Mike Brown scans the skies searching for and intensely studying distant bodies in our solar system in the hope of gaining insight into how our planet and the planets around it came to be.

Karin Öberg studies how chemistry and physics interact during planet formation to shape the compositions of new planets.

Dimitar Sasselov works on uniting the physical and life sciences in the hunt for answers to the question of how life began.

Anjali Tripathi explores planets to uncover the processes that make and destroy them.

Sara Seager’s research led to the first discovery of an atmosphere on a planet outside our solar system. Now she’s on the hunt for a twin Earth.

Adam Davidson is the co-host and co-creator of "Planet Money," a weekly podcast and radio feature about the economy.

At Planet, Will Marshall leads overall strategy for commercializing new geospatial data and analytics that are disrupting agriculture, mapping, energy, the environment and other vertical markets.

With photography, Yann Arthus-Bertrand has captured the beauty of the Earth. Through video and film, his latest projects bind together ecology and humanism. For him, it's all about living together.

Tabetha Boyajian is best known for her research on KIC 8462852, a puzzling celestial body that has inspired otherwise sober scientists to brainstorm outlandish hypotheses.

Bacteria, bugs, germs -- Morgan Vague loves to get in the dirt (literally) to explore solutions to pressing problems.

Sarah Rugheimer looks for signs of life on other planets by studying the telltale chemical signatures on distant planets.

TED Fellow Christopher Ategeka is on a mission to ensure a sustainable future for humanity and the planet.

John Francis walks the Earth, carrying a message of careful, truly sustainable development and respect for our planet.

Protecting the natural environment for future generations is one of Prince William's key priorities.

Ben Roche is the pastry chef at Moto, in Chicago, and was the co-host, with Homaro Cantu, of the TV show "Future Food."

After 20 years working with the presidents and prime ministers of 54 countries, Simon Anholt has a plan to make the world work better.

Using innovative orbiting instruments, aerospace engineer Jeremy Kasdin hunts for the universe’s most elusive objects — potentially habitable worlds.

Sylvia Earle has been at the forefront of ocean exploration for more than four decades. The winner of the 2009 TED Prize, she's a tireless advocate for our oceans.

Rick Smolan is the co-founder of the America 24/7 and Day in the Life photography series -- and a natural storyteller in many media. His latest books are America at Home and Blue Planet Run.

Prosanta Chakrabarty studies fish to help explain the evolution of human beings and our planet.

Planet Krypton's leading scientific genius, Jor-El invented a widely used hovercraft and discovered a parallel world called the Phantom Zone.

Peter D. Ward studies life on Earth -- where it came from, how it might end, and how utterly rare it might be.

Maya Penn makes eco-friendly clothes and accessories, which she sells on a site she built -- and gives away a percent of the profits.

As a writer on animal cognition and emotion, Barbara J. King seeks to motivate us all to be kinder to the animals we share the planet with.

Jill Seubert navigates spacecraft throughout the solar system, exploring with robots where humans cannot yet go.

Based in Montreal, the Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group is a world leader in live entertainment.

Penny Chisholm studies an extremely tiny microorganism that plays an enormous role in ocean ecosystems. Discovered only three decades ago, it has defined her career and inspired her to think differently about life on Earth.

Einstein, the African grey parrot, has a vocabulary of more than 200 words and sounds; she can perform nearly half on cue.

Through his mesmerizing satellite photographs, Benjamin Grant offers us a new way of seeing of our planet and ourselves.

TED Fellow Armando Azua-Bustos studies how microbial life has adapted to survive in the Atacama Desert, the driest place on Earth.