TED@PalmSprings is a new way to experience TED. Wondering what it will be like? Watch this preview of the lively, loungey, interactive gathering to be held at Palm Springs this February. Find out more about TED@PalmSprings — there are still some spots available. Follow TED@PalmSprings on Twitter >>
Via boingboing: Director Jesse Dylan made the beautiful video for Karen Armstrong’s Charter for Compassion (as well as a little something called “Yes We Can.” Now he has created an elegant 2-minute clip for Science Commons, explaining why this is a Good Thing. Watch and learn:
This week, the great CBC radio show Quirks & Quarks convened nine Canadian scientists and one science fiction writer to speculate on 10 ways the world could end. You be the judge: Is their list scarier than Stephen Petranek’s (watch his TEDTalk)?
Folk musician and storyteller David Holt plays the banjo and shares photographs and old wisdom from the Appalachian Mountains. He also demonstrates some unusual instruments like the mouth bow — and a surprising electric drum kit he calls “thunderwear.” (Recorded March 2004 in Monterey, California. Duration: 25:31.) Watch David Holt’s talk on TED.com, where you […]
Inventor Nick Sears demos the first generation of the Orb, a rotating persistence-of-vision display that creates glowing 3D images. A short, cool tale of invention. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, California. Duration: 3:46.) Watch Nick Sears’ talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks […]
Want to see what a post-bailout auto industry could look like? General Motors VP of R&D Larry Burns previews next-gen car design: sleek, customizable (and computer-enhanced) vehicles that run clean on hydrogen — and pump energy back into the electrical grid when they’re idle. (Recorded February 2005 in Monterey, California. Duration: 9:12.) Watch Larry Burns’s […]
The Washington Post has a fascinating story of a US interrogator, pseudonymed “Matthew Alexander,” who refused to use aggressive interrogation tactics sanctioned by the military — because, as he puts it: These interrogations were based on fear and control; they often resulted in torture and abuse. This is the same idea Philip Zimbardo shares in […]
Why build a virtual world? At this year’s Serious Play conference, Philip Rosedale talks about the virtual society he founded, Second Life, and its underpinnings in human creativity. It’s a place so different that anything could happen. (Recorded May 2008 in Pasadena, California. Duration: 28:31.) Watch Philip Rosedale’s talk from Serious Play on TED.com, where […]
TED curator Chris Anderson appears on BBC Radio 4’s “iPM: Share What You Know” to discuss a provocative topic: Is the age of big ideas over? Chris debates the notion with philosopher Alain de Botton, the author of How Proust Can Change Your Life. Download the podcast here >>
Science writer Richard Preston (he wrote The Hot Zone) talks about some of the most enormous living beings on the planet, the giant trees of the US Pacific Northwest. Growing from a tiny seed, they support vast ecosystems — and are still, largely, a mystery. (Recorded February 2008 in Monterey, California. Duration: 19:31.) Watch […]
Biochemist Gregory Petsko makes a convincing argument that, in the next 50 years, we’ll see an epidemic of neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, as the world population ages. His solution: more research into the brain and its functions. He also shares a few simple things we can do for ourselves to keep our brains healthy. […]
In an ingenious geek-out that’s almost too perfectly suited for TED, designer Ken Moore presents a much-anticipated hack of the Nintendo Wii Remote: a theremin. It seems to be a nearly serendipitous merger of TEDTalks by thereminist Pamelia Kurstin and Wii hacker Johnny Lee. Has anyone seen other hybridized Ideas Worth Spreading (coincidental or not)? […]
We’re not posting a new TED Talk today or tomorrow — it’s Thanksgiving Day in the United States. But here are some talks we’re excited to post in December: Next week: Richard Preston on the giant trees You might know Richard Preston from his groundbreaking reportage on disease, like The Hot Zone and his new […]
The blogosphere is all a-blog of a new cringe-inducing spoof published at McSweeney’s. Its title, “Atlas Shrugged Updated for the Current Financial Crisis” sums it up well enough. But here’s an excerpt: “I heard the thugs in Washington were trying to take your Rearden metal at the point of a gun,” she said. “Don’t let […]
Ad man Andy Hobsbawm shows iconic images from the media that use creative thinking to help society change for the better. Then he shares a fresh ad campaign about going green — and some of the fringe benefits. (Recorded February 2008 in Monterey, California. Duration: 4:00.) Watch Andy Hobsbawm’s talk on TED.com, where you […]
Via the Great Beyond, an amazing undersea rescue that hits so many TED sweet spots: robots! energy! underwater astonishment! Watch what happens when a big, beautiful fish gets stuck in an undersea oil platform: