TED Talks
Season 2011
TV-PG
Series of talks about technology, entertainment, and design.
Where to Watch TED Talks • Season 2011
93 Episodes
- Wadah Khanfar: A historic moment in the Arab worldE1
Wadah Khanfar: A historic moment in the Arab worldAs a democratic revolution led by tech-empowered young people sweeps the Arab world, Wadah Khanfar, the head of Al Jazeera, shares a profoundly optimistic view of what's happening in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and beyond -- at this powerful moment when people realized they could step out of their houses and ask for change. - JR's TED Prize wish: Use art to turn the world inside outE2
JR's TED Prize wish: Use art to turn the world inside outJR, a semi-anonymous French street artist, uses his camera to show the world its true face, by pasting photos of the human face across massive canvases. At TED2011, he makes his audacious TED Prize wish: to use art to turn the world inside out. Learn more about his work and learn how you can join in at insideoutproject.net. - Wael Ghonim: Inside the Egyptian revolutionE3
Wael Ghonim: Inside the Egyptian revolutionWael Ghonim is the Google executive who helped jumpstart Egypt's democratic revolution ... with a Facebook page memorializing a victim of the regime's violence. Speaking at TEDxCairo, he tells the inside story of the past two months, when everyday Egyptians showed that "the power of the people is stronger than the people in power." - Bill Gates: How state budgets are breaking US schoolsE4
Bill Gates: How state budgets are breaking US schoolsAmerica's school systems are funded by the 50 states. In this fiery talk, Bill Gates says that state budgets are riddled with accounting tricks that disguise the true cost of health care and pensions and weighted with worsening deficits -- with the financing of education at the losing end. - Anthony Atala: Printing a human kidneyE5
Anthony Atala: Printing a human kidneyAnthony Atala's state-of-the-art lab grows human organs -- from muscles to blood vessels to bladders, and more. At TEDMED, he shows footage of his bio-engineers working with some of its sci-fi gizmos, including an oven-like bioreactor (preheat to 98.6 F) and a machine that "prints" human tissue. - Salman Khan: Let's use video to reinvent educationE6
Salman Khan: Let's use video to reinvent educationSalman Khan talks about how and why he created the remarkable Khan Academy, a carefully structured series of educational videos offering complete curricula in math and, now, other subjects. He shows the power of interactive exercises, and calls for teachers to consider flipping the traditional classroom script -- give students video lectures to watch at home, and do "homework" in the classroom with the teacher available to help. - Deb Roy: The birth of a wordE7
Deb Roy: The birth of a wordMIT researcher Deb Roy wanted to understand how his infant son learned language -- so he wired up his house with videocameras to catch every moment (with exceptions) of his son's life, then parsed 90,000 hours of home video to watch "gaaaa" slowly turn into "water." Astonishing, data-rich research with deep implications for how we learn. - Lisa Gansky: The future of business is the meshE8
Lisa Gansky: The future of business is the meshWith streams and rivers drying up because of over-usage, Rob Harmon has implemented an ingenious market mechanism to bring back the water. Farmers and beer companies find their fates intertwined in the intriguing century-old tale of Prickly Pear Creek. - David Brooks: The social animalE9
David Brooks: The social animalTapping into the findings of his latest book, NYTimes columnist David Brooks unpacks new insights into human nature from the cognitive sciences -- insights with massive implications for economics and politics as well as our own self-knowledge. In a talk full of humor, he shows how you can't hope to understand humans as separate individuals making choices based on their conscious awareness. - Janna Levin: The sound the universe makesE10
Janna Levin: The sound the universe makesWe think of space as a silent place. But physicist Janna Levin says the universe has a soundtrack -- a sonic composition that records some of the most dramatic events in outer space. (Black holes, for instance, bang on spacetime like a drum.) An accessible and mind-expanding soundwalk through the universe. - Sarah Kay: If I should have a daughterE12
