As the TED team travels around the world hosting salons in 14 cities, we're collecting great local stories. Here's a quick report from TED@Nairobi, held May 5, 2012 at the Braeburn Theatre, and organized by Suraj Sudhakar  of TEDxKibera. Start with this Storify from Nanjira Sambuli that rounds up tweets from TED@Nairobi: From the blog...

"This small bee is holding up a large mirror -- how much is it going to take to contaminate humans?" says Spivak. "I know what it feels like when I have the flu. I know how difficult it is for me to get to the grocery store to get good nutrition. But what if I lived in a food desert and had to travel a long distance to get to the store, and, whe...

Most people rarely feel compelled to stare at grains of sand. But when those same grains are magnified hundreds of times and rendered in three dimensions, they appear like individual pieces of colored glass crafted by a skilled artist -- no two pieces the same. In today’s TEDTalk, photographer turned microbiologist turned inventor Gary Gr...

Writer Seth Godin explains why it's absolutely fine if you steal his ideas ... you have to promise to make them better. Please don’t steal my car. If you drive away with it, I won't have it any more, which is a real hassle. Please don’t steal my identity or my reputation either. Neither travels well, and all the time you’re using it, yo...

Take a step back and consider the exquisite network of systems that sustain life on Planet Earth. The air we breathe, the food we eat and the ground we walk on are all carefully regulated by natural systems in an intertwined dance -- which means that any change we make in our environment can set off a chain of unexpected reactions. In this week’...

TED and Wikipedia have teamed up in the spirit of open, accessible knowledge. “I firmly believe that nonprofit organizations should magnify their impact by collaborating wherever their aims align,” says Andy, one of TED’s Wikipedians-in-Residence. Andy works as a consultant, advising organizations about Wikipedia, Wikiquote and numerous ot...

We’re all looking for a tribe -- a group of people we can talk with, bat around ideas with, make things happen with. And we’re all looking for inspiration -- things to spark our imagination, send us off in new directions, and keep us buoyed when things get tough. One week each year, TED hosts a conference where both can be found in spades, a...

“It is great to be back in Mississippi — yes it is,” said Kermit the Frog on the TEDxJackson stage in 2014. “I have deep roots here.” The Muppet was alluding to the fact that his creator, Jim Henson, was from the area. Kermit spoke about his humble southern upbringing in a swamp not too far from Jackson’s Capri Theater, where the event wa...

It's not a joke; it's a lab for collaboration. Listen to too much talk about innovation, and before long you're bound to hear someone utter the "cross" word. It might be followed by "fertilization," maybe "pollination," perhaps even "disciplinary," but the sharing of ideas with unlike-minded people is a hot topic, the holy grail of wannabe world...

We wouldn’t have chocolate without flies, and seven other reasons to respect and protect these bugs that bug us, from entomologist Bryan Lessard. When most people think of flies, they think of buzzing, irritation, pests, annoyance. But when I think about flies -- and I do constantly, as a researcher who studies them -- these are some of the thi...

Astrobiologist and geologist Louisa Preston looks for analogues to possible life on Mars in the most extreme environments on Earth. Now she's also considering how humans might someday make a home on the red planet, and is raising funds on Kickstarter in support of AstroGardening – an educational exhibit designed to explore how we might somed...

Crystal Giants by Giovanni Badino This book shows clearly how the reality of nature can go far beyond human imagination. Badino and the explorers of La Venta bring the reader on the exploration of one of the most astonishing places of the world, the Giant Crystal Cave of Naica, discovered in a silver mine in Chihuahua, Mexico, in 2000. This und...

In 1945, there were 4.5 million hives of bees in the United States. Today, there are just about 2 million. It’s been a subtle decline over time, but one that has dramatically accelerated over the past seven years. And this should be extremely alarming, given that bees pollinate one-third of the world’s crops. In today’s talk, given at TED...

In 1945, there were 4.5 million hives of bees in the United States. Today, there are just about 2 million. It’s been a subtle decline over time, but one that has dramatically accelerated over the past seven years. And this should be extremely alarming, given that bees pollinate one-third of the world’s crops. In today’s talk, given at TED...

We asked TED speakers, TED-Ed educators and TED Fellows: “What books would you bring with you to a desert island?” In their deliciously diverse responses, you'll find there's something for every kind of reader. They offered up recommendations -- please use the following links to jump around the sections you're interested in -- for when you're h...