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From robot twins to buggy brains: TEDYou Session 2

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Laurence Kemball-Cook on his Pavegen at TEDYou during TEDActive 2012, March 1, 2012. Photo: Michael Brands / TED

TEDActive’s TEDYou Session 2 has it all: smiles, education (reform) reform, dances for disability, interrupting cows, kung fu and robotic twins.

Leigh Rowan, “The Zaniness of the Frequent Flyer”: Leigh Rowan, COO of Moderne Communications, tells a personal story of skies, smiles and sweetness, and reminds us: “A smile is the ultimate cheap currency to share with those around you.”

Bernhard Riecke, “Moving You, in and through Virtual Reality”: Simon Fraser University assistant professor Bernhard Riecke shows research from his iSpace lab and highlights developments in improving spatial orientation in virtual reality.

Shannon Downey, “#GetOverIt”: Shannon Downey, owner of Pivotal Production, traces the rigorous physical and mental training which helped her prepare for the Tough Mudder competition, which is created by and made for military men. She concludes by urging us to tweet our experiences of moving through fear using #GetOverIt.

David Bismark, “The Mathematics Behind Cryptography”: David Bismark, CEO and publisher of Recito Förlag AB, uses history and mathematics to give a brief lesson on how, especially in times of war, cryptology is the key to freedom.

James Piecowye, “From Rags to Shirtology”: All shirts are not made equal, and we should not treat them so, says guerilla educationalist James Piecowye. He shows that your fashion choices are far more effective ways of communicating than you may think.

Kate Nichols, “Contemplating Color”: Artist and TED Fellow Kate Nichols talks to us about structural color, which is not about what an object is made of but how it’s made, and shows how it influences her art.

Kes Sampanthar, “Debugging Error 42”: Director of Media Strategy at Cynergy Systems, Kes Sampanthar applies methodologies for debugging software to debugging the “error 42s” we have in our very own brains.

Richard Move, “Stigma, Dancing Bodies and GIMP”: TED Fellow and MoveOpolis! artistic director Richard Move shows us footage from his documentary film GIMP, which seeks to de-stigmatize disability through dance.

Sarah Elizabeth Ippel, “Reforming Reform”: Sarah Elizabeth Ippel talks about her Academy for Global Citizenship, and encourages us to adopt a different lens through which we can understand the purpose of education.

Martin Hassel, “Finding Your Way with Celestial Navigation”: Are technological devices and GPS causing us to lose our common knowledge? Safetec Nordic Safety Engineer Martin Hassel warns that it could be happening and gives a brief but informative lesson on how to get it back — simply by looking at the sky and stars.

Trevor Maber, “A Key to Experiential Awareness”: University of Saskatchewan assistant professor Trevor Maber expounds on the Johari Window — designed to help people understand their own mental instabilities — and applies it to our personal and professional relationships.

Tino Chow, “The Scientific Method to Follow Your Dreams”: TED Fellow and Big New Ideas Community Designer Tino Chow compares and contrasts the process of performing scientific experiments and following your dreams.

Laurence Kemball-Cook, “Transforming Our Cities Into Power Plants”: Laurence Kemball-Cook, managing director at Pavegen Systems, shows a deceptively simple but incredibly functional innovation called the Pavegen, which converts the bounces from our everyday footsteps into energy.

Duan XinXing, “Personalities of a Kung Fu Master”: Duan XinXing, director of City Symbol Cultural Exchange Center, weaves two tales of the ancient martial art of kung fu — and even shows us a little.

Jennifer Indovina, “Pardon the Interruption”: “Interrupting Cow wh—Moo!” In a breezy talk, Tenrehte Founder and CEO Jennifer Indovina asks why we are so averse to interruptions, because in her eyes they’re really just “idea urges,” and should be encouraged.

Dan Latimore, “Strange Bedfellows: Halloween Candy and Economics”: Dan Latimore, director at Deloitte Research, explains economic concepts like marginal utility through something even children can understand: Halloween candy.

Scott Gass, “Family: The Adaptation”: SeaWorld zoologist Scott Gass draws on examples from the animal kingdom to demonstrate how families makes sacrifices for one another in order to survive. He concludes, “If other animals take extraordinary action for their young, will you as a member of the human family do any less?”

Henrik Schärfe, “Robo-love”: Aalborg University Professor Henrik Schärfe previews his incredibly lifelike robot twin, Geminoid-DK, before it premiers on the main stage at TED2012. During his TEDYou talk he tells us that the most important lesson from his research is “stay human where it’s really important.”