Here is Jack Oswald’s story of Al Gore’s impact: Prior to seeing Al Gore’s Climate Crisis presentation, I had always thought that he was a good person. He had always appeared bright, capable and well-meaning. On the night of the presentation, Al Gore was “on fire.” His true personality really came through, and I was […]
This morning, Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007, “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.” Gore will be sharing his prize […]
Carolyn Porco‘s Saturn imaging team has found “tell-tale clues” to a centuries-old mystery surrounding Saturn’s moon Iapetus — why is it stark white on one side, coal black on the other? It’s a striking oddity in a sky full of gray rocks. As the CICLOPS site reports, the white side of this moon is covered […]
Updates from TED speakers: After a whirlwind of media speculation over the weekend following a story by The Guardian, biologist Craig Venter (watch his TED2005 speech) will announce today at the annual meeting of his institute in San Diego that his team has built a synthetic chromosome, using lab chemicals. “A giant leap forward in […]
On Guardian Unlimited, Charles Arthur offers a neat roundup of new ways to see all kinds of data with fresh eyes. On the list: Jonathan Harris‘ “We Feel Fine” project (watch his TEDTalk) and, of course, Hans Rosling‘s Gapminder tools (watch his TEDTalks from 2006 and 2007). The story is part of Guardian Unlimited’s Free […]
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (watch her TEDTalks from TED2007 and TEDGlobal07), the crusading economist and former Finance Minister of Nigeria, has been appointed a Managing Director of the World Bank. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala will oversee the World Bank’s work in Africa, South Asia, and Europe and Central Asia. “Her commitment to the developing world is unparalleled,” said Robert […]
Paul MacCready‘s first try for the Kremer Prize for human-powered flight, in 1976, was his Gossamer Condor, a Mylar-covered aircraft powered by a very, very tenacious bicyclist. Filmmaker Ben Shedd followed MacCready’s team as they designed and built this elegant plane. Shedd’s resulting documentary, The Flight of the Gossamer Condor, won an Academy Award in […]
Live-blog heroes Ethan Zuckerman and Bruno Giussani, veterans of TED and other conferences around the world, have worked together to share what they know in the six-page, illustrated guidebook “Tips for Conference Bloggers.” It’s full of ideas for how to prepare, manage your time and your gear, organize your fellow bloggers into a news-gathering team, […]
Al Gore (TED2006 speech) at last week’s Clinton Global Initiative: “The key to fighting global poverty is to have the wealthy nations and the developing nations join together to reduce global warming … What we need is a global Marshall plan to make the creation of jobs around the reduction of carbon the central principle […]
Last night at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center, Bono (watch his 2005 TEDTalk) and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (watch her TEDTalks) accepted the Liberty Medal, honoring Bono and DATA for their work in Africa. One of the local papers put together a fascinating section to go along with the event: “Philadelphia’s Team Africa,” profiling 10 locals in diverse […]
Last spring, singer-songwriter Stew (whose playful, provocative performance was a highlight of TED2006) rewrote the book on musicals with “Passing Strange,” a groundbreaking show that won rave reviews during its limited, sold-out run. Developed with the Public Theater as part of an ongoing effort to bring non-traditional voices into musical theater, Passing Strange was non-traditional, […]
This week, the UN and the World Bank launched the Stolen Asset Recovery initiative, or StAR — a plan to help poor countries recover funds stolen by corrupt leaders and stashed overseas. According to Reuters: World Bank estimates that cross-border flow of global proceeds from criminal activities, corruption and tax evasion is between $1 trillion […]
Wednesday night, Jill Sobule (watch her TEDTalk performance) and the modern string ensemble Ethel (watch their TEDTalk performance) paired up to play a charming set together in Central Park, a preview of the upcoming album from this partnership that began at TED2006. Backed by Ethel’s wall of sound, Jill’s sweet, funny, wise pop songs — […]
When she was awarded the 2006 TED Prize, filmmaker Jehane Noujaim expressed a wish: a global acceptance of diversity, mediated through the power of film. (Watch her speech.) The project is taking off, and its ambition level is spectacular. On May 10, 2008, Pangea Day, sites in New York City, Rio, London, Dharamsala, Cairo, Jerusalem, […]
A few days ago TED2005 speaker Craig Venter (watch his talk) announced that his lab has finished sequencing a single human’s genome — his own. At his old company, Celera, Venter worked on sequencing his genome and four other genomes all mixed together, creating an anonymous composite. He told Newsweek: What we got this time […]
2007 TED Prize winner EO Wilson wished to create the key tool that we need to inspire preservation of Earth’s biodiversity: the Encyclopedia of Life. On May 9th of this year, it was announced that a consortium of institutions were starting the work to make it happen. (Check out the video that Avenue A/Razorfish made […]