Engineer and daredevil caver Bill Stone pushes the frontier -- through flooded tunnels, the remotest depths of the Earth and the limits of human endurance. Next up, he’s planning to mine moon ice by 2015 and build an autonomous robot to visit the icebound sea of Jupiter’s moon Europa.
Why you should listen to him:
Engineer and daredevil explorer Bill Stone is obsessed with discovery. After years of crawling through the deepest unexplored caves on the planet, he’s building robots to go where he can’t. His company Stone Aerospace built DepthX, an autonomous robot, which descended 1,099 feet down Mexico’s deepest watery sinkhole. By 2008 he’ll send an enhanced machine through the ice of Lake Bonney in the Antarctic. But that’s just a test for the real mission, building a probe with Nasa to bore through miles of ice on Jupiter’s moon Europa, then swim through the buried Europan sea in search of alien life.
He’s also hoping to singlehandedly jump-start commercial human space exploration by offering spacefarers affordable fuels and consumables extracted from the moon. His new Shackleton Energy Company, or SEC, intends to raise $15 billion (as he points out, this is about the cost of a North Sea oil production platform complex) to mine ice thought to be trapped on the moon's southern pole at Shackleton Crater, and to sell derived products (including propellants and other consumables) on the moon and in low earth orbit (LEO) to international consumers. If all goes well, SEC will be open for business as early as 2015 as an international energy company.
"With a doctorate in structural engineering and 11 patents to his credit, Stone is the archetypal modern-day explorer, a multidisciplinary maverick constantly inventing tools in the name of discovery lust"Wired
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Emily Oster: Cable television is good for women in India – August 16, 2007
University of Chicago economist Emily Oster went on stage at TED2007 to say that most of what we know about AIDS in Africa is wrong -- and proceeded to show data and graphs to make her case (watch the video of her speech -- or read the summary). Now she's applied her atypical lens to the effect of the introduction of cable television on gender attitudes in rural India, coming up again with surprising results.
In a recent draft paper (full text in PDF) that she wrote with Robert Jensen of Brown University after a three-year study, she argues that "the introduction of cable television is associated with improvements in women's status" and finds "significant increases in reported autonomy, decreases in the reported acceptability of beating and decreases in reported son preferences", this last point being about sex-selective abortions (rural families prefer boys). They also found "increases in female school enrollment and decreases in fertility (primarily via increased birth spacing)."
The effects are large, the two researchers argue, "equivalent in some cases to about five years of education" within the surveyed population.
These changes are "accomplished despite there being little or no direct targeted appeals" such as public-service announcements. Which brings Oster and Jensen to speculate that "it may be that cable television, with programming that features lifestyle both in urban areas and in other countries, is an effective form of persuasion, because people emulate what they perceive to be desirable behavior and attitudes".
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Archive: Bill Stone says, "I'm going to the moon -- who's with me?" – August 8, 2008
For the next two weeks, we're presenting some of our favorite TEDTalks from among the 270+ talks and performances we've posted since June 2006. Look for brand-new TEDTalks starting August 18. Until then, enjoy these gems -- and suggest your own by writing to contact@ted.com or joining the conversation on TED.com.
Bill Stone, a maverick cave explorer who has plumbed Earth’s deepest abysses, gives a rousing talk on his efforts to mine lunar ice for space fuel and to build an autonomous robot for studying Jupiter’s moon Europa. A TED.com user writes: "Where do I sign up?" (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, California. Duration: 17:55)
Watch Bill Stone's 2007 talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.
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Porco awarded, Antonelli promoted – January 17, 2008
TED speaker Paola Antonelli (watch her TED 2007 talk) has been promoted to senior curator of the New York Museum of Modern Art's department of architecture and design. The promotion was announced by MoMA's director Glenn Lowry. Paola is currently preparing "Design and the Elastic Mind", an exhibition on science, design and innovation that will open at MoMA on February 24. Carolyn Porco, leader of the imaging team for the Cassini space mission to Saturn and the opening speaker at TED 2007 (watch her talk), will be the recipient of this year's Isaac Asimov Science Award, given by American Humanist Association. Porco will receive the award in June in Washington. To both, congratulations!
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Earth-rise and Earth-set – November 14, 2007
Consider it a bonus track to the great speech by Carolyn Porco last March at TED07, when she showed amazing images of Saturn and its moons. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) has just released video footage taken by the the onboard high-definition camera of their spacecraft Kaguya, showing extraordinary images of the Moon's surface and the Earth "rising" and "setting" beyond the Moon's horizon. (Clicking on the link on their page opens up a second window: let the whole video download -- it takes a while -- before watching it).