Sarah Kay: If I should have a daughter"If I should have a daughter, instead of Mom, she's gonna call me Point B ... " began spoken word poet Sarah Kay, in a talk that inspired two standing ovations at TED2011. She tells the story of her metamorphosis -- from a wide-eyed teenager soaking in verse at New York's Bowery Poetry Club to a teacher connecting kids with the power of self-expression through Project V.O.I.C.E. -- and gives two breathtaking performances of "B" and "Hiroshima." - Isabel Behncke: Evolution's gift of play, from bonobo apes to humansE13
Isabel Behncke: Evolution's gift of play, from bonobo apes to humansWith never-before-seen video, primatologist Isabel Behncke Izquierdo (a TED Fellow) shows how bonobo ape society learns from constantly playing -- solo, with friends, even as a prelude to sex. Indeed, play appears to be the bonobos' key to problem-solving and avoiding conflict. If it works for our close cousins, why not for us? - Eythor Bender demos human exoskeletonsE14
Eythor Bender demos human exoskeletonsEythor Bender of Berkeley Bionics brings onstage two amazing exoskeletons, HULC and eLEGS -- robotic add-ons that could one day allow a human to carry 200 pounds without tiring, or allow a wheelchair user to stand and walk. It's a powerful onstage demo, with implications for human potential of all kinds. - Ralph Langner: Cracking Stuxnet, a 21st-century cyber weaponE15
Ralph Langner: Cracking Stuxnet, a 21st-century cyber weaponWhen first discovered in 2010, the Stuxnet computer worm posed a baffling puzzle. Beyond its unusually high level of sophistication loomed a more troubling mystery: its purpose. Ralph Langner and team helped crack the code that revealed this digital warhead's final target -- and its covert origins. In a fascinating look inside cyber-forensics, he explains how. - Handspring Puppet Co.: The genius puppetry behind War HorseE16
Handspring Puppet Co.: The genius puppetry behind War Horse"Puppets always have to try to be alive," says Adrian Kohler of the Handspring Puppet Company, a gloriously ambitious troupe of human and wooden actors. Beginning with the tale of a hyena's subtle paw, puppeteers Kohler and Basil Jones build to the story of their latest astonishment: the wonderfully life-like Joey, the War Horse, who trots (and gallops) convincingly onto the TED stage. - Sebastian Thrun: Google's driverless car
E17Sebastian Thrun: Google's driverless carSebastian Thrun helped build Google's amazing driverless car, powered by a very personal quest to save lives and reduce traffic accidents. Jawdropping video shows the DARPA Challenge-winning car motoring through busy city traffic with no one behind the wheel, and dramatic test drive footage from TED2011 demonstrates how fast the thing can really go - Eric Whitacre: A virtual choir 2,000 voices strongE18
Eric Whitacre: A virtual choir 2,000 voices strongIn a moving and madly viral video last year, composer Eric Whitacre led a virtual choir of singers from around the world. He talks through the creative challenges of making music powered by YouTube, and unveils the first 2 minutes of his new work, "Sleep," with a video choir of 2,052. The full piece premieres April 7 (yes, on YouTube!). - AnnMarie Thomas: Hands-on science with squishy circuitsE19
AnnMarie Thomas: Hands-on science with squishy circuitsIn a zippy demo at TED U, AnnMarie Thomas shows how two different kinds of homemade play dough can be used to demonstrate electrical properties -- by lighting up LEDs, spinning motors, and turning little kids into circuit designers. - Stanley McChrystal: Listen, learn ... then leadE20
Stanley McChrystal: Listen, learn ... then leadFour-star general Stanley McChrystal shares what he learned about leadership over his decades in the military. How can you build a sense of shared purpose among people of many ages and skill sets? By listening and learning -- and addressing the possibility of failure. - Morgan Spurlock: The greatest TED Talk ever soldE21
Morgan Spurlock: The greatest TED Talk ever soldWith humor and persistence, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock dives into the hidden but influential world of brand marketing, on his quest to make a completely sponsored film about sponsorship. (And yes, onstage naming rights for this talk were sponsored too. By whom and for how much? He'll tell you.) - Mick Ebeling: The invention that unlocked a locked-in artistE22
Mick Ebeling: The invention that unlocked a locked-in artistThe nerve disease ALS left graffiti artist TEMPT paralyzed from head to toe, forced to communicate blink by blink. In a remarkable talk at TEDActive, entrepreneur Mick Ebeling shares how he and a team of collaborators built an open-source invention that gave the artist -- and gives others in his circumstance -- the means to make art again. - David Christian: Big historyE23
