This Monday, Sept. 20, TED and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation bring us TEDxChange: a chance to evaluate the UN Millennium Development Goals, the progress that has been made, and the long, yet optimistic road ahead. The Millennium Development Goals include: Eradicating poverty and hunger Achieving universal primary education Promoting gender equality and empowering […]
Caroline Phillips cranks out tunes on a seldom-heard folk instrument: the hurdy-gurdy, a.k.a. the wheel fiddle. A searching, Basque melody follows her fun lesson on its unique anatomy and 1,000-year history. (Recorded at TEDGlobal, July 2010 in Oxford, England. Duration: 5:41) [ted id=959] Watch Caroline Phillips’ talk on TED.com where you can download it, rate […]
After mapping humans’ intricate social networks, Nicholas Christakis and colleague James Fowler began investigating how this information could better our lives. Now, he reveals his hot-off-the-press findings: These networks can be used to detect epidemics earlier than ever, from the spread of innovative ideas to risky behaviors to viruses (like H1N1). (Recorded at TED@Cannes, June […]
In today’s world, balancing school, work, kids and more, most of us can only hope for the recommended eight hours of sleep. Examining the science behind our body’s internal clock, Jessa Gamble reveals the surprising and substantial program of rest we should be observing. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2010, July 2010 in Oxford, England. Duration: 4:01) […]
How come TED’s head guy Chris Anderson is giving his own TEDTalk? Well, it all started with an idea that wouldn’t go away — an insight into the true significance of web video, and what it might mean for the world’s future. Bruno Giussani, who runs our TEDGlobal conference, got excited enough about the idea […]
Rob Dunbar hunts for data on our climate from 12,000 years ago, finding clues inside ancient seabeds and corals and inside ice sheets. His work is vital in setting baselines for fixing our current climate — and in tracking the rise of deadly ocean acidification. (Recorded on Mission Blue Voyage, April 2010 in the Galapagos […]
Today’s playlist features modern-day explorers and adventurers: tech-savvy treasure hunters who search not for gold and rubies, but for enlightenment and answers for the future. To do some exploring yourself, check out David Gallo‘s new Expedition Titanic: an ongoing deep-sea mission to create a 3-D map of the Titanic and preserve its wonders forever. Robert […]
Cross-posted from the TEDx blog: On Monday, September 20, TED and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation co-host TEDxChange, a TEDx event that focuses on the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations 10 years ago. TEDxChange will look at how we’ve done in the past decade to meet the goals, and what needs […]
After 15 years in the British diplomatic corps, Carne Ross became a “freelance diplomat,” running a bold nonprofit that gives small, developing and yet-unrecognized nations a voice in international relations. At the BIF-5 conference, he calls for a new kind of diplomacy that gives voice to small countries, that works with changing boundaries and that […]
Alwar Balasubramaniam’s sculpture plays with time, shape, shadow, perspective: four tricky sensations that can reveal — or conceal — what’s really out there. At TEDIndia, the artist shows slides of his extraordinary installations. (Recorded at TEDIndia, July 2009 in Mysore, India. Duration: 16:51) [ted id=950] Watch A. Balasubramaniam’s talk on TED.com where you can download […]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arz1ULELg7w] Via the Gates Foundation’s Foundation Notes blog: On Monday, Sept. 20, TEDxChange will look at the eight Millennium Development Goals set by the UN back in 2000 — and assess how close we are to reaching them by 2015. Melinda Gates made the video above to invite the world to watch online or at […]
Education scientist Sugata Mitra tackles one of the greatest problems of education — the best teachers and schools don’t exist where they’re needed most. In a series of real-life experiments from New Delhi to South Africa to Italy, he gave kids self-supervised access to the web and saw results that could revolutionize how we think […]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRkoMFk9fyI] Chris Anderson, curator of TED, was born in Pakistan, and last week, he and the Acumen Fund’s Jacqueline Novogratz, his wife, spent several days in the flood zones there. They visited refugee camps and flooded villages, spoke to local aid workers and unusual volunteers, and collected many stories that simply aren’t being told by […]
As a 7.0 magnitude earthquake strikes New Zealand, and millions of people are being displaced by the monsoon flooding in Pakistan, we are reminded of Mother Nature’s powerful force and our lack of control over her moods. However, today’s playlist presents lifesavers: three speakers who have found ingenious solutions to the consequences of disaster. Some […]
Rachel Sussman shows photographs of the world’s oldest continuously living organisms — from 2,000-year-old brain coral off Tobago’s coast to an “underground forest” in South Africa that has lived since before the dawn of agriculture. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2010, July 2010 in Oxford, UK. Duration: 14:09) [ted id=948] Watch Rachel Sussman’s talk on TED.com where […]
After hitting on a brilliant new life plan, our first instinct is to tell someone, but Derek Sivers says it’s better to keep goals secret. He presents research stretching as far back as the 1920s to show why people who talk about their ambitions may be less likely to achieve them. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2010, […]