Earth-rise:
Earth-set:
(Cross-posted on LunchOverIP)
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A hard week for space exploration – July 27, 2007
This has been a hard week for lovers and dreamers of space travel -- a frequent topic at TED. An explosion at Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites spaceport caused three victims. It was followed by a report on issues of personal safety at NASA, part of the unfolding story there. Space exploration is an inherent high-risk endeavor. We invite you to view several talks on TED.com that can help recapture the excitement and pure imagination that has inspired generations of people to reach for the stars: Burt Rutan's own vision, Bill Stone's audacity, and cosmologist David Deutsch, who tells us that humanity's true purpose -- the reason we exist -- is to explore and learn, to gain knowledge.
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Jonathan Harris tells the Web's secret stories, on TED.com – July 10, 2007
Jonathan Harris wants to make sense of the infinite world on the Web -- so he builds dazzling graphic interfaces that help us visualize the data floating around out there. Here he presents "We Feel Fine," a project that scours blogs to collect the planet's emoti(c)ons, and the "Yahoo! Time Capsule," which preserves images, quotes and thoughts snapped up in 2006. And he premieres "Universe," which presents current events as constellations of words -- a tag cloud of our collective consciousness. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 19:37.) Read more about Jonathan Harris on TED.com.
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A taste of TED, or two – June 14, 2007
Watch here a new "taste of TED" video documentary shot at this year's conference, in March. In 7 minutes it gives a great sense of the atmosphere at TED and of the content of the conference. It is also available elsewhere on this site, and you can download it here (158 Mb).
Another documentary about TED, "The future we will create: Inside the world of TED", which was filmed at TED2006, is been shown this coming Saturday night at the Maui Film Festival. Producers Daphne Zuniga and Steven Latham got full access to the conference, and used it wisely to take the viewers behind the scenes -- on top of showing speakers ranging from Al Gore to Peter Gabriel. The full-feature documentary (74 minutes) had a premiere screening in New York a few weeks ago and later in Los Angeles. It has been released on Netflix (US only) last week.
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Everything we know about AIDS in Africa is wrong: Emily Oster on TED.com – July 12, 2007
Emily Oster, a University of Chicago economist, looks at the stats on AIDS in Africa -- and comes up with a stunning conclusion: Everything we know about AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa is wrong. We look for root causes such as poverty and poor health care -- but we also need to factor in, say, the price of coffee, and the routes of long-haul truckers. In short, she says, there is a lot we don't know; and our assumptions about what we do know may keep us from finding the best way to stop the disease. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 15:45.)
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Robots that are "self-aware": Hod Lipson on TED.com – October 11, 2007
Engineer Hod Lipson demonstrates and talks about a few of his cool little robots, which have the ability to learn, understand themselves and even self-replicate. At the root of this uncanny demo is a deep inquiry into the nature of how living beings learn and evolve, and how we might harness these processes to make things that learn and evolve. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, California. Duration: 06:29.)
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Hans Rosling's jaw-dropping demo, on TED.com – June 26, 2007
In a follow-up to his now-legendary TED2006 presentation, Hans Rosling demonstrates how developing countries are pulling themselves out of poverty. He shows us the next generation of his Trendalyzer software -- which analyzes and displays data in amazingly accessible ways, allowing people to see patterns previously hidden behind mountains of stats. (Just days after this talk, he announced a deal with Google to acquire the software.) He also demos Dollar Street, a program that lets you peer in the windows of typical families worldwide living at different income levels. Be sure to watch straight through to the (literally) jaw-dropping finale. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 19:09) Read more about Hans Rosling on TED.com.
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A tour of MS Virtual Earth, on TED.com – June 21, 2007
Stephen Lawler, from Microsoft, takes us on a tour through the company's new Virtual Earth project, which is, basically, an attempt to turn the entire planet into an interface to the web. Collecting and synthesizing massive amounts of data -- bird's-eye views, street-level photos, 3D wireframes -- the Virtual Earth team are building a world of possibilities. Bonus: This talk may explain the mysterious vans with cameras on top that you might have seen cruising up and down your street. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 06:55) Read Stephen Lawler's profile on TED.com
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How I got my new hip: Allison Hunt on TED.com – July 26, 2007
TEDster Allison Hunt's five-minute talk finds humor and marketing strategy in the most unlikely of places -- her own hip-replacement surgery. As the world scrutinizes broken health-care systems, this particularly timely clip shows how getting to the front of a two-year waiting list can have an altruistic effect. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 5:00.)
