Today, Barack Obama will be naming a new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations – and sources say that it will be Samantha Power, outspoken anti-genocide official and TED2008 speaker. Power is expected to replace Susan Rice, who sources say will be named national security advisor. Power is a fascinating choice for this very important […]Read more
Two best friends inadvertently turn their hometown in Zanzibar into a tourist attraction, in this short film directed by TED Fellow Kibwe Tavares. How did they do it? By taking a chance photograph of a gigantic fish — far bigger than a human being — leaping out of the nearby water. The film, called Jonah, […]
“For the past five years we’ve been running the largest behavioral science experiment in the world,” says Alex Laskey in today’s TED Talk, given at this year’s 2013 conference in Long Beach. “And, it’s working.” Laskey’s company Opower partners with utility companies to deliver personalized home energy reports, all based off the insight that people are […]
Only one thing is constant in the world — that things will continually change and evolve. Session 9 of TEDGlobal 2013, called “Forces of Change,” will explore how, in recent years, much of the change happening in the world has originated in Africa or Asia. This session, which will be guest curated by TED Fellows Erik […]
The average person takes about 150 million steps in a lifetime. What if we could turn all that movement into energy? Two innovators are working on it — including a TED@London speaker. While one has built a system to capture the energy of foot traffic, the other is harnessing the power of smooth dance moves. […]
This morning’s TED Talk from Andrew Solomon asks a deep question about parents and children. Inspired by his own upbringing, Solomon wondered how parents form bonds with extraordinary children — or, in his words, when the “vertical culture” passed from parent to child is different from the “horizontal culture” of the child’s own self-identity. As […]
Check this out: a rather cool visualization of a TED Talk, courtesy of the Brazilian culture and science magazine Superinteressante. Each month, the magazine’s editors will take one of TED’s talks and give it to their graphic wizards to interpret in any way they see fit, adding a visual design element to presentations that have […]
Thanks to your feedback and suggestions, we’ve made a few tweaks in our latest iOS app (Version 2.1.1) that will help you view videos more easily, share them more widely and just generally be in the know about the latest talks. +You can control your download setting and video quality We know you’re always on […]
Anyone who lives in a major city, where pollen-thick summer air seems incompatible with the dearth of trees, it can be easy to forget the fact that plants make the world go round. Here to remind you is a playlist of 10 TED Talks on the majesty and awesomeness of plants. Hear from not one […]
Underwater, there’s a world full of the bioluminescent and colorfully firework-like creatures. This is what David Gallo showed us in his classic talk from TED2007, “Underwater astonsihments.” The most interesting part: We have only explored about 3% of the world’s oceans, Gallo explains and, in this talk, he shares some views of that fascinating fraction […]
A heads-up, if you happen to be near Rotterdam, in the Netherlands — ornithologist Kees Moeliker (watch his TED Talk) and friends will be celebrating the annual Dead Duck Day on June 5, at 17:55, on the lawn outside the glass-enclosed wing of Rotterdam’s Natural History Museum. Attendance is free. At this year’s event, Moeliker will […]
A few fun links from this week’s Internet, so you don’t get bogged down with all that summer reading you’re about to do » [Video] A Numberphile video explains a recent breakthrough by a relatively unknown mathematician, on pairs of prime numbers that differ by two. [YouTube] A beautiful meditation on the reality of dreams […]
TEDx and TED Fellows joined forces to bring Morocco its first hackerspace — “Sahara Labs,” a place for people of all ages to play with DIY engineering. The brainchild of TEDxTarfaya organizer El Wali El Alaoui Mohamed El Mostapha. He decided to bring this enterprise to his city because of the lack of education opportunities […]