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  • Talks 259
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Blog posts
1 - 30 of 124 results

The most critical factor in medicine? Human bias

Oncologist and writer Siddhartha Mukherjee suggests that what doctors fight against isn't so much disease -- it's their own biases. In the summer of 2003, I finished my three-year residency in internal medicine and began a fellowship in oncology. It was an exhilarating time. The Human Genome Project had laid the foundation for the new science o...
Posted October 13, 2015
https://ideas.ted.com/the-most-critical-factor-in-medicine-human-bias

Thinking about the optimism bias: Tali Sharot at TED2012

Photo: James Duncan Davidson Neuroscientist Tali Sharot comes on stage to discuss the "optimism bias." It's a topic that she's been studying in her lab and she claims that 80% of us experience it. "It" being the tendency to overestimate the likelihood of good things happening to us. As she puts it: "we're more optimistic than realistic, and...
Posted March 1, 2012
https://blog.ted.com/2012/03/01/thinking-about-the-optimism-bias-tali-sharot-at-ted2012

Op-Ed: The still-tolerated gender bias in science

I just might have the best job in the world. As a particle physicist and professor at Yale, I am a happy cog on the wheel of humanity, trying to understand the universe. I collaborate with brilliant people, young and old, from all over the globe. But while I love my job, the truth is I am part of a system that is rigged. We have come a long w...
Posted March 29, 2013
https://blog.ted.com/2013/03/29/op-ed-the-still-tolerated-gender-bias-in-science

The immortality bias: Further reading on the 4 stories we tell ourselves about death

We each live in the shadow of a personal apocalypse: the knowledge that -- someday, somehow -- we will die. It's a terrifying thought, and so we look for a way out. In my talk from TEDxBratislava (and in my book Immortality), I walk through four stories that people have told throughout cultures and time, as a way to manage this very real fea...
Posted December 12, 2013
https://blog.ted.com/2013/12/12/further-reading-on-the-immortality-bias

Prejudiced thoughts run through all our minds -- the key is what we do with them

We tend to think of prejudice as something that other people, particularly bad people, have in their hearts and minds. The truth is, prejudice is inside us all. The good news is that psychology provides a powerful way to combat it. Prejudice is due in part to cultural learning, from our parents, our schools and social messages and depictio...
Posted August 28, 2020
https://ideas.ted.com/prejudiced-thoughts-run-through-all-our-minds-the-key-is-what-we-do-with-them

WHAAAAAT?: Notes from Session 4 of TED2020

For Session 4 of TED2020, experts in biohacking, synthetic biology, psychology and beyond explored topics ranging from discovering the relationship between the spinal cord and asparagus to using tools of science to answer critical questions about racial bias. Below, a recap of the night's talks and performances. Andrew Pelling, biomedical...
Posted June 11, 2020
https://blog.ted.com/2020/06/11/whaaaaat-notes-from-session-4-of-ted2020

How do you get from diversity to inclusion? Ask these 4 questions about your meetings

Making small tweaks to your meetings -- even changing the seating! -- can actually help set the stage for bigger shifts in our communities and companies, says social psychologist Dolly Chugh. Many organizations and companies today track diversity in sex, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and religion, among other factors. For some of ...
Posted November 8, 2018
https://ideas.ted.com/how-do-you-get-from-diversity-to-inclusion-ask-these-4-questions-about-your-meetings

A celebrated building turns 50...and other TED news

Behold, your recap of TED-related news: Habitat turns 50! First conceptualized in 1961 as part of architect Moshe Safdie’s thesis at McGill University, Habitat 67 has gone on to inspire several generations of architects. Combining high-rise living with community connection, Habitat’s concrete cluster of homes challenged the contemporary n...
Posted May 5, 2017
https://blog.ted.com/2017/05/05/a-celebrated-building-turns-50-and-other-ted-news

4 TED Talks that make the case for open science in health care

Sometimes it seems as if the Internet has created a bold new era of openness. But if there is one place where openness appears to be lagging, it would be scientific research. The scientific community is full of intricate (and often little-known) systems that regulate and control it, sometimes to great purpose, but sometimes to its own detrim...
Posted July 20, 2016
https://blog.ted.com/2016/07/20/4-ted-talks-that-make-the-case-for-open-science-in-health-care

Why talking about race on The Bachelorette matters

We need to have more honest, open-ended conversations about race and bias -- in our own lives and in the TV shows and movies we see, says diversity consultant Vernā Myers. It’s not every day that the TED world collides with a reality TV show, but recently on The Bachelorette, one of the most compelling conversations about race was initiated by ...
Posted July 24, 2017
https://ideas.ted.com/why-talking-about-race-on-the-bachelorette-matters