David Christian: Big historyBacked by stunning illustrations, David Christian narrates a complete history of the universe, from the Big Bang to the Internet, in a riveting 18 minutes. This is "Big History": an enlightening, wide-angle look at complexity, life and humanity, set against our slim share of the cosmic timeline. - Roger Ebert: Remaking my voiceE24
Roger Ebert: Remaking my voiceWhen film critic Roger Ebert lost his lower jaw to cancer, he lost the ability to eat and speak. But he did not lose his voice. In a moving talk from TED2011, Ebert and his wife, Chaz, with friends Dean Ornish and John Hunter, come together to tell his remarkable story. - Marcin Jakubowski: Open-sourced blueprints for civilizationE25
Marcin Jakubowski: Open-sourced blueprints for civilizationUsing wikis and digital fabrication tools, TED Fellow Marcin Jakubowski is open-sourcing the blueprints for 50 farm machines, allowing anyone to build their own tractor or harvester from scratch. And that's only the first step in a project to write an instruction set for an entire self-sustaining village (starting cost: $10,000). - John Hunter on the World Peace GameE27
John Hunter on the World Peace GameJohn Hunter puts all the problems of the world on a 4'x5' plywood board -- and lets his 4th-graders solve them. At TED2011, he explains how his World Peace Game engages schoolkids, and why the complex lessons it teaches -- spontaneous, and always surprising -- go further than classroom lectures can. - Ric Elias: 3 things I learned while my plane crashedE28
Ric Elias: 3 things I learned while my plane crashedRic Elias had a front-row seat on Flight 1549, the plane that crash-landed in the Hudson River in New York in January 2009. What went through his mind as the doomed plane went down? At TED, he tells his story publicly for the first time. - Harvey Fineberg: Are we ready for neo-evolution?E29
Harvey Fineberg: Are we ready for neo-evolution?Medical ethicist Harvey Fineberg shows us three paths forward for the ever-evolving human species: to stop evolving completely, to evolve naturally -- or to control the next steps of human evolution, using genetic modification, to make ourselves smarter, faster, better. Neo-evolution is within our grasp. What will we do with it? - Angela Belcher: Using nature to grow batteriesE30
Angela Belcher: Using nature to grow batteriesInspired by an abalone shell, Angela Belcher programs viruses to make elegant nanoscale structures that humans can use. Selecting for high-performing genes through directed evolution, she's produced viruses that can construct powerful new batteries, clean hydrogen fuels and record-breaking solar cells. At TEDxCaltech, she shows us how it's done. - Mike Matas: A next-generation digital bookE31
Mike Matas: A next-generation digital bookSoftware developer Mike Matas demos the first full-length interactive book for the iPad -- with clever, swipeable video and graphics and some very cool data visualizations to play with. The book is "Our Choice," Al Gore's sequel to "An Inconvenient Truth." - Carlo Ratti: Architecture that senses and respondsE32
Carlo Ratti: Architecture that senses and respondsWith his team at SENSEable City Lab, MIT's Carlo Ratti makes cool things by sensing the data we create. He pulls from passive data sets -- like the calls we make, the garbage we throw away -- to create surprising visualizations of city life. And he and his team create dazzling interactive environments from moving water and flying light, powered by simple gestures caught through sensors. - Suzanne Lee: Grow your own clothesE33
Suzanne Lee: Grow your own clothesDesigner Suzanne Lee shares her experiments in growing a kombucha-based material that can be used like fabric or vegetable leather to make clothing. The process is fascinating, the results are beautiful (though there's still one minor drawback ...) and the potential is simply stunning. - Louie Schwartzberg: The hidden beauty of pollinationE34
Louie Schwartzberg: The hidden beauty of pollinationPollination: it's vital to life on Earth, but largely unseen by the human eye. Filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg shows us the intricate world of pollen and pollinators with gorgeous high-speed images from his film "Wings of Life," inspired by the vanishing of one of nature's primary pollinators, the honeybee. - Paul Nicklen: Tales of ice-bound wonderlandsE35
