For his next trick: Boaz Almog uses quantum locking to “levitate” a superconducting disk at TEDGlobal 2012. Photo: James Duncan Davidson/TED
Calling all self-proclaimed tech nerds! TED has long been known for demos that set everyone in the theatre a-buzz. Here’s a look back at some memorable tech demos from TED and TEDGlobals past, to get you excited for those coming at TED2015.
 On stage at: TED2014 Hugh Herr’s lab creates bionic limbs engineered to help the wearer excel in the activities they love. For Herr, this is personal. In an incredible demo, he welcomes ballroom dancer Adrianne Haslet-Davis, who lost her left leg in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, to perform again for the first time. |
 On stage at: TEDGlobal 2014 Currently, someone has to show symptoms before they are tested for cancer. But could testing be more widespread? An incredible demo of simple, noninvasive, open-source test that uses a smartphone to detect early indicators of the disease. |
 On stage at: TEDGlobal 2013 You’ve heard of muscle cars. Now come muscle flying quadcopters. In this demo, see how these copters think like athletes and work together as a team to solve physical challenges. |
 On stage at: TED2013 Romo turns your cell phone into something between a cell phone, a pet and a friend. At TED2013, Keller Rinaudo shows us how this little guy works with your iPhone as a brain. |
 On stage at: TEDGlobal 2012 Boaz Almog uses quantum locking to “levitate” a superconducting disk over a rail, without friction or energy loss. Start at 4:30 to watch a super-thin 3-inch disk levitate something 70,000 times its own weight. |
 On stage at: TEDGlobal 2011 Markus Fischer and his team at Festo, a German tech company, developed a lightweight, incredibly lifelike robot that flies like a bird. Watch from 2:00 to 3:00 to see the SmartBird in action as it soars over the audience. |
 On stage at: TEDGlobal 2010 A mind-boggling demo by Tan Le, in which a volunteer is able to “pull” a cube toward him on a screen, just by thinking it. |
 On stage at: TEDGlobal 2009 Eric Giler presents wireless electricity, which uses magnetic resonators to transfer power over large distances via a magnetic field. Watch at 6:30 to see a standard TV and three different smart phones powered wirelessly. |
 On stage at: TEDGlobal 2009 Michael Pritchard introduces his portable 15-nm filters, which can capture the tiniest viruses and make water drinkable. At 3:30 Pritchard takes visibly disgusting water from the Thames, Cherwell and his own pond, runoff from a sewage farm, rabbit droppings and other delights, and pours it through his filter, then drinks the water. TED Curator Chris Anderson takes a swig as well. |
 On stage at: TEDIndia 2009 Pranav Mistry of MIT Media Lab talks about developing SixthSense, a gesture-interface device that allows you to replicate what you do in the physical world in the digital world. Long before Microsoft Kinect, Mistry showed how he could treat any wall as a digital interface and take pictures just by gesturing with his fingers. |
 On stage at: TED2008 At 1:40 Johnny Lee shows how to turn a Wii Remote into a digital whiteboard, touchscreen and a head-mounted 3D viewer, all for $40. |
 On stage at: TED2007 Blaise Aguera y Arcas of Microsoft demoed Photosynth, a software which uses a giant database of static photos to allow you to navigate a space as if in 3D. It’s a fascinating demo — given pre-Google Street View. |
 On stage at: TED 2006 Well before Apple popularized multitouch technology with the iPhone, Jeff Han had built his own high resolution, low cost and scalable multi-touch screen, shown here. |
Note: This post originally published before TED2013. It was updated on March 4, 2015.