Photographer Fabian Oefner wants to show us in still images what sound waves look like, the magic of a soap bubble at the moment of bursting, the forces of magnetism, how fire burns through alcohol. Oefner considers himself an artist, but he is also a scientist. To him, these disciplines should not be mutually exclusive. […]
Mark Kendall has a new medical invention that will make anyone with a fear of needles very happy: the Nanopatch, a tiny square (smaller than a postage stamp) that can deliver a dose of vaccine. But beyond solving needle-phobia, the Nanopatch could solve many other problems that now keep vaccines from being completely effective. Kendall, a […]
Molly Stevens would like to introduce you to the first blue tooth. No literally, a blue tooth made out of shell. In the days of the ancient Mayans, when a tooth was lost, it would be replaced with bit of blue shell. The chemistry and architecture of this shell worked beautifully as a tooth replacement, […]
Grégoire Courtine is the head of the Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute of the Life Science School at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL). He starts his TED Talk with a story of a mentor of his, the late Christopher Reeve, who spent the last years of his life in a wheelchair after a paralyzing spinal […]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFSp1R2F3Qg&w=560&h=315] In the center of a black screen, a circle of white appears and slowly twirls through different colors, increasing in both brightness and size. This mystical shape finally settles down to become the “o” in the word “Regeneration,” leaving us with an echo of thoughts and desires. This visually teasing opening to session 7 […]
Regenerative neurologist Siddharthan Chandran asks whether we can repair the damaged brain. Here’s the problem: Humanity is facing an epidemic of fast-progressing, devastating neurological disease such as Alzheimer’s, motor neuron disease, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis and Huntington’s. Collectively, this is one of the biggest public health threats of our time. Over 35 million people are affected, […]
Session 7, “Regeneration,” couldn’t come at a better time; it’s the end of the second day of TEDGlobal 2013, and we could all use a little repair and restoration. In this session, four scientists and researchers look closely at the ways in which the body breaks down — and how we can rebuild them. Here […]
Tania Bruguera grew up in Cuba, where she was surrounded by the contradictions between propaganda and reality from an early age. She has channeled these tensions into creating artwork that navigates a path between the two. She starts her TED Talk with a personal story of life in 1993, when she somewhat unexpectedly found herself publishing […]
Twenty years ago, economic policy expert Juan Pardinas took a road trip through a continent that no longer exists: Latin America. He set out from Montreal on an 18-month research trip that taught him an invaluable lesson: “The past is not a fixed blueprint in the construction of the things to come; the future is […]
Dina El Wedidi is a traditional Egyptian singer — but with a global twist. While her powerful chant draws from Egyptian folk songs, her lyrics speak to a generation of young Egyptians estranged from their government and looking for connection. Meanwhile, her band members play the guitar, the accordion and even the Irish violin. At […]
Holly Morris tells the stories of women through documentary, television, print and the web. One story she certainly didn’t expect stemmed from a reporting trip to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. She just wanted to get out of the contaminated zone as quickly as possible … and then she […]
As urban areas have exploded, a dramatic stratification is taking place. While some parts of cities have become playgrounds for the privileged, others have become home to the poor and marginalized. Often these two very different ways of life exist in close proximity, says Teddy Cruz on the TEDGlobal 2013 stage. Cruz studies the Tijuana […]
A few years ago, Lesley Hazleton, self-described “accidental theologist,” found herself waking each morning with the same question: What happened to Muhammad the night he received the revelation of the Koran? An agnostic Jew, Hazleton was writing a biography of the man who stood in the desert outside of Mecca in the year 610 at […]
The founder of the Beirut Marathon, May El-Khalil tells us how personal tragedy led her to create a peaceful haven in her all-too-often war-torn country. When the former long-distance runner was hit by a truck and left unable to perform as she had before her accident, she turned her efforts to organizing races. “I needed […]
Today on the TEDGlobal stage, two days before election in Iran, political scientist Trita Parsi argues that the Israeli-Iranian conflict is resolvable because its nature is geopolitical, not ideological. To illustrate, Parsi quotes an Israeli prime minister: “Iran is Israel’s best friend, and we do not intend to change our position in relation to Tehran.” […]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_dwhJVq7QY&w=560&h=315] A landscape becomes a face; a face becomes a family. Converting well-known images into something completely different, this title sequence introduces speakers from a range of fields, with a funky beat. This video comes from Milky Elephant; a New York based collective specializing in animations, games, illustrations, websites and installations. Their work has included projects […]