This week’s theme for comments all over the Internet is experience. There are personal accounts from those who’ve witnessed Olafur Eliasson’s work (presented in his talk on playing with space and light) and recollections of good times at TED@Palm Springs (now upgraded to TEDActive!) or testimonials from volunteers of our Open Translation Project. On Olafur […]
Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch. Above, watch President John F. Kennedy’s speech about the necessity of space exploration, given at Rice University in 1962 (and clocking in at a TED-friendly 18 minutes). He says: “There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards […]
Genomicist Craig Venter and his company Synthetic Genomics Incorporated (SGI) have entered into a $600m strategic alliance with Exxon Mobil to develop a next-generation biofuel from photosynthetic algae. Algae absorb carbon dioxide and sunlight in aqueous environments, producing an oil of similar molecular structure to contemporary petroleum products. Algal fuel can be refined, transported and […]
The recent collaboration of IDEO with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, IDE, Heifer International and ICRW has inspired a new application of Human-Centered Design (HCD) — a system used by multi-national corporations to develop design solutions at the intersection of desirability, feasibility and viability. IDEO’s new open-source toolkit is a methodical approach for NGOs […]
This week featured strong talks and we’ve found some equally strong comments to go with them. From touching reactions on Sophal Ear’s escape with his family from the Khmer Rouge to amazement at Kary Mullis’ strikingly deft cure for killer infections and appreciation for Eames Demetrios’ sentimental portrait of his legendary designer grandparents. Here they […]
In yesterday’s TEDTalk, development economist and political scientist Sophal Ear shared the deeply personal story of his family’s escape from the Khmer Rouge. In today’s interview with the TED Blog, he continues that story and gives us details on his current path in international aid policy. Your mother cleverly pretended to be Vietnamese to escape […]
T.G.I.M.B.O.E.J. stands for The Great Internet Migratory Box Of Electronic Junk, and it’s celebrating its first anniversary this week. Do think of it as partly a social experiment, but more so a free-range parcel service-based electronics grab bag that circulates among hardware hackers who are eager to discover useful, cool, old, or even rare treasures […]
Via Boing Boing via The First Post, we learn that Richard Dawkins‘ foundation is funding a summer camp to teach children reason, skepticism and science. From the article: Alongside the more traditional activities of tug-of-war, swimming and canoeing, children at the five-day camp in Somerset will learn about rational scepticism, moral philosophy, ethics and evolution. […]
TED2009 speaker Nandan Nilekani has stepped down from the company he co-founded, Infosys, to take a cabinet-level role in the Indian government. It’s a rare step in Indian politics — in fact, the Times of India calls Nilekani’s move “the biggest movement from private sector to government in India in recallable memory.” Nilekani will head […]
Via Discover magazine via Akiyoshi Kitaoka: Incredibly, the blue and the green spirals are the same color. From the article: The orange stripes go through the “green” spiral but not the “blue” one. So without us even knowing it, our brains compare that spiral to the orange stripes, forcing it to think the spiral is […]
Image source: Laptop.org (OLPC) An article in MIT’s Technology Review reports on a surprising new use for One Laptop Per Child’s user interface, Sugar. From the article: The open-source education software developed for the “$100 laptop” can now be loaded onto a $5 USB stick to run aging PCs and Macs with a new interface […]
Today, eminent psychologist and TEDTalks star Philip Zimbardo (see his talks on evil and the paradox of time) agreed to answer TED’s Facebook fans’ questions on Absolutely Anything — and he did! Read on: Does time orientation influence which children become bullies? — Kathy Hermanv Interesting question, but there’s no research on this relationship. Bullies […]
Psychologist Philip Zimbardo says happiness and success are rooted in a trait most of us disregard: the way we orient toward the past, present and future. He suggests we calibrate our outlook on time as a first step to improving our lives. (Recorded at TED University 2009, February 2009, in Long Beach, California. Duration: 6:34) […]
Via TEDPrize.org: 2006 TED Prize winner Cameron Sinclair recently wrote to update us on the amazing success of this year’s Open Architecture Challenge. The challenge was for teams of teachers, students, architects and designers to work together to design the classroom of the future for a school of their own choosing. Tens of thousands of […]
Surgeon and inventor Catherine Mohr tours the history of surgery (and its pre-painkiller, pre-antiseptic past), then demos some of the newest tools for surgery through tiny incisions, performed using nimble robot hands. Fascinating — but not for the squeamish. (Recorded at TED2009, February 2009, in Long Beach, California. Duration: 18:55) Watch Catherine Mohr’s talk from […]
Today, we posted Diane Benscoter’s revealing talk on being a Moonie and how cult thought can lead people to do the unthinkable. It’s a topic that’s not often talked about and that fascinates many, so, to bring you more from Diane the TEDBlog caught up with her for an interview. We talked about her time […]