No one really wants to talk about the weather. Inspired by TED Talks, here are some questions to start a better conversation in any situation. “So, what’s your favorite word?” [ted id=161] Who to ask: The chatty person who’s sharing an outlet with you at the coffee shop The basic idea: Dictionaries don’t compile themselves — […]
Aomawa Shields is a woman of “contradictions.” An astronomer and astrobiologist, she searches for exoplanets where life might exist by using computer models to calculate the kind of atmosphere they’d need to support it. And she’s also a classically trained actor, who — through her organization Rising Stargirls — teaches astronomy to middle school girls of color using theater, writing and visual art to […]
“If you’re a teen, you’ve been called apathetic, narcissistic and social-media obsessed,” said Taylor Trudon, the youth editor at Huffington Post. Standing tall in a crisp white blazer, the 25-year-old shared how she went from keeping a high school diary — decorated with stickers and magazine clippings of John Mayer and Uggs — to becoming […]
Growth is usually a good thing. For a person, it means more wisdom; for a business, it means more profit; for a country, it means increased prosperity. But growth has a darker side too: aging, a sense of impersonality, waste and pollution. At TED@BCG — the latest TED Institute event, held on June 30, 2015, […]
A fun way to find a talk that’s just right for you…
Dame Stephanie Shirley had just a few hours to go before giving her talk at TEDWomen 2013. There was just one problem: she could hardly speak. Shirley, a tech entrepreneur who founded a software company in the 1960s, had flown from London to San Francisco to speak at the conference. Her talk told the story […]
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This picture was worth all the words I had — it rendered me speechless. It’s an image of six Black women, smiling and hugging, taken by Ryan Lash at the TED2015 conference. There we were — LaToya, Somi, Aomawa, Camille, Danielle and myself — in all […]
The tables in bookstores can be overwhelming: Every book cover looks appealing, every blurb glows with praise. Sometimes, you just need a recommendation from a human, someone you trust. Below, 10 members of the TED community — with very different points of view — share the books they think you’ll enjoy this summer. Their selections […]
Formula E racing, the darknet, a potential fountain of youth, and beheadings. At TEDGlobal>London — a two-session event curated and hosted by Bruno Giussani on June 16, 2015, at the Royal Institution of Great Britain — the talks ranged from a wildly hopeful future to stern warnings about the present. Enjoy these recaps of the talks in […]
As you read this, imagine balloons and confetti fluttering to the ground around you. Because we just posted the 2,000th TED Talk. On June 16, 2015, Margaret Heffernan’s “Why it’s time to forget the pecking order at work” became the 2,000th TED Talk. It’s a talk we need now: a sharp reflection on our lives […]
Ah, wanderlust. Mild symptoms include obsessive airfare tracking and uncontrollable daydreaming about tropical beaches during conference calls. Severe cases can cause reasonable people to cash out their 401(k) to buy a camper van and hit the open road. These 9 TED Talks are guaranteed to ignite your need for travel. As a precautionary measure, we’ve included […]
There’s a lot of news to share from the TEDizens of the world in the past month. Just a few highlights: Monica Lewinsky inspires Caitlyn Jenner. As Caitlyn Jenner introduces herself to the world, and navigates the media frenzy surrounding her new life, she has Monica Lewinsky’s TED Talk in the back of her mind. […]
As Randy Bretz neared the end of his long career in TV and radio production, he knew the traditional retirement agenda wasn’t for him. “I don’t golf, and I don’t fish,” he said via Skype from his home in Lincoln, Nebraska. While he kept busy with church, volunteer work, doting on his 13 grandkids and […]
Sometimes it’s easier to download a TED Talk as an MP4 than to watch it online through our streaming video player. The TED.com website offers two different ways to find and download a crisp and watchable video file of your favorite talk. One method allows you to download a video with automatic subtitles in English […]
Like many kids, German-Moroccan paleontologist Nizar Ibrahim nursed a fascination for dinosaurs from a young age. The difference is, he grew up and actually found one. Ibrahim vividly remembers learning about Spinosaurus, a massive aquatic dinosaur whose only known bones were destroyed during World War II. As a kid, Ibrahim dreamed of finding new fossils of […]
TEDWomen 2015 was an explosion of ideas, energy and camaraderie — a visual feast. Dive into photos from the event in Monterey …