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Emily McManus

Editor, TED.com, TED

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TED StaffHostTED Attendee

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Can I help you find a TEDTalk you remember watching?

Did you ever watch a TEDTalk and then forget which one it was? I can help! I just love helping people find lost TEDTalks from the sketchiest of clues.

Tell me any details you can remember. "There was a lady with a brain ..." "The guy drew a bull's-eye ..." "Silver shoes ..." and we'll puzzle it out together.

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Topics: How To find a TEDTalk Memories TEDTalks sharing TEDTalks
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  • Dava Marriott

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    Jun 23 2012: I am looking for a talk by a woman who had special needs siblings and she called herself and similar children, 'mirror children', I believe.

  • Dava Marriott

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    Jun 23 2012: I am looking for a talk by a woman who had special needs siblings and she called herself and similar children, 'mirror children', I believe.

  • Bill Robertson

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    Jun 23 2012: Hi Emily,

    I'm really hoping you can help me. I'm 90% sure this was a TEDTalk I watched (my apologies if it isn't). I'm not sure if it was the topic of the video, but at some part the speaker (a man) discussed genetic/evolutionary algorithms, where algorithms (starting with random instructions) are selected for and reproduce following evolutionary principals to solve a particular problem.

    The video included several diagrams, including one that was black and white and showed how the "activity" (I can't remember what it was exactly) varied with the rate of mutation. When the rate of mutation was too low or too high it would flatline, and when it was at a suitable rate the graph had lots of fluctuations.

    There was also another diagram I remember that showed the population as a blob of color. When a significantly new "species" evolved that solved the problem more efficiently, a wash of new color would replace the original population, and eventually the process would repeat again.

    I've been trying to track down this video for ages to share it with a friend. Any help would be awesome! Thanks!
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    Adam Seelye

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    Jun 21 2012: Exactly what I was looking for, thank you!

  • David Armitage

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    Jun 19 2012: Hi Emily,
    There was a fashion photgrapher that focused on Albinos, helping them come out of their shell. Haven't been able to relocate it.
    Cheers,
    David
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    Karla Robertson

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    Jun 18 2012: Hi Emily-Thanks for doing this. Okay HELP! Here's what I remember about the video I can't find:

    She was a science prodigy, had at the age of 14 approached Princeton University to see if they needed any help. I think she was 19 when she did the TEDtalk. Anyway, her main topic was that she was researching different approaches to finding a cure for cancer and her theory was based on a question she asked herself which was: What if a cancerous tumor actually started out as cells that were sent out to heal a damaged area of the body and somewhere along the line it's DNA changed and mutated into a cancerous cell and multiplied. She also mentioned that her research showed that we never find cancers in skeletal muscle tissue. So her premise was what if we helped these cells finish their original purpose and instead of going to war with them and trying to kill them with chemo, what if we were able to reverse their DNA back to what it originally was and help them do their healing?

    I think she started out talking about her grandmother who was Hungarian??? (not sure about that) who was her inspiration for going into this line of research. thank you!

    I watched it on the regular TED site and it was at least 2 years ago. Anyway, hope you find her.
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    Sam Rock

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    Jun 18 2012: Suggest me some most inspiring talks please.
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      TED 10+

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      TED Staff
      Jun 18 2012: Hey Sam,
      Check out the "surprise me" feature on the homepage of TED.com ( you need to scroll done a bit) You can choose talks by category or ranking, for example "inspiring" and you can some suggestions.
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        Sam Rock

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        Jun 18 2012: thanks a lot... i got it...

  • Lisa-Ann Galati

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    Jun 17 2012: Hi Emily, I am looking for a talk pertaining to who initiates an idea and how it takes others to get the idea rolling. Often it is an individual then a few more and a different group that really gets the idea into action. there is a scene of people at a park, where one is acting out, then a different person takes the same action/idea and gets the attention of others...finally it is a small group that gets the attention of others and the action/idea is accepted/embraced. LA

  • kavita patel

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    Jun 16 2012: hi there, i did a tedx talk two weeks ago, do you know when it might be posted.
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    Kevin Jacobson

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    Jun 15 2012: There was a middle eastern guy showing examples of him using computers without mouses or touch pads and little colored things he wore on his fingers.

  • Luke Monahan

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    Jun 15 2012: I think it may be a few years old now but I'm looking for TED talk in which a man explains that there is a difference between how you feel the sensation of touch when you touch something and when something else touches you.

    He goes on to suggest that the difference exists because the brain predicts the sensation of touch when you deliberately touch something and subtracts the difference between the prediction and the actual sensation.

    He gives an anecdote about how children in the back of a car will get into an escalating hitting war because they perceive the hit they give to be less impactful than one they receive of equal force.