How to read the news like a scientist

Overwhelmed by your news feed? Use tools from science to evaluate what’s true and what’s fake, suggests researcher Emma Frans. 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. To see all the posts, go here. In our daily reading, we encounter all ...
Posted March 22, 2019
https://ideas.ted.com/how-to-read-the-news-like-a-scientist

Watch Facebook Live sessions, live from TEDWomen in New Orleans

Join us for four in-depth conversations over two days, live from the Blue Room at TEDWomen, hosted by podcaster Manoush Zomorodi. Guests include TEDWomen speakers Gretchen Carlson, Sally Kohn, Cleo Wade and Justin Baldoni. Find them all on Facebook at facebook.com/TED -- or get direct links below to each super-worthwhile conversation [gal...
Posted November 1, 2017
https://blog.ted.com/2017/11/01/watch-facebook-live-sessions-live-from-tedwomen-in-new-orleans

Look on the bright side: A Q&A with TED ebook author Tali Sharot on our biological wiring for optimism

The mad rush of the holidays can stress out the sunniest soul, and yet somehow, beneath it all, we remain cheerfully optimistic.  We look ahead, make New Year's resolutions and generally believe next year will be better than this one and the year before. Why? Tali Sharot, who spoke at TED2012, says we homo sapiens are genetically predisposed...
Posted December 3, 2012
https://blog.ted.com/2012/12/03/look-on-the-bright-side-a-qa-with-ted-ebook-author-tali-sharot-on-our-biological-wiring-for-optimism

TEDWeekends explores the truth about medical studies

At TEDMED 2012, Ben Goldacre shared a startling reality: that doctors are not able to read all the studies conducted on a pharmaceutical before prescribing it to their patients. This is because of a bias in medical research toward positive results – while one study confirming a drug’s effectiveness may be published, the results of other stud...
Posted April 6, 2013
https://blog.ted.com/2013/04/06/ted-weekends-explores-the-truth-about-medical-studies

Lessons from TED2012, part 3: What I learned from speaking at TED

Photo: Michael Brands If watching a TEDTalk inspires insights (see this post for more) -- imagine giving one. From speakers' own blogs: Here's what Brené Brown learned >> The first lesson I learned is about vulnerability (no suprise). The folks in the picture are raising their hands in response to two questions that I asked du...
Posted March 10, 2012
https://blog.ted.com/2012/03/10/lessons-from-ted2012-part-3-insights-from-speakers

New TED Book: The Science of Optimism

The world may be a tough and tenuous place, but we humans tend to think that the future will be better than the past. Why? In the new TED ebook, The Science of Optimism: Why We're Hard-Wired for Hope, author Tali Sharot expands on her earlier research into the optimism bias, and explores the many reasons why we are biologically predisposed to be...
Posted November 26, 2012
https://blog.ted.com/2012/11/26/new-ted-book-the-science-of-optimism

A professor shaves her head to explain the brain, a documentary highlights Afghan soldiers, + more news from the TED community

This week as usual, the TED community has lots of news to share. From an unusual neuroscience explainer to a heart-pounding documentary to a book cover reveal, some newsy highlights below. Shave your head for science? Neuroscientist Nancy Kanwisher has created a very cool video to explain where the regions of the brain actually are under th...
Posted April 17, 2015
https://blog.ted.com/2015/04/17/a-professor-shaves-her-head-to-explain-the-brain-and-other-ted-community-news

Why did this simple Google Search get retweeted 3,500 times?

When I googled "english major who taught herself calculus," Google gave me the result I wanted -- plus a most unhelpful suggestion. I wondered why. Last Thursday morning, I was following up on a book recommendation from sometime-TED-blogger Ben Lillie. A writer he knows, an English major, taught herself calculus and wrote a book about it. Don...
Posted August 15, 2014
https://ideas.ted.com/why-did-this-simple-google-search-get-retweeted-3500-times

The deciders: Zeynep Tufekci at TEDSummit

Who would have thought when you left those high school math problems behind that you would one day be encountering algorithms on a daily basis? Zeynep Tufekci might have guessed; now an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina’s School of Information, Tufekci’s first job as a teenager was as a computer programmer. So it’s no sur...
Posted June 29, 2016
https://blog.ted.com/2016/06/29/the-deciders-zeynep-tufekci-at-tedsummit

Meet the Spring 2018 class of TED Residents!

