Happy 30th birthday, compact disc. The CD was introduced on October 1, 1982 — but in early 1984 it was still slowly rolling out to consumer markets. In this surprising demo onstage at the very first TED, in February 1984, Mickey Schulhof of the Sony Corporation describes and then demonstrates the use of “compact disc […]
Every day, 450,000 people log on to TED.com. But where are they located? And what are they watching—our newest offerings or our classic talks? In the spirit of visual data artists like Hans Rosling and David McCandless, TED web engineer Alex Dean created a map of the United States which shows when and where TEDTalks […]
It’s a complaint we’ve all heard about the internet: all the cat videos and incessant celebrity gossip sites are making us, as a culture, stupider. However, digital community expert Howard Rheingold, doesn’t think that’s the case. In fact, he believes that both designing and using digital media can actually improve our intelligence. As Rheingold sees […]
An overwhelming majority of our experience is guided by forces that are invisible to the naked eye. While we can easily see other people, we cannot see their thoughts, nor their genetic structure. And while we can easily rest our eyes on matter, we cannot see gravity, atoms, energy, gases, electricity, or radio waves. Ditto […]
Thomas Dolby, TED’s longtime musical director, has retired from his post. Dolby recently returned to recording after a break of nearly two decades, and has been enjoying a personal musical renaissance with the release of his new album, A Map of the Floating City, and a worldwide concert tour. Over the past 12 years, Dolby […]
The world as we know it is changing rapidly. Political and economic boundaries are shifting, sometimes to the point of erasure. Power structures are being realigned and, in some cases, dismantled. Disciplines of thought that used to seem divergent now appear to overlap. Our most basic assumptions are being called into question. And thus, TEDGlobal […]
If you are over the age of 18, feel free to tune out now — this message is for curious minds who are currently in the 9th through 12th grades. Applications are now open for TEDYouth 2012, a day-long event held in New York City, where more than 20 scientists, designers, technologists, explorers, artists and […]
The Internet has delivered an explosion of learning opportunities for today’s students, creating an abundance of information, knowledge, and teachers as well as a starkly different landscape from the one in which our ideas about school were born. Traditional educators, classrooms, and brick-and-mortar schools are no longer necessary to access information. Instead, things like blogs […]
As Sunni Brown explained in her TEDTalk “Doodlers, unite!,” doodling isn’t about distracting yourself from something boring — it actually improves comprehension and boosts creative thinking. And so we applaud graphic designer Dan Moyer for creating this awesome drawing while watching the proceedings at TEDxPittsburgh. Watch the talks it references at the event website, and […]
“I date younger men,” Cindy Gallop boldly proclaimed at TED2009. “When I have sex with younger men, I encounter very directly and personally the real ramifications of the creeping ubiquity of hardcore pornography in our culture. … There is an entire generation growing up that believes that what you see in hardcore pornography is the […]
“I have a brain cancer.” Data artist and TED Fellow Salvatore Iaconesi posted these words this morning, along with a video of himself speaking. With his long ponytail reduced to a scruffy mohawk, he shares this story: Yesterday I went to get my digital medical records: I have to show them to many doctors. Sadly […]
Yet another TED speaker is set to play a part in the Paralympics, now happening in London. At the Closing Ceremony on Sunday, Charles Hazlewood will be conducting the British Paraorchestra – a 17-person ensemble composed entirely of disabled musicians. The orchestra has grown rapidly since its four-member debut at TEDxBrussels in November 2011, above. […]
How long do you want to live, and why? These are the questions that bestselling author and science writer David Ewing Duncan asks in the new TED ebook, When I’m 164: The New Science of Radical Life Extension, and What Happens If It Succeeds. Duncan examines the increasingly legitimate science of radical life extension — from genetics […]
Astronomer Jill Tarter wants us all to ask the question, “Are we alone?” As director of the SETI Institute (it stands for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), Tarter is dedicated to seeking the answer, as well as to imparting upon one and all the importance of the search. In 2009, Tarter was awarded the prestigious […]
As Barry Schwartz explained in his classic TED Talk “The paradox of choice,” the more options you have, the more confounding making a decision can feel. This is the logic behind our new Surprise Me feature, a serendipity engine that lets you decide what kind of talks you’d like to see and how long you […]
Some TED Talks are memorable for their big, overarching themes. Others we remember for the small details — a random anecdote, the speaker’s facial hair. The anthropologist who swallowed a sword? The talk with huge photos of people’s faces everywhere? The famous writer who runs into the house to write down an idea before it’s lost forever? Because of […]