How to make New Year's resolutions that actually work out this time. It’s the time of year when optimism strikes anew and we think to ourselves: our New Year's resolutions will totally work out this time. Never mind that we abandoned them by Valentine’s Day last year. And the year before. And, well, you know the drill. But what if this year ...

Instead of having an answer to every question, the most effective leaders are coaches -- people who can guide others to arrive at their own solutions, put them into action, and set goals, says researcher and management consultant Julia Milner. This post is part of TED’s “How to Be a Better Human” series, each of which contains a piece of helpfu...

Each week, we collect sharp critique, thought-provoking questions or interesting insights in response to TED Talks. This week’s haul includes a response to criticism of Jamila Lyiscott’s spoken word essay, a personal take on the need to teach creativity to young people, and the accusation that a TED speaker might just be "philosophically redunda...

What is one goal you wish you could accomplish? Chances are, you have no problem naming it, so what holds you back from achieving it? Life has a nasty habit of interrupting the best-laid plans, but more often than not, it’s our own minds that get in the way of our goals. We make a litany of excuses for why those goals don’t get checked off our ...

Updated: new deadline! Inspired by today's TEDTalk from Eduardo Paes, the mayor of Rio? Share your own idea for leading your city into the future, and apply for a $10,000 award to help make it happen! If you have a bold, creative project for your city, apply for one of ten (10) $10,000 awards from the TED Prize to push it forward. It's...

Jamie Oliver’s third annual Food Revolution Day is tomorrow on Friday, May 16. This year, among the many other food-filled activities lined up, the healthy eating activist and 2010 TED Prize winner is looking to break the Guinness World Record attempt for the ‘Most participants in a cookery lesson in 24 hours.’ The current Guinness World ...

When we come thisclose to triumph, we gain potent energy that we can use to fuel later success, says business school professor Monica Wadhwa. 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. When we daydream abou...

Relationship researcher Eli J. Finkel shares a three-step process to help you identify -- and get -- what you most want out of your marriage. What is marriage for? In modern societies, we can have financial security, cohabitation, sex, love, children and more without being married. This makes the institution less essential -- and much more flex...

Ever since founding the first truly effective ambulance service in India, Shaffi Mather has been hooked on social enterprises. He’s gone on to set up inclusive high-quality schools, support small-scale dairy farming, and is now launching a bribe-fighting business. (Watch his talk from TEDIndia 2009.) Can you give us an overview of each of you...

Adam Foss asks for a show of hands: who in their late teens or early 20s shoplifted, tried an illegal drug, got in a fight or drank alcohol before they were of age? A lot of hands pop up around the theater. “How many of you think you're a danger to society and think you should be defined by those actions of youthful indiscretion?” he asks...

On the fourth day of TED, the talks got more personal and packed with takeaways for everyday life. Below, some highlights. Pond scum: a source of wonder. In her ode to the microorganisms we’ve spent a century trying to kill, Anne Madden shared how, in pond scum, scientists found an organism that appears to vaccinate mice against PTSD; in ...

Positive feedback loops can be found in even the messiest conflicts, ecosystems and corporations, according to Eric Berlow. The trick, he tells TED, is to not confuse the means with the ends. Interactive Fellows Friday Feature: Join the conversation by answering Fellows’ weekly questions via Facebook. This week, Eric asks: Instead of ...

Inspired by one of nature’s most efficient swimmers, bio-roboticist Auke Ijspeert and his team are building a sinuous robot that can venture into toxic waters. Let’s say you wanted to build a robot that was the most efficient swimmer possible. You’d probably try to take inspiration from nature, copying the best moves from a fish. But which of t...

Five months ago, BMW i and TED laid down a challenge. What would the future of mobility look like? There were no constraints on time frame or existing technology. The Next Visionaries project was conceived as a free form exercise in innovation and ideation with the goal to surface some truly breakthrough concepts. Ideas poured in from ...

Many people want to help in the ongoing struggle for equality and equity, but they don’t know what to do. Activist DeRay Mckesson explains how we can all show up and stand up. 1. Own your privilege. “Acknowledge that there is a privilege you have [if you're white], and use the privilege to disrupt that privilege itself. I've had people say to...

