Picture a spillway gate that doesn’t just release water from an overflowing river, but manipulates sediments to create new streams, islands and wetlands. And imagine that the gate does this autonomously, guided by ecological data and shifting needs — essentially allowing nature to “evolve.” Computational landscape architect Bradley Cantrell is figuring how to do this by applying […]
A persistent sight in David Sengeh‘s childhood, growing up in Sierra Leone: amputees. Losing a limb was an all-too-common fact in the civil-war-torn region. But as if the loss of a limb weren’t enough, the aftermath was almost worse, Sengeh saw, as he watched family members and friends struggle with ill-fitting, uncomfortable prosthetics that hurt […]
Teen reporters Sadie Cruz and Nia Ashley conducted lots of interviews with speakers at the TEDYouth conference on November 17. Their Q&As will run on the TED Blog over the next few weeks. Below, an interview conducted by Nia. The Flight Director of the Mars Curiosity Mission, Bobak Ferdowsi, is best known for landing a […]
[ted id=1592 width=560 height=315] Melissa Marshall has a message for scientists and engineers: Contrary to popular belief, the general public is interested in your work and does want to hear the details of your research. The trick is that you must communicate your ideas clearly, because they will start snoring in their seats if you […]
In this short talk from TEDxCooperUnion, bioengineer (and TED Fellow) Nina Tandon talks about her experiment in using TED Conversations as a teaching tool in a tissue engineering class — inspiring students to ask bigger questions online, and engage with a broad community to create wide-ranging discussions about biology, ethics, perception and much more … […]