Jaap de Roode is a biologist who studies parasites and their hosts — particularly Monarch butterflies. At TEDYouth 2014, he spoke about Monarch butterflies, their self-medicating ingenuity — and what that ingenuity can help humans discover. Lubna Batool, an 11th-grade New Yorker, was fascinated. On site at TEDYouth, with a dozen monarch butterflies flapping about […]
Conservation ecologist Eric Sanderson makes a science out of envisioning New York City in the past and the future. His Mannahatta project was a 10-year deep dive into the green landscape of Manhattan as it existed 400 years ago – and his new project, Mannahatta 2409, asks the public to create their own future visions […]
Gil Weinberg creates musically included robots so good they can improvise. The founder of the Music Technology program at Georgia Tech, he also creates innovative music apps and has contributed his technologies to many a band and ensemble. Sam Roth, an 11th grader in New York City, was excited to interview Weinberg about his experience speaking at […]
TEDYouth 2014 was an explosion of “Worlds Imagined.” On Saturday, November 15, New York students gathered for a day of punchy, inspiring talks that brought them to the Sahara Desert when it was a river wonderland for dinosaurs, to the surface of Mars as the Curiosity Rover makes its way up a mountain, and into the […]
The final session of TEDYouth 2014 focuses on what makes us human — the way we talk, the way we walk, the words we sing, the waves we surf. How jellyfish swim. On land, animals leave footprints that tell us a lot about their size, form and capabilities. Marine organisms do too—their footprints are “wake […]
By Cynthia Betubiza, Ella Dawson and Kate Torgovnick May Session 2 of TEDYouth 2014 offered talks to rouse the spirit and a few to gross you out. Below, recaps of these fascinating talks. Robots with rhythm. Nothing adds to a musical crescendo more than a skillful improvisation. Gil Weinberg, an engineer and musician from Georgia Tech, brings […]
By Cynthia Betubiza, Ella Dawson and Kate Torgovnick May Session 1 of TEDYouth 2014 brought us to many worlds imagined. From a look at other planets that could be like Earth, to an introduction to a mysterious dinosaur bigger than T. rex, to a beet-tastic vision for the future of food, this morning’s speakers brought wonder, passion […]
Jennifer Mascia reports on gun violence in America. For more than a year, at The New York Times, she and Joe Nocera wrote “The Gun Report,” a daily series telling the stories of people killed by gunfire in the US. The series was personal for her; one of the people she wrote about was a friend, […]
Writer, cartoonist and New York City transplant Nathan W. Pyle is the creator of the street-savvy, GIFed-out NYC Basic Tips and Etiquette. Lubna Batool, an 11th-grade New Yorker, is a big admirer of his work, which gives newcomers to the city the little tips no one else will—like that one $20 umbrella will outlast four […]
TEDYouth will be livestreamed on Saturday, November 15, for free — and not just in English. This event, meant for students and, well, anyone sparked by general curiosity, will be translated on the spot into both Spanish and Arabic, to make it watchable by more people around the world. Five intrepid live interpreters will make this […]
The speakers at TEDYouth 2014 are a fascinating group, ranging from a paleontologist to a teenage chef. But the middle and high school students who’ll attend are just as interesting. To apply for this annual conference — which brings together students for a no-cost day of mind-blowing TED Talks — attendees are asked to share a piece […]
TEDYouth is a free event just for middle and high school students. This year, it takes place on Saturday, November 15, at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City, where more than a dozen speakers will explore “Worlds Imagined,” sharing big ideas and inspiring insights on topics that range from science to design, food to technology, entertainment […]
Why, hello there—you middle or high school student in the New York City area. One thing you’ll want to do today, besides your homework: apply to attend TEDYouth 2014. Applications are now open! A free day of TED Talks and assorted hijinx, TEDYouth 2014 will take place at the Brooklyn Museum on Saturday, November 15, […]
TEDYouth 2013 was a blast. In session 1, Suzanne Simard taught us about the familial relationships of trees. In session 2, Maya Penn shared how she launched a business at 8 years old. And in session 3, Ashton Kutcher thrilled the crowd with a surprise talk on what it means to be a “magnificent failure.” […]
“I am a magnificent failure,” Ashton Kutcher announced on the TEDYouth stage in New Orleans earlier today. “I screw up so much it hurts.” The star of television show Two and a Half Men said this not to be self-deprecating or to beat up on himself, but to drive home the point that failure is […]
By Thu-Huong Ha and Kate Torgovnick The morning session of TEDYouth “The Spark” was incredible. But in many ways it was just an appetizer. In the afternoon, Sessions 2 and 3 delivered talks on topics ranging from how to make an Easy Bake Oven gender-neutral to the mathematics of Pixar animation to the familial structures of […]