Our lives depend on a world we can’t see: the satellite infrastructure we use every day for information, entertainment, communication and so much more. But Earth orbit isn’t a limitless resource, and the problem of space debris will get worse without a significant change to our behavior. Natalie Panek challenges us to consider the environmental…
Watch: A Futuristic Vision of the Age of Holograms
Explore a speculative digital world without screens in this fanciful demo, a mix of near reality and far-future possibility. Wearing the HoloLens headset, Alex Kipman demos his vision for bringing 3D holograms into the real world, enhancing our perceptions so that we can touch and feel digital content. Featuring Q&A with TED’s Helen Walters.
Watch: This Computer Will Grow Your Food in the Future
What if we could grow delicious, nutrient-dense food, indoors anywhere in the world? Caleb Harper, director of the Open Agriculture Initiative at the MIT Media Lab, wants to change the food system by connecting growers with technology. Get to know Harper’s “food computers” and catch a glimpse of what the future of farming might look…
Watch: Shape-Shifting Tech Will Change Work As We Know It
What will the world look like when we move beyond the keyboard and mouse? Interaction designer Sean Follmer is building a future with machines that bring information to life under your fingers as you work with it. In this talk, check out prototypes for a 3D shape-shifting table, a phone that turns into a wristband,…
Can a Computer Write Poetry?
If you read a poem and feel moved by it, but then find out it was actually written by a computer, would you feel differently about the experience? Would you think that the computer had expressed itself and been creative, or would you feel like you had fallen for a cheap trick? In this talk,…
TED: How New Tech Helps Blind People Explore the World
How can technology help improve our quality of life? How can we navigate the world without using the sense of vision? Inventor and IBM Fellow Chieko Asakawa, who’s been blind since the age of fourteen, is working on answering these questions. In a charming demo, she shows off some new technology that’s helping blind people…
What We Can Learn From Galaxies Far, Far Away
In a fun, exciting talk, teenager Henry Lin looks at something unexpected in the sky: distant galaxy clusters. By studying the properties of the universe’s largest pieces, says the Intel Science Fair award winner, we can learn quite a lot about scientific mysteries in our own world and galaxy.
My Simple Invention, Designed to Keep My Grandfather Safe
Sixty percent of people with dementia wander off, an issue that can prove hugely stressful for both patients and caregivers. In this charming talk, hear how teen inventor Kenneth Shinozuka came up with a novel solution to help his night-wandering grandfather and the aunt who looks after him … and how he hopes to help…
Why I Make Robots the Size of a Grain of Rice
By studying the movement and bodies of insects such as ants, Sarah Bergbreiter and her team build incredibly robust, super teeny, mechanical versions of creepy crawlies … and then they add rockets. See their jaw-dropping developments in micro-robotics, and hear about three ways we might use these little helpers in the future.
The Year in Ideas: TED Talks of 2014
What were the most powerful ideas of 2014? Watch TED’s 8-minute highlight reel of the Year in Ideas. Explore a fun, interactive playlist of the TED Talks of the year at http://yearinideas.ted.com/2014. Below, a time-coded list of the talks in this video: 00:09 : Chris Hadfield: What I learned from going blind in space http://go.ted.com/8bW…
The Workforce Crisis of 2030 & How to Start Solving it Now
It sounds counterintuitive, but by 2030, many of the world’s largest economies will have more jobs than adult citizens to do those jobs. In this data-filled — and quite charming — talk, human resources expert Rainer Strack suggests that countries ought to look across borders for mobile and willing job seekers. But to do that,…
How to Reinvent the Apartment Building
In 1967, Moshe Safdie reimagined the monolithic apartment building, creating “Habitat ’67,” which gave each unit an unprecedented sense of openness. Nearly 50 years later, he believes the need for this type of building is greater than ever. In this short talk, Safdie surveys a range of projects that do away with the high-rise and…
Don’t Like Clickbait? Don’t Click
Doesn’t it seem like a lot of online news sites have moved beyond reporting the news to openly inciting your outrage (and your page views)? News analyst Sally Kohn suggests — don’t engage with news that looks like it just wants to make you mad. Instead, give your precious clicks to the news sites you…
Everyday Cybercrime — and What You Can Do about It
How do you pick up a malicious online virus, the kind of malware that snoops on your data and taps your bank account? Often, it’s through simple things you do each day without thinking twice. James Lyne reminds us that it’s not only the NSA that’s watching us, but ever-more-sophisticated cybercriminals, who exploit both weak…
A Magna Carta for the Web
A Shark-Deterrent Wetsuit (It’s Not What You Think)
Hamish Jolly, an ocean swimmer in Australia, wanted a wetsuit that would deter a curious shark from mistaking him for a potential source of nourishment. (Which, statistically, is rare, but certainly a fate worth avoiding.) Working with a team of scientists, he and his friends came up with a fresh approach — not a shark…
Flower-Shaped Starshade to Find Earth-Like Planets
Astronomers believe that every star in the galaxy has a planet, one fifth of which might harbor life. Only we haven’t seen any of them — yet. Jeremy Kasdin and his team are looking to change that with the design and engineering of an extraordinary piece of equipment: a flower petal-shaped “starshade” that allows a…
New Bionics That Let Us Run, Climb & Dance
Hugh Herr is building the next generation of bionic limbs, robotic prosthetics inspired by nature’s own designs. Herr lost both legs in a climbing accident 30 years ago; now, as the head of the MIT Media Lab’s Biomechatronics group, he shows his incredible technology in a talk that’s both technical and deeply personal — with…
Chris Hadfield: What I Learned from Going Blind in Space
There’s an astronaut saying: In space, “there is no problem so bad that you can’t make it worse.” So how do you deal with the complexity, the sheer pressure, of dealing with dangerous and scary situations? Retired colonel Chris Hadfield paints a vivid portrait of how to be prepared for the worst in space (and…
To Create for the Ages, Combine Art and Engineering
When Bran Ferren was just 9, his parents took him to see the Pantheon in Rome — and it changed everything. In that moment, he began to understand how the tools of science and engineering become more powerful when combined with art, with design and beauty. Ever since, he’s been searching for a convincing modern-day…
50-Cent Microscope Folds Like Origami
) Perhaps you’ve punched out a paper doll or folded an origami swan? TED Fellow Manu Prakash and his team have created a microscope made of paper that’s just as easy to fold and use. A sparkling demo that shows how this invention could revolutionize healthcare in developing countries … and turn almost anything into…
Jonathan Buford: Closet Manufacturing
Jonathan Buford, Founder at Makible Ltd., enables digital manufacturing by developing 3D printing and related technology for people to create, design and build products. Buford discuss the role 3D printing can play in increasing affordability of manufacturing, creating flexible, scaleable models of manufacturing, and eliminating the need for warehouses of inventory. For more information visit www.ted.com.
How Technology Allowed me to Read
Months after he was born, in 1948, Ron McCallum became blind. In this charming, moving talk, he shows how he is able to read — and celebrates the progression of clever tools and adaptive computer technologies that make it possible. With their help, and that of generous volunteers, he’s become a lawyer, an academic, and,…
The Kill Decision Shouldn’t Belong to a Robot
As a novelist, Daniel Suarez spins dystopian tales of the future. But on the TEDGlobal stage, he talks us through a real-life scenario we all need to know more about: the rise of autonomous robotic weapons of war. Advanced drones, automated weapons and AI-powered intelligence-gathering tools, he suggests, could take the decision to make war…
Hack a Banana, Make a Keyboard!
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 MaKey MaKey, a kit for hacking everyday objects.