A Forbes article points us to an interesting bit of news for star game designer (and TED speaker) Will Wright: [Will Wright] is leaving EA to go hang out with robots. Wright will run a former side project called Stupid Fun Club. EA said it is making an equity investment in the venture and Wright, […]
Economist George Ayittey gave a blistering talk at TEDGlobal 2007, laying out his case that not only has Western aid not helped in most African countries — it’s actually hurting. We asked Ayittey for his thoughts on the new book Dead Aid, which has lately been burning up the talk shows and opinion columns with […]
Emily Levine’s TEDTalk this morning references Trickster Makes This World, Lewis Hyde‘s 1998 book about the trickster figure — who crosses continents and centuries to appear in almost all recorded mythologies. The book is also, it turns out, a cult favorite at the TED offices. TED’s media production specialist, Angela Cheng, a writer and filmmaker, […]
In 2002, bearing her microscope on a microbe that lives in the gut of fish, Bonnie Bassler isolated an elusive molecule called AI-2, which showed not only that almost all bacteria can communicate — but that they do so all the time. (Watch her 2009 TEDTalk!) The TED Blog interviewed Bassler over the phone to […]
Via Mashable and ReadWriteWeb: Anand Agarwala’s Bumptop, a viral demo from TED2007, has gone live (for Windows). From Mashable’s report: Two years ago, a bright engineer, Anand Agarawala, gave a presentation at the TED conference about a new technology he and a team were working on that showed how they believed the desktop should work. […]
Via an article in the Wall Street Journal: The machine, which GM says it aims to develop by 2012, would run on batteries and use wireless technology to avoid traffic backups and navigate cities. Watch Dean Kamen of Segway talk about inventing and giving >> Watch Larry Burns of GM talk about reinventing the car […]
On Friday, March 27, just as a surge of new deployments was being announced for Afghanistan, the TED Blog talked with military analyst P.W. Singer. Posted today, his TEDTalk discusses the use of robots in modern combat zones. In this interview, he applies his intensive knowledge of robotics and war to the situations the U.S. […]
In her inspiring 2009 TEDTalk, Aimee Mullins redefines what the body can be. Her prosthetic legs are a combination of form, function and aesthetic. She encourages designers to change the idea of “disability” and the definition of beauty by bringing their talents to both the science and the art of designing prosthetics. In the comments […]
TED Prize winner Jill Tarter tips us to this event going on right now: Around the World in 80 Telescopes, a live 24-hour telescopecast from astronomical observatories around the world. It’s part of the “100 Hours of Astronomy” celebration happening April 2-5. From the site: “Around the World in 80 Telescopes” is a unique live […]
Newspaper designer Jacek Utko suggests that it’s time for a fresh, top-to-bottom rethink of the newspaper. (At this point, why not try it?) In his work, he’s proved that good design can help readers reconnect with newspapers. A former architect, Utko took on the job of redesigning several newspapers in former Soviet Bloc nations, starting […]
From the LA Times’ “Culture Monster” blog, this item by Mark Swed: “Linda Ronstadt hails Gustavo Dudamel in testimony on Capitol Hill”: In a remarkable testimony by Linda Ronstadt to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment & Related Agencies Tuesday, the pop singer made an impassioned plea for government support of the arts. And […]
Using genetic sequencing, needle-in-a-haystack research, and dogged persistence (crucial to getting spoilage-susceptible samples through the jungle and to the lab), Nathan Wolfe has proven what was science-fiction conjecture only a few decades ago — not only do viruses jump from animals to humans, but they do so all the time. Along the way Wolfe has […]
Steve Jamison has co-authored five books with John Wooden, produced a documentary about him, and is consultant to his leadership program at UCLA. All this came about after one fateful meeting, for an innocuous interview. Coach Wooden has influenced the lives of many, and he discusses his inspirational philosophy on personal success in today’s heartwarming […]
Photographer James Nachtwey, whose TED Prize wish was to raise awareness of TB and the mutant strain XDRTB, will speak in Rio de Janeiro today to mark World TB Day. The Stop TB Partnership is twittering live from the meeting, and it’s being webcast live, with yesterday’s sessions available for viewing as well. See James […]
New Scientist is running a fascinating article on new brain research happening at INSERM that appears to show that consciousness arises from activity distributed across the brain — rather than any single locus or “seat.” Gaillard’s team flashed words in front of volunteers for just 29 milliseconds. The words were either threatening (kill, anger) or […]
It takes a certain courage to look at the design of nearly every ground vehicle that exists and say, “You know the real problem with these? They run on wheels.” A stunned silence descended over the TED office as this amazing demo video hopped from email to email, and we think you may react the […]