It’s no secret that the world is on the alert for plans toward political and economic solvency. Strategic planner Thomas Barnett has released Great Powers: America and the World After Bush to address many of our most significant global crises. In a recent interview with Dan Hare, Barnett elaborated on the book, saying the US […]
Two years ago, software engineer and tinkerer Gever Tulley told us five dangerous things you should let your kids do. He returned in 2009 to give us an update about Tinkering School, his part-lab-part-summer-camp where kids use power tools to create amazing things … like roller coasters! We’ll be posting Gever’s new talk soon — […]
The newest edition of UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger totes up 6,000 world languages — and counts 2,500 as endangered and 200 as completely lost. The interactive atlas, released today, ranks the 2,500 endangered languages by five levels of vitality: unsafe, definitely endangered, severely endangered, critically endangered and extinct. This free, browsable […]
From TED2009! Legendary ocean researcher Sylvia Earle shares astonishing images of the ocean — and shocking stats about its rapid decline — as she makes her TED Prize wish: that we will join her in protecting the vital blue heart of the planet. (Recorded February 2009 in Long Beach, California. Duration: 18:16.) Watch Sylvia Earle’s […]
In a basement studio in Caracas, Venezuela, three weeks ago, I had the most powerful musical experience of my life. TED Prize Director Amy Novogratz and I were standing five feet away from the conductor’s stand in front of 200 Venezuelan virtuoso musicians — their average age 16. Many of these kids had been born […]
A bonus TED Prize talk from TED2009: The Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra contains the best high school musicians from Venezuela’s life-changing music program, El Sistema, founded by 2009 TED Prize winner Jose Antonio Abreu (watch him make his TED Prize wish to spread this musical education plan around the world). Led here by Gustavo Dudamel, […]
We’ve transcribed Jose Antonio Abreu’s TED Prize wish to use music to transform kids’ lives and posted the full text below the fold. Here’s a snippet: The idea is that the families join with pride and joy in the activities of the orchestras and the choirs their children belong to. The huge spiritual world that […]
The opening talk from TED2009: Jose Antonio Abreu is the charismatic founder of a youth orchestra system that has transformed thousands of kids’ lives in Venezuela. Here he shares his amazing story and unveils a TED Prize wish that could have a big impact in the US and beyond. (Recorded February 2009 in Caracas, Venezuela, […]
The TED Fellows Blog is a treasure — the unexpurgated thoughts of the 40 people chosen as this year’s TED Fellows, who attended the Long Beach conference, networked with one another and other TEDsters, and gave a presentation about the work that brought them here. On their shared blog, they talk about their work and […]
Writing on Darwin’s 200th birthday last week, Lise Buyer offered this commentary about today’s TEDTalk, Juan Enriquez’ “How Mind-Boggling Science Will Outlast the Crisis.” From the story: … In his talk at TED, Enriquez said the fact that we are the only living species of humans is an anomaly — or at least out of […]
“Juan Enriquez” “night vision” “robot horses”
In the latest release from TED2009, psychologist Barry Schwartz makes a passionate call for “practical wisdom” as an antidote to a society gone mad with bureaucracy. He argues powerfully that rules often fail us, incentives often backfire, and practical, everyday wisdom will help rebuild our world. (Recorded February 2009 in Long Beach, California. Duration: 20:45.) […]
Across from the Long Beach Arena complex where TED2009 just finished up, a more local — but no less ambitious — cluster of art shows inspired by TED are running through March 14. Phantom Galleries LA, a project that helps artists mount gallery shows in empty storefronts, presents three shows and performances in Long Beach […]
In the latest release from TED2009, MIT grad student David Merrill demos Siftables — cookie-sized, computerized tiles you can stack and shuffle in your hands. These future-toys can do math, play music, and talk to their friends, too. (Recorded in 2009 in Monterey, California. Duration: 7:09.) Watch David Merrill’s talk from TED2009 on TED.com, […]
We’ve transcribed Bill Gates’ talk on mosquitoes, malaria and education and posted the full text below the fold. Here’s a snippet: But we have to be careful because malaria — the parasite evolves and the mosquito evolves. So every tool that we’ve ever had in the past has eventually become ineffective. And so you end […]
Inspired by today’s archive talk from Milton Glaser, we share these fresh motivational posters from ReadyMade. Taking a cue from the poster art of the last Great Depression, the magazine asked five artists to make a simple image that would inspire us to do good things. You can view and download all five — or […]