    I think he also gives some suggestions about why the brain makes this subtraction (to find problems with it's prediction model and to learn something about the thing with which you are interacting) but I'm not sure about this part, I may have just imagined this bit...

    I hope that is enough information and I hope someone knows the talk that I am referring to. I doubt I can remember any more details than that.

  • Martin Melendro Torres

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    Jun 13 2012: Hi Emily,

    I have been looking for a TEDx talk that i watched some time along about a paradigm change in mathematics. The speaker was talking about a simple but powerful system to do operations (from basic additions and subtractions to more complicated ones) and it was based in a grid of numbers organized in a diamond-like pattern... that's as much as I can remember, I'd be very glad if you could help me find it. Thanks for trying!

    Martín

  • Dream Machine

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    Jun 11 2012: I was looking for a video that was an animated video. The guy was drawing as he was talking and it was about intrinsic extrinsic motivation. I would greatly appreciate it if you could find the video. I want to make one similar but need to show people what I'm talking about. Thank You!

  • Greg Dillon

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    Jun 10 2012: Yes I watched a ted talk quite awhile back. I found "Beware of the single story" as remembered the talk was a dark complected woman, I thought from Nigeria (which brought me to that talk). But the one I am searching for was a dark woman from outside the US. She spoke excellent english, but talked about how it did no roll easily off of the tonge, as native languagesdo. I remember liking the talk, but I am not even sure of the topic. Sorry I do not have more to go on I have watched so many my brain has many together. Do you have any ideas?

  • Frank Salerno

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    Jun 9 2012: Thanks.. This website cannot en
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    Adam Seelye

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    Jun 8 2012: There was one talk I saw a few years ago, like to revisit...
    All I remember is that the guy had long hair, and he talked about the latest generation possibly living to 1000 years plus.

  • Bart Pinnock

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    Jun 6 2012: Hello there!

    Quite some time I watched a TEDtalk about a certain project in America or England. It was about a contest for the most innovative idea. The deal was that certain groups of engineers had to participate together to win this contest. Eventually I think a group with some kind of helicopter network won the competition.
    They created a quadrotor to transport goods in Africa (and eventually the whole world). The goal behind this was to be able to bring good to the less infrastructured towns in the African continent.

    The video is from quite some time ago and my description is only so-so, but I really hope you can help me out! Thanks in advance :)

    I really love that you do this by the way. it's a great initiative! Thank you for doing it and keep it going!!

    Kind regards,

    Bart

  • Frank Salerno

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    Jun 6 2012: Ted video on using simple words

  • Jeronimo M

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    Jun 5 2012: Hi

    I'm trying to find a talk about perception again. It's mainly about the delay in processing of information (waiting for all the sensory input to get to "now") and that the brain constantly adjusts itself to compensate the delay. He also went on a tangent about what happens when the compensation doesnt work and how that may explain disorders like schizoprenia.

    Thanks in advance.
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    Ashley Conway 10+

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    Jun 4 2012: I LOVE this offer of assistance! I don't have a request at this time, but an a bit relieved to learn that I am not alone in having a devilish time finding a TED Talk that I can only vaguely remember. I think it would be great if this feature could live on past its natural life in "conversations".

    In general, it is frustrating not to have a way to communicate with TED. For instance, I am trying to "flip" some lessons in TED Ed, but the instructions (such as they are) are not helpful and I am stuck. For instance, when creating questions, how do I insert the multiple choice answers and how can I track students' responses?. Perhaps the intent is for users to figure this stuff out for ourselves. I have a computer genius friend who's response to my admittedly basic questions is usually some variation of, "If you really wanted to know how to do this, you'd know by now".
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      Emily McManus 200+

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      TED StaffHostTED Attendee
      Jun 5 2012: Thank you for your kind words! I'll ask if we can keep this open longer ...

      Sorry about that frustrating experience with TED-Ed -- I know they are going at 1000 miles an hour right now, but let's get you some assistance.
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    Srinivas Atmakur

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    Jun 3 2012: Thank you :)
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    Sean Brother

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    Jun 3 2012: I think this Ted's task from you it's a very useful, helpful and nice. You really help people, I congratulate you sincerely. Everybody ought to do the same as frequently as they could. Thanks.

  • Helena C. Heyning

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    Jun 3 2012: Thxs!
    There was a TED talk about how to make use apps and connect people to adopt/do jobs in their neighborhood. I think it was a lady who gave theTED talk.
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    Srinivas Atmakur

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    Jun 3 2012: There was one speech where he tells that the highest point in teching mathematics in schools should be statistics...!
    Can you give me a link to that
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