Derek Paravicini is many things: an incredible piano player, a blind man, an excited talker, a musical savant, and a 30-something with severe autism. In today’s TED Talk, we get a fascinating peek into how he understands music. Paravicini — who was playing major concert halls at the age of 10 — not only has […]Read more
The star attraction on the TEDx Blog this week: penguins. The site featured a post containing two moving TEDx Talks on the ooooh and ahhhh-worthy animals — one on an epic mass rescue (above) and a second (below) on a brief but inspiring encounter. In these two talks you can see the informative and inspiring […]
TED Fellow Paul Wicks is changing the way patients with chronic health conditions connect with one another, and how they participate in research. Trained as a neuropsychologist — and specializing in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson’s disease — Paul began using the internet in 2002 to bring together communities of patients with life-changing illnesses. […]
The Book. Few things are as universal, as ubiquitous and as transformative. On this Book Lovers Day, we’ve compiled talks that examine all the facets that make books great. Do you judge a book by its cover, like Chip Kidd, or get absorbed into a compelling narrative like Andrew Stanton? Were you taken to new […]
Around the world, cities are growing at an exceptionally fast clip. As the oft-quoted statistic goes, by 2030, 6 out of every 10 people on the planet will live in a city. So how do we make sure our urban areas are filled with beauty, complexity and possibility rather than simply with overcrowding? TED is […]
By Grace Rubenstein Eleanor Longden’s new TED Book, Learning from the Voices in My Head, charts her harrowing journey from terrified young woman trembling in a psychiatric ward to a stable, successful doctoral candidate who has learned to live peacefully with her inner voices, medication-free. She recounts how her mind shattered into pieces and how […]
Eleanor Longden’s riveting story — featured in today’s talk and more in depth in the new TED Book, Learning from the Voices in My Head — raises many provocative questions. Longden talks about her recovery after a diagnosis of schizophrenia, in the process calling into question the attitudes of traditional psychiatry, the role of drug manufacturers and […]
By Jon Ronson In 2010, I made a radio documentary about Eleanor Longden for BBC Radio 4. When I heard that TED was doing a talent search — looking to give the TED2013 stage to people who might not normally have access to such a place — I thought of Eleanor. I told the TED […]
During her freshman year of college, Eleanor Longden began hearing voices: a narrator describing her actions as she went about her day. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, Longden began what she describes as a “psychic civil war,” fighting to stop the voices as they became antagonistic. What helped her was something unexpected: making peace with them. By […]
Zimbabwean designer Saki Mafundikwa has a powerful vision for the future of African art. As the founder of the Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts (ZIWA), Mafundikwa is working to bring African art back to its roots. ZIWA, the first school of graphic design in Zimbabwe, and one of the first schools to emphasize the use […]
By Logan Smalley In a job market where many top jobs didn’t even exist a decade ago, how can teachers help prepare students for careers that haven’t been invented yet? While preparing students for careers is not the sole purpose of education, it’s clear that teachers and guidance counselors are working hard to help students […]
“The thing about the intensive care unit is that the lights never go off and the noise is constant,” says photographer Giles Duley. He should know. After he stepped on an IED while on assignment in Afghanistan in 2011, he spent 46 days in intensive care in a hospital in his native United Kingdom. Forty-six […]
In this 16-minute documentary, artist Phil Hansen stands in front of a giant blank canvas with a Sharpie in one hand and his cell phone in the other. Soon, using just these tools, a detailed image emerges — one of three birds maintaining in choppy water. When Hansen’s TED Talk, Embrace the Shake, was posted […]