By Nicola Twilley Technology professor Khurram Siddiqi enjoys a complicated relationship with his hometown of Lahore, Pakistan. For one thing, he spent many years away from it, living and learning in countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United States. In 2009, he returned for good, hoping to reconnect with both his family and his roots, […]
In 2012, IDEO founder and longtime Stanford professor David Kelley took the TED stage in Long Beach and shared a deeply personal story. It was the tale of his own cancer diagnosis, of finding a lump in his neck and being told he had a 40% chance of survival. This was clearly a sobering moment, […]
Iwan Baan is not as interested in what architects build as he is in the beautiful ways that people appropriate the spaces once the planners are gone. In today’s talk, Baan — whose breathtaking image of lower Manhattan after Hurricane Sandy hangs on at least one of our walls — shows incredible images from communities thriving […]
A stark contrast on last night’s episode of 60 Minutes: veteran journalist Morley Safer, age 81, interviewing Jack Andraka, age 16, who has developed a promising new test for pancreatic cancer. In the segment, Andraka tells the story he told on the TED2013 stage, of how a family friend succumbing to this deadly disease triggered […]
American synthetic biologist Sheref Mansy is working on constructing artificial cells that mimic — and “talk” to — biological cells. In this fascinating conversation, Mansy weaves through the question of what does and does not constitute “life,” the possible practical applications for his work, and how conversations with artists have opened up concepts that feed […]
[ted id=1833] For the past week, Amy Webb has been inspiring people to calculate their own algorithm for love. Her laugh-out-loud TED Talk, about reverse engineering her online dating profile and, essentially, data-ing her way into her perfect relationship has gotten a lot of attention, including on The Frisky and Pop Sugar. As Webb’s talk […]
by Rebecca Smith Hurd Spanish architecture generally conjures images of grandeur, particularly when it comes to modernist and contemporary construction. Gaudí’s basilica. Calatrava’s bridges, airports and centers for the arts. Bofill’s state and corporate headquarters. Moneo’s museums. The list of splendiferous urban structures goes on and on. But not everything built on the Iberian Peninsula […]
by Rebecca Smith Hurd 29-year-old Iñaki Romero Larrea describes himself as an “urbanist before architect.” As one of the five members of design and architecture collective Paisaje Transversal, he is particularly interested in figuring out how to revitalize Spain’s cities without indulging in the time-consuming traditional bid process or incurring exorbitant construction costs. For the group, […]
Heyyy Congress. We noticed you’re having a wee bit of trouble working out this government shutdown snafu, so we thought, hey, since you’ve got extra time on your hands and we’re taking a lunch break, we should totally hang. Want to come watch talks with us? We picked some just for you! Nice talks about getting […]
In an interview on the Today Show this morning, Kevin Breel reveals why he thinks his TED Talk has gone viral: not because his story is unique, but because it is so common. Breel’s talk, given at TEDxKids@Ambleside, has been watched about 1.5 million times so far. In it, the 19-year-old reveals that, while he […]
TED Talks are available in 102 languages, from Albanian to Vietnamese, thanks to the tireless work of our volunteer translators. So far, more than 10,000 volunteers have created 47,000 talk translations — and today, the TED Blog brings you a Q&A with one of them. Here, meet French translator Hugo Wagner. 1. Where do you live? […]
“It doesn’t need to be a zero-sum game between moving traffic and creating public space,” says Janette Sadik-Khan in today’s TED Talk, filmed at TEDCity2.0 earlier this month. Sadik-Khan tells the story of how she and her team — quickly and cheaply, but not without controversy — changed New York from a city designed for […]
Their names may both be Michael. They may even both be professors at Harvard. But Michael Porter and Michael Sandel offer up radically different ideas on business and its potential for good in their TED Talks, both released today. While Porter suggests that businesses are in a great position to tackle social problems — because […]
When former accountant Sanga Moses ran into his sister on a far-from-home road carrying firewood on what was supposed to be a school day, his life changed. He knew that Uganda’s rapidly disappearing forests had big implications for the environment, but he hadn’t recognized the day-to-day effect it was having on the lives of his […]
In today’s talk, Jason Pontin asks a bold question: Why hasn’t technological innovation brought solutions to the world’s biggest problems — curing cancer, feeding everyone on the planet, creating truly clean energy, etc. In this talk, Pontin hopes aloud that technology will help us with some of these seemingly-intractable issues , and gives insight into […]
As you can likely tell from this profile of her life and work, Gabriella Gomez-Mont is one connected lady. Ask her for a list of some of the places she likes in her home of Mexico City, and receive a “who’s who” of people doing super-interesting things in cool and unexpected ways. We asked the […]