Buddhist roshi Joan Halifax works with people at the last stage of life (in hospice and on death row). She shares what she’s learned about compassion in the face of death and dying, and a deep insight into the nature of empathy. (Recorded at TEDWomen, December 2010, in Washington, DC. Duration: 13:19.) [ted id=1216] Watch […]
MIT researcher Skylar Tibbits works on self-assembly — the idea that instead of building something (a chair, a skyscraper), we can create materials that build themselves, much the way a strand of DNA zips itself together. It’s a big concept at early stages; TED Fellow Tibbits shows us three in-the-lab projects that hint at what […]
In 2003, the Palestinian village of Budrus mounted a 10-month-long nonviolent protest to stop a barrier being built across their olive groves. Did you hear about it? Didn’t think so. Brazilian filmmaker Julia Bacha asks why we only pay attention to violence in the Israel-Palestine conflict — and not to the nonviolent leaders who may […]
Sharing the results of a massive, worldwide study, Svante Pääbo shows the DNA proof that early humans mated with Neanderthals after we moved out of Africa. (Yes, many of us have Neanderthal DNA.) He also shows how a tiny bone from a baby finger was enough to identify a whole new humanoid species. (Recorded at […]
In this short talk, psychologist Dan Ariely tells two personal stories that explore scientific conflict of interest: How the pursuit of knowledge and insight can be affected, consciously or not, by shortsighted personal goals. When we’re thinking about the big questions, he reminds us, let’s be aware of our all-too-human brains.. (Recorded at TED University […]
(TED is on its annual two-week vacation. During the break, we’re posting playlists from the TEDTalks archive. We’ll be back with new talks on August 29th.) Today’s playlist are some of our favorite TEDTalks to come out from TEDActive in sunny Palm Springs, California. Sebastian Wernicke shares a hilarious statistical analysis of TEDTalks to come […]
Hello there! Get the updated TED Talks download instructions. This post is for historical interest only :) If you’re on a low-bandwidth or spotty internet connection, sometimes it’s easier to download a TEDTalk than to watch online through our streaming video player. This week we’ve rolled out two new ways to find and download our […]
Over the weekend, we asked the TED community on Facebook this question: “If you wanted to show a TEDTalk to open the school year, which one would you choose?” It’s inspired by a question tweeted from the #jed21 conference. On Facebook, almost 1,000 responses flowed in. The job of tallying the results — given in […]
A personal story, a collective triumph: Dyan deNapoli tells the story of the world’s largest volunteer animal rescue, which saved more than 40,000 penguins after an oil spill off the coast of South Africa. How does a job this big get done? Penguin by penguin by penguin … (Recorded at TEDxBoston, June 2011, in Boston, […]
How can cities help save the future? Alex Steffen shows some cool neighborhood-based green projects that expand our access to things we want and need — while reducing the time we spend in cars. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2011, July 2011, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Duration: 10:13.) [ted id=1207] Watch Alex Steffen’s talk on TED.com, where you […]
Psychologist Philip Zimbardo asks, “Why are boys struggling?” He shares some stats (lower graduation rates, higher rates of unemployment) and suggests a few reasons — and challenges the TED community to think about solutions. (Recorded at TED2011, February 2011, in Long Beach, California. Duration: 4:47.) [ted id=1206] Watch Phil Zimbardo’s talk on TED.com, where you […]
Should we keep the outdoors out of hospitals? Ecologist and TED Fellow Jessica Green has found that mechanical ventilation does get rid of many types of microbes, but the wrong kinds: the ones left in the hospital are much more likely to be pathogens. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2011, July 2011, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Duration: 5:25.) [ted […]
Biologist Mark Pagel shares an intriguing theory about why humans evolved our complex system of language. He suggests that language is a piece of “social technology” that allowed early human tribes to access a powerful new tool: cooperation. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2011, July 2011, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Duration: 20:11.) [ted id=1203] Watch Mark Pagel’s talk […]
Hundreds of talks from independently organized TEDx events around the world are published on the TEDxTalks website daily. Each Tuesday and Thursday, we’ll choose four of our favorites, highlighting just a few of the enlightening talks from TEDx community, and its diverse constellation of ideas worth spreading. Browse all TEDxTalks here » By analyzing the […]
Great news: TED Books are now available on Apple’s iBookstore. It’s an exciting time for publishing, and we’re glad to work with Apple to make TED Books available to as many readers as possible. TED Books, which launched earlier this year, are an imprint of short nonfiction works designed for digital distribution. Shorter than traditional […]
What if every light bulb in the world could also transmit data? At TEDGlobal, Harald Haas demonstrates, for the first time, a device that could do exactly that. By flickering the light from a single LED, a change too quick to for the human eye to detect, he can transmit far more data than a […]