Cartier believes in the power of bold ideas to empower local initiatives to have global impact. To celebrate Cartier's dedication to launching the ideas of female entrepreneurs into concrete change, TED has curated a special session of talks around the theme "Bold Alchemy" for the Cartier Women's Initiative Awards, featuring a selection of f...

Kitra Cahana doesn’t really live anywhere. The photojournalist has been on the road since she was young, the oldest in a family of five with parents who often traveled for months on end. Says the TED Fellow by phone (appropriately, from the road), “It engrained in me the notion that I can live anywhere, that there are no borders.” It was natu...

Elizabeth Gilbert shares 11 ways to think smartly about creativity. Creativity is a tricky word. Consultants peddle it, brands promise it, we all strive for it, often without really knowing quite what "it" really is. Put simply, there's a lot of snake oil around creativity. But now here's author Elizabeth Gilbert (TED Talk, Your elusive creativ...

In 2002, Ingrid Betancourt was campaigning to become president of Colombia when she was kidnapped by guerillas. She was held in the jungle for six years. With fear her constant companion, she learned how to use it and grow. The first time I felt fear I was 41 years old. People have always said I was brave. When I was little, I'd climb the highe...

Photo: James Duncan Davidson Paul Gilding starts his TEDTalk with four words that say almost everything: "The Earth is full." It's a terrifying concept. Have we really strained, mined and otherwise depleted the planet's resources to the point where social collapse is inevitable? Gilding believes we have, and he launches into a defense of ...

If you went to a grocery store in April, you probably saw anxious shoppers pushing carts filled with cans of beans or toilet paper -- and you might’ve even felt the urge to panic buy, too. Psychologist Susan David says that’s because humans are social creatures and our emotions and actions are deeply influenced by other people. During uncerta...

Esra’a Al Shafei was outraged by the injustices she saw against minorities in her region. She created MideastYouth.com as a platform for people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to openly discuss a wide range of taboos and underrepresented issues. The group’s latest venture? Tackling their most controversial issue yet with Ahwaa.org...

"These are the times that try men's souls, and they're trying ours now," begins Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, quoting Thomas Paine, in an electrifying talk about how we can face the future without fear if we face it together. It's a fateful moment in history. We've seen divisive elections, divided societies and a growth of extremism -- all o...

In the 1800s, around 50,000 brown bears -- or grizzlies -- roamed much of the Western United States. Today, those bears can be seen in less than 2 percent of their former range. TED-Ed Educator David Laskin uses NASA satellites to track the shifting, interrelated patterns of today's grizzlies and the plants they live among. In the lesson, ...

By Marianna Torgovnick It’s the story that inspired Moby Dick. In 1819, the crewmembers of the whaleship Essex watched in horror as their boat was struck by a sperm whale and began to flood. Forced into small boats with little food or water, they had three options: they could head to the nearest land, the Marquesas Islands, believed to be po...

A story of fear In 1819, off the coast of Chile, 20 American sailors watch their whaleship, the Essex, fill with seawater. It had been struck by a sperm whale. They took to their small boats, with limited equipment and little food and water. This story, from Stove by a Whale, the narrative of Owen Chase, is the story that would inspire Mo...

Bright, vivid color really does give us more energy -- and that’s just one of the things designer Ingrid Fetell Lee discovered in her 10-year search for the sources of joy. Few people would name their favorite color as gray or beige, yet our closets and our homes are often filled with these bland, neutral tones. When I studied color and its eff...

Cross-posted from Chris Anderson on Medium Today you may have heard that TED announced a rather unusual experiment with Audible. I’m pretty excited about what we’re doing here and want to share some thoughts. Broadcast journalist Jad Abumrad once said that the most powerful thing about audio is what it lacks … that is: pictures. When a h...

Comedian Carl Joshua Ncube writes: If you are about to watch my TED Talk, then you are watching the first one to have an expiry date. You see, when I went onto the red dot I was afraid, I was petrified -- and this was not because of an ’80s tune or the fear of speaking in public on such a big stage. My fear was about my President Robert Mugab...

In 2013, TED published more than 250 talks, each with an idea worth spreading. And yet, certain ideas seemed to resonate throughout the year, as if speakers at different events were singing parts of the same choral symphony. As 2013 draws to a close, here is a look at some of the big ideas we parsed this year. Consider it the rousing finale ...

