On Monday, the TEDBlog had a long chat with Hans Rosling, the extraordinary global health professor that makes data come alive. He had his third TEDTalk posted yesterday and again wowed us all, explaining complex information with animated graphs — and humor. In this interview, he delves into his theories on concurrency and AIDS transmission, […]
If you were a James Bond villain, how would you take over the world? — Andrew Noseworthy I’d release a pheremone that increases the fear that people have about doing great things. It would only increase it by 3%, but that would be enough to wipe out most competition. I’m convinced someone is already doing […]
Today, TEDTalks star Seth Godin will answer your questions — on absolutely anything! Post your questions in the comments here on the TED Blog, or email them to contact@ted.com. We’ll select our five favorites from the bunch and post Seth’s responses on the TED Blog. A marketing guru with eclectic interests and insights, Seth is […]
Ushahidi — a crisis-tracking tool with roots in TEDGlobal 2007 — has been awarded a $200,000 grant for development from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The Ushahidi mapping tool was developed by Erik Hersman, Ory Okolloh and Juliana Rotich, who’d met as TED Fellows at the 2007 TEDGlobal conference in Arusha, Tanzania, […]
This week’s comment round-up is a tribute to TED.com’s spiffy new commenting system, that lets you rate others’ statements up or down and have threaded conversations! Rather than using our own editorial tastes to select comments, today we’ve let you, the community, pick your top 5. Here are the highest rated comments on each talk […]
I’m a huge fan of sculptor & painter Tom Shannon, a gentle genius who turns science into art and art into science. We just posted today his 2003 TED talk showing his gorgeous science-inspired sculptures and his vision for the Air Genie video airship. In the last few months he has returned to a form of […]
Three months ago, the visionary Venezuelan musician Dr. José Antonio Abreu made his TED Prize wish — to create and document a special training program for at least 50 gifted young musicians, passionate for their art and for social justice, and dedicated to developing El Sistema in the US and in other countries. Today we […]
This was an especially lively week on the TED commenting front, as our community tackled debates on swine flu, race and politics, and globalization. These amazing discussions can get a little heated — so we appreciate that there always seems to be a voice of reason that emerges from the group to soothe frazzled nerves […]
TED took 20 minutes with Laurie Garrett this afternoon to follow up on her TED Talk from 2007, posted today, about pandemic flu. Garrett is the author of The Coming Plague, and a fellow on the Council for Foreign Relations who studied global health and emerging diseases. (As you can imagine, she is very busy […]
In his TEDTalk, blogger and statistics whiz Nate Silver explained how race may have affected the 2008 election. In this interview with the TEDBlog he further explores the relationships between urban spaces, race and President Obama. Here’s an excerpt: I see Obama as being our first urban president in a long time. His racial heritage […]
We love the free, open-source Miro player. If you do too, consider supporting the player by adopting a line of Miro code. Visit the Miro Adoption Center to make a small donation and support the team’s constant efforts to improve this player. TED.com was a premier partner for Miro when it launched in January 2008. […]
Alex Tabarrok is co-author of hit economics blog Marginal Revolution. At TED2009, he talked about how a lesson from 1929 teaches us that ideas trump economic crises. The TED Blog interviewed Tabarrok over the phone to find out what else makes him optimistic about the future of economic development: What do you say to the […]
If we had to choose a theme for this week’s comments, it would be Interaction Now. Usually, the highlights are reserved for your one-off quips, but from the themes of the talks, to speakers commenting on their own TEDTalks, to lightning-fast replies on threads, it was all about talking it out. On Margaret Wertheim’s TEDTalk: […]
We’re on to our second week of picking our favorite comments from the pile, and it already seems to be getting harder. Your voices are many, and your quips are witty. Here are the long deliberated choices: On Shai Agassi’s TEDTalk: A bold plan for mass adoption of electric cars: Brilliant. Persuasive. Visionary. I’m not […]
A week ago today, the John R. Wooden Award was given to the best college basketball players of the year. Back in 2001, Coach Wooden (the namesake of the award and former UCLA basketball coach) gave a touching TEDTalk which proved why he is so revered and respected in the basketball and academic communities. The […]
Dr. JoAnn Kuchera-Morin works on the AlloSphere, one of the largest scientific and artistic instruments in the world. Based at UC Santa Barbara, the AlloSphere maps complex data in time and space. Dr. Kuchera-Morin, a composer, demoed the AlloSphere at TED2009 in February, showing five films of scientific data mapped visually and sonically into compelling […]