Wired UK brings news of a fascinating collaboration to explore data from NASA’s Kepler mission, which has brought back evidence of thousands of exoplanets, or planets outside our own solar system. Some exoplanets are huge, some tiny, near or distant, hot or cold — and some may even be Earth-like, offering clues to the origin […]
[ted id=1482] In June, TED favorite Marco Tempest told us about the “electric rise and fall of Nikola Tesla,” the late 1800s inventor who held more than 700 patents, including for concepts still used today like alternating current, radio, remote control and robotics. However, after building a wireless telegraphy center in upstate New York that […]
[ted id=1549] Designer Timothy Prestero loves a flashy concept car. But he would much rather create objects that will actually be of use to real people. In an illuminating talk given at TEDxBoston, Timothy describes how he became interested in the problem of neonatal mortality upon hearing that 4 million babies die within 28 days […]
Enjoy these fascinating reads from across the Internet: TED-Ed’s own Rose Eveleth looks at the science of building sandcastles, and directs our attention to a robot that can build one far more long-lasting than humans can. [Smart Planet] . Is the suffix “-ome” — as in genome, phenome and the secretome — overused? In this […]
Dr. Mahtab Uddin Shaikh, who taught human anatomy and physiology for 30 years at Onondaga Community College, died earlier this month surrounded by family. Many TEDsters got to know his story through his daughter Alanna Shaikh’s moving talk, “How I’m preparing to get Alzheimer’s” — which shared his wonderful life and unquenchable heart in the face […]
Jon Ronson is the author of The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry, an exploration of what defines a psychopath. At TED2012, he told a part of that story on stage — how he met a man named Tony who was held for years in a psychiatric prison because he faked mental illness […]
[ted id=1545] . Every part of the world is susceptible to natural disaster, but somehow, the quiet western part of Massachusetts steered clear over the years. In fact, in 2005, Slate.com declared inland Massachusetts one of the top three places in the United States “to hide from Mother Nature.” So imagine the surprise when a […]
The wonderful Cindy Gallop — whose TEDTalk “Make Love Not Porn” offers a frank look at our online-porn-obsessed culture and what we can do about it — today launches MakeLoveNotPorn.tv. What’s the new site for? Gallop writes: “… to make #realworldsex socially acceptable and socially shareable; to build a platform and tools for sexual social […]
Musician Gotye posted this video over the weekend, titled “Somebodies: A YouTube Orchestra.” It’s a remix of his song “Somebody That I Used To Know” crafted by bringing together the many individuals who’ve posted themselves playing the song. [YouTube] Perhaps Gotye took a note from Erik Whitacre, who gave the amazing TEDTalk “A virtual choir […]
Far too many of us still have flashbacks to piano lessons, when an uber-serious teacher would rap our knuckles after every wrong note. If only we had taken bass lessons from Victor Wooten of the band Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. In the video above — the first ever live-action TED-Ed lesson — five-time Grammy […]
[ted id=1547] . Political theorist Ivan Krastev believes that we are witnessing a “crisis of democracy.” There appears to be little dissent in Europe or the United States about whether democracy is the best form of government, Krastev says in a foreboding talk given at TEDGlobal 2012. “Democracy is the only game in town,” says […]
A friend recently told me this story: The first time he took his daughter, age 4, on the New York City subway at 9 o’clock in the morning, she anxiously tugged on his sleeve and motioned for him to bend down. She whispered: “Are these people all mad at each other?” New York strap-hangers know […]
It’s not your imagination, says James Hansen’s latest paper — his analysis suggests heat waves are more common than they used to be. [The Economist] Watch Hansen’s TEDTalk: “Why I Must Speak Up About Climate Change.” Janet Echelman has been named an Architectural Digest innovator for her giant billowing sculptures. [Architectural Digest] Watch her gorgeous […]
In today’s TEDTalk, director Kirby Ferguson outlines a bold vision of creativity — that it’s not about dreaming up a new song, a new piece of art or a new form of technology in a vacuum, but instead about remixing what has come before. In his fast-paced talk, Kirby reveals that many of our most […]
[ted id=1535] Art cannot be created or destroyed — only remixed. In a convincing talk from TEDGlobal 2012, director Kirby Ferguson explores the challenges of originality and freshness in a world where creativity takes root in what has come before. Without previous inventions we would not have the iPhone, the Model T Ford, Star Wars, […]
Enjoy these fascinating reads from across the internet: What can the healthcare system learn from chain restaurants like the Cheesecake Factory, Pizza Hut and Red Lobster? Atul Gawande explores. [New Yorker] Watch Atul’s brilliant talk from TED2012, “How do we heal medicine?” . In 2009, American students ranked 23rd in the world in science and […]