Paul Nicklen: Tales of ice-bound wonderlandsDiving under the Antarctic ice to get close to the much-feared leopard seal, photographer Paul Nicklen found an extraordinary new friend. Share his hilarious, passionate stories of the polar wonderlands, illustrated by glorious images of the animals who live on and under the ice. - Fiorenzo Omenetto: Silk, the ancient material of the futureE36
Fiorenzo Omenetto: Silk, the ancient material of the futureFiorenzo Omenetto shares 20+ astonishing new uses for silk, one of nature's most elegant materials -- in transmitting light, improving sustainability, adding strength and making medical leaps and bounds. On stage, he shows a few intriguing items made of the versatile stuff. - Ron Gutman: The hidden power of smilingE37
Ron Gutman: The hidden power of smilingRon Gutman reviews a raft of studies about smiling, and reveals some surprising results. Did you know your smile can be a predictor of how long you'll live -- and that a simple smile has a measurable effect on your overall well-being? Prepare to flex a few facial muscles as you learn more about this evolutionarily contagious behavior. - Amit Sood: Building a museum of museums on the webE38
Amit Sood: Building a museum of museums on the webImagine being able to see artwork in the greatest museums around the world without leaving your chair. Driven by his passion for art, Amit Sood tells the story of how he developed Art Project to let people do just that. - Ed Boyden: A light switch for neuronsE39
Ed Boyden: A light switch for neuronsEd Boyden shows how, by inserting genes for light-sensitive proteins into brain cells, he can selectively activate or de-activate specific neurons with fiber-optic implants. With this unprecedented level of control, he's managed to cure mice of analogs of PTSD and certain forms of blindness. On the horizon: neural prosthetics. Session host Juan Enriquez leads a brief post-talk Q&A. - Thomas Heatherwick: Building the Seed CathedralE40
Thomas Heatherwick: Building the Seed CathedralA future more beautiful? Architect Thomas Heatherwick shows five recent projects featuring ingenious bio-inspired designs. Some are remakes of the ordinary: a bus, a bridge, a power station ... And one is an extraordinary pavilion, the Seed Cathedral, a celebration of growth and light. - Elliot Krane: The mystery of chronic painE41
Elliot Krane: The mystery of chronic painWe think of pain as a symptom, but there are cases where the nervous system develops feedback loops and pain becomes a terrifying disease in itself. Starting with the story of a girl whose sprained wrist turned into a nightmare, Elliot Krane talks about the complex mystery of chronic pain, and reviews the facts we're just learning about how it works and how to treat it. - Edith Widder: The weird, wonderful world of bioluminescenceE42
Edith Widder: The weird, wonderful world of bioluminescenceIn the deep, dark ocean, many sea creatures make their own light for hunting, mating and self-defense. Bioluminescence expert Edith Widder was one of the first to film this glimmering world. At TED2011, she brings some of her glowing friends onstage, and shows more astonishing footage of glowing undersea life. - Aaron Koblin: Artfully visualizing our humanityE43
Aaron Koblin: Artfully visualizing our humanityArtist Aaron Koblin takes vast amounts of data -- and at times vast numbers of people -- and weaves them into stunning visualizations. From elegant lines tracing airline flights to landscapes of cell phone data, from a Johnny Cash video assembled from crowd-sourced drawings to the "Wilderness Downtown" video that customizes for the user, his works brilliantly explore how modern technology can make us more human. - Bruce Aylward: How we'll stop polio for goodE44
Bruce Aylward: How we'll stop polio for goodPolio is almost completely eradicated. But as Bruce Aylward says: Almost isn't good enough with a disease this terrifying. Aylward lays out the plan to continue the scientific miracle that ended polio in most of the world -- and to snuff it out everywhere, forever. - Mustafa Akyol: Faith versus tradition in IslamE45
Mustafa Akyol: Faith versus tradition in IslamAt TEDxWarwick, journalist Mustafa Akyol talks about the way that some local cultural practices (such as wearing a headscarf) have become linked, in the popular mind, to the articles of faith of Islam. Has the world's general idea of the Islamic faith focused too much on tradition, and not enough on core beliefs? - Dennis Hong: Making a car for blind driversE46