Watch Allison Hunt's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.
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Flying to the moons of Saturn: Carolyn Porco on TED.com – October 2, 2007
Planetary scientist Carolyn Porco says, "I'm going to take you on a journey." And does she ever. Showing breathtaking images from the Cassini voyage to Saturn, she focuses on Saturn's intriguing largest moon, Titan, with its deserts, mudflats and puzzling lakes, and on frozen Enceladus, which seems to shoot jets of ice. Could one of these places harbor water -- or life? (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, California. Duration: 17:21.)
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2007 TED Prize winner E.O. Wilson on TEDTalks – April 4, 2007
As E.O. Wilson accepts his 2007 TED Prize, he makes a plea on behalf of his constituents, the insects and small creatures, to learn more about our biosphere. We know so little about nature, he says, that we're still discovering tiny organisms indispensable to life; and yet we're steadily, methodically, vigorously destroying nature. Wilson identifies five grave threats to biodiversity (a term he coined), and makes his TED wish: that we will work together on the Encyclopedia of Life, a web-based compendium of data from scientists and amateurs on every aspect of the biosphere. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 24:21) NEW: Watch this talk in High Resolution (480P)
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The center of our minds: Vilayanur Ramachandran on TED.com – October 23, 2007
Brain researcher Vilayanur Ramachandran talks about how brain damage can reveal the connection between the internal structures of the brain and the corresponding functions of the mind. He discusses three specific syndromes: phantom limb pain, synesthesia (when people hear color or smell sounds), and the Capgras delusion, when brain-damaged people believe their closest friends and family have been replaced with imposters. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, California. Duration: 23:46.)
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Speaker updates: Craig Venter, Jeff Han – October 8, 2007
Updates from TED speakers: After a whirlwind of media speculation over the weekend following a story by The Guardian, biologist Craig Venter (watch his TED2005 speech) will announce today at the annual meeting of his institute in San Diego that his team has built a synthetic chromosome, using lab chemicals. "A giant leap forward in the development of designer genomes", writes the newspaper. Mr Venter's autobiography, "A Life Decoded: My Genome, My Life" is scheduled to be published in two weeks. At TED2006 computer scientist Jeff Han demonstrated his prototype of a revolutionary multitouch screen (watch video). At TED2007 he brought along a larger, wall-size version that TEDsters could try out. The interactive media wall, built by Han's company Perceptive Pixel, will be sold by Nieman Marcus in the US. Price tag: $100,000 USD.
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Life at 30,000 feet: Richard Branson on TED.com – October 9, 2007
When Richard Branson was at school, his headmaster predicted he would wind up either a millionaire or in jail. Since then, he's done both. He talks to TED's Chris Anderson about the ups and the downs of his career, from his multibillionaire success to his multiple near-death experiences, from Virgin's line of spacecraft to the failure of the Virgin condom. He also reveals some of his (very surprising) motivations. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, California. Duration: 30:44.)
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What Are Icons, Mavericks and Geniuses? – March 3, 2007
The theme for the TED 2008 conference was recently announced -- it is "The Big Questions." A worthy theme for TED, indeed, but not one I am yet prepared to ponder. Rather, as TED 2007 is literally around the corner, I find myself much more engaged in contemplating next week's theme -- "Icons. Geniuses. Mavericks." An equally worth theme, but what does it mean?
One might attempt to intuit the answer from next week's program. Presumably these amazing speakers are the icons, geniuses and mavericks of which we speak. But who is what? Is Paul Simon a genius or an icon? Is Nathan Myhrvold a maverick or a genius? Is Richard Branson an icon or a maverick? And what in the world is Tom Reilly? Clearly it was going to take more than mere deduction to appreciate the meaning of next week's theme.
Finding insufficient inspiration from TED's own website, I chose to take the very advice I give my kids when they ask me a question for which I have no answer -- "I don't know, look it up on Wikipedia." So off to Wikipedia I went, while contemplating whether TEDster Jimmy Wales would be described as an icon, maverick or genius? Thankfully, Jimmy spoke at TEDglobal2005 for which no categorization was required; instead, Jimmy needed only to share "Ideas Big Enough to Change the World." Given his druthers, Jimmy may have opted for categorization over the lofty requirement of world-changing ideas. Nonetheless, a theme's a theme and Jimmy was not an "icon, genius or maverick," but rather a speaker of "ideas big enough to change the world." I remained hopeful that Jimmy's big idea -- Wikipedia -- would be able to help me solve my conundrum.
