Linus Torvalds might not be a household name, but pretty much everyone should buy him a drink to thank him for his work on software products such as Linux and Git, the foundation of so much of our computer-related work and play today. Of course, if you tried to buy him a drink, he’d be horrified; this is a quiet man who wants nothing more than t...

Day five of TED2016 contained one session filled with big ideas, but also an opportunity to look back at the conference as a whole. Below, the major themes that ran through the course of the week. We’re ready for our moonshot moment. The most-evoked image of the conference? Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon. Speakers including Dan P...

The open-source programming world has a lot to teach democracy, says Clay Shirky. In this fascinating talk from TEDGlobal 2012, Shirky harkens back to the early days of the printing press. At the time, a group of “natural philosophers” (who would later adopt the term “scientists”) called the Invisible College realized that the press could...

The TED iPad project was inspired by a number of requests coming in from TED fans wishing to see TEDTalks on mobile devices. In the past, the development community has graciously volunteered building various applications on both iPhone and Android platforms. When the iPad came out, we saw an opportunity to try our hand with our first foray i...

Amy Cuddy must be proud: Clay Shirky walks on stage and promptly strikes a power pose. Then he tells us of a 9-year-old Scottish girl who lives about 50 miles from here. Martha Payne started the foodblog NeverSeconds, for which she took her camera into school to document her lunches, using metrics such as "pieces of hair found in food." Firs...

So much of our world is determined by code -- be it the code of life or a string of 1s and 0s. In this session, “Code Power,” we hear from Linus Torvalds, who changed how code is written, and from Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani, who wants to open up the field dramatically. And after examining the particular code of punctuation at the ...

What happens when the technology for manipulation on the neural level becomes possible? Could there be a future therapy for people with depression or PTSD -- or heartbreak? Do people really want to have their memories manipulated? Elizabeth Loftus, Steve Ramirez and Xu Liu grapple with some big questions. In late 2013, MIT neuroscientists Xu ...

This post is part of TED’s “How to Be a Better Human” series, each of which contains a piece of helpful advice from people in the TED community; browse through all the posts here. One of the side effects of working from home full-time because of the pandemic is working with a less than ergonomically ideal setup. Most of us didn’t have a home ...

We all have an area, closet, shelf or drawer that remains a mess, despite our best efforts. Well, these tips might finally help you clear it, from author Gretchen Rubin. 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 h...

Think of a story from your life that you can't tell anyone. Not because it reflects badly on you -- in fact, you're proud of the lessons you learned -- but because of its effects on someone you love. A new-mom story that you'd never want your kid to hear. A high-stakes mistake on the job that made you a wiser person -- but left lingering sad...

Social psychologist Heidi Grant shares 4 common ways that we inadvertently make things weird for other people when we request their assistance. Read this before your next ask. Asking for help isn’t just about what you say and do; it’s also about what you don’t say and do. In my research, I’ve found there are specific things you can say that can...

Buying gifts? It is HARD. Especially when so many gift guides offer up ideas for what to get your dad, co-worker or sister without taking into account what actually interests those specific people in your life. A better way to locate the perfect gift? Think about what captures a person’s curiosity, and then seek ideas from people in that field. ...

For babies and toddlers Quantum Entanglement for Babies by Chris Ferrie This book is a wonderfully simple, visual explanation of one of the most complex and counterintuitive scientific ideas of our time. It’s fun for little ones but equally delightful for non-babies. -- Vikram Sharma (TED Talk: How quantum physics can make encryption stronger...

Google cofounder Sergey Brin returns to the TED stage this morning to show off Google Glass, a hands-free, voice-activated augmented-reality headset from Google. To take a picture while you're wearing Glass, say "take picture." Done. "When we started Google 15 years ago," Brin says, "my vision was that information would come to you as you...

Raj Panjabi was your typical science- and soccer-loving 4th grader in Monrovia, Liberia. But when a brutal civil war erupted in the country, normal life was upended. On the TED2017 stage, Panjabi recalls his mother knocking on his door, telling him to pack his things. They had to flee. One image from that day has stayed etched in his memo...

