Completely paralyzed except for his eyes, graffiti artist Tony “TEMPT” Quan could no longer create his art, let alone communicate with his family. When entrepreneur Mick Ebeling met Quan, he was determined to help the artist accomplish both of these things. Thus, the EyeWriter was born — a pair of glasses with hardware that allows […]
Designs for rethinking the toilet, how to transcend tragedy and a look at “soft,” flexible robotics — these topics are all covered in featured TEDx Talks this week. Each week, TEDx chooses four of our favorite talks, highlighting just a few of the enlightening speakers from the TEDx community and its diverse constellation of ideas worth […]
The TED office is abuzz about two high-profile mentions this week. First, we were excited to see ourselves included in The New York Times crossword puzzle for the third time on Thursday. The clue for 12 down: “______ talks, offerers of ‘ideas worth spreading.’” We were also amused to see TEDx referenced in The New […]
Last night in the TED office, we held a salon all about spring cleaning — for your life. Themed “A Better You,” the event featured four speakers with ideas on how to make a better, happier, more productive self. First to speak was The Power of Habit author Charles Duhigg, a reporter for The New York Times who […]
A year ago today, the TED-Ed website launched. Since then, the site has published 175 original animated lessons, ranging from “How simple ideas lead to scientific discoveries” to “Insults by Shakespeare,” with visits from more than 2,750,000 people. Teachers have used the site to create roughly 2,000 lessons per month around YouTube videos. (Here’s how.) For […]
TED is coming to a TV screen near you. On Tuesday, May 7, our first-ever television special will air on PBS at 10pm. Called TED Talks Education, the special is a deep dive on ideas to make our education system stronger – with talks from teachers, learning experts, education researchers and more. The speaker roster […]
TED, THNKR, SoulPancake, The Switch and Henry Review have all been nominated for The Webby’s People’s Voice Award in the category Online Film & Video Variety. Last week, both Kid President and Candace issued rousing calls on YouTube, asking for their fans’ help in catching up to us in the vote — which closes April […]
Economists Robert Gordon and Erik Brynjolffson see very different things when they look at the stagnation of the U.S. economy in recent years. It’s almost as if they’re looking at an optical illusion image – one seeing a candlestick while the other sees two faces just inches apart. In today’s talks, they both outlined their […]
As part of a public exchange of letters (his, ours, his) regarding TED’s views on the line between good and bad science, Deepak Chopra has asked us to post a talk he gave at TED in 2002 (four years before TED began free online distribution of some of its talks). Here it is: We never […]
There’s something oddly satisfying about hearing something gross — something that automatically scrunches your face and makes you cover your eyes, though maybe opening two fingers so that you can sort-of, kind-of see. That’s why we created the new TED Playlist called GROSS! Included in this playlist: Marcel Dicke’s rousing case for why we should […]
In 2004, Frank Warren began a massive undertaking: he distributed 3,000 blank postcards and invited strangers to share their secrets with him. This project grew into PostSecret.com – which now holds more than half a million secrets. Warren found that this initiative reveals our common fears, hopes, loves and desires – which are otherwise invisible. […]
The paradox of finding peace in a war zone, and a way to make aid more effective — by decentralizing it and thus speeding it up. Each week, TEDx chooses four of our favorite talks, highlighting just a few of the enlightening speakers from the TEDx community and its diverse constellation of ideas worth spreading. […]
We all know what it feels like to stand in a place that overwhelms our eyes with splendor, to hear a piece of music that seems to pluck the strings of our heart, to behold a face whose shape is pleasing. Beauty: it’s a thing we all know and are drawn to. And yet what is […]
TED Conversations is a unique space where any member of this community can get feedback on an idea, pose an interesting question, or start a fascinating debate with fellow TEDizens from around the globe. This week, dozens of new conversations were started on a variety of topics — from the history of the Industrial Revolution to […]
Three fascinating speakers have been added to the lineup for TEDGlobal 2013, which kicks off in Edinburgh, Scotland, June 10 to 14. First, Anne-Marie Slaughter, who exploded the conversation about women’s work-life balance with her July/August 2012 The Atlantic article, “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All,” will join the conference to lend her expertise […]
In the past 30 years, major advances have been made when it comes to treating several serious diseases. Today, there are 85% fewer deaths from leukemia and 63% fewer fatalities from heart disease than there were then. Meanwhile, while AIDS was once considered a death sentence, people with the disease can now live to old […]