Science News
TED: Sergey Brin: Why Google Glass? - Sergey Brin (2013)It's not a demo, more of a philosophical argument: Why did Sergey Brin and his team at Google want to build an eye-mounted camera/computer, codenamed Glass? Onstage at TED2013, Brin calls for a new way of seeing our relationship with our mobile computers ... read more3 days ago • TED TED: Jay Silver: Hack a banana, make a keyboard! - Jay Silver (2013)Why can't two slices of pizza be used as a slide clicker? Why shouldn't you make music with ketchup? In this charming talk, inventor Jay Silver talks about the urge to play with the world around you. He shares some of his messiest inventions, and demos Ma... read more4 days ago • TED TED: Liu Bolin: The invisible man - Liu Bolin (2013)Can a person disappear in plain sight? That’s the question Liu Bolin‘s remarkable work seems to ask. The Beijing-based artist is sometimes called “The Invisible Man” because in nearly all his art, Bolin is front and center — and completely unsee... read more5 days ago • TED TED: Maria Bezaitis: The surprising need for strangeness - Maria Bezaitis (2013)In our digital world, social relations have become mediated by data. Without even realizing it, we’re barricading ourselves against strangeness -- people and ideas that don't fit the patterns of who we already know, what we already like and where we’v... read more6 days ago • TED TED: Meg Jay: Why 30 is not the new 20 - Meg Jay (2013)Clinical psychologist Meg Jay has a bold message for twentysomethings: Contrary to popular belief, your 20s are not a throwaway decade. In this provocative talk, Jay says that just because marriage, work and kids are happening later in life, doesn’t mea... read more7 days ago • TED TED: Ken Robinson: How to escape education's death valley - Ken Robinson (2013)Sir Ken Robinson outlines 3 principles crucial for the human mind to flourish -- and how current education culture works against them. In a funny, stirring talk he tells us how to get out of the educational "death valley" we now face, and how to nurture o... read more1 week ago • TED TED: Angela Lee Duckworth: The key to success? Grit - Angela Lee Duckworth (2013)Leaving a high-flying job in consulting, Angela Lee Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school. She quickly realized that IQ wasn’t the only thing separating the successful students from those who struggled. Here, ... read more2 weeks ago • TED TED: John Legend: "True Colors" - John Legend (2013)In a heart-melting moment, TED Talks Education host John Legend sits at the piano to sing "True Colors," giving the lyrics a special meaning for kids and teachers. "So don't be afraid / to let them show / your true colors / are beautiful, like a rainbow."... read more2 weeks ago • TED TED: ShaoLan: Learn to read Chinese ... with ease! - ShaoLan Hsueh (2013)For foreigners, learning to speak Chinese is a hard task. But learning to read the beautiful, often complex characters of the Chinese written language may be less difficult. ShaoLan walks through a simple lesson in recognizing the ideas behind the charact... read more2 weeks ago • TED TED: Timothy Bartik: The economic case for preschool - Timothy Bartik (2012)In this well-argued talk, Timothy Bartik makes the macro-economic case for preschool education -- and explains why you should be happy to invest in it, even if you don't have kids that age (or kids at all). The economic benefits of well-educated kids, it ... read more2 weeks ago • TED TED: Rita Pierson: Every kid needs a champion - Rita F. Pierson (2013)Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, "They don't pay me to like the kids." Her response: "Kids don't learn from people they don’t like.’” A rousing call to educators to believe in their students and actually connect with... read more2 weeks ago • TED TED: Juan Enriquez: Your online life, permanent as a tattoo - Juan Enriquez (2013)What if Andy Warhol had it wrong, and instead of being famous for 15 minutes, we’re only anonymous for that long? In this short talk, Juan Enriquez looks at the surprisingly permanent effects of digital sharing on our personal privacy. He shares insight... read more3 weeks ago • TED TED: Sebastião Salgado: The silent drama of photography - Sebastião Salgado (2013)Economics PhD Sebastião Salgado only took up photography in his 30s, but the discipline became an obsession. His years-long projects beautifully capture the human side of a global story that all too often involves death, destruction or decay. Here, he te... read more3 weeks ago • TED TED: Taylor Wilson: My radical plan for small nuclear fission reactors - Taylor Wilson (2013)Taylor Wilson was 14 when he built a nuclear fusion reactor in his parents' garage. Now 