Agriculturalist and social entrepreneur Su Kahumbu created iCow, a mobile app that supports farmers caring for livestock. Soon it will become an information-delivery platform that could help generate a whole new crop of young farmers. What does iCow do? The iCow application essentially reminds small-scale dairy farmers in Kenya of important...

In his TED talk, the avuncular Kwame Anthony Appiah points to an atheist Rabbi for the perfect example of how you don’t need faith to have religion. There is, he says, “no ‘thing’ called religion.” The range of things we call “religion” is so broad that many of them have very little in common. Appiah’s ideas deliver an identity crisis. They m...

While asking this question won't change your life, it can help pause your inner critic and create space for possibility, says therapist Susan Henkels. This post is part of TED’s “How to Be a Better Human” series, each of which contains a piece of helpful advice from someone in the TED community; browse through all the posts here. Susan Henke...

By more clearly identifying our feelings or by recategorizing them, we can reduce suffering (yes!) and increase well-being, says neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett. “He’s an angry person”; “I’m a very anxious person.” We’ve all made statements like these. They point towards the belief that emotions are hardwired in our brains or automatically ...

Humanity is defined by its immense body of knowledge. Most times it inches forward, shedding light onto the mysteries of the universe and easing life's endeavors in small increments. But in some special moments, knowledge and understanding leap forward, when one concentrated mind or one crucial discovery redirects the course of things and ch...

After a childhood spent traveling the world with her rabbinical family, photographer Kitra Cahana found she couldn't stop. With her camera as her vehicle, she began work as a documentary photographer, shooting for publications like The New York Times and National Geographic. When Cahana is not on assignment, she comes home to a life on the r...

In her public art pieces, Candy Chang uses low-tech tools such as chalk, Post-it notes, and stickers to help people make their cities more user-friendly. We sat down with Candy to ask her more ... Candy asks: If you could ask one question to all of your neighbors, what would you ask? Click here to respond on Facebook now! Or join Candy'...

Behavioral economist Wendy de la Rosa regretted how much she was spending, but felt like she couldn’t stop. She shares the lifehack that got her spending under control -- and two other money-saving tricks. We all know that saving is important and something that we should be doing more of. Overall, though, most of us seem to be doing less and le...

This spring, TED headed on the road, visiting 14 cities across six continents on the hunt for untapped talent. The idea behind the sweeping search: to let you, the TED community, weigh in and vote on which speakers you’d like to see ascend the stage at TED2013. After holding one-night salons in Amsterdam, Bangalore, Doha, Johannesburg, Londo...

We can’t have an honest reckoning about race until we start to recognize all the ways in which privilege and prejudice creep into our lives, says author and digital strategist Luvvie Ajayi. There comes a time in every upwardly mobile Black person’s life when they encounter someone who tells them how “well-spoken” and “articulate” they are. It i...

The 10 winners of TED's inaugural Ads Worth Spreading initiative have been announced from the stage. Selected from more than 1,000 submissions from around the world, they are some of the most creative, compelling and out-of-the-box communications of the past year. The winners are a truly diverse group -- from major agencies to tiny boutiques...

In 1975, economist and musician José Abreu founded El Sistema (“The System”), a classical music education plan for kids in Venezuela. Over the years, El Sistema has grown into a powerhouse in Venezuela, and today comprises more than 150 youth and 70 children’s orchestras. It's estimated that more than 310,000 children currently play an instr...

Science catalyzes progress. It allows us to explore our biggest questions, generate new ideas and seek out solutions. At TED@NAS, 19 speakers and performers explored how science is igniting change and fueling our way forward -- through radical collaboration, quantum leaps and bold thinking. The event: TED@NAS, for which The National Acade...

I was on the phone with my mom this weekend, and she asked about an email she sent me last week, and I had to admit to her, I haven't checked my personal email account all week because I forgot the password to it. Again. Don't judge, but I'm about to admit that it's a free Yahoo! Mail account. To regain some cred, I set this account up the fi...

TED iPhone developer Matt Drance at TED2011. Photo: Robert Leslie At the launch of the TED iPhone app, the TED Blog sat down with project leader Thaniya Keereepart and engineer Matt Drance to talk about working together, building new features and what's coming next from our mobile team. Thaniya Keereepart: I work for TED, I do product ...