Dennis Hong: Making a car for blind driversUsing robotics, laser rangefinders, GPS and smart feedback tools, Dennis Hong is building a car for drivers who are blind. It's not a "self-driving" car, he's careful to note, but a car in which a non-sighted driver can determine speed, proximity and route -- and drive independently. - Stefan Sagmeister: 7 rules for making more happinessE47
Stefan Sagmeister: 7 rules for making more happinessUsing simple, delightful illustrations, designer Stefan Sagmeister shares his latest thinking on happiness -- both the conscious and unconscious kind. His seven rules for life and design happiness can (with some customizations) apply to everyone seeking more joy. - Aaron O'Connell: Making sense of a visible quantum objectE48
Aaron O'Connell: Making sense of a visible quantum objectPhysicists are used to the idea that subatomic particles behave according to the bizarre rules of quantum mechanics, completely different to human-scale objects. In a breakthrough experiment, Aaron O'Connell has blurred that distinction by creating an object that is visible to the unaided eye, but provably in two places at the same time. In this talk he suggests an intriguing way of thinking about the result. - Ron Gutman: The hidden power of smilingE50
Ron Gutman: The hidden power of smilingRon Gutman reviews a raft of studies about smiling, and reveals some surprising results. Did you know your smile can be a predictor of how long you'll live -- and that a simple smile has a measurable effect on your overall well-being? Prepare to flex a few facial muscles as you learn more about this evolutionarily contagious behavior. - Rob Harmon: How the market can keep streams flowingE51
Rob Harmon: How the market can keep streams flowingWith streams and rivers drying up because of over-usage, Rob Harmon has implemented an ingenious market mechanism to bring back the water. Farmers and beer companies find their fates intertwined in the intriguing century-old tale of Prickly Pear Creek. - Damon Horowitz calls for a moral operating systemE52
Damon Horowitz calls for a moral operating systemAt TEDxSiliconValley, Damon Horowitz reviews the enormous new powers that technology gives us: to know more -- and more about each other -- than ever before. Drawing the audience into a philosophical discussion, Horowitz invites us to pay new attention to the basic philosophy -- the ethical principles -- behind the burst of invention remaking our world. Where's the moral operating system that allows us to make sense of it? - Jack Horner: Building a dinosaur from a chickenE53
Jack Horner: Building a dinosaur from a chickenRenowned paleontologist Jack Horner has spent his career trying to reconstruct a dinosaur. He's found fossils with extraordinarily well-preserved blood vessels and soft tissues, but never intact DNA. So, in a new approach, he's taking living descendants of the dinosaur (chickens) and genetically engineering them to reactivate ancestral traits — including teeth, tails, and even hands — to make a "Chickenosaurus". - Janet Echelman: Taking imagination seriouslyE54
Janet Echelman: Taking imagination seriouslyJanet Echelman found her true voice as an artist when her paints went missing -- which forced her to look to an unorthodox new art material. Now she makes billowing, flowing, building-sized sculpture with a surprisingly geeky edge. A transporting 10 minutes of pure creativity. - Paul Romer: The world's first charter cityE55
Paul Romer: The world's first charter cityBack in 2009, Paul Romer unveiled the idea for a "charter city" -- a new kind of city with rules that favor democracy and trade. This year, at TED2011, he tells the story of how such a city might just happen in Honduras ... with a little help from his TEDTalk. - Alice Dreger: Is anatomy destinyE56
Alice Dreger: Is anatomy destinyAlice Dreger works with people at the edge of anatomy, such as conjoined twins and intersexed people. In her observation, it's often a fuzzy line between male and female, among other anatomical distinctions. Which brings up a huge question: Why do we let our anatomy determine our fate? - JD Schramm: Break the silence for suicide survivorsE57
JD Schramm: Break the silence for suicide survivorsEven when our lives appear fine from the outside, locked within can be a world of quiet suffering, leading some to the decision to end their life. At TEDYou, JD Schramm asks us to break the silence surrounding suicide and suicide attempts, and to create much-needed resources to help people who reclaim their life after escaping death. Resources: http://t.co/wsNrY9C - Rory Stewart: Time to end the war in AfghanistanE58