19, he returns to the TED stage to present a new take on an old topic: fission. Wilson, who has won backing to create a company to realize his vision, explains why he'... read more3 weeks ago • TED TED: Nilofer Merchant: Got a meeting? Take a walk - Nilofer Merchant (2013)Nilofer Merchant suggests a small idea that just might have a big impact on your life and health: Next time you have a one-on-one meeting, make it into a "walking meeting" -- and let ideas flow while you walk and talk.... read more3 weeks ago • TED TED: David Pogue: 10 top time-saving tech tips - David Pogue (2013)Tech columnist David Pogue shares 10 simple, clever tips for computer, web, smartphone and camera users. And yes, you may know a few of these already -- but there's probably at least one you don't.... read more3 weeks ago • TED TED: Jennifer Healey: If cars could talk, accidents might be avoidable - Jennifer Healey (2013)When we drive, we get into a glass bubble, lock the doors and press the accelerator, relying on our eyes to guide us -- even though we can only see the few cars ahead of and behind us. But what if cars could share data with each other about their position... read more4 weeks ago • TED TED: Erik Brynjolfsson: The key to growth? Race with the machines - Erik Brynjolfsson (2013)As machines take on more jobs, many find themselves out of work or with raises indefinitely postponed. Is this the end of growth? No, says Erik Brynjolfsson -- it’s simply the growing pains of a radically reorganized economy. A riveting case for why big... read more4 weeks ago • TED TED: John McWhorter: Txtng is killing language. JK!!! - John McWhorter (2013)Does texting mean the death of good writing skills? John McWhorter posits that there’s much more to texting -- linguistically, culturally -- than it seems, and it’s all good news.... read more4 weeks ago • TED TED: BLACK: My journey to yo-yo mastery - BLACK (2013)Remember the days you struggled just to make a yo-yo spin, and if you were really fancy, to “walk the dog”? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Japanese yo-yo world champion BLACK tells the inspiring story of finding his life's passion, and gives an aweso... read more1 month ago • TED TED: Andres Lozano: Parkinson's, depression and the switch that might turn them off - Andres Lozano (2013)Deep brain stimulation is becoming very precise. This technique allows surgeons to place electrodes in almost any area of the brain, and turn them up or down -- like a radio dial or thermostat -- to correct dysfunction. A dramatic look at emerging techniq... read more1 month ago • TED TED: Joshua Prager: In search of the man who broke my neck - Joshua Prager (2013)When Joshua Prager was 19, a devastating bus accident left him a hemiplegic. He returned to Israel twenty years later to find the driver who turned his world upside down. In this mesmerizing tale of their meeting, Prager probes deep questions of nature, n... read more1 month ago • TED TED: Thomas Insel: Toward a new understanding of mental illness - Thomas Insel (2013)Today, thanks to better early detection, there are 63% fewer deaths from heart disease than there were just a few decades ago. Thomas Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, wonders: Could we do the same for depression and schizophreni... read more1 month ago • TED TED: Rose George: Let's talk crap. Seriously. - Rose George (2013)It's 2013, yet 2.5 billion people in the world have no access to a basic sanitary toilet. And when there's no loo, where do you poo? In the street, probably near your water and food sources -- causing untold death and disease from contamination. Get ready... read more1 month ago • TED TED: Laura Snyder: The Philosophical Breakfast Club - Laura Snyder (2012)In 1812, four men at Cambridge University met for breakfast. What began as an impassioned meal grew into a new scientific revolution, in which these men -- who called themselves “natural philosophers” until they later coined “scientist” -- introdu... read more1 month ago • TED TED: Eric Dishman: Health care should be a team sport - Eric Dishman (2013)When Eric Dishman was in college, doctors told him he had 2 to 3 years to live. That was a long time ago. One rectified diagnosis and a transplant later, Dishman puts his personal experience and his expertise as a leading medical tech specialist together ... read more1 month ago • TED TED: Dan Ariely: What makes us feel good about our work? - Dan Ariely (2012)What motivates us to work? Contrary to conventional wisdom, it isn't just money. But it's not exactly joy either. It seems that most of us thrive by making constant progress and feeling a sense of purpose. Behavioral economist Dan Ariely presents two eye-... read