This week, during a computer security conference in Las Vegas, researchers Chris Valasek and Charlie Miller demonstrated how easily they could hack into the systems of moving cars using just a laptop computer. Illustrating that modern devices are worryingly vulnerable to hacking, Valasek and Miller showed their ability to jerk seatbelts, turn wheels and influence […]
What is possible with the human voice? Beardyman asks in today’s talk. He demonstrates with at least fifty manipulations of his voice – from a dog barking to the two-tone singing of a monk. “I was always trying to extend my repertoire of noises to be the very maximum it can be,” he says. On his quest to […]
Designer Max Schmidt’s Breathing Clock is a fascinating object. It doesn’t have hands — rather it inflates and deflates to show the progression of time. Schmidt tells PSFK that it’s an homage to the idea that time is relative. This invention reminds us of Scott Thrift, who spoke at last year’s TED@NYC about his seasonal […]
[ted id=1119] In his TED Talk, Dave Meslin wondered: What would happen if Nike advertised sneakers in the same way local governments announced important information — with long, bland, black-and-white newspaper ads filled with jargon? “Apathy as we think we know it doesn’t actually exist,” said Meslin, a local organizer in Toronto. “People do care, […]
Chrystia Freeland, TEDGlobal 2013 speaker and the author of the book Plutocrats (read more about her talk), has announced her plan to run for political office in Toronto. She tells the Globe and Mail, “In my writing, my reporting and my thinking, I have come to feel that there is a really great challenge that […]
It is the dawn of the era of 3D printing. From artificial prosthetics to very real human kidneys to filigree skull sculptures — the number and variety of applications for this technology are growing, layer by printed layer. Combine this with the decreasing cost of owning a printer, as well as the cheaper cost of manufacturing […]
Does listening to music generate colors in your mind? Do bright, lively songs sound yellow or orange while darker, more somber ones sound dark blue and grey? Well, for artist Neil Harbisson, this happens the other way around. Colorblind since birth, Harbisson has sported an electronic eye since 2004 that fits over the top of […]
This week TEDx celebrated the birthday of Rosalind Franklin, the pioneering scientist who helped our fundamental understanding of the structure of DNA strands. Sixty years after her famous Photo 51, Czech designer Vit Zemcik created a video to showcase his own understanding of the geometry of life. Zemcik explains his video, which showed at TEDxHradecKralove […]
“By inspiring ourselves, we inspire others.” These are the words of tightrope walker Philippe Petit in this week’s TED Radio Hour from NPR, “To the Edge.” hosted by Guy Raz. The episode overflows with speakers who have gone to the edge in some way: rowing across oceans; exploring caves as deep as Mount Everest is […]
Did you go outside and smile for the camera last Friday, like Carolyn Porco (watch her talk) asked you to, while the Cassini probe snapped a photo of Jupiter with Earth in the background? In this hyper-detailed post from Diary of Numbers, the author calculates the odds that one of your photons is in the […]
Reading fiction is an escape, something transportative that pulls you out of everyday life. But don’t we also read fiction to learn more about ourselves — to see our hopes, aspirations and fears reflected in the pages, to gain insight into the confusing mechanics and meaning of love, family and community? On Thursday night, we […]
For many, the summer means a different kind of work — gardening. Whether you have twenty acres of lush meadow, a rooftop oasis in the city or a few potted plants on a balcony, when it gets hot outside it’s time to get planting. In the TED-Ed lesson above, Mary Koga explains the science behind […]
“That is a part of you up there. That’s your water that helps to make the cloud, that becomes the rain, that feeds the plants, that feeds the animals.” These were the words Camlile Seaman’s grandfather said to her on a hot summer day when she was young. Inspired by her Shinnecock Indian heritage, and […]
This week, the world celebrated Nelson Mandela’s 95th birthday. For the participants of TEDxSoweto — which took place in April in Johannesburg, South Africa — it was time to publish the results of a campaign started at the event. During the event, a group of volunteers — including many designers — wondered how they could […]
The TED2014 theater will be something audacious: a theater designed specifically for talks. TED stages in the past have had thrusts and three-quarter rounds, but have largely been determined by what existed in the venue. For TED2014, however, as we celebrate our 30th anniversary, we are building a temporary, pop-up theater designed just for us […]
[ted id=1792] Today’s incredible talk contains insane beats, bizarre sound effects, voiceovers in the style of multiple eras and instruments like the didgeridoo, sitar, trumpet and double bass. And yet, only one person is on the stage. As beatboxer Tom Thum puts it in this talk from TEDxSydney, “All the sounds you just heard were […]