Henry Markram is a cortex visionary. This means he is trying to build the equivalent of a human brain through software as the director of Blue Brain. While this occupied a significant portion of his talk, he also literally delved into the center of a brain (in an astonishing 3D model). The folks on Twitter […]
In her talk at TEDGlobal, cognitive neuroscientist Rebecca Saxe presented her breakthrough discovery of a particular section of the brain that becomes active when we contemplate the workings of other minds. Here’s what people had to say about this remarkable and “brainy” talk: Crap. Another #TED talk by someone who is half my age and […]
Session 5 started in a very pronounced way with neuroscientist and artist Beau Lotto‘s colorful talk which featured interactive optical illusions and software that can turn drawings into music. Here’s what people on Twitter took away from his talk: There is no inherent meaning in information, it’s what we do w/ info that matters (Beau […]
Here’s Session 3’s batch so far of unedited running notes from our crack team of Open Translation Project translators, taken as they watch the live webcast of TEDGlobal 2009! Click through to view the running notes for Session 3 in … Türkçe – Hungarian
Lewis Pugh, long-distance and cold-water swimmer, recounted his extraordinary feat of swimming across the North Pole in an effort to raise awareness for climate change. Melted ice in the Arctic afforded him the opportunity to swim 1 mile in the -1.7C water. TED Tweeters were awestruck by Pugh’s conviction and the footage of his swim […]
Designer Mathieu Lehanneur presented several of his imaginative creations, inspired by the interplay of nature and technology. Among his designs: a petaliferous antibiotic, an interactive lung for asthmatic children, a sound-neutralizing fiber-optic ball, and Andrea- an air filtration unit that harnesses the natural processes of living plant systems (to name a few). The audience was […]
In her talk today, biomimicrist Janine Benyus made the case that we can learn a lot from nature. In keeping with this idea, here’s what TEDsters on Twitter learned from her: Janine benyus: Nature is a selfcoordinating genius with no top down commander.. — lucadebiase “Imagine designing spring” biomimicry expert Janine Banyus. “Whenever you want […]
Session 4 of TEDGlobal started with biodiversity archivist Cary Fowler giving a talk about his project at Svalbard — a global seed bank focused on making sure food crops don’t become extinct. Here are the excited and concerned responses from Twitter: Fowler says no way to determine the “best” of species – we should save […]
Evgeny Moroz steps onstage and says: “As an Eastern European, I was brought in to play the pessimist this morning. Bear with me.” His short early-morning talk laid out some uncomfortable truths about the way repressive governments are using the Internet — challenging the assumption that the web is bringing more openness and democracy: @TEDGlobal […]
Parag Khanna, Director of the Global Governance Initiative and Senior Research Fellow in the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation, recently coauthored with Michael A. Cohen an article in Foreign Policy entitled, “Where the Real Fight Is”. Khanna and Cohen reassess the feasibility of US military and political goals in Afghanistan versus Pakistan […]
Here’s Session 2’s batch of unedited running notes from our crack team of Open Translation Project translators, taken as they watch the live webcast of TEDGlobal 2009! Click through to view the running notes for Session 2 in … Hungarian – Shqip – Ελληνικά – Türkçe – 中文 – Español – Deutsch Enjoy!
Mark Johnson delivered a poignant conclusion to the first day of TEDGlobal, as he screened two videos from Playing for Change, his project to record different artists around the world playing the same song, to be combined in one composite film. A palpable sense of hope and unity pervades the reaction on Twitter: Mark Johnson […]
Stuntman Steve Truglia plans to jump to earth from the edge of space. His talk at TEDGlobal 2009 included the facts that he’ll be falling at the speed of sound while clad in a customized spacesuit. Be sure to follow Steve on Twitter and check out what viewers of the online feed had to say […]
Aphorist James Geary took to the TED Global stage in vibrant fashion, reciting a large portion of his talk while juggling. In his talk, he laid down the laws all aphorisms must heed, and the Twitterverse responded delightedly to his musings. James Geary Mirrors will do better to reflect a little bit more before sending […]
Twitters were entranced and inspired by the story of how TEDGlobal 2009 speaker Willard Wigan (follow him on Twitter) came to create sculptures small enough to fit within the eye of a needle. His heartbreaking early life, which saw him rejected by other children his age and unable to fit in or succeed at school, […]
Josh Silver shared his ambition to supply the billion people worldwide in need of glasses with his innovative, low-cost adjustable lenses by 2020. On stage, Silver demonstrated the effectiveness of his glasses and also provided insight into the economic and educational repercussions on impoverished populations that result from the dearth of vision correction options. The […]