TED2013, “The Young. The Wise. The Undiscovered,” begins in just 20 days and we at the TED Blog are gearing up to bring you live reporting on each of the 70 speakers who’ll be ascending the stage, not to mention assorted news from the scene in Long Beach, California. One thing we hope to see […]
In 2014, TED will celebrate our 30th anniversary. And to mark this spectacular event, we’re planning something very special. We are moving our annual West Coast conference from Long Beach, California, to Vancouver, Canada. From March 17 to March 21, 2014, TED will be held in this great city, which boasts a thriving spirit of […]
Santa Claus and UFOs may indeed have something in common. As Michael Shermer shared at TED2010, they are two things that engage the “belief engine” that is also known as our brains. In his talk, “The pattern behind self-deception,” Shermer debunks superstitions and urban legends and shares why we are prone to believe in them […]
Each week, TEDx chooses four of our favorite talks, highlighting just a few of the great speakers from the TEDx community and its diverse constellation of ideas worth spreading. Below, give this week’s talks a listen. Let’s find the strength to change our slums: Boniface Mwangi at TEDxKibera While working as a photographer for a Kenyan news […]
TED Conversations is a unique space where any member of this community can get feedback on an idea, ask a question that they just can’t get out of their mind, or start a respectful debate on an issue they hold near and dear to their heart. This week, dozens of new conversations were started — from “What […]
It is not nearly enough for students to simply churn out answers from memory. No, in our ever-changing time, they need to be able to think expansively and creatively. In order to solve the complex problems of tomorrow, the traditional academic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic must be replaced with creativity, curiosity, critical thinking […]
In this talk from TEDxJerusalem, TED Fellow Adital Ela shares her journey in sustainability. While traveling in India, she came across a chai vendor who sold his tea in small, clay cups that patrons could use and then simply toss on the ground when they were done. These cups didn’t create any waste, because it […]
It’s just a beautiful story: a 9-year-old creates a homemade arcade out of cardboard and invites the world to come play with him. Filmmaker Nirvan Mullick was thoroughly transfixed when he stumbled upon young entrepreneur Caine Monroy’s arcade, located in his father’s auto parts store, and made a short documentary about it. Mullick’s initial goal was […]
TED Fellow Lars Jan, the director of the multi-disciplinary art lab Early Morning Opera, is seeking everyday personal rituals from collaborators — perhaps, you? — for a work-in-progress called HOLOSCENES. This public-performance installation — inspired by humanity’s relationship with climate change and flooding — will be made up of three aquariums, each enclosing a performer […]
TED Talks are available in 94 languages, from Albanian to Vietnamese, thanks to the tireless work of our translators. So far, more than 8,500 volunteers have created the upwards of 33,500 translated talks. To celebrate this accomplishment, every week the TED Blog is bringing you a Q&A with one of our most prolific translators. Today, […]
Could the telephone be used as a healthcare device? Mathematician Max Little believed that it could. Because Parkinson’s disease causes unusual tremors in the voice, Little realized that a 30-second phone call could be all that’s needed to diagnose the disease, which devastates millions of people worldwide. As Little shared at TEDGlobal 2012, in trials, […]
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. Below, give this week’s talks a listen. Fighting Duchenne muscular dystrophy: Dr. Benjy Seckler at TEDxBerkshires Potential medicines, especially for rare genetic diseases, take years to […]
The Pentagon announced earlier this week that it was lifting the ban on women in combat positions in the U.S. military. And today Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and General Martin E. Dempsey shared with The New York Times why they made this historic decision. For both of them, it came down having met and talked to many […]
TED Conversations is a unique space where any member of this community can get feedback on an idea, ask a question that they just can’t get out of their mind, or start a respectful debate on an issue they hold near and dear to their heart. This week, dozens of new conversations were started — […]
Secrecy and propriety used to define our cultural and professional lives. We kept trade secrets, held closed-door meetings, had whispered conversations and kept the details of our comings-and-goings to ourselves. That’s no longer the case. We have entered a new era — one characterized by openness — in which our world and our relationships have […]
TEDxBeaconStreet brought you today’s talk from Steven Schwaitzberg, “A universal translator for surgeons,” as well as Colin Stoke’s “How movies teach manhood.” But the organizers behind the event know that the speakers on stage only scratch the surface of the stories to tell in the greater Boston area. “We place equal value on our speakers and audience,” […]