Rory Stewart: Time to end the war in AfghanistanBritish MP Rory Stewart walked across Afghanistan after 9/11, talking with citizens and warlords alike. Now, a decade later, he asks: Why are Western and coalition forces still fighting there? He shares lessons from past military interventions that worked -- Bosnia, for instance -- and shows that humility and local expertise are the keys to success. - Lesley Hazleton: On reading the KoranE59
Lesley Hazleton: On reading the KoranLesley Hazleton sat down one day to read the Koran. And what she found -- as a non-Muslim, a self-identified "tourist" in the Islamic holy book -- wasn't what she expected. With serious scholarship and warm humor, Hazleton shares the grace, flexibility and mystery she found, in this myth-debunking talk from TEDxRainier. - Kevin Slavin: How algorithms shape our worldE60
Kevin Slavin: How algorithms shape our worldKevin Slavin argues that we're living in a world designed for -- and increasingly controlled by -- algorithms. In this riveting talk from TEDGlobal, he shows how these complex computer programs determine: espionage tactics, stock prices, movie scripts, and architecture. And he warns that we are writing code we can't understand, with implications we can't control. - Nigel Marsh: How to make work-life balance workE61
Nigel Marsh: How to make work-life balance workWork-life balance, says Nigel Marsh, is too important to be left in the hands of your employer. At TEDxSydney, Marsh lays out an ideal day balanced between family time, personal time and productivity -- and offers some stirring encouragement to make it happen. - Pamela Meyer: How to spot a liarE62
Pamela Meyer: How to spot a liarOn any given day we're lied to from 10 to 200 times, and the clues to detect those lie can be subtle and counter-intuitive. Pamela Meyer, author of Liespotting, shows the manners and "hotspots" used by those trained to recognize deception -- and she argues honesty is a value worth preserving. - Ken Robinson: Changing education paradigmsE63
Ken Robinson: Changing education paradigmsIn this talk from RSA Animate, Sir Ken Robinson lays out the link between 3 troubling trends: rising drop-out rates, schools' dwindling stake in the arts, and ADHD. An important, timely talk for parents and teachers. - Annie Murphy Paul: What we learn before we're bornE64
Annie Murphy Paul: What we learn before we're bornTed Global 2011 Session 1: Beginnings Pop quiz: When does learning begin? Answer: Before we are born. Science writer Annie Murphy Paul talks through new research that shows how much we learn in the womb -- from the lilt of our native language to our soon-to-be-favorite foods. - Rebecca MacKinnon: Let's take back the InternetE65
Rebecca MacKinnon: Let's take back the InternetTed Global 2011 Session 1: Beginnings Rebecca MacKinnon describes the expanding struggle for freedom and control in cyberspace, and asks: How do we design the next phase of the Internet with accountability and freedom at its core, rather than control? She believes the internet is headed for a "Magna Carta" moment when citizens around the world demand that their governments protect free speech and their right to connection. - Danielle De Niese: A flirtatious ariaE66
Danielle De Niese: A flirtatious ariaTed Global 2011 Session 1: Beginnings Can opera be ever-so-slightly sexy? The glorious soprano Danielle de Niese shows how, singing the flirty "Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiss." Which, translated, means, as you might guess: "I kiss so hot." From Giuditta by Frans Lehár; accompanist: Ingrid Surgenor. - Richard Wilkinson: How economic inequality harms societiesE67
Richard Wilkinson: How economic inequality harms societiesTed Global 2011 Session 1: Beginnings We feel instinctively that societies with huge income gaps are somehow going wrong. Richard Wilkinson charts the hard data on economic inequality, and shows what gets worse when rich and poor are too far apart: real effects on health, lifespan, even such basic values as trust. - Justin Hall Tipping: Freeing energy from the gridE70
Justin Hall Tipping: Freeing energy from the gridTed Global 2011 Session 2: Everyday rebellions What would happen if we could generate power from our windowpanes? In this moving talk, entrepreneur Justin Hall-Tipping shows the materials that could make that possible, and how questioning our notion of 'normal' can lead to extraordinary breakthroughs. - Allan Jones: A map of the brainE74
