For many, the words “professional development” conjure up memories of sitting in a human resources office, watching a series of awkward training videos and then taking a mandatory quiz. The TED Distribution Team realized: it doesn’t need to be this way. Earlier this year, they started to think about how companies could use TED Talks to get p...

At age 14, violin virtuoso Ji-Hae Park was accepted to a prestigious music conservatory in Mainz, Germany – even though the school only accepted students 16 and older. By the time she was 17, a German foundation had lent Park a rare Guarneri violin to play, worth millions. But Park’s early fame took its toll. “The violin which once meant eve...

In her 20s, Meg Jay saw her first psychotherapy client, Alex, who was there to talk about her guy problems. Jay didn't take the sessions all too seriously at first. But then her supervisor gave her a wakeup call. While Jay said, "Sure she's dating down and sleeping with a knucklehead. But she's not gonna marry the guy." Her supervisor respon...

The second day of the INK Conference in Jaipur, India was another eclectic mix of musicians, inventors, designers and visionaries.   The conference's narrative theme, The Power of the Journey, continued as each session attempted to capture the most important moments of every life. Talks are being held from Thursday December 8 to Sunday December ...

Since launching the TED Fellows program ten years ago, we've gotten to know and support some of the brightest, most ambitious thinkers, change-makers and culture-shakers from nearly every discipline and corner of the world. The numbers speak for themselves: 472 Fellows covering a vast array of disciplines, from astrophysics to the arts...

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...

As usual, the TED community is making headlines. Below, some highlights. A close look at the beauty and pain of hospice care. End Game, a short documentary that follows the last few days of terminally ill patients, is up for an Oscar this weekend. The heart-rending film highlights the work of doctors and caregivers — including BJ Miller — ...

"My task this morning is to summarize 35 years of work in less than 17 minutes," says Mina Bissell. She is a cancer researcher with a background in chemistry, and as she tells us, the standard explanations for exactly what cancer was didn't make sense to her. Her career has been driven by a tremendous question -- what makes cancer become can...

As usual, the TED community has lots of news to share this week. Below, some highlights. Human rights for chimps? This week, TED2015 speaker Steven Wise and his organization, The Nonhuman Rights Project, successfully argued for Hercules and Leo, two chimpanzees who have been used for medical experimentation at Stony Brook University, to be ...

Can’t wait for TEDGlobal 2014? We’re here to help! Spend the next two weeks curling up with these books by the wonderful speakers who will grace the stage in Rio. Memoir American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood, by Marie Arana. The writer's classic, in which she shares her own experience growing up between Peru and the United States, whic...

In February 2006, author and educator Sir Ken Robinson stepped on to the TED stage and posed a provocative question: "Do schools kill creativity?” What followed was a masterclass in public speaking -- 19 minutes that sparkled with wit, deep thinking and a fearless confidence in human potential. Since then, Sir Ken's talk has taken on a life ...

The theme of this session is "Blueprints." And so we hear from speakers who have that all-too-easy-to-overlook first step: a plan. Brazil is named for a tree, says Tasso Azevedo. And thus, it is a good place to be a forester. 12% of the world’s forests are in the country, primarily in the Amazon, which plays a vital role in global climate...

In the midst of this global pandemic, the TED Fellows program is more committed than ever to finding and amplifying individuals making a vital impact in their communities and doing the work of future-making. Read on to learn how to apply, and how the TED Fellows program is meeting this moment. Since launching the TED Fellows program, we’v...

Graphic designer Milton Glaser thinks that being uncertain is a good way to be. “Certainty is preposterous,” says Milton Glaser (TED Talk: Using Design to Make Things New). “Fundamentally, one cannot be certain about anything.” Glaser, who doesn’t shy away from speaking plainly, prefers a mindset that embraces ambiguity. For the 86-year-old, th...

In today’s talk, Zambian-born economist Dambisa Moyo describes how China’s growing presence in Africa is challenging a centuries-old tenet of Western political thought.   For more than 200 years, Moyo argues, liberal democracy has ruled the roost. Particularly in the West, it's long been considered the political system most likely to d...

