“When we think about how people work, the naïve intuition we have is that people are like rats in a maze,” says behavioral economist Dan Ariely in today’s talk, given at TEDxRiodelaPlata. “We really have this incredibly simplistic view of why people work and what the labor market looks like.” When you look carefully at […]
[ted id=1908] Guy Hoffman isn’t just a roboticist — he’s also an animator and a jazz musician. And so as he set out to build robots that communicate with people, he took inspiration from what he learned in animation school and focused on subtle, fluid movements — the kind created by going frame-by-frame. He also […]
The annual Webby Award nominations are in, and we are thrilled to see our name in this incredibly fascinating mix multiple times. TED has been nominated for six awards – “Online Film & Video: Variety,” “Variety (Channel),” “Events & Live Webcasts,” “Social: Education & Discovery,” “Mobile & Apps: Podcasts,” and “Mobile & Apps: Best Use […]
It’s just a teeny, tiny question: How did the universe begin? Today, TED-Ed has unveiled a new lesson that answers this in less than four minutes, “The beginning of the universe, for beginners.” This is the first of five animated lessons developed by CERN scientists and brought to life by TED-Ed’s talented animators. The other […]
The description of last night’s episode of The Colbert Report reads: “At the Clinton Global Initiative University Meeting, President Bill Clinton discusses foreign aid, poverty, TED Talks, Twitter and the Colbert Galactic Initiative.” So how did TED enter the conversation? Colbert suggested that Clinton, who accepted the TED Prize in 2007 with the talk “On […]
We’ve spent the past year researching the lineup for TEDGlobal 2013 — and bookmarking some amazing websites and pages along the way. Here are 11 you really didn’t know you needed. But you do. 1. BioNumbers An addictive database of useful biological numbers. Just go and start looking around, and try to stop — you can […]
Freeman Hrabowski was a 9th grader in Birmingham, Alabama, when he heard a dynamic, impassioned speaker at church — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. At the time, King was organizing a march for children, and Hrabowski begged his parents to let him be a part of it. Hrabowski won their blessing to march in the […]
Last week, the Associated Press announced its decision to remove the term “illegal immigrant” from the AP Stylebook. In a blog post by Director of Media Relations Paul Colford, AP’s executive editor Kathleen Carroll revealed the news: “The Stylebook no longer sanctions the term ‘illegal immigrant’ or the use of ‘illegal’ to describe a person. […]
Today, we remember the 11 million lives taken during the Holocaust — a catastrophe that thoroughly transformed our world. As we take time to honor lives lost, we look towards people like Viktor Frankl, who gave this talk “Why to believe in others.” A Holocaust survivor and renowned author, in this rare clip, Frankl discusses […]
Last week, Intel hosted a unique event — an afternoon of TED Talks delivered by their very own resident innovators, thinkers and dreamers. Through a partnership with TED, they received guidance on event production and curation. The final product — TED@Intel, themed “the future in progress” — was a moment for the organization to celebrate […]
Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, passed away today after suffering from a stroke. The longest-serving Prime Minister of the 20th century, Thatcher also holds the distinction of being the only woman to hold the post. She has died at 87-years-old. Below, some TED Talks that examine Thatcher’s […]
TED playlists are collections of talks around a topic, built for you in a thoughtful sequence to illuminate ideas in context. This weekend, a new playlist is available: Everything you thought … was wrong. You think you know how to tie your shoes, but you’re wrong. You think you understand how non-profits should work, but […]
At TEDMED 2012, Ben Goldacre shared a startling reality: that doctors are not able to read all the studies conducted on a pharmaceutical before prescribing it to their patients. This is because of a bias in medical research toward positive results – while one study confirming a drug’s effectiveness may be published, the results of […]
In the early ‘80s, before MTV turned its attention to reality TV, David Bowie, Madonna and the Pretenders lit up small screens, using a new medium to showcase their songs: the music video. Recently, we’ve seen a resurgence of this art form as cinematographers, musicians and artists join together to supersize their visual creativity. But […]
Some staff picks of smart, funny, bizarre and cool stuff on the interwebs this week: First: Dragonflies are beautiful, deadly and have weird sex. [NY Times] While you’re at it, check out our playlist Insects are awesome!, above. The clap-o-meter was yesterday’s Big Data. [The Atlantic] Scientists now estimate the number of Earth-like, habitable planets in […]
Cyrus Kabiru crafts striking, whimsical, colourful pieces — most famously his one-of-a-kind spectacles, C-STUNNERS — from recycled waste and objects he finds on the streets of Nairobi. In a candid conversation at TED2013, the Kenyan sculptor and painter told us about his journey to becoming an artist … and how he’s struggled to forge a […]