I’m watching a re-broadcast of Dr. Daniel Kammen’s six-part series on cable’s Science Channel titled Ecopolis. Here’s how it’s described: “A blueprint for city life in the year 2050, Ecopolis can benefit from new ‘green’ technologies being explored today that will lead to a more sustainable urban experience tomorrow.” Wow, I’m thankful for a Nobel Prize winning geek with a bent for communication and activism and a group of science video programmers who produce for cable TV broadcasting such positive visions of real possibilities for sustaining ourselves in cities of the future.
Curiosity Matters
knowing what we see rather than seeing what we know
TED | TED Blog- TED Global newsmakers: A closer look at Laptop U, plus the first all-female race in Beirut, and more May 23, 2013With TEDGlobal 2013 just 17 days in the distance, we in the TED office are getting very excited to “Think Again.” Here, a look at the conference speakers who made the news this week. Education innovator Anant Agarwal is interviewed in The New Yorker article “Laptop U.” The founder of edX, Harvard and MIT’s online learning venture, Agarwal will speak at TEDGl […]Kate Torgovnick
- A look at 10 TED Prize wishes past, to help inspire new ones May 23, 2013A TED Prize wish must be ambitious and bold, with the ability to impact lives all across the globe. And yet, a TED Prize wish must also be practical — an actionable plan that can flourish with $1 million in seeding and access to leverage the power of the TED community. With nominations open for the 2014 TED Prize — you can nominate a visionary leader (be it […]Kate Torgovnick
- How to print out your own house May 23, 2013Architect Alastair Parvin came to TED2013 with questions that challenge our preconceptions about building. How about we involve everyone in the architectural design process, not just professional architects building for the super-wealthy? What about a world in which cities are built by citizens? Alastair Parvin: Architecture for the people by the peopleParvi […]Helen Walters
- Further reading on what makes a good end of life May 22, 2013Judy Macdonald Johnston speaks at TED University, where audience members from TED2013 get the chance to speak. “What would be a good end of life?” Judy MacDonald Johnston asks in today’s talk, given at TED2013. Her answer — based on her own experience of helping two friends face death in a way that respected the incredible life they’d built — involves five p […]Jessica Gross
- TED news in brief: Esther Perel on female libido, an update on Henry Markram’s supercomputer brain, and more May 22, 2013Below, take a look at some of the TED speakers and Fellows who are cropping up in the news this week. Esther Perel: The secret to desire in a long-term relationshipLybrido, a drug to treat women with low libido, is in clinical trials and could be presented to the FDA for review as early as this summer. In The New York Times Magazine‘s look at this new drug, […]Kate Torgovnick
- TEDxSydney sets up at the Opera House: A timelapse May 22, 2013On May 4, a TEDx event took place in one of the most architecturally recognizable sites in the world — the Sydney Opera House. Here, with the help of The MilkBar, the organizers of TEDxSydney captured the event from dawn to dusk and compressed it all into 78 seconds. Watch above as the sun rises over the beautiful building and as attendees arrive, fill the a […]Kate Torgovnick
- A library revolution, started in part by Jane McGonigal’s TED Talk May 21, 2013Libraries are generally where you go to check out books; not where you go if you want to write one. This is an old assumption that Librii — a concept for a community-based, digitally-enhanced series of libraries in the developing world — would like to flip on its head. TED speaker Jane McGonigal has given this ambituous project a big thumbs up. Librii is the […]Kate Torgovnick
- The World on its Head: A Q&A about the ideas behind this exciting TEDGlobal session May 21, 2013TEDGlobal 2013 guest curators Nassim Assefi and Gabriella Gomez-Mont share how they created the session, “The World on Its Head,” which will make you rethink the global order. Session 6 of TEDGlobal 2013 has a captivating title: “The World on its Head.” Guest curated by Nassim Assefi and Gabriella Gómez-Mont — both from the inaugural class of TEDGlobal 2009 […]Karen Eng
- Crowdsourcing limitations: How you can become a part of Phil Hansen’s latest art piece May 21, 2013As an artist, I’m always interested in looking at the defining moments in our lives, understanding how these moments affect us and finding different ways to represent them. Phil Hansen: Embrace the shakeWe all face limitations. I had the amazing opportunity to share my story at the TED conference this year. I came to do the art I do today not by a well-defin […]philinthecircle
- Responding to the petition to disinvite George Papandreou from TEDGlobal May 21, 2013An online petition was posted early this past weekend, asking that “the TEDGlobal conference organizers remove George Papandreou from the speakers list.” Papandreou is the former prime minister of Greece. He was prime minister in 2009, when the euro crisis flared up. Under pressure from the markets and from Greek citizens protesting harsh austerity measures, […]tedstaff
- TED Global newsmakers: A closer look at Laptop U, plus the first all-female race in Beirut, and more May 23, 2013