Unfortunately, delving into the pages of Wikipedia did not give me instant clarity as to the essence of these terms. But, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, and therefore I will share with you what Wikipedia did have to say about Icons, Geniuses and Mavericks.
Not a bad lineup if TED could pull it off -- Jesus, Einstein and James Garner. I've often thought what a great conference TED could create if there was time travel. Alas, next week's icons, geniuses and mavericks are going to have to come from the living to participate. Luckily, judging by the schedule, there were plenty to chose among. Since I can get no more clarity from Wikipedia on this year's TED theme, I guess I'll have to report back after the conference with my thoughts on what makes an icon, genius or maverick. Until then, I think I'll go watch some reruns of Maverick on the American Life Network.
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The Lonely Interplanetary guide to scuba diving – August 1, 2008
Bored with Earthly beach destinations this summer? Does the word "Carribbean" not ring exactly, well, "exotic" these days? With this week's news that (highly acidic) water has been tasted on Mars and an ethane lake has been discovered on Saturn's moon Titan, perhaps it's time to investigate otherworldly destinations for fun in the surf. Grab your ultraviolet-shielded swimming gear and a good beach read (say, Project Orion by George Dyson, who spoke at TED in 2003), hop aboard Virgin Galactic's newly unveiled SpaceShipTwo, and cruise to these astonishing natural satellites orbiting Jupiter and Saturn, where summer never comes:
Tidally bound to face its mother planet, Europa consistently offers breathtaking views of Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere, while its breezy hardly-there chemise of molecular oxygen is delicate enough to leave the magnificent sight unobstructed. (But, beware the occasional barrage of comets yanked in by Jupiter's gravity.) Adventurers wishing to forgo Europa's "spa experience" will be at home, too: drill through miles of icy crust to access this satellite's vast subsurface ocean of liquid saltwater -- and whatever may lurk there.
Unlike visitors to other Jovian moons, sailors to Callisto can leave their ionizing radiationscreen at home: though excessively pockmarked by impacts, its outer orbit saves it from the effects of Jupiter's monstrous magnetosphere. Hiking enthusiasts can traverse its gigantic basin of concentric rings, Valhalla, spanning 600 kilometers, kicking through wisps of condensed oxygen. This moon's lack of tectonic activity makes for easy access to its likely ocean of liquid saltwater. (Robert Ballard has made the case that Earth's own oceans are still deeply mysterious.)
Athletes and thrill-seekers delight at Enceladus' suite of extreme winter features and low gravity: spirally slalom the slopes of its unforgettable impact craters; gawk at the ivory, propane-scented violence of erupting cryovolcanoes as the panorama of Saturn's rings sets below the horizon; bobsled along thousand-mile escarpments of fresh chemical ice. Meanwhile, geology geeks can enjoy exploring this highly reflective moon's incredible tectonic scars and stripes. But let divers beware: the existence of a liquid subsurface is only speculative.
Titan's atmosphere, unique among moons, makes it a mysterious entity among other natural satellites and an attractive destination for Saturn-bound families seeking an exotic experience without patent danger (asteroid strikes are rare). Visitors willing to endure its unusual weather -- the nitrogen-humid nights with the sky awash in orange; monsoons of methane and other hydrocarbons -- will be rewarded by its Earth-like terrain: newly discovered lakes of ethane, vast sand dunes, a probable ocean of water-ammonia under the surface, and perhaps even microbial life. (Get your vaccinations!)
Our solar system is truly a cornucopia of enchanting and enigmatic phenomena. Make sure your frequent-flyer miles go to good use on your next trek by studying TEDTalks by Carolyn Porco, Bill Stone, George Dyson, Freeman Dyson and other adventurers. -- Matthew Trost
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TED2007 Day Three: things that knocked my hat in the creek – March 10, 2007
Wow! Day Three at TED2007 ROCKED! A magical day which got crank-started by a truly electric presentation on the perils of Local Warming.
This was a day which just can't wait for the TEDTalks to come out. Daniel Goleman made a wonderful connection between emotional intelligence and the empathy which will be required -- by all of us -- to make more informed, broader-scope consumption and action decisions in the future. Later in the day Eames Demetrios, grandson of Charles Eames (and a true design thinker in his own right) made the same point in a different way -- humanity has got the information now; we just need to start making better choices.