more1 month ago • TED TED: Keller Rinaudo: A mini robot -- powered by your phone - Keller Rinaudo (2013)Your smartphone may feel like a friend -- but a true friend would give you a smile once in a while. At TED2013, Keller Rinaudo demos Romo, the smartphone-powered mini robot who can motor along with you on a walk, slide you a cup of coffee across the table... read more1 month ago • TED TED: Freeman Hrabowski: 4 pillars of college success in science - Freeman Hrabowski (2013)At age 12, Freeman Hrabowski marched with Martin Luther King. Now he's president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), where he works to create an environment that helps under-represented students -- specifically African-American, Latino... read more1 month ago • TED TED: Ken Jennings: Watson, Jeopardy and me, the obsolete know-it-all - Ken Jennings (2013)Trivia whiz Ken Jennings has made a career as a keeper of facts; he holds the longest winning streak in history on the U.S. game show Jeopardy. But in 2011, he played a challenge match against supercomputer Watson -- and lost. With humor and humility, Jen... read more1 month ago • TED TED: Skylar Tibbits: The emergence of "4D printing" - Skylar Tibbits (2013)3D printing has grown in sophistication since the late 1970s; TED Fellow Skylar Tibbits is shaping the next development, which he calls 4D printing, where the fourth dimension is time. This emerging technology will allow us to print objects that then resh... read more2 months ago • TED TED: Lawrence Lessig: We the People, and the Republic we must reclaim - Lawrence Lessig (2013)There is a corruption at the heart of American politics, caused by the dependence of Congressional candidates on funding from the tiniest percentage of citizens. That's the argument at the core of this blistering talk by legal scholar Lawrence Lessig. Wit... read more2 months ago • TED TED: Sanjay Dastoor: A skateboard, with a boost - Sanjay Dastoor (2013)Imagine an electric vehicle that can get you to work -- or anywhere in a six-mile radius -- quickly, without traffic frustrations or gasoline. Now imagine you can pick it up and carry it with you. Yes, this souped-up skateboard could change the face of mo... read more2 months ago • TED TED: Kees Moeliker: How a dead duck changed my life - Kees Moeliker (2013)One afternoon, Kees Moeliker got a research opportunity few ornithologists would wish for: A flying duck slammed into his glass office building, died, and then … what happened next would change his life. [Note: Contains graphic images and descriptions o... read more2 months ago • TED TED: Colin Camerer: Neuroscience, game theory, monkeys - Colin Camerer (2013)When two people are trying to make a deal -- whether they’re competing or cooperating -- what’s really going on inside their brains? Behavioral economist Colin Camerer shows research that reveals just how little we’re able to predict what others are... read more2 months ago • TED TED: Richard Turere: My invention that made peace with lions - Richard Turere (2013)In the Masai community where 13-year-old Richard Turere lives, cattle are all-important. But lion attacks were growing more frequent. In this short, inspiring talk, the young inventor shares the solar-powered solution he designed to safely scare the lions... read more2 months ago • TED TED: Mark Shaw: One very dry demo - Mark Shaw (2013)Mark Shaw demos Ultra-Ever Dry, a liquid-repellent coating that acts as an astonishingly powerful shield against water and water-based materials. At the nano level, the spray covers a surface with an umbrella of air so that water bounces right off. Watch ... read more2 months ago • TED TED: Jessica Green: We're covered in germs! How to make them happy - Jessica Green (2013)Our bodies and homes are covered in microbes -- some good for us, some bad for us. As we learn more about the germs and microbes who share our living spaces, TED Fellow Jessica Green asks: Can we design buildings that encourage happy, healthy microbial en... read more2 months ago • TED TED: Eric Whitacre: Virtual Choir Live - Eric Whitacre (2013)Composer and conductor Eric Whitacre has inspired millions by bringing together "virtual choirs," singers from many countries spliced together on video. Now, for the first time ever, he creates the experience in real time, as 32 singers from around the wo... read more2 months ago • TED TED: Francis Collins: We need better drugs -- now - Francis Collins (2012)Today we know the molecular cause of 4,000 diseases, but treatments are available for only 250 of them. So what’s taking so long? Geneticist and physician Francis Collins explains why systematic drug discovery is imperative, even for rare and complex di... read more2 months ago • TED