American synthetic biologist Sheref Mansy is working on constructing artificial cells that mimic -- and "talk" to -- biological cells. In this fascinating conversation, Mansy weaves through the question of what does and does not constitute "life," the possible practical applications for his work, and how conversations with artists have opene...

By joining the Beacon Hill Village in Boston, older people commit to helping each other while they stay in their own homes. And they have plenty of fun while doing it, says MIT AgeLab director Joseph F. Coughlin. Joan Doucette was sipping coffee in a small café at MIT, her bicycle resting next to her. The Institute tends to frown on bringing bi...

The Audacious Project, a funding initiative housed at TED, is continuing its support of solutions tailored to COVID-19 rapid response and long-term recovery. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to develop, The Audacious Project is committed to targeting key systems in crisis and supporting them as they rebuild better and with greater resilience. ...

Around the world, cities are growing at an exceptionally fast clip. As the oft-quoted statistic goes, by 2030, 6 out of every 10 people on the planet will live in a city. So how do we make sure our urban areas are filled with beauty, complexity and possibility rather than simply with overcrowding? TED is pleased to announce TEDCity2.0, a one-...

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 ...

A new curriculum makes design-build projects into a part of every student’s education. How can a well-designed home change someone’s life? During the 2014-2015 school year, some high school students in Berkeley, California, asked that question as they took on a big project: to build a pair of tiny houses. Affordable housing is a huge issue ...

“Beauty is a basic service,” says artist Theaster Gates. He brought the audience to its feet this morning during Creative Ignition at TED, as he told the story of how he went from shaper of clay to shaper of cities. For fifteen years Gates made pots, “which might seem like a humble vocation,” he says. But in this work, “You very quickly l...

Paul Collier studies the poorest people on earth -- the 1 in 9 humans living in dysfunctional countries with broken economies, places whose income gaps are so wide it's hard for westerners to wrap their minds around it. In 2007, his book The Bottom Billion broke down the problems facing this group of people, stuck in failed and failing state...

Linda Cliatt-Wayman has spent her career working in low-income, low-performing schools -- the same Philly schools she grew up in. She has developed a thick skin and a tough attitude … laced with fierce love for her students. In her TED Talk, How to fix a broken school? Lead fearlessly, love hard, she shares her approach to fixing a broken system...

2019 is starting off big for the TED community -- below, some highlights. Jim Yong Kim resigns from the World Bank. In an unexpected move, Jim Yong Kim announced that he will be stepping down from his position as President of the World Bank by the end of the month. According to The New York Times, he will be joining a development-focused...

Performer Joshua Walters is based in San Francisco; he capped a several-week road trip this spring by playing the TED Full Spectrum Auditions in New York. His wiry, thought-provoking comedy bit about mental illness earned him today's spot on TED.com. TED's Will True spoke to Walters just after he jumped offstage that night in Manhattan. W...

As usual, the TED community has lots of news to share this week. Below, some highlights. A new civic gathering. To cope with political anxiety after the 2016 elections, Eric Liu has started a gathering called Civic Saturday. He explained the event in The Atlantic as “a civic analogue to church: a gathering of friends and strangers in a co...

Welcome the class of TED2017 Fellows! Representing 12 countries, one tribal nation and an incredible range of disciplines, this year's Fellows are all leaders in their fields who constantly find new ways to collaborate and bring about positive change. Among those selected are an Ecuadorian neurobiologist working to uncover the neural circuit...

A year ago, Sarah Parcak revealed her TED Prize wish: a citizen science platform for archaeology to let people around the world help find and protect ancient sites. Yesterday night, she returned to the TED stage to share what’s happened since. After a year of work with partners National Geographic and DigitalGlobe, GlobalXplorer launched in ...

(Editor's note, as of Nov. 1, 2019: Ameenah Gurib-Fakim stepped down as president of Mauritius in March 2018, following accusations that she misused a credit card given to her by a nonprofit. Read more here.) You’ve heard of a philosopher king. But what about a biologist president? Ameenah Gurib-Fakim — the biologist who gave the TED T...