A record-setting long-distance swimmer, Diana Nyad writes and thinks deeply about motivation.

Julieanna L. Richardson has a diverse background in theatre, television production, and the cable television industry that created a unique path to founding and heading up the largest national collection effort of African American video oral histories on record since the WPA Slave Narratives. T

Kola Masha is the founder of Babban Gona, the first for-profit social enterprise in history to be awarded the prestigious Skoll Award, due to its financial sustainability and highly scalable impact. The organization is part-owned by the farmers they serve.

TED Fellow Bahia Shehab sends an important message through her street art in Cairo: “You can crush the flowers, but you can’t delay spring."

Dan Pallotta is on a focused mission to change the way the donating public things about giving.

Explorer and professor Tim Flannery seeks to grasp the big picture of planetary evolution and how humans can affect it -- for better or for worse.

Justin Hall-Tipping works on nano-energy startups -- mastering the electron to create power.

Felice Belle consumes and creates stories to make sense of the world and her place in it. She spends her free time solving fictional crimes.

Stephen Hawking's scientific investigations shed light on the origins of the cosmos, the nature of time and the ultimate fate of the universe. His bestselling books for a general audience have given an appreciation of physics to millions.

In his work, economist Tyler Cowen looks at clues from pop culture, art, food, to gather data and make observations on the world's globalizing culture and commerce.

Chuck Nice is a radio and TV veteran with a passion for science communication and comedy.

Rebecca Newberger Goldstein writes novels and nonfiction that explore questions of philosophy, morality and being.

Jimmie Briggs is an essayist, journalist and advocate for racial and gender justice.

Sam Kass's work connects nutrition and education in an effort to make sure future generations thrive.

Denis Dutton was a philosophy professor and the editor of Arts & Letters Daily. In his book The Art Instinct, he suggested that humans are hard-wired to seek beauty.

In 2004, Sal Khan, a hedge fund analyst, began making math tutorials for his cousins. Twelve years later, Khan Academy has more than 42 million registered users from 190 countries, with tutorials on subjects from basic math through economics, art history, computer science, health, medicine and more.

Frans Lanting is one of the greatest nature photographers of our time. His work has been featured in National Geographic, Audubon andTime, as well as numerous award-winning books. Lanting's recent exhibition, The LIFE Project, offers a lyrical interpretation of the history of life on Earth.

Lara Durgavich brings historical context to human biology, sharing the importance of evolutionary medicine in personal life and beyond.

By showing people how to look closely at painting, sculpture and photography, Amy Herman helps them hone their visual intelligence to recognize the most pertinent and useful information as well as recognize biases that impede decision making.

Writer and thinker David Brooks has covered business, crime and politics over a long career in journalism.

Does humanity have a future as uploaded minds? In his work, Robin Hanson asks this and other extra-large questions.

Peter Gabriel writes incredible songs but, as the co-founder of WITNESS and TheElders.org, is also a powerful human rights advocate.

Ruby Sales has preached around the country on race, class, gender and reconciliation.

Sandeep Jauhar is a practicing cardiologist passionate about communicating medicine in all its glorious, quirky, inescapable humanity.

Honor Harger explores the cultural impact of scientific ideas and how technology shapes society.

César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández is a law professor and the Gregory Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at Ohio State University where he studies the intersection of criminal and immigration law.

Kate Stafford's research examines migratory movements, geographic variation and physical drivers of marine mammals, particularly large whales.

Ze Frank has been involved in online comedy, web toys and virtually shared experiences for the past 20 years as an influencer, performer, executive and mischief maker.

Recognized as one of the leading social critics in America, Ralph Nader's consumer advocacy introduced landmark legislation.

Ben Kacyra uses state-of-the-art technology to preserve cultural heritage sites and let us in on their secrets in a way never before possible.