The founder of the Riverside School in Ahmedabad, Kiran Sethi has launched an initiative to make our cities more child-friendly.

On more than 120 deep-sea expeditions, Robert Ballard has made many major natural discoveries, such as the deep-sea vents. Oh, and he found the Titanic.

Ayah Bdeir is an engineer and artist, and is the founder of littleBits and karaj, an experimental art, architecture and technology lab in Beirut.

The Chief Economist at General Electric, Marco Annunziata is a financial virtuoso with a passion for technology.

As fast as the rainforest is disappearing -- the people of the rainforest are disappearing even faster. Mark Plotkin works to preserve generations of knowledge.

Shaffi Mather is the founder of 1298 for Ambulance, Education Access for All, and co-promoter of Moksha-Yug Access.

With One Acre Fund, Andrew Youn fights poverty in rural sub-Saharan Africa.

Robert Full studies cockroach legs and gecko feet. His research is helping build tomorrow's robots, based on evolution's ancient engineering.

Cheryl Holder advocates for comprehensive medical prevention and care strategies for poor communities impacted by climate change.

The head of Microsoft's European games division, Peter Molyneux is building an astonishing new "virtual friend" who interacts with you.

Taylor Mali is one of the most well-known poets to have emerged from the poetry slam movement and one of the few people in the world to have no job other than that of poet.

Sarah Kaminsky writes about her father, Adolfo Kaminsky, a forger with a mission.

Stuart Russell wrote the standard text on AI; now he thinks deeply on AI's future -- and the future of us humans, too.

At Novalia, Kate Stone and her team use ordinary printing presses to manufacture interactive electronics, which combine touch-sensitive ink technology and printed circuits into unique and cost-effective products.

In his provocative, mind-bending book "The Secret Life of the Mind," neuroscientist Mariano Sigman reveals his life’s work exploring the inner workings of the human brain.

Kandice Sumner thinks we've been looking at the "achievement gap" in education all wrong.

Techno-sociologist Zeynep Tufekci asks big questions about our societies and our lives, as both algorithms and digital connectivity spread.

Stephen Webb is a science fiction fan who's passionately interested in what the future might hold for our species.

Marily Oppezzo studies how the movement of the body can affect the movement of the mind.

Allan Savory works to promote holistic management in the grasslands of the world.

Grégoire Courtine and his interdisciplinary lab imagine new ways to recover after devastating, mobility-impairing injury to the spinal cord.

Ayanna Howard designs and builds robots that learn from and interact with people, in order to help improve quality of life.

At MIT's Media Lab, Tod Machover creates boundary-breaking new music, often using new instruments and music technologies he has invented.

TED Senior Fellow Kyra Gaunt is a digital ethnomusicologist illuminating the prevalence of gender-based exploitation and violence against marginalized girls in digital spaces.

Bruce Feiler is the author of "The Secrets of Happy Families," and the writer/presenter of the PBS miniseries "Walking the Bible."

Shukla Bose is the founder and head of the Parikrma Humanity Foundation, a nonprofit that runs four extraordinary schools for poor children.

As co-founder and CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings is revolutionizing the world of entertainment.

A self-proclaimed nature nerd, Janine Benyus' concept of biomimicry has galvanized scientists, architects, designers and engineers into exploring new ways in which nature's successes can inspire humanity.

Maurice Conti explores new partnerships between technology, nature and humanity.

Dame Vivian Hunt's professional journey has taken her from expanding midwifery services in Senegal to helping private, public and third sector leaders across the globe strategize and transform during extraordinary times.