Allan Jones: A map of the brainTed Global 2011 Session 3: Coded Patterns How can we begin to understand the way the brain works? The same way we begin to understand a city: by making a map. In this visually stunning talk, Allan Jones shows how his team is mapping which genes are turned on in each tiny region, and how it all connects up. - Elizabeth Murchison: Fighting a contagious cancerE82
Elizabeth Murchison: Fighting a contagious cancerTed Global 2011 Session 5: Emerging Order What is killing the Tasmanian devil? A virulent cancer is infecting them by the thousands -- and unlike most cancers, it's contagious. Researcher Elizabeth Murchison tells us how she's fighting to save the Taz, and what she's learning about all cancers from this unusual strain. Contains disturbing images of facial cancer. - Cynthia Kenyon: Experiments that hint of longer livesE83
Cynthia Kenyon: Experiments that hint of longer livesTed Global 2011 Session 5: Emerging Order What controls aging? Biochemist Cynthia Kenyon has found a simple genetic mutation that can double the lifespan of a simple worm, C. elegans. The lessons from that discovery, and others, are pointing to how we might one day significantly extend youthful human life. - Daniel Wolpert: The real reason for brainsE88
Daniel Wolpert: The real reason for brainsTed Global 2011 Session 7: Bodies Neuroscientist Daniel Wolpert starts from a surprising premise: the brain evolved, not to think or feel, but to control movement. In this entertaining, data-rich talk he gives us a glimpse into how the brain creates the grace and agility of human motion. - Jae Rhim Lee: My mushroom burial suitE91
Jae Rhim Lee: My mushroom burial suitTed Global 2011 Session 7: Bodies Here's a powerful provocation from artist Jae Rhim Lee. Can we commit our bodies to a cleaner, greener Earth, even after death? Naturally -- using a special burial suit seeded with pollution-gobbling mushrooms. - Jarreth Merz: Filming democracy in GhanaE94
Jarreth Merz: Filming democracy in GhanaTed Global 2011 Session 8: Embracing Otherness Jarreth Merz, a Swiss-Ghanaian filmmaker, came to Ghana in 2008 to film the national elections. What he saw there taught him new lessons about democracy -- and about himself. - Bunker Roy: Learning from a barefoot movementE96
Bunker Roy: Learning from a barefoot movementTed Global 2011 Session 8: Embracing Otherness In Rajasthan, India, an extraordinary school teaches rural women and men -- many of them illiterate -- to become solar engineers, artisans, dentists and doctors in their own villages. It's called the Barefoot College, and its founder, Bunker Roy, explains how it works. - Charles Hazlewood: Trusting the ensembleE97
Charles Hazlewood: Trusting the ensembleTed Global 2011 Session 9: Living Systems Conductor Charles Hazlewood talks about the role of trust in musical leadership -- then shows how it works, as he conducts the Scottish Ensemble onstage. He also shares clips from two musical projects: the opera "U-Carmen eKhayelitsha" and the ParaOrchestra. - Alison Gopnik: What do babies think?E98
Alison Gopnik: What do babies think?Ted Global 2011 Session 10: Feeling "Babies and young children are like the R&D division of the human species," says psychologist Alison Gopnik. Her research explores the sophisticated intelligence-gathering and decision-making that babies are really doing when they play. - Mikko Hypponen: Fighting viruses, defending the netE99
Mikko Hypponen: Fighting viruses, defending the netIt's been 25 years since the first PC virus (Brain A) hit the net, and what was once an annoyance has become a sophisticated tool for crime and espionage. Computer security expert Mikko Hyppönen tells us how we can stop these new viruses from threatening the internet as we know it. - Abrham Verghese: A doctor's touchE102
Abrham Verghese: A doctor's touchTed Global 2011 Session 10: Feeling Modern medicine is in danger of losing a powerful, old-fashioned tool: human touch. Physician and writer Abraham Verghese describes our strange new world where patients are merely data points, and calls for a return to the traditional one-on-one physical exam. - Ben Kacyra: Ancient wonders captured in 3DE103
Ben Kacyra: Ancient wonders captured in 3DTed Global 2011 Session 11: Things we make Ancient monuments give us clues to astonishing past civilizations -- but they're under threat from pollution, war, neglect. Ben Kacyra, who invented a groundbreaking 3D scanning system, is using his invention to scan and preserve the world's heritage in archival detail. - Anna Mracek Dietrich: A plane you can driveE105
