The best way to prepare for a future of unknown complexity? Build on the strength of our differences, explain MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito and writer Jeff Howe. In the fall of 2011, the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology published a paper revealing that after more than a decade of effort, researchers had succeeded in mapping the ...

An idea alone, even when paired with passion, is not enough to change the world. What makes change really lift off and take hold is collaboration -- working together to bridge skills and know-how to transform reality. At TED@StateStreet, on Tuesday, Nov. 3, twelve speakers and two performance groups shared how, together, our collective geniu...

Crazy Rich Asians, a new Hollywood film that is an adaptation of the best-selling book by Kevin Kwan, topped the box office over the weekend, proving the "power of diversity (again)." The romantic comedy is a major motion picture with big studio backing and a reported budget of $30 million. For Hollywood it also presents something unique:...

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 ...

As usual, the TED community has been very busy this past week. Below, some updates from TEDsters with news to share. Fresh takes on artificial intelligence. Machines that think: the best thing since the discovery of fire or the biggest threat to humanity since the atomic bomb? Responding to the annual Edge question, almost 200 thinkers, includi...

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. The invention of the organization -- getting different humans together to collaborate on a project -- is probably the greatest invention in the history of mankind. ...

So, you want to hire the best employee for the job? Or perhaps you’re the employee looking to be hired. Here’s some counterintuitive and hyper-intuitive advice that could get the right foot in the door. Expand your definition of the “right” resume Here’s the hypothetical situation: a position opens up at your company, applications start rolling ...

At the TEDx Workshop on Sunday, June 24, at TEDGlobal 2012, six TEDx organizers took the stage to address the best practices and lessons learned from organizing a TEDx event: Photo: Bret Hartman Everything is not a democracy, say no when you need to, says Dave Troy of TEDxMidAtlantic, who spoke on creating a resilient TEDx event by bui...

If you ever find yourself in the northernmost town in the world, look carefully. Built into the side of a sandstone mountain is a glowing blue façade on top of a concrete tunnel; it might be the door to the secret headquarters of a Bond villain. And like Bond’s greatest villains, its purpose is at once deeply pessimistic and oddly hopeful. ...

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...

Jessica Green wants people to understand the important role microbes play in every facet of our lives: climate change, building ecosystems, human health -- even roller derby. This University of Oregon professor (also known by her derby name “Thumper Biscuit”) is using non-traditional tools -- like art, animation, and film -– to help people v...

Power drives everything. Whether it's political, economic, online -- power makes the rules and makes things move. At Session 2 of TED2019, we explore how different centers of global power are dramatically playing out across the world stage. The event: Talks and performances from TED2019, Session 2: Power, hosted by TED's Chris Anderson an...

At TEDxTehran, one volunteer is a gold medal swimmer. Another is a personal chef. Of the volunteers for this event, which will take place on February 14, 75% are bilingual. Meanwhile, 30% speak three languages. Organizer Sara Mohammadi decided to create a visualization, below, of the TEDxTehran volunteers because the process of interviewing t...

Throughout today, we'll be sharing incredible video from our new TED-Ed channel. In the deepest, darkest parts of the oceans are ecosystems with more diversity than a tropical rainforest. Taking us on a voyage into the ocean -- from the deepest trenches to the remains of Titanic -- marine biologist David Gallo explores the wonder and beau...

When humans think about sex, we tend to categorise into male and female forms, says biologist and animal sex expert Carin Bondar. But for millions of years, it used to be a fusion of bodies, a "trickle of DNA shared between two or more beings," she says. It wasn't until about 500 million years ago that we developed structures akin to the pen...

The TED community is busy with new projects and ideas: below, some highlights. A new galaxy cluster hidden in plain sight. Researchers at MIT, including TED speaker Henry Lin, have recently discovered a cluster of hundreds of galaxies obscured by an intensely active supermassive black hole at its center. That extra-bright black hole, named...

Today, YouTube's homepage spotlight features interviews with the creatives behind the campaigns that won TED's Ads Worth Spreading --  an initiative to recognize and reward innovation, ingenuity and intelligence in advertising. The 10 winning ads were unveiled at TED2012 and representatives of each campaign attended the conference from Tunisi...

Evolution. The concept surrounds us -- it's a standard part of science class, it's routinely thrown out as explaining our actions in relationships, business and behavior -- and yet, so many people hold subtle misunderstandings of what Darwin’s theory actually means. In this animated TED-Ed lesson, educator Alex Gendler gives a primer on th...

Photographer Frans Lanting returns to TED for a short reminder of what's happening outside the walls of our beautiful glass box. "Humanity," he says, "takes center stage at TED, but I’d like to add a voice for the animals." Lanting retells a story he once heard from a tribal elder not far from Vancouver, about the animals of the Earth. Th...

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 ...

In his classic Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain wrote one of his most famous lines: "Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things can not be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." TED is anchored by the belief that brilliance is a public good -- that inspiration, intellectualism, passion and the wond...

What do JFK, Venus Williams and Dan Ackroyd all have in common? All have been diagnosed with a rare disease. Today is Rare Disease Day, and here at TED2013, TED2012 Fellow C Jimmy Lin is marking the occasion by awarding $500,000 worth of research to help 26 different rare diseases, and launching a striking infographic that demystifies rare disea...

Collective wisdom might best be found when small groups of people are given a chance to discuss and deliberate, say social scientists Mariano Sigman, Joaquin Navajas, Gerry Garbulsky and Dan Ariely. Could this suggest a better way to vote? For many years, problems with democracy have been pushed under the carpet in the general belief that “demo...

If we want to effectively respond to climate change, we must understand the complex connections that exist between humans and ice. These relationships deserve our attention and respect, says glaciologist M Jackson. Our glaciers are disappearing. Glaciers worldwide that have existed for centuries are disappearing in human timescales -- our lifet...

We’ve all heard about the gender gap in tech. Women simply aren’t thriving in one of the most promising fields in the United States -- and not for lack of talent. And here’s the truth: It’s not solely a problem for women. It’s a problem for men, too. In just five years, there will be a million unfilled computer science–related jobs in the United...

Forty-three years ago this week, the number one tennis star in the world, 29-year-old Billie Jean King, agreed to take on 55-year-old Bobby Riggs, in a match dubbed the “Battle of the Sexes.” The prize was $100,000 -- which compared with today’s million-dollar-winning pots wasn’t much -- but it was the first time that women and men were offe...

For week 4 of TED2020, leaders in international development, history, architecture and public policy explored how we might rebuild during the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing protests against racial injustice in the United States. Below, a recap of their insights. Achim Steiner, head of the United National Development Programme Big id...

We’re launching a new way of exploring ideas. Ideas are the lifeblood of TED. They are the focal point of every talk, the fulcrum of every conversation and discussion. They’re also impossible to pin down, forever evolving, growing and adapting as the world around them changes. ideas.TED.com is built to celebrate this: to track ideas that b...

By Grace Rubenstein Eleanor Longden’s new TED Book, Learning from the Voices in My Head, charts her harrowing journey from terrified young woman trembling in a psychiatric ward to a stable, successful doctoral candidate who has learned to live peacefully with her inner voices, medication-free. She recounts how her mind shattered into pieces a...

Welcome to the TEDActive 2012 Projects! Whether or not you're attending TEDActive in Palm Springs next week, you're invited to join a few brainstorms and get ideas flowing around six big topics. Jump into the online discussions, find other amazing people and spark collaborative conversation on Facebook. There are six projects listed below...