“The risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things...” – in his inaugural address, President Obama emphasized the importance of “making” to society at large, something TED Fellows recognize and demonstrate in their everyday work across the globe. Here are just a few of the visionary makers among them.  PulkitGaur, TEDIndia Fellow, robotici...

Ever want to play with genes? Synthetic biologist Oliver Medvedik thinks anyone should be able to access a biology lab and tinker with the stuff of life. That's why he co-founded Genspace, the world's first fully equipped community biolab, where citizen scientists of all stripes meet to explore, experiment and learn about genetic engineering. ...

While some world leaders resist global cooperation, city leaders are working across borders to tackle big issues like global warming, immigration and terrorism, says urban expert Robert Muggah. Amid the relentlessly grim news on climate change, there is a glimmer of hope -- and it’s coming from our cities. Even as the US is pulling out from its...

Our attention gets hijacked by everything from the stress in our lives to the ding of our phones. Neuroscientist Amishi Jha shows how we can cultivate the ability to focus on what really matters. “I think, therefore I am distracted.” If Descartes were writing today, this is what his famous aphorism might have become. We’re living in an age o...

When Salman Khan shared his vision for “a free world-class education for anyone anywhere” at TED2011, he turned the education world on its head. As he introduced Khan Academy -- a virtual classroom that uses video lessons to create an individualized, self-paced learning experience -- his alternative model fueled the nascent dialogue about online...

Our hosts for this session, Jean Oelwang and Chris Waddell, are life partners who've both had to overcome their inclination to be a solo superhero -- to be the best at business, school, sports. Jean spent her career climbing the corporate ladder, being tough, making her way to the top alone. Meanwhile, Chris was a skiier who, early in his ow...

NASA has a plan to combat rogue interstellar objects -- and even a Planetary Defense Officer. Asteroid hunter, space scientist and writer Carrie Nugent reveals the array of tactics, from the tested to the far-out. On the whole, asteroids tend to leave Earth alone. And day to day, there really isn’t cause for most people to give them any thought...

At TEDMED 2012, Rebecca Onie stunned the audience with her blockbuster talk on a new vision for health care. She is the founder of Health Leads, an organization that brings an elite, competitive team of college volunteers into hospitals and clinics -- a team that connects patients to services that help provide food, housing, insurance and ot...

Jane Chen knew that, for her low-cost baby incubator to save lives, moms would need to love it. But she had no idea that one of the world’s most famous moms—Beyoncé—would become one of her biggest supporters. Last week, Beyoncé announced a $125,000 donation to Embrace Innovations, Chen’s organization that makes the low-cost infant warmer,...

The different ways in which parents handle their kids’ use of technology are creating three distinct types of tech users -- and setting the stage for a clash of cultures, says writer Alexandra Samuel. The era of the digital native is over. If that declaration comes as a relief, you’re most likely either an older tech user who is tired of feelin...

Eco-entrepreneur Alasdair Harris is passionate about conserving marine biodiversity, and he's doing it in unusual ways. While most marine conservationists focus on what's in the water, Harris' company Blue Ventures works with people in poverty-stricken coastal communities to engage them in rebuilding tropical fisheries and in the process of ...

Australian Morgan Barnes posted a TED Conversation discussion question in December that was on many people’s minds: “Has the time come for the U.S. Second Amendment to be repealed or amended?” Over the next month, TED community members chimed in to voice their opinions nearly 1,400 times. The discussion closed this week, just as President Bar...

Regular super-short meetings can yield major results -- they serve to bond teams, keep projects on track, avert misunderstandings and more, says organizational psychologist Steven Rogelberg. A 10- or 15-minute meeting is a great tool that every leader should consider. Done effectively, short meetings with a focused agenda can have tremendously ...

Want to take pictures that will make people gasp? Photographer David Yarrow shares his advice on how to avoid the played-out and zoom in on the unexpected. Over his 30-plus years in photography, David Yarrow (TEDxEton Talk: Wild Encounters--the story of what I do differently) has waded through the crocodile-infested Nile, taken a selfie reflect...

By far the most viewed talk from TED2012 was given by an introvert who doesn't like talking. Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, quietly and powerfully delivered a call to action: take introverts seriously and understand what they can do in the right environment. There is, of course, mu...