Chelsea 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 are older, says Clinton: they are more likely to take risks, they lack deeply engrained biases and they are digital natives. As a result, millennials – those coming of age in the 21^st century — are more likely to be confident, connected and open to change. This makes for vast potential.

So how can teens harness it? Clinton says that it’s a matter of finding what you’re passionate about and then not being afraid to try it — because you never know how great your impact could be. Clinton challenges young people to “dare greatly and act boldly,” because “the worst thing that happens in life,” as they say in the Clinton family, “is that you get caught trying.”

Clinton’s talk is especially salient, as she hosted the Clinton Global Initiative University last weekend. At CGI U, a thousand college students with a desire to serve others gathered to innovate solutions for problems on both the global and local scale — and to make commitments to act upon them.

Clinton tells Parade Magazine that she was inspired to host the event by her grandmother, Dorothy Rodham. “She would always say life is not about what happens;” says Clinton, “it’s about what you do with what happens to you.” Rodham challenged her granddaughter to strive to live with a greater consciousness for helping others, even though Clinton naturally shies away from the spotlight. “[My grandma] thought I wasn’t doing enough with the opportunity I’d been given to be Chelsea Clinton,” she tells the magazine.

Photo: James Duncan Davidson

Miranda Wang and Jeanny Yao were the winners in British Columbia of the 2012 Sanofi BioGENEius Challenge Canada. After a visit to a Vancouver waste station, Wang and Yao were blown away by the enormous amount of waste in plastic. Plastic is very hard to sort for recycling — all types have a similar density. Says Wang, “Plastics are useful, but the downside of this convenience is that plastics cause serious problems like the destruction of ecosystems.”

So Wang and Yao decided to see if there was a way to break them down … with bacteria! It’s a cool idea, but difficult. They made a proposal in grade 12: Find a bacteria from local river to metabolize phthalates. Phthalates are a component of plastic, but they’re not well bonded, so they easily pollute and are found in products like babies’ toys, cosmetics, food wraps. In fact, the EPA has classified them as a top-priority pollutant.

Wang and Yao figured that if there were places along the local river that were contaminated, then maybe bacteria have evolved to degrade them. So they met a professor who gave them lab space and set to work. They collected samples from three sites, and enriched cultures with phthalates as the only food source. And they discovered that “bacteria can do it” — several local species had indeed evolved to metabolize phthalates. They DNA-sequenced the bacteria, and found several that were not previously associated with phthalate degradation. That’s a real discovery.

Most interestingly, Wang says, “We found the most efficient degraders came from the local landfill.” Nature was indeed evolving ways of dealing with the problem, one that we could someday use. Yao finishes by noting, ”We weren’t the first ones to break down phthalates, but we were the first ones to look into our local river and find a possible solution to a local problem.”

Today’s TED Talk is brought to you by 10-, 14-, and 15-year-old brothers known as the Sleepy Man Banjo Boys. Not your typical bluegrassers, these guys delivered rollicking good tunes at the New York stop of the TED Talent Search.

Inspired by these young brothers and the recent TEDx blog post called “9 incredible musical performances by kids,” we have compiled a list of some of our favorite kids, teens and young adults on TED.com sharing beautiful melodies from around the world.

Sirena Huang: An 11-year-old’s magical violin
Sirena Huang began playing violin at age 4 and by age 9 she was a professional violinist for the Taiwan Symphony Orchestra. At TED2006, she blew us away with her amazing gift.

Kenyan Boys Choir: Chant, sing, play!
TED@Nairobi delivered a vast diversity of talent – but one act in particular stood out: the Kenyan Boys Choir. Watch this group of joyful teenagers dance and sing their hearts out.

Usman Riaz and Preston Reed: A young guitarist meets his hero
At TEDGlobal 2012, 21-year-old guitarist Usman Riaz got a a chance to play with his idol, Preston Reed, who pioneered many of the techniques Riaz has expanded on.

Ray Goren: When it comes to music, it’s all about the feel
At age 8, Ray Goren began playing guitar. At TEDxOrangeCoast four years later, he knows his way around the instrument like he’s a seasoned rock ’n’ roll veteran who knows a thing or two about the blues.

Gustavo Dudamel leads El Sistema’s top youth orchestra
These high school musicians from Venezuela are part of the incredible El Sistema music program. At TED2009, Gustavo Dudamel leads the group through Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10, 2nd movement, and Arturo Márquez’ Danzón No. 2.

Karim Wasfi (Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra)
At TEDxBaghdad, this youth orchestra blends music of diverse cultures to create a unique sound. Watch as this group of young men and women come together to dazzle the audience.

Emmanuel Jal: The music of a war child
In his music, Emmanuel Jal tells his story of being a child soldier. An adult now, Jal spent five of his young years at war in the Sudan — an experience that greatly informs his lyrics.

Jennifer Lin: Improvising on piano, aged 14
In this moving performance and talk from TED2004, Jennifer Lin shares her process of creativity. Syncing together inspirations to create her own structures, Lin discusses how her love of drawing contributes to her often-improvised musical compositions.