Is it possible to define, measure and even increase how wise a person is? Psychiatrist Dilip Jeste is attempting to answer those questions. To assess our health, we weigh ourselves, measure our blood pressure, and check our cholesterol. But one scientist is trying to figure out the connection between our well-being and something much more diffi...

[embed]http://www.ted.com/talks/kashmir_hill_and_surya_mattu_what_your_smart_devices_know_and_share_about_you[/embed] It’s been a busy few weeks for the TED community. Below, our favorite highlights. Meet 2018’s Technology in Journalism Honorees. Journalists Kashmir Hill and Surya Mattu received this year’s Technology in Journalism Award f...

This 4-question quiz can help you identify the specific things that could make you happier right now, says writer Sam Horn. Just pick up a pen and paper. I had just wrapped up an intense two-day consulting job in Southern California. I was sitting in my rental car, trying to drum up the energy to drive to the airport and fly back to Washington,...

There is great peace to be discovered in beauty, says writer Ryan Holiday. It's all around us in expected places like nature, love and our loved ones but in less-expected ones, too -- the smell of asphalt before the rain, dusty pawprints on a car, the fleeting quiet of an empty inbox. On Wednesday morning, February 23, 1944, Anne Frank climbed ...

UPDATED: To see all these talks at one click, check out our updated Playlist: The 20 Most Popular Talks of All Time. As 2013 draws to a close, TED is deeply humbled to have posted 1600+ talks, each representing an idea worth spreading. So which ideas have had the most widespread impact? Below, a look at the 20 most-watched talks as of Dec...

Below, just a few of the intriguing headlines involving members of the TED community this week: TED Fellow Antonio Torres is creating a"living" amphitheater in Lake Forest, Illinois. Made from netted straw, wildflowers and vines, it will bloom throughout the summer and fall while it hosts performances. (Read more about Antonio’s work.) Jac...

Happy International Men’s Day, all! While at first, it might seem a little strange to have a holiday that celebrates, well, approximately half of the world’s population. But the goals of this holiday -- “focus[ing] on men's and boy's health, improving gender relations, promoting gender equality, and highlighting positive male role models” -- are...

TEDActive lets you watch every single talk of TED2013, but without having to sit in an auditorium for hours at a time. TEDActive attendees get to watch the conference while lounging around the La Quinta Resort and Spa in Palm Springs, taking part in participatory art projects and going on all kinds of field trips for adults. (Check out the 1...

Moms and dads often feel like they can’t win. If they pay too much attention to their kids, they’re helicopter parents; too little, and they’re absentee parents. What’s the happy medium that will result in truly happy, self-sufficient kids? Here are five tips. 1. Give your kids things they can own and control. “Enlist the children in their ow...

The iconic portrait of 2011 TED Prize winner JR, jumping in front of a bold pair of eyes, was shot by the photographer and writer Christopher Shay. The story of how this photo came to be is an interesting one -- and we asked Shay to tell it: I met JR when I was writing and photographing for the Phnom Penh Post, an English-language daily n...

Some people who launch companies end up being wildly successful, but there’s an unpleasant truth: Many fail. Before you risk it all, here’s a quick guide to gauge whether you should go for it, from serial entrepreneur Scott Galloway. This post is part of TED’s “How to Be a Better Human” series, each of which contains a piece of helpful advice f...

The weekend before last, we joined hundreds of New Yorkers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the first-ever TEDx event at a museum: TEDxMet. The speakers included Nobel-winning neuroscientist Eric Kandel, artist Maira Kalman, legendary choreographer Bill T. Jones, and writer Andrew Solomon. The day was peppered with stunning music and danc...

Designer Ayse Birsel shares the everyday objects she loves. Since 2002, product designer Ayse Birsel has worked side-by-side with her husband Bibi Seck. Together they have refined a design process they call “Deconstruction:Reconstruction.” The process of deconstructing a product into the human needs it must fill  -- before leaping to design s...

For the ninth session of TED2017, hosted by TED's Editorial Director Helen Walters and Curation Director Kelly Stoetzel, we look into ourselves with seven speakers who take on subjects ranging from parenting to social interaction and heartbreak, revealing nuggets of wisdom that just might help you lead a better, more fulfilled life. The l...

The stage is set for TEDSummit 2019: A Community Beyond Borders! During the opening session, speakers and performers explored themes of competition, political engagement and longing -- and celebrated the TED communities (representing 84 countries) gathered in Edinburgh, Scotland to forge TED's next chapter. The event: TEDSummit 2019, Sess...

