Lots of happenings in the TED community this week. Below, some highlights. Autism awareness at the UN. April 1 is World Autism Awareness Day, and to formally commemorate it, Steve Silberman will give the keynote address at the United Nations Headquarters. Looking ahead to 2030, the UN Department of Public Information and Department of Economic […]
These three fascinating videos made by TED and IBM show how technology is helping solve problems in three case studies across Africa, filmed on location in Nairobi, Kenya; Cape Town, South Africa; and Lagos, Nigeria. They showcase three innovative projects that use technology for everyday problem-solving in local conditions.
Why did Albert Einstein have such a unique scientific mind? Because he came from a disadvantaged background, says TED Prize winner Neil Turok. “When new cultures enter science, especially disadvantaged cultures, transformation can happen,” he said today in his opening remarks at the Next Einstein Forum Global Gathering 2016. “I believe that the entrance of […]
You’re standing on a small platform: Someone snaps you into a heavy vest, and pulls a clunky helmet over your eyes. Before you can adjust to the extra weight, suddenly the world has a strange echo, and all other noise falls away. Your surroundings are now a rumbling Tomb Raider-themed universe, and you are its hero. […]
When James Kennicott, now 86, was young, he loved ice-skating on the river near his home in Waterloo, Iowa. One day, the ice cracked under his feet and he plunged into the water below. He didn’t have hot water at home. So he broke into his school to take a hot shower. “I think that […]
Caitlyn, a quiet seventh grader, was bullied by the other kids in her class at Luther Burbank Middle School in Burbank, California. She wore the same cowboy boots every day. “The other kids were awful about it,” said English teacher Rebecca Mieliwocki, remembering this student who has stayed lodged in her memory for 10 years […]
“Innovation in education involves constant collaboration with colleagues — a total last-minute redo of a teacher’s lesson plan because there was something else out there that he or she just had to try, a change in the direction of a class because the students are driving the instruction.” “Innovation in education happens when educators ask, ‘How […]
You might know artist Liu Bolin by his outline. He paints himself to disappear into backgrounds, becoming a ghost-like presence in his images. (Watch his TED Talk, “The invisible man.”) It’s a trick of the eye designed to make a point. In his latest piece, “The Future,” he aims to raise awareness about the United Nations’ Global Goals. The Global […]
Neurologist and author Oliver Sacks died on Sunday, August 30, at age 82. He’d announced in February that he was in the final stages of terminal cancer, and wrote a beautiful essay in the New York Times about what that meant to him: Over the last few days, I have been able to see my life […]
Ghetto Life 101 changed my life. I started working on this radio documentary 25 years ago — I gave tape recorders to two kids growing up in the Ida B. Wells Homes in Chicago, one of the most notorious public housing projects in America, and asked them to document a week in their lives. LeAlan […]
Artist eL Seed fuses the beauty of Arabic letters with the modern art of graffiti — an art form he calls calligraffiti. He paints colorful, undulating messages of hope and peace on buildings all over the world — from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, to the bridges of Paris (the city where he was […]
The TED community has been doing some big things over the past few weeks. Below, some newsy highlights. Let’s interview our elders. This Thanksgiving, high school students across the United States will have an important assignment: Interview a grandparent or elder using the StoryCorps app. The Great Thanksgiving Listen — a partnership of StoryCorps, TED, […]
Lawrence Lessig may be running for President of the United States. But he isn’t looking to big donors to fund his exploratory campaign. Rather than do the usual candidate song and dance of courting wealthy donors and corporations, Lessig is using the Kickstarter method for his campaign. He’s collecting small donations from individuals through his website, […]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJeyWy7jFUk Jessica O. Matthews makes toys, like a soccer ball and jump rope, that generate electricity. Jane Chen invented a portable, low-cost incubator that keeps premature babies warm and saves lives. Erin Bagwell directed a documentary called Dream, Girl that celebrates the drive of female entrepreneurs. When TED asked filmmaker Gilly Barnes to craft video […]
Greg Gage is a reliable source of both shock and awe at TED. Onstage over the years, this TED Fellow has demonstrated his low-cost DIY teaching kits by amputating a cockroach leg to show how neurons fire, remote-controlling a cyborg cockroach to demonstrate how electrical stimulation guides behavior, and taking away an audience member’s free will to show how one person’s brain can control the arm movements of […]
Ever had the impulse to put everything in storage, sublet your place and travel across the country in an Airstream trailer? That’s what Emily Janssen did when she joined the StoryCorps Mobile Tour as a facilitator, someone who helps people record their own StoryCorps interview. She’d worked for StoryCorps before, at their headquarters in Brooklyn, […]