Millions of people, many of them children, suffer from “orphan” diseases — illnesses so rare that no infrastructure exists to investigate or treat them. Now C Jimmy Lin’s Rare Genomics Institute puts hope and empowerment back in patients’ hands by connecting them with researchers, doctors and community support, and a crowdsourced funding platform. What is […]
[ted id=1568]“It’s a great time to be a molecular biologist,” Ellen Jorgensen says in today’s TED Talk, given at TEDGlobal 2012. The realm of biotechnology is growing fast, she says, and advances are coming down the pipeline at a rapid clip. And yet, scientists aren’t so good at communicating to the public what is going […]
[ted id=1633 width=560 height=315] Neuroscientist Molly Crockett has a secret to share: if you want to make better decisions, eat a grilled cheese sandwich. In today’s talk, filmed at the TEDSalon in London, Crockett shares how she accidentally had a part in circulating this message. Several years ago, Crockett and her fellow researchers set out […]
TED playlists are collections of talks around a topic, built for you in a thoughtful sequence to illuminate ideas in context. This weekend, two new playlists are available: How to tell a story and A cure for cancer? How to tell a story How do you tell a good story? Does it need a beginning, […]
The mad rush of the holidays can stress out the sunniest soul, and yet somehow, beneath it all, we remain cheerfully optimistic. We look ahead, make New Year’s resolutions and generally believe next year will be better than this one and the year before. Why? Tali Sharot, who spoke at TED2012, says we homo sapiens are […]
Over the past two days, TEDxWomen brought together 50 speakers from around the globe, each giving a different slice of thinking on the state of women today. Here, a selection of the powerful talks from this event, which was produced and curated by The Paley Center for Media. Session 1: The space between Poverty and […]
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=1587 width=560 height=315] Few scientific papers are written in crayon and begin with the words, “Once upon a time.” But then again, few scientific papers are written by a group of 8- to 10-year-olds. In this adorable talk from TEDGlobal, neuroscientist, artist and educator Beau Lotto shares why he thinks children have an edge […]
In today’s thrilling TED-Ed lesson, Bill Nye the Science Guy admits that he has S.O.D., otherwise known as Sundial Obsessive Disorder. But there is a good reason for it — a sundial helped Nye’s father escape from a prison camp in China during World War II, launching a lifelong obsession that Nye eventually picked up […]
[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 […]
Astrophysicist, educator, and humanitarian Hakeem Oluseyi trounced race and class to become an important contributor to computer technology and space research. Back on Earth, he’s doing all he can to give young and underfunded scientists a chance to reach for the stars. Yours is an extraordinary story. You grew up impoverished — moving frequently from […]
[ted id=1482] In June, TED favorite Marco Tempest told us about the “electric rise and fall of Nikola Tesla,” the late 1800s inventor who held more than 700 patents, including for concepts still used today like alternating current, radio, remote control and robotics. However, after building a wireless telegraphy center in upstate New York that […]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g032MPrSjFA “Science: It’s a Girl Thing!” That’s what is claimed in a goofy public service announcement, made by the European Commission, which aims to convince young women that science careers are in fact “cool.” Naturally, for a few days the Twittersphere has been atwitter over the very pink ad, which instead shows that girls can […]
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 … […]
[ted id=1468] From Science Made Cool: On her blog, anatomist Diane Kelly explores her thought process as she prepares to give a serious talk about science — in 12 minutes. The key? Careful editing and a good story. From the piece: Classes and department seminars usually take about 45 minutes. The TEDMED limit? 12 minutes. […]
Photo by Ryan Lash At the recent TEDYouth event, Adam Savage, of Mythbusters fame, told three stories of groundbreaking discovery made with incredibly simple tools. TED’s Ben Lillie caught up with him just after his rehearsal to talk about what lead him to this type of inspiration. This is an amazingly inspiring thing you’ve put together […]