Where can you find a man riding a giant giraffe robot, a fire-spewing electric cart equipped with sheep’s wool seats, a plug-in Prius that gets 100 mpg, teams playing Segway Polo, model rocket launches, fashion shows with inflatable dresses, and parents and children enjoying every minute of it? Why, at Make: magazine‘s first ever Maker […]
At TED, we’ve had the great privilege to watch Herbie Hancock improvise: Both solo and with others, like pianist Makoto Ozone. Now a new documentary exposes the jazz legend’s creative process: tracing the dozen or so collaborations behind his latest album, with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews. Anyone with an interest in creativity or collaboration will […]
After the screening TerraPass CEO Tom Arnold (not to be confused with Roseanne Barr’s former husband) hosted a reception down the street at Trellis restaurant. TerraPass is a new startup that lets you buy carbon offsets for your car. TerraPass lets you calculate the amount of carbon your car emits and then you pay TerraPass […]
TEDsters spotted at the An Inconvenient Truth Screening: (from left to right Truth Producer Lawrence Bender, V.C. Vinod Kholsa, now investing in alternative energy, and the lovely Gwen Campbell; TED Curator Chris Anderson; TEDPrize 2006 winner Cameron Sinclair; former American India Foundation exec Lakshmi Pratury, who is starting a new conference about the best of […]
We’ve just sent out the new 30-year-anniversary edition to the TED bookclub (made up of those people signed up for TED2007). Here’s the reason I gave for its selection. Now why would we send out a 30-year-old book? Well, first of all, we suspect that despite its fame and influence, only a minority of TEDsters […]
A newly published research study funded the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has identified new genes that may play a role in the overconsumption of alcohol. The report appears in today’s Procedings of the National Academy of Sciences. According to to the NIAAA, grant recipient Dr. Susan E. Bergeson, Ph.D., of the […]
NASA announced that the Hubble Space Telescope has successfully measured the “10th Planet” and found it to be 1,490 miles, only slightly larger than its neighbor Pluto at 1,422 miles wide. Planetary Scientist at CalTech Mike Brown led the team that recently discovered the newly nicknamed “Xena.” The measurements were snapped in visible light photos […]
You’ve seen Al Gore‘s talk at TED2006, or you’ve bought your tickets on Fandango to see An Inconvenient Truth. He’s got you good and scared: we’re in deep trouble unless we DO something. So what exactly do we do? As part of their first ever Green Issue, Vanity Fair’s Daisy Prince and Emily Butselaar have […]
At TED2004, Harvard Psychology Professor Dan Gilbert demonstrated how poor we humans are at predicting what will make us happy. Then, at TEDGlobal, he explained why we’re so likely to miscalculate odds, act against our best interest, and generally fool ourselves. Forever drawn to the failings of our own brains, we’ll read (and recommend) just […]
From co-founders Heather Stephenson and Jennifer Boulden comes a daily weekday email newsletter chock-a-block with useful tips for green living. Similar to Daily Candy but now with chorophyll for fresh breath, Ideal Bite employs a team of editors to scour the planet for tips on green products, non-toxic cleaners, eco-travel, sustainable foods, and even natural […]
Our own Thomas Dolby kicks off his Sole Inhabitant tour this week, with shows in Anaheim and L.A. He’ll hit just about every major TED city in the U.S., so there’s ample opportunity to watch him rock the house with an utterly intriguing blend of retro and high-tech gadgetry. The repertoire will range from his […]
Lots of buzz building around the upcoming Al Gore movie "An Inconvenient Truth". The documentary-as-disaster-movie trailer has just been posted online. It’s here on itunes. And here on YouTube. Watch it if you dare. (Select groups of TEDsters in New York and San Francisco Bay Area are attending special prescreenings of the full movie next […]
At TED2006, Alan Russell posed a provocative question; “If newts can regenerate a lost limb, why can’t we?” For Russell, director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburg, it isn’t an idle question, but one of many potential pathways to healing the human body. If you can understand the biological […]
At TED2006, Robert Wright proposed that humans are still evolving, culturally and morally — progress that picks up where genetic evolution left off. But some scientists now say we’re still evolving genetically as well. Though conventional wisdom says humans have remained essentially unchanged for 100,000 years or more, new evidence points to a faster-paced evolution […]
It seems we aren’t the only ones impressed by Al Gore and the clarion call he’s sounding on global warming. Gore features prominently in Vanity Fair‘s first-ever Green Issue, on newsstands this week. And his essay, “The Moment of Truth” hits the issue hard: “Today, there are dire warnings that the worst catastrophe in the […]
After designing “the iPod of toilets” this fall, Ross Lovegrove (TED05) introduced in Milan this week a solar-powered concept car, shimmering with Swarovski crystals, but lacking an engine … or wheels. “It’s a provocation,” he told the Washington Post. And to the Western Mail: “It is only the future if it can’t be made.”