In the past week, we’ve noticed some fascinating TED-related news. Here, some highlights.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has discontinued its iconic candy-hued metal admission tags. Museum director Thomas P. Campbell (watch his TED Talk) explains why to The New York Times — because of the rising cost of tin-plating.
Angela Patton (watch her TED Talk) had a special guest for her annual father-daughter dance held at the Richmond County Jail. Cameras from ABC News were on hand to capture the father-daughter pairs on the dance floor. A highly emotional moment in this video: a girl who bursts in tears because she’s so happy to be able to hug her father.
In 2006, Neil Gershenfeld spoke at TED about the coming “Internet of Things” (watch the talk) — when every doorknob and light bulb in your house would be connected to the web and communicating with you and with each other. And it’s here now. Quartz calls this GE device “the first Internet of Things device you’ll actually want to own.”
Artist Liu Bolin (watch his TED Talk) becomes invisible by painting himself into a background, illustrating social critiques in the process. While in New York City, Bolin painted himself into the graffiti-covered walls of the 5Pointz Aerosol Arts Center, the graffiti mecca in Queens, to protest the fact that the building will soon be demolished to make way for condos. The New York Times captured the process in this photo gallery.
The Guardian article “£50bn question: do we want faster trains or limitless clean energy?” is one we’d like to pose to TED speakers Rory Sutherland (watch his talk) and Bjorn Lomborg (watch his talk). It’s estimated that fusion energy will cost 50 billion pounds to develop to the point where it’s useful, says a new study. “Alternatively, we could use our £50bn to shave 35 minutes off the journey time between London and Birmingham.” Guess which option the UK government has chosen? The article even features a guest appearance from TEDGlobal speaker Steven Cowley (watch his talk).
The Mother Nature Networks picks its five favorite TED Talks about love.
This great New York Times story on Peter Doshi and his quest to bring evidence-based medicine to the US includes appearances by Ben Goldacre (check out his two talks) as well as Archie Cochrane, the hero of Tim Harford’s TED Talk (watch it here). Legendary professor Edward Tufte tweeted about the story: “Magnificent triumph for statistical integrity, worthy Nobel Prize in Medicine.”
At TEDGlobal 2013, Steve Howard talked about the impressive sustainability goals set by his company, Ikea, to stock only LED bulbs by 2016 and to produce more renewable energy than it consumes by 2020. (Read about his talk.) So we were highly interested to read in Fast Co Exist that, this month, the furniture-maker will also roll out solar-powered shelters to replace tents used in refugee camps. The project is a collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
TED Fellow Xavier Vilalta shared his unique approach to architecture — designing spaces that connect people to nature and local tradition — at TED University at TEDGlobal. His Lideta Mercato, a shopping mall inspired by Ethiopian outdoor markets and textiles, received an honorable mention by the international jury at MA Prize and will be displayed at this year’s MA13 “Design in Human Week” in Atlanta.