Filmmaker and animator David O’Reilly (who came up with the concept for iHologram) has noticed an interesting property in this animated GIF: He writes: While working in 3D last year, I discovered this optical illusion: A large grid seen rotating at a certain speed will appear to group itself into smaller grids, spinning independently. See […]
When author Amy Tan spoke at TED2008 this spring, she was putting the final touches on a brand-new project: the libretto for an opera based on her novel The Bonesetter’s Daughter. The opera, with music by Stewart Wallace, opened this weekend in San Francisco. You can hear excerpts from The Bonesetter’s Daughter on the New […]
Dr. Stephen Hawking has made a $100 bet that the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, which throws its first beam tomorrow, will not find the elusive particle knows as the Higgs boson. What makes the Higgs the most highly sought-after particle in physics? In his TEDTalk, Brian Cox describes the Higgs particle “in language a […]
If all goes according to plan this week, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva will circulate its first beam on Sept. 10 — a step that’s been compared to “switching on” the machine, but that is, as you’d expect, much more complicated than that. Once the first beam is established, the next steps, […]
As part of its new Education Issue, GOOD Magazine is holding an open call for new projects that answer the question: How can you help local public-school children? You can browse some project ideas on GOOD’s website, and submit your own great idea for helping local schools. Then take the next step with your project […]
We all know we should be replacing our energy-sucking incandescent light bulbs with CFLs — but, ugh. As part of its green design program, frog design has conceptualized this lovely light bulb around a high-output LED. The frogLight bulb fits in a standard socket and can be dimmed — an important ability for both energy-saving […]
On the eve of his inauguration as president of the Rhode Island School of Design, John Maeda gave a wide-ranging interview to Dominique Browning in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal. Among the Maeda-isms: “I want to reform technology. All the tools are the same; people make the same things with them. Everyone asks me, ‘Are you […]
Via Treehugger: The Members Project, from American Express, is a contest to support worthy projects from a $2.5 million fund. 2006 TED Prize winner Cameron Sinclair, of Architecture for Humanity, has submitted a project to help build sustainable livelihoods for artisans in Southeast Asia: a locally driven social venture that creates an alliance of textile […]
Inspired by James Nachtwey’s TED Prize wish, designer Bas Groenendaal shares this prototype camera with TED. The Scope camera has a fresh look and a singular purpose, he says: to be used as a therapeutic instrument for underprivileged children, e.g. children living in (former) warzones. Children can take photographs and self-portraits in order to rediscover […]
Astrobiology Magazine posts an intriguing report today: The American Psychological Association is looking seriously at the question of astronauts’ mental health. It’s an issue that has sometimes been swept under the rug, says the APA’s press release: Historically, astronauts have been reluctant to admit to mental or behavioral health problems for fear of being grounded. […]
While TED was on vacation last week, Amy Smith‘s second annual International Development Design Summit 2008 was raging at MIT. For four weeks at IDDS, some 50 students from more than 20 countries designed and built new tools that could improve quality of life in some of the world’s poorest communities. Among the projects: * […]
There’s a great talk from Clay Shirky in the latest issue of Edge — about all of our surplus, unused brain power, and what we might be able to do with it if we turn off our TVs: How big is that surplus? If you take Wikipedia as a kind of unit, all of Wikipedia, […]
Each year, untold numbers of bright young Africans — doctors and nurses, scientists and programmers — leave their home countries to live and work abroad. This continental “brain drain” has the predictable effect: Many experts believe the flight of health workers, scientists, and teachers hinder the continent’s development. “It will be impossible to achieve an […]
Remember Blaise Aguera y Arcas’ dazzling demo of Photosynth (one of the Top 10 TEDTalks of all time)? The software has been released this week by Microsoft Live Labs, and it’s as much fun to play with as it was to watch. If you run Windows, go play with Photosynth >> UPDATE: Or use Photosynth […]
MIT reports today on the work of professors Yet-Ming Chiang, Angela Belcher and Paula Hammond, who’ve developed a way to build tiny batteries about half the size of a human cell to power tomorrow’s equally tiny devices. The electrolyte of the battery is made of polymers stamped onto a rubbery film. On top of this, […]
We’re fans of the Miro player at TED — in fact, you can download our customized TED Miro player right here, with seven channels of TEDTalks built in, as well as access to thousands more channels of web video and audio. Why use Miro? Aside from the touchy-feely goodness of using a free, open-source player […]