Matt Kenyon’s art doesn’t just cast a sardonic eye on the systems around us, it also infiltrates and subverts them. He walks us through some of his projects. Wickedly funny and infused with technology, the work of Matt Kenyon makes you stop, makes you think. His culture-jamming, interactive works enlighten, startle and often make shocking use o...

Amsterdam, Bangalore, Doha, Johannesburg, London, Nairobi, New York, São Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, Tokyo, Tunis and Vancouver. TED headed to 14 cities on six continents for the 2013 Talent Search, looking to bring you fresh perspectives for TED2013. Despite the fact that the 293 speakers who participated in the search came from wildly ...

How do we manage the transformations that are radically altering our lives -- all while making a positive impact on our well-being, productivity and the world? In a word: reboot. For a seventh year, BCG has partnered with TED to bring experts in leadership, psychology, technology, sustainability and more to the stage to share ideas on ret...

TEDWomen co-host Pat Mitchell writes: Once again this summer, I had the privilege of moderating sessions during the Spotlight Health Aspen Institute Ideas Festival. There were some surprises in a session titled “Breakthroughs and Challenges in Women’s Health” with importance for all women, and I want to share some of that information w...

Can we draw instructive parallels between the development of the human brain and the emergence of the electronic global 'brain' of the Internet? New research in neuroscience suggests that, yes, we can. In the new TED ebook, Brain Power: From Neurons to Networks, filmmaker Tiffany Shlain explores the links between the two. The book also arriv...

The final session of TED2019 was a spectacle. From powerful calls to civic engagement and ancestorship to stories of self and perseverance, the session wrapped an incredible week and soared through the end with an unforgettable, totally improvised wrap-up. The event: Talks and performances from TED2019, Session 12: Meaning, hosted by TED'...

Steven Rogelberg, who studies meetings, shares 6 simple ways they can be improved. The next time you're in a useless one, print this out afterwards and leave it on the chair of the person who led it. This post is part of TED’s “How to Be a Better Human” series, each of which contains a piece of helpful advice from someone in the TED community; ...

Sovereign credit ratings are kind of like Consumer Reports for nations -- just as people read car magazines or washing machine reviews before buying, investors read ratings to determine how to invest their money. Sovereign credit ratings assess a country's debt and its ability and willingness to repay it. And whether citizens of a country re...

On stage at TED Global 2011 Justin Hall-Tipping set forth a bold agenda for funding innovation - one that makes room for radical changes and complete re-thinking of what’s possible. TED’s Ben Lillie tracked him down to follow up on the process of innovation, and his plans for the future. You made this point that we often get stuck on this...

When Anne Milgram became the Attorney General of New Jersey in 2007, she was stunned to find out just how little data was available on who was being arrested, who was being charged, who was serving time in jails and prisons, and who was being released. “It turns out that most big criminal justice agencies like my own didn’t track the thin...

Danny Hillis has a book. It's a directory of everyone in the world who had an internet address in 1982, including the names, addresses and telephone numbers. And it was a very thin phonebook. That was the community. It was a tight community where everyone knew and trusted each other. Hillis has been a fixture of the tech world (see hi...

Well, Met “I am delighted that digital technology can open the doors to this trove of images from our encyclopedic collection," said Thomas Campbell of the Metropolitan Museum of Art as he unleashed more than 400,000 high-resolution digital images for free (non-commercial, scholarly) use. (See Campbell’s TED Talk.) A tale of two inequalities...

It sounds paradoxical, but accepting our negative emotions can actually make us happier in the long run. Psychologist Susan David explains how. This post is part of TED’s “How to Be a Better Human” series, each of which contains a piece of helpful advice from someone in the TED community; browse through all the posts here. Most of us have be...

  Here's a deep dive into a provocative topic: drones. For all the rhetoric, you might think think that this is a zero sum game: Drones will either destroy the world, or they'll save it. The truth, of course, is that, well, they're set to do both. Sophisticated developments see extraordinary advances on the part of the military, while...

Engineer and health entrepreneur Zubaida Bai is passionate about improving women’s lives. Through her company AYZH, she develops health products -- such as the $2 Clean Birth Kit -- designed to reduce maternal and infant mortality in underprivileged communities around the world. AYZH is about to launch an Indiegogo funding campaign to produc...