Anna Mracek Dietrich: A plane you can driveTed Global 2011 Session 11: Things we make A flying car -- it's an iconic image of the future. But after 100 years of flight and automotive engineering, no one has really cracked the problem. Pilot Anna Mracek Dietrich and her team flipped the question, asking: Why not build a plane that you can drive? - Harald Haas: Wireless data from a light bulbE107
Harald Haas: Wireless data from a light bulbTed Global 2011 Session 12: Next Up What if every light bulb in the world could also transmit data? At TEDGlobal, Harald Haas demonstrates, for the first time, a device that could do exactly that. By flickering the light from a single LED, a change too quick for the human eye to detect, he can transmit far more data than a cellular tower -- and do it in a way that's more efficient, secure and widespread. - Joan Halifax: Compassion and the true meaning of empathyE108
Joan Halifax: Compassion and the true meaning of empathyBuddhist roshi Joan Halifax works with people at the last stage of life (in hospice and on death row). She shares what she's learned about compassion in the face of death and dying, and a deep insight into the nature of empathy. - AJ Jacobs: How healthy living nearly killed meE109
AJ Jacobs: How healthy living nearly killed meFor a full year, AJ Jacobs followed every piece of health advice he could -- from applying sunscreen by the shotglass to wearing a bicycle helmet while shopping. Onstage at TEDMED, he shares the surprising things he learned. - Homaro Cantu + Ben Roche: Cooking as alchemyE110
Homaro Cantu + Ben Roche: Cooking as alchemyHomaro Cantu and Ben Roche come from Moto, a Chicago restaurant that plays with new ways to cook and eat food. But beyond the fun and flavor-tripping, there's a serious intent: Can we use new food technology for good? - Stephen Wolfram: Computing a theory of all knowledgeE111
Stephen Wolfram: Computing a theory of all knowledgeStephen Wolfram, creator of Mathematica, talks about his quest to make all knowledge computational — able to be searched, processed and manipulated. His new search engine, Wolfram Alpha, has no lesser goal than to model and explain the physics underlying the universe. - Leonard Susskind: My friend Richard Feynman
E112Leonard Susskind: My friend Richard FeynmanWhat's it like to be pals with a genius? Onstage, physicist Leonard Susskind spins a few stories about his friendship with the legendary Richard Feynman, discussing his unconventional approach to problems both serious and ... less so. (Filmed at TEDxCaltech.) Leonard Susskind: Leonard Susskind is the Felix Bloch Professor of Physics at Stanford University. His research interests include string theory, quantum field theory, quantum statistical mechanics, and quantum cosmology. He received the Pregel Award from the New York Academy of Science (1975), and the J. J. Sakurai Prize of the American Physical Society (1998) "for his pioneering contributions to hadronic string models, lattice gauge theories, quantum chromodynamics, and dynamical symmetry breaking." He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and, since 2009, has been serving as Director of the Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics. He is a recent recipient of the Los Angeles Times Book Award in Science and Technology for The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics. - Shawn Achor: The Happy Secret to Better WorkE113
Shawn Achor: The Happy Secret to Better WorkWe believe we should work hard in order to be happy, but could we be thinking about things backwards? In this fast-moving and very funny talk, psychologist Shawn Achor argues that, actually, happiness inspires us to be more productive. TEDxBloomington - Skylar Tibbits: Can we make things that make themselves?
E114Skylar Tibbits: Can we make things that make themselves?MIT researcher Skylar Tibbits works on self-assembly — the idea that instead of building something (a chair, a skyscraper), we can create materials that build themselves, much the way a strand of DNA zips itself together. It's a big concept at early stages; Tibbits shows us three in-the-lab projects that hint at what a self-assembling future might look like. - Daniel Goldstein: The battle between your present and future self
E115Daniel Goldstein: The battle between your present and future selfEvery day, we make decisions that have good or bad consequences for our future selves. (Can I skip flossing just this one time?) Daniel Goldstein makes tools that help us imagine ourselves over time, so that we make smart choices for Future Us.