Great news: TED Books are now available on Apple's iBookstore. It’s an exciting time for publishing, and we’re glad to work with Apple to make TED Books available to as many readers as possible. TED Books, which launched earlier this year, are an imprint of short nonfiction works designed for digital distribution. Shorter than traditional book...

TEDxYouthDay is a series of TEDx events designed to empower and inspire youth and kids across the globe! TEDxYouthDay will take place all over the world from Saturday, November 19th through Monday, November 21, 2011 — all around Universal Children’s Day. For 3 days, TEDx organizers across the globe will host events for (and by) young people. ...

A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise: A True Story About Schizophrenia by Sandra Allen In college, Allen’s uncle sent her his autobiography in the mail -- the story of a man suffering from schizophrenia. The autobiography was written in all capital letters on a typewriter, and Allen’s vicarious memoir, which places her uncle’s story in context, is wri...

When we manage a flash of mercy for someone we don’t like -- including ourselves -- we experience a great spiritual moment, says writer Anne Lamott. There are times in our lives -- scary, unsettling times -- when we know that we need help or answers but we’re not sure what kind, or even what the problem or question is. We look and look, tearing...

Just in time for TEDGlobal next month, we’ve rebuilt our TED Live program, allowing you to watch the entire conference—or a single day of it—on a high-definition live stream anywhere in the world, anytime. 7 reasons to try it: You’ll gain insight into what’s going on in the world. The TEDGlobal 2014 program is designed to look at the for...

Two years ago, inventor Pranav Mistry demoed the SixthSense technology on the TED stage -- and talked about open-sourcing the software behind it. SixthSense is a wearable interface that enables interaction between digital information and the physical world through hand gestures. (Watch his TEDTalk to see how it works.) As promised, Pranav and...

LEGOs are for building spaceships, crafting castles and getting lost in your couch. But what if they could be used not just to dream of lands long ago and times far away, but to inspire future scientists? That’s what writer Maia Weinstock had in mind when she made these STEM scientist action figures. Weinstock has turned TED Fellows Jedid...

From the earliest days of human exploration we've made progressively more accurate and sophisticated maps. Maps help us find our way around the world we live in. Maps help us get to our destination. Maps keep us from becoming lost. But what if you have no destination? What if becoming lost is the point? Well, there's a map for that. Lots ...

In her talk from TED2013, Nilofer Merchant inspired many to try walking meetings rather than spend hour-upon-hour in a chair. Now, this business innovator has another idea that you might want to adopt: giving the gift of TED to people on your holiday shopping list. In a blog post, Merchant put together a wish list of things she'd like to receive...

Limitations, schimitations. At TED2013, Phil Hansen shared the story of how he thought his art career was over when he developed a severe hand tremor. Instead, by learning to “embrace the shake,” Hansen became a creative powerhouse, constantly coming up with new ways to transcend his limitation. And so we wondered: what if we asked Phil Hanse...

The TED Conference always celebrates dreams. Not the fluffy, snoozy kind — but the big, bold, beautiful visions that have the potential to send ripples of change out into the world. That’s why the theme of TED2016 is: Dream. We are thrilled it begins tomorrow. Over the next week, 65 speakers will share their dreams on the TED mainstage, i...

Great gifts aren’t always tangible. Just think back to the last time someone made your holiday season by gifting you an experience, or by writing you a card that got you just a little choked up. And so we ask: why not give the gift of an idea? This week, we’ve asked some of our favorite speakers of 2013 to gift three people in their lives wi...

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, who won the 2016 Oscar for Best Documentary Short, explains why she feels it's her duty to focus on topics others shy away from ... like honor killings. Film has a way of revealing the soul of each person you see onscreen, giving a human face to issues that might otherwise only be expressed as a headline or a statistic. I...

Counting the days ’til TED2015? Yeah: we are, too. Before the conference begins on March 16, dive into a great book written by one of our speakers. Books from speakers in Session 1, “Opening Gambit” National Insecurity: American Leadership in an Age of Fear, by David Rothkopf. The foreign policy specialist examines the way U.S. leaders have ...

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams (TED Talk: Parrots, the universe and everything) This book makes me giggle out loud every time. Overshadowed by Adams’ more famous work -- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series -- the Dirk Gently novels are a delightful read. They’re chock full of his trademark humorous writing and ...