It wouldn’t be a conference about dreams without an ode to John Lennon. In this session, we take a cue from his iconic lyric and imagine a world without borders. Get ready for talks on mega-cities and online museums, as well as on the global movement to end poverty, Islamophobia and climate change. Recaps of the talks in Session 7, “Imagi...

In 2009, political scientist P.W. Singer gave a TED Talk in which he predicted that the growing use of robots in war would change the realities of combat. Four years, and thousands of US drone strikes later, he talks to journalist Matthew Power; an edited version of their conversation follows. Matthew Power: In a recent article you discussed ...

By Baratunde Thurston So, you might know me. I ran the digital side of The Onion for a long time; I’m the author of How To Be Black. People call me to do things like host White House events on innovation, do the wrap-up at TED salons, join semi-secret cabals at MIT, and comment on the teevee. The underlying constant in my multi-hyphenate ...

Many young people turn to pornography for information and advice. With this reality comes an opportunity: We can utilize it to start important conversations with them about sex and relationships, says public health researcher Emily Rothman. With pornography and teenagers, conventional wisdom suggests the two be kept as far apart as possible. Bu...

We're more connected than ever before but, in some parts of the world, life has never been more difficult. From refugee camps full of people displaced by war to urban blight in the developed world, our problems are growing more complex. But in that strife lies opportunity. In the seventh session of TED2017, hosted by TED's Curation Director K...

Rita Pierson is the kind of teacher you wish you had. An educator for 40 years, she is funny, sharp and simply has a way with words -- so much so that today’s talk feels a bit like a sermon. In this talk, Pierson shares the secret to teaching students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds -- make personal connections with them. ...

In today's TED Talk, guerilla gardner Ron Finley tells the story of how he was issued a citation, and then a warrant for his arrest, all for planting delicious vegetables in the 150 x 10 foot patch of earth in front of his house in South Central, Los Angeles. It's a rousing talk -- one that will make you want to stand up and cheer ... and ma...

Over the past week, we’ve noticed a lot of fascinating TED-related news items. Here, some highlights. Yesterday, U.S. attorney general Eric Holder announced a major relaxing of mandatory minimum sentencing for drug possession. He asked prosecutors to use their discretion when charging nonviolent, low-level offenders and opt not to list the ...

In 2012, the TED Prize was awarded to an idea: The City2.0, a place to celebrate actions taken by citizens around the world to make their cities more livable, beautiful and sustainable. This week, The City2.0 website evolves. On the relaunched TEDCity2.org, you’ll find great talks on topics like housing, education and food, and how they relate t...

The term "showing off" gets a bad rap. But for Session 5 of TEDWomen 2018, a lineup of speakers and performers reclaimed the phrase -- showing off their talents, skills and whole extraordinary selves. Hosted by TED's head of conferences, Kelly Stoetzel, and head of curation, Helen Walters, the talks ranged from architecture and the environment t...

To attend a TEDxMadrid conference, residents of the city must fill out an application and have a ticket in hand. But on a balmy evening this July, more than 800 people spontaneously stumbled into a TEDxMadridSalon event held in El Campo de Cebada, an outdoor square that used to be a hole for the city’s swimming pool. Some attendees already k...

Shane Koyczan has a way with words. “I’ve been shot down so many times I get altitude sickness just from standing up for myself,” he says, beginning today’s talk. “That’s what we were told—stand up for yourself. But that’s hard to do if you don’t know who you are.” Koyczan appeared on the TED2013 stage just a week after his spoken-word poem...

A ballet dancer turned soldier. A liberal lesbian pundit on Fox News. A quantum-physicist crossword puzzler. These were among the perspectives we heard at TED@NYC, a talent search event for TED2014 held last night in New York. Below, learn a little about the 28 speakers who took the stage. You’ll see some of these speakers on TED.com in the ...

We all have important things we want to accomplish, but there are so many distractions and stumbling blocks that may get in our way. Here, writer Bina Venkataraman shares a startlingly easy strategy to use to defeat future challenges. Playing poker is like planning for the future in one sense: You’re making decisions with limited information, a...