It’s hard not to get a lump in your throat when you read about the grueling conditions in Chinese factories. It’s hard not to feel guilt about those working 70 hours a week in Foxconn factories where iPhones and iPads are assembled, or to feel shocked at revelations that workers in toy factories regularly receive fines for going to the bathr...

Photo: James Duncan Davidson Michael Tilson Thomas is the music director of the San Francisco Symphony, founder and artistic director of the New World Symphony and principal guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. Now he's up to round off this session in style, seated at a grand piano that's been wheeled onto the stage just for ...

Game designer Jane McGonigal firmly believes that video games are not just about mashing buttons and getting to the next level. In fact, during her talk at TEDGlobal 2012, McGonigal gave several surprising statistics: that online gaming can be more effective than pharmaceuticals in treating clinical depression and that just 30 minutes a day ...

As usual, the TED community has lots of news to share this week. Below, some highlights. Farewell to Cassini -- and here’s to the continuing search for life beyond Earth. In mid-August, PBS released a digital short featuring Carolyn Porco, a planetary scientist and the leader of the imaging team for the Cassini mission to Saturn. In the short...

The TED community has been very busy over the past few weeks. Below, some newsy highlights. Powerful thoughts on slavery’s legacy. Last week, Bryan Stevenson spoke with The Marshall Project about the shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. In a Q&A, Stevenson shared his thoughts on the deeply en...

Want short TEDx events, once a month? Many TEDx organizers are doing exactly that, including TEDxEast, which has a series of TEDxEastSalon events, each guest curated by a different TED speaker. The first one, curated by Dan Ariely, occurred at the end of September. TEDster Laure Parsons was there, and sent us this report. The surprising s...

Phil Hansen has tattooed bananas, drawn a portrait on stacked Starbucks cups and created a Jimi Hendrix portrait out of matches, which he then burned. In other words, he isn’t the kind of artist who feels bound to paint on canvas. So how did Hansen happen upon such fascinating methods? By embracing a major limitation -- a hand tremor that mad...

Enthusiastic recommendations for uplifting reads, as suggested by TED speakers and TED-Ed educators. If you’re searching for some calm The Peace of Wild Things: And Other Poems by Wendell Berry This little book of poetry is my current morning dose of calm, and I use it like a meditation if I’m feeling stressed about the day ahead. The most f...

What a week. We've heard so much, from dystopian warnings to bold visions for change. Our brains are full. Almost. In this session we pull back to the human stories that underpin everything we are, everything we want. From new ways to set goals and move business forward, to unabashed visions for joy and community, it's time to explore what m...

For 3000 years, the story of David and Goliath has seeped into our cultural consciousness. This is generally how the tale is told: a young shepherd does battle with a giant warrior and, using nothing but a slingshot, comes out victorious. But is this really what the Bible describes? In today’s talk, Malcolm Gladwell -- whose new book is title...

Alex Steffen, author and futurist, speaking at TED University during TEDGlobal 2011, July 11, 2011. Photo: James Duncan Davidson / TED Csaba Manyai, host of TEDxDanubia: To kick off TED University, Csaba Manyai introduces us to the Urania Scientific Theatre, a Budapest society devoted to sharing ideas from science and knowledge … starting...

If you’re dreading the inevitable day your New Year’s resolutions—to lose weight, get a better job, and drink less, perhaps?—fall flat, it might be because you need different resolutions. Instead of focusing on outcomes, why not set your sights on process this year? Here, 10 resolutions inspired by TED Talks. They just might inspire you in t...

On the TEDGlobal 2012 stage this summer, guest curator Sarah Caddick hosted the session “Misbehaving Beautifully,” a deep dive into a near-taboo subject: mental health and mental illness. Today, Oct. 10, happens to be World Mental Health Day, and TED.com is premiering the final talk Sarah curated for the stage, Ruby Wax’s “What’s so funny ab...

Moral philosopher Peter Singer starts the last session of TED2013, "A Ripple Effect?" with a shocking video of a 2-year-old girl in China who was hit by a van -- and then a second van -- and ignored by passers-by as she lay dying in an alley. He asks of the audience: Would you have stopped and helped this girl? Not surprisingly, the unanimou...

Day 3 at TED2014 was dense with science, design, conversation. Here's a quick recap of some highlights: Hugh Herr and Adrianne Haslet-Davis's surprise dance Hugh Herr is a bionics designer and multiple amputee. He gave a talk that was half mind-blowing -- full of extraordinary advances in prosthetics, like bionic designs that produce t...