X marks the spot: This week’s TEDx TalksThe paradox of finding peace in a war zone, and a way to make aid more effective — by decentralizing it and thus speeding it up. Each week, TEDx chooses four of our favorite talks, highlighting just a few of the enlightening speakers from the TEDx community and its diverse constellation of ideas worth spreading. […]
Daring greatly and acting boldly: Chelsea Clinton challenges youth to rise to the occasionChelsea Clinton has some advice for those with the greatest potential to become change-makers — the young. At TEDxTeen, held in New York City on March 16, Clinton delivered this bold talk, saying that despite negative assumptions, today’s youth are in a unique position to do good. Teens today have big advantages over those who […]
What does extreme poverty look like today? Some nuanced and insightful readingsIn today’s talk, Bono — U2 frontman, founder of the anti-poverty organization ONE, and 2005 TED Prize winner – reflects on the past decade’s dramatic reduction in extreme poverty worldwide. “Exit the rockstar, enter the evidence-based activist, the factivist,” he says. Since 2000, according to Bono’s data, eight million more AIDS patients are getting antiretroviral drugs; eight […]
Serge Mouangue’s sculptural commemoration of the Japanese tsunamiTwo years ago today, a massive earthquake rocked Japan and sent a tsunami raging over its shores. Nearly 19,000 people were killed; more than 300,000 were displaced. TED Fellow Serge Mouangue was living in Tokyo at the time. A native of Cameroon, he had been exploring the similarities between West African and Japanese cultures in art, […]
How societies grow old: Jared Diamond at TED2013Growing old in traditional societies Jared Diamond is the author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, which was a provocative answer to the question of why Europe dominated the world for much of recent history. More recently, he has written The World Before Yesterday, an investigation of traditional societies, and what the modern world might learn from […]
Remembering and responding online: Lakshmi Pratury at TED2013Once, Lakshmi Pratury says, she was deeply troubled by the public lives of young people on the Internet, but now she has hope — because the same kids who post their party pics online are also posting their political outrage. Her talk turns to a sad and shocking recent event: the gang-rape and torture of […]
Fighting the growing deserts, with livestock: Allan Savory at TED2013The growing desert Allan Savory has dedicated his life to studying management of grasslands. And if that doesn’t sound exciting, just wait, because it touches on the deepest roots of climate change and the future of the planet. “The most massive, tsunami, perfect storm is bearing down on us,” is the grim beginning to Savory’s talk. […]
A 12 year old learns to scare lions: Richard Turere at TED2013Richard Turere is 12 years old, and he lives in Kenya, in Nairobi National Park. It’s a park with lots of animals that roam freely, including lions. The lions kill livestock. So he say, “I grew up hating lions.” Turere, who took part in the Global Talent Search last year, tried to solve the problem. […]
Eradicating extreme poverty doesn’t have to be a dream: Bono at TED2013In 2005, the TED Prize was given to Bono. Eight years later, Chris Anderson asks, has there been any progress? The U2 frontman is here to tell us. But first, some good-natured Anglo-Irish joshing. “Chris Anderson asked me if I could put the last 25 years of of anti-poverty campaigning into 10 minutes. That’s an Englishman asking […]
8 talks on fighting corruptionWhen CL Financial — the largest financial institution in Trinidad and Tobago — collapsed in January of 2009, its bailout was far more sweeping than those offered in other countries. “In an unprecedented fit of generosity — and I use that word carefully — the government of the day made a written commitment to repay […]
X marks the spot: This week’s TEDx TalksEach week, TEDx chooses four of our favorite talks, highlighting just a few of the great speakers from the TEDx community and its diverse constellation of ideas worth spreading. Below, give this week’s talks a listen. Let’s find the strength to change our slums: Boniface Mwangi at TEDxKibera While working as a photographer for a Kenyan news […]
How Malawi is improving a terrible maternal mortality rate through good designBy Courtney E. Martin & John Cary Pregnancy is supposed to be about life. And yet, every day, 800 women across the globe die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. In Malawi, which has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world, a shocking 1 in 36 pregnant women die rather […]
War stories: Read Janine di Giovanni’s powerful coverage of conflicts around the worldJournalist Janine di Giovanni has covered wars in Bosnia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Iraq and most recently in Syria — and, yet, she has noted that they all seem to begin in the same way. “This is how war starts—one day you’re living your ordinary life. You’re planning to go to a party, you’re […]
Which TED Talks were the hardest to translate?With the help of more than 8,000 volunteer translators, TED Talks have been subtitled and translated into more than 90 languages. But the translators of TED’s Open Translation Project sometimes face difficulties while trying to find the right expression in their language. I put the question to my fellow translators: What talk did you have […]
New playlists: Dinos! and War storiesTED playlists are collections of talks around a topic, built for you in a thoughtful sequence to illuminate ideas in context. This weekend, two new playlists are available: Dinos! and War stories. Dinos! It’s truly astonishing: Once upon a time, giant beasts the size of buildings roamed our Earth. What were they like, and what […]