On March 12, TED welcomed its latest class to the TED Residency program, an in-house incubator for breakthrough ideas. These 19 Residents will spend 14 weeks in TED’s New York headquarters working and thinking together; the class includes exceptional people from all over the map, including Brazil, the Netherlands and Korea. The new Reside...
Posted March 20, 2018
https://blog.ted.com/2018/03/20/meet-the-spring-2018-class-of-ted-residents

I am also not an inspiration! And other of this week's smart comments

Each week, we collect sharp critique, thought-provoking questions or interesting insights in response to TED Talks. This week's haul includes thoughts on the late Rita Pierson's call to educational arms, a response to Peter Saul's thoughtful talk about dying, and personal feedback to Stella Young's argument that just because she's in a wheelchai...
Posted June 18, 2014
https://ideas.ted.com/i-am-also-not-an-inspiration-and-other-of-this-weeks-smart-comments

Process, a new role for the architect: Michael Hansmeyer at TEDGlobal 2012

Photo: James Duncan Davidson As an architect, Michael Hansmeyer asks, "What is the origin of the forms we design?" And he asks: "What kind of forms would we design if we had no bias, if we had no preconception? What kind of forms would we design if we could free ourselves from our education?" "How," he says, "Would we go about creating...
Posted June 28, 2012
https://blog.ted.com/2012/06/28/process-a-new-role-for-the-architect-michael-hansmeyer-at-tedglobal-2012

TEDWeekends thinks you should rethink your sanity

At TED2012, Jon Ronson wove a mind-bending tale that asks: How can we truly tell who is a psychopath? What’s the line between crazy and sane? And is it something we can truly delineate, or are we trying to discern black and white in a color-soaked world? Today’s TEDWeekends on the Huffington Post picks up this question, using Ronson’s talk as...
Posted March 30, 2013
https://blog.ted.com/2013/03/30/ted-weekends-thinks-you-should-rethink-your-sanity

Can a black man talk about white culture? An open letter to critics

African American writer Rich Benjamin spent two years living in -- and writing about -- America's whitest neighborhoods. The response to his book (and TED Talk) was honest, raw -- and sometimes misunderstood his purpose. Here, he responds to the response. In 2007, I embarked on a two-year, 27,000-mile trip. My destination? The fastest-growing a...
Posted August 27, 2015
https://ideas.ted.com/can-a-black-man-talk-about-white-culture-an-open-letter-to-critics

Facing a tough decision? Borrow from psychology, business and the military to see past your blind spots

Here's a crash course in 3 proven ways -- scenario planning, premortems and red-teaming -- to help you spot hidden opportunities and pitfalls (and maybe even predict the future). Writer Steven Johnson explains. In the mid-1970s, environmental activist Paul Hawken was working with a nonprofit that taught intensive gardening techniques to people ...
Posted September 28, 2018
https://ideas.ted.com/facing-a-tough-decision-borrow-from-psychology-business-and-the-military-to-see-past-your-blind-spots

The surprising power of silence

Inspired by a book on silence, a director set out to explore and capture its many manifestations on film. The problem? Silence is much more slippery than he realized. Even before the omnipresent cacophony of modern life, people were seeking, pondering and preaching the elusive refuge of silence. It’s a key component of virtually every major rel...
Posted June 6, 2016
https://ideas.ted.com/putting-silence-under-the-microscope

Ideas from the intersections: A night of talks from TED and Brightline

At the intersections where we meet and collaborate, we can pool our collective wisdom to seek solutions to the world's greatest problems. But true change begs for more than incremental steps and passive reactions -- we need to galvanize transformation to create our collective future. To celebrate the effort of bold thinkers building a bet...
Posted June 11, 2018
https://blog.ted.com/2018/06/11/ideas-from-the-intersections-a-night-of-talks-from-ted-and-brightline

4 talks on a strange phenomenon we all experience: consciousness

John Searle studies consciousness -- which, as he points out in today's talk, is a “curiously neglected subject in our scientific and philosophical culture.” Curiously -- because it is, after all, a pre-condition for anything else we think about. And yet neglected -- because consciousness is a subject that makes scientists huffy (they see it a...
Posted July 22, 2013
https://blog.ted.com/2013/07/22/4-talks-on-a-strange-phenomenon-we-all-experience-consciousness

Want to do more to fight racism? TED speakers suggest ways to educate, activate and donate

Here's a list of specific steps you can take, as recommended by members of the TED community. Educate Dr. Ibram X. Kendi's New York Times bestseller How to Be an Antiracist is one of the most important books I've ever read. (Watch Dr. Kendi speak on "how to build an antiracist world" here.) He provides an empowering lens and language to unders...
Posted June 15, 2020
https://ideas.ted.com/want-to-do-more-to-fight-racism-ted-speakers-suggest-how-you-can-educate-advocate-and-donate

5 facts about women who shaped modern physics

Featured image: Austrian physicist Lise Meitner, who first developed the theory explaining the process of nuclear fission. Theoretical physicist (and TED Fellow) Shohini Ghose has two great passions: physics, and advocating for gender equity in the sciences. “There are still relatively few women in physics – and the higher up the ladder in ac...
Posted August 14, 2014
https://ideas.ted.com/5-facts-you-should-know-about-women-who-shaped-modern-physics
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