The past two weeks have been busy for the members of the TED community. Some news highlights: Artist JR is bringing the past back to life with his new series “Unframed.” He has taken archival photos of the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital in New York, closed since 1954, and pasted them up so that doctors who worked there appear to float in t...

TED Prize winners turn ideas into world-changing projects, with $1 million in seed money and the TED community’s support. Beyond having a solid track record of making high-impact change in their communities and beyond, all prize winners must be capable of one thing: dreaming big. Does this sound like you or someone you know? This morni...

Whether it’s as a hobby while people are stuck at home or a way to get fresh produce without going to stores, vegetable and fruit gardening is having a bit of a renaissance right now. But if you’ve been killing houseplants for years or aren’t sure where to start, it's not all that complicated, says Stephen Ritz, New York City educator and fou...

So much of our lives are gut reactions; they drive our newsfeeds, and they make our minds smaller. At TED2017, we decided to step back from the frenzy of the news media cycle to take an in-depth and nuanced look at three topics of particular interest -- the forward march of machine learning with Sebastian Thrun, the future of storytelling wi...

Becoming an Old Person in Training allows us to choose purpose and intent over dread and denial and connects us empathically with our future selves, says author and activist Ashton Applewhite. What’s the best answer to “How old are you?” Tell your questioner the truth -- and then ask why it matters. Ask what shifted in their mind once they had ...

If you look at mortality data across the United Kingdom, a striking correlation materializes: the higher the latitude, the greater the relative risk of death. This is true even when controlling for risk factors like smoking cigarettes and eating bad food. So, what’s going on? The answer may lie in sunlight—there’s more in the south than there i...

Earlier this month, 450 Chicago public school sophomores and juniors, plus 120 of their teachers, crowded into the city’s Harris Theater for TEDxYouth@Midwest, an event all about inspiring, motivating and empowering the young people of a city known for youth gun violence, but full of so much more -- culture, history, educators and students ded...

The TED speaker and podcast host shares 4 items from his to-don’t list -- stuff he’s shed from his life to make him a happier and more effective human. Read it and learn. To-do lists are the human equivalent of a hamster wheel. While they drive productivity and keep us on track, they just never seem to stop. Even as we cross items off, our list...

Teenagers can sometimes feel like a different species. According to neuroscientist Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, who gave this fascinating talk at TEDGlobal 2012, this isn’t a coincidence. While 15 years ago it was assumed that brain development was completed in childhood, scientists now know that the brain continues to develop through a person’s 20s...

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...

Behold, your recap of TED-related news: A new Sundance grant helps indie films get seen. Making a film is hard enough -- but getting the film seen by an audience can be just as difficult, especially in this era of non-stop media shifts. To help, Sundance just launched the Creative Distribution Fellowship -- and among the first recipients ...

No stranger to the TED stage himself, geo-strategist and author Parag Khanna is curating one of the sessions at this year’s TEDGlobal. “The Upside of Transparency” promises to be enlightening, thought-provoking -- and perhaps just a little bit scary. Helen Walters recently talked to Parag in London. An edited version of their conversation fo...

Yana Buhrer Tavanier, speaking at the TEDGlobal 2011 TED Fellows Talks, Monday, July 11, 2011, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo: James Duncan Davidson / TED Somi, singer + cultural activist: Raised in Zambia, living in New York, vocalist and songwriter Somi and her ensemble wake the TED Fellows Talks session into the rhythm of the day with ...

As usual, the TED community has been very busy over the past week. Below, a few newsy highlights. Seafaring robots. TED Fellow Cesar Harada’s startup, Scoutbots, was recently named one of Fast Company’s Top 10 Innovative Companies in China. Based in Hong Kong, Scoutbots uses open-source technology and highly bendable, durable materials to c...

Taylor Wilson has been called “The Boy Who Played With Fusion” by Popular Science magazine. At age 9, Wilson stunned tour guides at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, with his complex understanding of rocket science. At 12, he set out to make a “star in a jar.” By 14, Wilson had become the youngest person to achieve nuc...

The illness hit me on a beautiful summer weekend. I woke up early and did an hour of exercise, feeling very excited to take my children to a local festival that evening. We all put on our summer kimonos, called yukata—my then 5-year-old son turned into a little samurai and my 2-year-old girl became a princess. It could have been one of those...