Today (actually, yesterday, since once again I find myself blogging at 4 in the morning -- funny that...) was one of those classic TED days where almost everything was mind-blowing,where just about everything knocked my hat in the creek. Highlights for me were JJ Abrams and his Mystery Box; Jeff Skoll and his enlightened humanity; Deborah Scranton and her movie The War Tapes, which every global citizen must see and experience; Will Wright and his latest "game" which I couldn't help but think was the fortuitous answer to the TEDPrize wish of 2007 TEDPrize winner E.O. Wilson; Jaime Lerner as a vibrant example of the power of pure enthusiasm; Eames Demetrios for giving us the gift of previously unseen movies which exposed the vernacular power of iterative prototyping, as well as a parable of a banana leaf which pretty much sums up TED 2006+2007 in a nutshell (you MUST watch this TEDTalk when it comes out!); and of course Tracy Chapman and Isabel Allende for their artistry and authenticity.
It was a good day.
Above, all, I want to express my personal gratitude for Thomas Dolby and the musicians of the Jazz Mafia for the musical punch they give to all of TED:
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TED2007: Sketchblogging the conference – March 9, 2007
Lorna Herf is an illustrator and designer from Los Angeles attending TED and she's been blogging on lornamatic in a pretty original and compelling way - she's sketchblogging the conference. Check out her blog. Here are her "notes" from four speakers: Carolyn Porco (session 1), John Doerr (session 3), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (session 3) and Michael Pollan (session 5):
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The illustrated woman: Maira Kalman on TED.com – October 16, 2007
Author and illustrator Maira Kalman talks about her life and work -- from her New Yorker covers to her children's books to her newest book for grownups, The Principles of Uncertainty. And yes, in person, she is as wonderful, as wise, and as deliciously off-kilter as her work. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, California. Duration: 17:42.)
Watch Maira Kalman's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.
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Making films to make change: Jeff Skoll on TED.com – August 23, 2007
Jeff Skoll made his fortune as the first president of eBay. Now he's spending it at the movies. His company, Participant Productions, makes entertaining, issues-driven films that inspire real change -- Murderball, Syriana, An Inconvenient Truth ... Here, he talks about the people who've inspired him to do good, and about some upcoming films that will open your eyes. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, California. Duration: 15:45.)
Watch Jeff Skoll's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.
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Scenes from "The War Tapes": Deborah Scranton on TED.com – September 13, 2007
The director of the award-winning documentary The War Tapes, Deborah Scranton makes films that help people tell their own stories. She talks about making The War Tapes, her 2006 doc that put videocameras in the hands of Charlie Company, a unit of the National Guard stationed in Iraq, for one year. Their raw footage and diaries tell a powerful, unsettling story. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, California. Duration: 17:49.)
Watch Deborah Scranton's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.
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High drama inside a cell, on TED.com – July 24, 2007
David Bolinsky and his team at XVIVO illustrate scientific and medical concepts with high-drama animation. These animators are true auteurs, carefully scripting and editing the story of cellular processes to show everyone -- expert and amateur alike -- the truth and the beauty of our bodies. You've never seen the life of a cell quite like this. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 9:57.)
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To the depths of the Earth ... and beyond! Watch Bill Stone on TED.com – June 28, 2007
Bill Stone, the maverick cave explorer and diver -- who has invented robots and rebreathing equipment to let him plumb Earth’s deepest abysses -- talks about his efforts to build a robot to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa. The plan is to send the droid to bore through miles of ice and swim through a liquid underworld that may harbor alien life. And if that’s not enough, he’s also planning to mine ice, on Earth's own moon, by 2015. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 17:55) Read more about Bill Stone on TED.com.
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Quotes from the TED Salon – September 27, 2007
Last night in Manhattan, TED hosted its 2007 Salon, called "Hot Science: Radical Ideas to Combat the Climate Crisis." A detailed roundup is coming later today -- but first, a few quotes from last night:
The first speaker, Michael Oppenheimer, began by saying: "I'm the depressing, immobilizing part of the talk." He went on to make this point: While Hurricane Katrina can't be directly tied to climate change, it did teach us one thing:
You can't count on the government to save you from global warming. They're still inept to this day, and half an American city is gone, and how the hell are we going to deal with this? And what are we doing instead?
He puts up a devastating slide of the hyperdevelopment on the beach at Atlantic City -- which would lose 100 feet of beachfront if global sea levels rise 1 foot, as they will.
