Or, asks retired colonel Chris Hadfield to the crowd at TED2014, “What’s the most dangerous? And, why did you do it?” For Hadfield, an astronaut with the Canadian Space Agency and a commander of the International Space Station for 3 months, it was to ride a rocket ship into orbit. Watch Chris Hadfield’s TED Talk >> […]
Today, Negroponte is back to open TED, to reflect on predictions he’s made in the past and to spin some new ones for the future. His point is that when someone tells you that you are “dead wrong,” that you just might be onto something. Negroponte takes us on a lightning-paced tour of his career, […]
It’s time for TED! And first on our *brand-new stage* in Vancouver is the iridescent Kevin Olusola from Pentatonix, who starts the show off in a typically mind-shifting way, playing cello and, well, beatboxing. In honor of the fact that this is, after all, the 30th year of the conference, he takes us on a […]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEGLql53wY4&w=586&h=330] The theme of TED2014 is “The Next Chapter.” And since it’s our 30th-anniversary conference, we begin with a look back at the chapters that came before. Enjoy this opener video, created by Mac Premo and Oliver Jeffers, which just kicked off Session 1: Liftoff! Follow the action of the session, and the rest of the conference, […]
This session is for those with a pioneering spirit: where two roads diverge in the woods … these visionaries decided to fly instead. As we fire up the engines of TED2014, our 30th-anniversary conference, expect the kind of forward-thinking ideas that turn one small step for a man into a giant leap for mankind. Watch […]
Session 2 of Fellows talks at TED2014 was just as unexpected as Session 1. Here, read a recap of each talk in the session. Somi, singer + cultural activist East African songstress Somi brings her smoky voice to the TED Fellows stage, with “Brown, RoundThings for Sale” from her album The Lagos Music Salon. Often […]
With the TED Fellows, expect the unexpected: 3D animated molecules, tethered quadcopter cameras, death row inmates turned lawyers, quantum chaos. It’s the fifth-anniversary edition of TED Fellows talks, live from Vancouver, and here’s what happened in Session 1. Usman Riaz, musician + artist The Fellows stage comes to life quietly with the melodic strains of […]
Today, TED begins writing “The Next Chapter.” Attendees are streaming into the Vancouver Convention Centre for our 30th anniversary conference, the final touches have been put on the exhibitions, and the speakers have gone through rehearsals. Here, some images of our set-up efforts. Stay tuned to the TED Blog for minute-by-minute coverage of what goes […]
I want to give you the back story behind today’s TED Talk and make the case that it’s one of the most significant we’ve ever posted. And I’m not just talking about its incredible animation. I’m talking about its core idea. Two years ago the psychologist Steven Pinker and the philosopher Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, who are […]
As TED Fellows arrive from all over the world to Ed Ou’s hometown of Vancouver for TED2014, Ou himself is far away in Ukraine, where he’s been since February, documenting the civil unrest and growing political tension as a freelance photographer represented by Getty. Today, he writes in to give us an inside view, sending […]
While we’ve been preparing for next week’s TED conference in Vancouver, BC, some TEDsters have been busy Dancing with the Stars, protesting the NSA and musing on the aftermath of speaking at TED. Here are some illustrious activities from around the TED world this week: Nilofer Merchant (watch her TED Talk) admits that she had […]
June 2013 was a shocking month for Dan Pallotta, in a good way. “I thought I was living in an alternate universe or something,” he says. “It was like hell freezing over.” Two things happened in June that Pallotta never expected to see. First, this gay father of triplets saw the United States Supreme Court […]
TED2014 begins in five short days, and we have added even more new speakers to look forward to. Below, a bit about each one: Cellist and beatboxer Kevin Olusola from Pentatonix (swoon!) will open Session 1: The Next Chapter. And as a bonus in Session 1, we’ll be honoring TED’s co-founder, Richard Saul Wurman. In […]
With just one week left to go until TED2014, our speakers are putting the final touches on their talks. But that’s hardly all they’ve been up to. This week, check out which speaker has a bold prediction about artificial intelligence, which one put out a call for a more creative condom design, which one wrote […]
TED2014 will bring together more than 70 speakers with fresh thinking on topics as diverse as leadership, genetics and the magic of fireflies. But this is our 30th anniversary conference, and it’s also time to look back at some of the incredible ideas surfaced in the past. At TED2014, we will hold five All-Stars sessions that bring 50+ […]
Last week on TED.com, origami-folding techniques transformed a 50-cent piece of paper into a fully functioning microscope, human DNA came tumbling out of a vending machine, and we got a look at how an industry is growing to help governments conduct surveillance on citizens. These fascinating talks have something neat in common: The speakers are […]