Most of us feel scared about talking in front of a crowd, and in response, we either rehearse incessantly -- or we stop speaking in public altogether. Neuroscientist Anwesha Banerjee has this suggestion: Why not get used to it? This post is part of TED’s “How to Be a Better Human” series, each of which contains a piece of helpful advice from pe...

Poet Suheir Hammad performs two spine-tingling spoken-word pieces: "What I Will" and "break (clustered)" -- meditations on war and peace, on women and power. Wait for the astonishing line: "Do not fear what has blown up. If you must, fear the unexploded." (Recorded at TEDWomen, December 2010, in Washington, DC. Duration: 5:52) Watch Suheir Ha...

Welcome to "Dear Guy," TED's advice column from NYC psychologist Guy Winch. Twice a month, he'll answer your questions about life -- about your relationships, your job (or jobs), your family (or families), your passions, fears and more. Please send your questions to dearguy@ted.com; to read his previous columns, go here. Dear Guy: I'm incre...

Odysseus…Gauguin…Robinson Crusoe...and me? Many people dream of the ultimate escape: throwing all the baggage of civilization away and taking off to live on a remote island. But few people—particularly professional couples with young kids—actually go through with it. And yet, that’s just what my family did: we left Boston, and my reliable...

Here’s something you might want to consider tattooing on your forehead: What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do, says productivity guru Tim Ferriss. To do or not to do? To try or not to try? Most people will vote no, whether they consider themselves brave or not. Uncertainty and the prospect of failure can be very scary noise...

One thing can strike fear into the heart of the fiercest warrior, the most powerful CEO and the smartest person in any given room: having to speak in public. The thought of it makes the palms sweat, the heart beat faster and the limbs start to shake. An estimated 75% of people have a fear of speaking in public, and it's something that nearly ...

Writer Anand Giridharadas has come to TEDSummit to share an open letter to his fellow citizens. Invited by curator Bruno Giussani to address the dismay and confusion many have felt in the week after the Brexit vote result in the UK, the American writer and journalist lays out a vision that is as honest as it is poetic. “I write to you becau...

It’s Halloween — and the only thing scarier than Ebola this week is Ebola paranoia. Should you panic in bowling alleys? How justified is your fear of hospitals? Are mandatory quarantines even legal in the U.S., anyway? 3 ideas behind the news. Source: "Thomas Eric Duncan and Craig Spencer: Race, nationality and rhetoric of Ebola patients," Slat...

Amy Cuddy gave a fascinating, and research-backed, suggestion for anyone heading into a job interview, a first date or a public speaking event: stand in front of a mirror, put your hands on your hips, tilt your chin up, and make yourself as tall as you can get. Even better: throw your arms up and out. In her lab, Cuddy found that “power posi...

TIME Editor-at-Large Bobby Ghosh covers global affairs and the Middle East. For five years he served as the magazine's Baghdad bureau chief and, by the end of his tenure, was the longest serving print journalist in Iraq. Most recently Ghosh wrote a cover story on Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, arguably the most important man in the Middle...

If you’re dreading the inevitable day your New Year’s resolutions—to lose weight, get a better job, and drink less, perhaps?—fall flat, it might be because you need different resolutions. Instead of focusing on outcomes, why not set your sights on process this year? Here, 10 resolutions inspired by TED Talks. They just might inspire you in t...

All medical technology carries a price. For implantable defibrillators -- which are designed to deliver peace of mind -- one of the biggest downsides is fear, says cardiologist Sandeep Jauhar. For patients, the question remains: What are you willing to give up to live a little longer? In the annals of dying, sudden arrhythmic death is something...

Photo: James Duncan Davidson There are no words to describe Reggie Watts.  His words appear to make sense, particularly on their own: "Fear is all around us. We also have anti-fear. It's hard to measure." Or, "but it is in our best self interest to understand the typography of our lives." It's not just because the phrases he uses make ...

"I am British." Alexander Betts says this, and pauses. "Never before has the phrase 'I am British' elicited so much pity." Betts is here to talk about the June 24 Brexit vote -- in which 52% of UK voters expressed their wish that their country leave the European Union. It's a move that divided the country along almost every fault line, he says:...

Glossophobia, or the fear of public speaking, is one of our best-known fears. Depending on who you ask or what study you consult, more people fear public speaking than death, snakes, heights and just about anything else. We’re very familiar with this fear at TED -- and we have a not-so-hidden secret approach to overcoming it: coaching. Wit...