Alternative energy expert Martin Hoffert is a staunch advocate for getting off fossil fuels altogether. He spun out one scenario:Let me say a few words about space solar power. The advantage of putting solar collectors in orbit: The sun is basically shining 24/7. We already have thousands of satellites up there -- suppose you could build a transmitting antenna in orbit that would beam energy down to collectors, beaming energy using lasers (not microwaves) from geostationary orbit? We could send it up in one launch vehicle, and power a village, maybe in Africa, to demonstrate the viability of solar power. We could do this in 3 to 5 years.
Environmental scientist David Keith talked about geoengineering -- dramatic, cheap solutions to a warming atmosphere, such as blowing a Mt. Pinatubo-size cloud of sulfur into the sky to bring the global temperature down. Such ideas seem overly dramatic, and even immoral, but they are out there, and he argues:
We should move this out of the shadows and talk about this seriously, because sooner or later we will be confronted with a decision on this. We would do [geoengineering] instead of cutting emissions, instead of mitigation, because it's cheaper. It's very cheap. It's not a GOOD idea, but that's how big the [incentive] is. That is not in dispute, though we might argue over the sanity of it ...
Russ George, the chief scientist of Planktos, offered a way to think about all the factors contributing to the larger issue of climate change:
We have a bunch of aberrant applications in this planet, jamming a lot of errors against that primary operating system, and it's threatening to reboot and give us that blue screen of death, threatening a reboot back to 16 million years ago.
Juan Enriquez (pictured above) talked about how much of our energy, such as coal and oil -- made from ancient plants -- is simply "concentrated sunlight." How can we get to the point where we grow our own energy as efficiently as we grow wheat? Looking at a photo of a pile of surplus grain, Enriquez notes:
That would probably be a good outcome for energy.
Photo of Juan Enriquez by Myrna Suarez, Condé Nast Portfolio -
"Rock star" Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala named to World Bank – October 5, 2007
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (watch her TEDTalks from TED2007 and TEDGlobal07), the crusading economist and former Finance Minister of Nigeria, has been appointed a Managing Director of the World Bank.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala will oversee the World Bank’s work in Africa, South Asia, and Europe and Central Asia. "Her commitment to the developing world is unparalleled," said Robert Zoellick, the president of the World Bank. She's been working with the Stolen Assets Recovery (StAR) initiative to help poor countries reclaim assets lost to corruption, and with Bono's DATA organization on historic debt-relief programs. Bono said of her last week, "She's the kind of leader we all want to work for." (And as Portfolio.com commented, she's as much a rock star as that Irish gentleman.)
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First look at Branson/Rutan's space terminal – September 6, 2007
Making private space travel possible and accessible to everyone has been a recurring topic at recent TED conferences, discussed by speakers such as Burt Rutan at TED 2006 (watch his speech), Peter Diamandis at TEDGLOBAL 2005, Richard Branson at TED 2007 and others. This week the first images of the central terminal and hangar facility at New Mexico's future private spaceport have been released:
Designed by engineering firm URS Corp and by architect Norman Foster, the structure, called Spaceport America, will serve as the operating basis for Branson's Virgin Galactic suborbital spaceliners, which are being built at Scaled Composites in California, founded by Rutan. Construction of the spaceport should begin in 2008.
Details in this story by Space.com.
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Redefining the dictionary: Erin McKean on TED.com – August 30, 2007
Is the beloved paper dictionary doomed to extinction? When does a made-up word become real? And could you use "synecdochical" in a sentence, please? In this infectiously exuberant talk, leading lexicographer Erin McKean looks at the many ways in which today's print dictionary is poised for transformation in this internet era. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, California. Duration: 15:41.)
Watch Erin McKean's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.
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The immense promise of DNA folding: Paul Rothemund on TED.com – September 2, 2008
At TED2007, Paul Rothemund gave TED a short summary of DNA folding (calling it a process akin to magic). Now, he lays out in clear, adundant detail the immense promise of this field -- to create tiny machines that assemble themselves from a set of instructions. (Recorded February 2008 in Monterey, California. Duration: 16:24.)
Watch Paul Rothemund's 2008 talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 285 TEDTalks -- including many more talks from MacArthur "genius" grant winners.
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E.O. Wilson on PBS: Why should we care if the woodpecker goes? – July 13, 2007
The last "Bill Moyers Journal", the weekly report on PBS, featured a long interview (video - transcript) by Moyers with biologist and TED Prize 2007 winner EO Wilson. The focus was very much on Wilson's career -- "No one in our time has added more to our understanding of Earth's ecology than Ed Wilson" is how Moyers described him -- but Moyers took the opportunity to also ask questions about the Encyclopedia of Life. The EOL is Wilson's TED Prize wish (video - summary -
