real-time, live music production machine, which he is currently playing on stage. Can one man become all of Pink Floyd with just his voice? Yes. Yes he can.

The speakers who appeared this session. Click their name to read a recap of their talk:

Photographer Sebastião Salgado captures the dignity of the dispossessed through large-scale, years-long projects.

Longtime TED favorite Edith Widder, an expert on marine luminosity and underwater cameras, will talk about the hunt for the giant squid.

Camille Seaman photographs big ice and big clouds, giving them personality.

Stuart Firestein teaches students and “citizen scientists” that ignorance is far more important to discovery than knowledge.

Saskia Sassen is the world’s go-to theorist on our complex and vibrant cities.

Beardyman, “ruler of beats and destroyer of dance floors,” is developing a real-time music-production system that places live looping at the center of a new musical paradigm.

Taking a cue from his own artistic journey, Phil Hansen challenges us to spark our creativity by thinking inside the box.