In this short, image-packed talk, Marisa Fick-Jordan talks about how a village of traditional South African wire weavers built a worldwide market for their dazzling work. (Recorded June 2007 in Arusha, Tanzania. Duration: 2:33.) Watch Marisa Fick-Jordan’s 2007 talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other […]
At the EG conference in December 2007, artist Jonathan Harris discusses his latest projects, which involve collecting stories: his own, strangers’, and stories collected from the Internet, including his amazing “We Feel Fine.”(Recorded December 2007 in Los Angeles, California. Duration: 20:29.) Watch Jonathan Harris’s 2007 talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate […]
Louise Leakey asks, “Who are we?” The question takes her to the Rift Valley in Eastern Africa, where she digs for the evolutionary origins of humankind — and suggests a stunning new vision of our competing ancestors. (Recorded February 2008 in Monterey, California. Duration: 15:35.) Watch Louise Leakey’s 2008 talk on TED.com, where you […]
Chris Abani tells stories of people: People standing up to soldiers. People being compassionate. People being human and reclaiming their humanity. It’s “ubuntu,” he says: the only way for me to be human is for you to reflect my humanity back at me. (Recorded February 2008 in Monterey, California. Duration: 16:14.) Watch Chris Abani’s […]
Positive psychologist Martin Seligman talks about psychology — both as a developing field of study, and as it works one-on-one with each patient and each practitioner. As it moves beyond a strict focus on curing mental disorders and dis-ease, what can modern psychology help us to become? (Recorded February 2004 in Monterey, California. Duration: 23:41.) […]
Four of the speakers that participated in the first TEDGLOBAL in Oxford (July 2005) have all published new books recently. Former Afghani minister and head of Kabul University Ashraf Ghani (watch his TEDtalk), together with Clare Lockhart, has penned “Fixing Failed States: A Framework For Rebuilding A Fractured World“. They discuss the “between forty and […]
First, magician Keith Barry shows us how our brains can fool our bodies — in a trick that works via podcast too. Then he involves the audience in some jaw-dropping (and even a bit dangerous) feats of brain magic. (Recorded February 2004 in Monterey, California. Duration: 19:49.) Watch Keith Barry’s 2004 performance on TED.com, […]
Speaking at the most recent EG conference, author, philosopher, prankster and journalist A.J. Jacobs talks about the year he spent living biblically — following the rules in the Bible as literally as possible. (Recorded December 2007 in Los Angeles, California. Duration: 17:40.) Watch A.J. Jacobs’s 2007 talk from the EG conference on TED.com, where […]
Reverend Billy Graham marvels at technology’s power to improve lives and change the world — but says the end of evil, suffering and death will come only after the world accepts Jesus. (Recorded February 1998 in Monterey, California. Duration: 26:20.) Watch Billy Graham’s 1998 talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, […]
Why do we crave love so much, even to the point that we would die for the lack of it? To learn more about our very real, very physical need for romantic love, Helen Fisher and her research team took MRIs of people in love — and people who had just been dumped. As Fisher […]
Physicist Freeman Dyson suggests that we start looking for life on the moons of Jupiter and out past Neptune, in the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud. He talks about what such life would be like — and how we might find it. (Recorded February 2003 in Monterey, California. Duration: 19:11.) Watch Freeman Dyson’s […]
Link fixed: The wonderful Nellie McKay sings “Mother of Pearl” (with the immortal first line “Feminists don’t have a sense of humor”) and “If I Had You” from her sparkling set at TED2008. (Recorded February 2008 in Monterey, California. Duration: 5:34.) Watch Nellie McKay’s 2008 performance on TED.com, where you can download it, rate […]
Nine days before TED2008, filmmaker David Hoffman lost almost everything he owned in a fire that destroyed his home, office, and 30 years of passionate collecting. He looks back at a life that’s been wiped clean in an instant — and looks forward. (Recorded February 2008 in Monterey, California. Duration: 4:06.) Watch David Hoffman’s […]
Computer-generated animation researcher Torsten Reil talks about using biology to make better animations for use in films and games. (Recorded March 2003 in Monterey, California. Duration: 18:20.) Watch Torsten Reil’s 2003 talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances. Get TED delivered: Subscribe […]
There’s a great blog over on our sister site, TEDPrize.org, with news of all the 2008 TED Prize winners and interesting updates. This year’s wishes are interactive and amazing, with lots of great things happening right now. Keep up via the feed. From the TEDPrize.org blog: + Karen Armstrong at The Chautauqua Institution — last […]
The TED.com team in the US is celebrating Independence Day. We won’t post a new talk today, but watch for five fresh talks next week. In the meantime, here’s an archive gem: Erin McKean on our freedom to coin new words.