Many people simply listen to music. Not David Byrne, the solo artist and former frontman of the Talking Heads. Even beyond making music, Byrne thinks deeply about how music functions on a perceptual level. At TED2010, Byrne spoke about how the nature of a space effects what kind of music is played there, from a […]
Martha Payne may only be 9-years-old, but she is already a world-renowned food blogger. In a preamble to his fascinating TEDTalk about what governments can learn from open-source programming, Clay Shirky told Payne’s inspirational story. In April of 2012, Scottish schoolgirl Payne started the blog NeverSeconds.blogspot.co.uk, which documents her school dinners (otherwise known as school […]
[ted id=1546] The open-source programming world has a lot to teach democracy, says Clay Shirky. In this fascinating talk from TEDGlobal 2012, Shirky harkens back to the early days of the printing press. At the time, a group of “natural philosophers” (who would later adopt the term “scientists”) called the Invisible College realized that the […]
Enjoy these fascinating reads from across the Internet: Last week, NYU law professor Beth Noveck asked us to “demand a more open-source government” in her talk from TEDGlobal 2012. Read this article on her Peer-to-Patent approach, which allows experts outside the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to weigh in on whether an application is something […]
[ted id=1573 width=560 height=315] Read Montague is interested in the human dopamine system — or, as he puts it in this illuminating talk from TEDGlobal 2012, that which makes us “chase sex, food and salt” and therefore survive. Specifically, Montague and his team at the Roanoke Brain Study are interested in how dopamine and valuation […]
Open source hardware advocate, maker, teacher and scholar Catarina Mota (watch her TED talk) has devoted a decade to considering why we need to get our hands back on technology — so we can learn how to shape it before it shapes us. How did you come to be involved in open-source hardware? The way […]
[ted id=1566] Today’s talk is about surviving a brutal attack, and the extraordinary skill of the surgeons who saved Ed Gavagan’s life. It’s a remarkable story, but there is much more to it. Ed originally told part of the story at The Moth, a wonderful group devoted to true stories, told live on stage. In […]
[ted id=1567 width=560 height=315] Bandi Mbubi has conflicting feelings about his cell phone. On the one hand, Mbubi — who fled his native country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as a student activist fearing for his safety — has seen firsthand the ability of cell phones to connect people in the formerly cut-off part […]
Yes, the classic TEDTalk involves one speaker and a deck of slides. But when two speakers take the TED stage together, the effect is layered and dynamic. From playful banter to moments of shared struggle, two-speaker talks are never short on personality. Here are eight talks where the whole is greater than the sum of […]
This image of a mysterious person emerging from the ocean looks like a shot from a James Bond movie. But as journalist Andrew Blum explains in today’s fascinating talk from TEDGlobal 2012, the photo actually reveals how the World Wide Web can stretch across continents—through a series of cables running for thousands of miles under […]
Steven Johnson’s new book, Future Perfect: The Case for Progress in a Networked Age, tackles subjects ranging from underground music video makers to New York’s 311 telephone service to the planning of the French railway system to Capt. “Sully” Sullenberger and the “miracle on the Hudson.” His point? That new solutions to old problems are […]
[ted id=1564] Architects design with their eyes rather than their ears — which means that spaces generally look great and sound terrible. At TEDGlobal 2012 University, sound consultant Julian Treasure warned that — even though we’re rarely conscious of sound — terrible acoustics can have very negative effects on our well-being. “We’re designing environments that […]
Every week at TED’s New York office, the media team gathers for a staff meeting. During the proceedings, one staffer is tasked with sharing five recent things on the internet that thoroughly intrigued, shocked or amused them. Because the selections are always so thrilling, we’ve decided to bring this feature to the readers of the […]
[ted id=1563 width=560 height=315] Teenagers can sometimes feel like a different species. According to neuroscientist Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, who gave this fascinating talk at TEDGlobal 2012, this isn’t a coincidence. While 15 years ago it was assumed that brain development was completed in childhood, scientists now know that the brain continues to develop through a person’s […]
Ever want to play with genes? Synthetic biologist Oliver Medvedik thinks anyone should be able to access a biology lab and tinker with the stuff of life. That’s why he co-founded Genspace, the world’s first fully equipped community biolab, where citizen scientists of all stripes meet to explore, experiment and learn about genetic engineering. What […]
[ted id=1527 width=560 height=315] What made Wayne McGregor want to become a choreographer? Onstage at TEDGlobal 2012, he revealed his two childhood inspirations—John Travolta’s moves in Saturday Night Fever and a forward-thinking dance teacher who encouraged him to invent his own dances. “I’m obsessed with technology of the body,” says McGregor, founder of the company […]