Alan Russell studies regenerative medicine, a breakthrough way of treating disease and injury by helping the body to rebuild itself. He shows how engineered tissue that “speaks the body’s language” has helped a man regrow his lost fingertip, how stem cells can rebuild damaged heart muscle, and how cell therapy can regenerate the skin of […]
Here’s one of those talks that can change your view of the world forever. Starting with the deceptively simple story of an ant, Dan Dennett unleashes a dazzling sequence of ideas, making a powerful case for the existence of “memes” — a term coined by Richard Dawkins for mental concepts that are literally alive and […]
After lunch on Wednesday, 2:15pm-4pm, … AMD CEO Héctor Ruiz explained his company’s 50×15 initiative, which was established to enable affordable, accessible Internet connectivity and computing capabilities for 50 percent of the world’s population by the year 2015 … Herman Chinery-Hesse, founder of the software firm SOFTtribe … Nik Nesbitt founded KenCall, a call center […]
This week marks the one-year anniversary of TEDTalks — a year ago this Wednesday, our first five talks went live on TED.com. Since that time, more than 5 million people have seen a TEDTalk, either via TED.com, on this blog, through our video partners such as Google Video and YouTube — or through re-posting on […]
Bill Stone, the maverick cave explorer and diver — who has invented robots and rebreathing equipment to let him plumb Earth’s deepest abysses — talks about his efforts to build a robot to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa. The plan is to send the droid to bore through miles of ice and swim through a liquid […]
In a follow-up to his now-legendary TED2006 presentation, Hans Rosling demonstrates how developing countries are pulling themselves out of poverty. He shows us the next generation of his Trendalyzer software — which analyzes and displays data in amazingly accessible ways, allowing people to see patterns previously hidden behind mountains of stats. (Just days after this […]
William Kamkwamba, the 19-year-old self-taught engineer who built a windmill power system for his family’s home in Malawi, was a star of TEDGlobal 2007. As reported by Ethan Zuckerman, several TEDsters have pledged to help him further his education. Now you can follow William’s journey on his blog. Read about the windmill he built, his […]
Stephen Lawler, from Microsoft, takes us on a tour through the company’s new Virtual Earth project, which is, basically, an attempt to turn the entire planet into an interface to the web. Collecting and synthesizing massive amounts of data — bird’s-eye views, street-level photos, 3D wireframes — the Virtual Earth team are building a world […]
Ethel is, perhaps, the first 21st-century realization of the classical string quartet. An all-star foursome, Ethel is Cornelius Dufallo (violin), Ralph Farris (viola), Dorothy Lawson (cello), and Mary Rowell (violin), a mixed bag of players from classical, rock and downtown new-music circles. On TED.com, they perform the third movement from Phil Kline’s four-part suite “The […]
TED Curator Chris Anderson writes: If there had been no other outcome of TEDGlobal than the story below, I think the whole thing would have been worthwhile. This hit my inbox today… It’s from Yene Assegid, the founder of a development organization in Sierra Leone called Integral Africa. She was part of the Fellows program […]
Watch here a new "taste of TED" video documentary shot at this year’s conference, in March. In 7 minutes it gives a great sense of the atmosphere at TED and of the content of the conference. It is also available elsewhere on this site, and you can download it here (158 Mb). Another documentary about […]
Strategic planner Thomas P.M. Barnett has advised US leaders on national security since the end of the Cold War. In this bracingly honest — and very funny — talk, Barnett outlines a solution for the foundering US military: Break it in two. One half makes war, and the other half builds the peace that follows. […]
TED’s Media Production Specialist, Michael Glass, is in Toronto this week premiering his film “Little Gold Men” at the Worldwide Short Film Festival — in a program called “Laughing at Americans.” Check out a clip >>
TED’s Content Producer, Kelly Stoetzel, helps choose the speakers for every TED conference. She shares her thoughts after TEDGlobal 2007 — on the conference buzz, the connections and the small moments between the sessions: I observed so many connections and conversations at the conference that felt like they were changing lives. Like William Kamkwamba, the […]
Architect David Rockwell loves to create drama and spectacle, in his designs for casino interiors, hotels, restaurants, movie and theater sets, and even a playground. Shortly after 9/11, he collaborated with other designers and architects to create a temporary viewing platform overlooking Ground Zero in New York. Here, in conversation with Kurt Andersen, Rockwell talks […]
TEDGlobal 2007 has been largely reported and disseminated via blog. Which is not surprising, when you consider the sheer number of African and world bloggers who attended — and how powerful their blogs have been in sharing ideas of the new Africa. For those following the conference from home, it’s clear that the blog coverage […]