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  • Talks 29
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Talks
29 results

Janine Benyus: Biomimicry in action

Janine Benyus has a message for inventors: When solving a design problem, look to nature first. There you'll find inspired designs for making things waterproof, aerodynamic, solar-powered and more. Here she reveals dozens of new products that take their cue from nature with spectacular results.
https://www.ted.com/talks/janine_benyus_biomimicry_in_action

Janine Benyus: Biomimicry's surprising lessons from nature's engineers

In this inspiring talk about recent developments in biomimicry, Janine Benyus provides heartening examples of ways in which nature is already influencing the products and systems we build.
https://www.ted.com/talks/janine_benyus_biomimicry_s_surprising_lessons_from_nature_s_engineers

Michael Pawlyn: Using nature's genius in architecture

How can architects build a new world of sustainable beauty? By learning from nature. Michael Pawlyn describes three habits of nature that could transform architecture and society: radical resource efficiency, closed loops, and drawing energy from the sun.
https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_pawlyn_using_nature_s_genius_in_architecture

Markus Fischer: A robot that flies like a bird

Plenty of robots can fly -- but none can fly like a real bird. That is, until Markus Fischer and his team at Festo built SmartBird, a large, lightweight robot, modeled on a seagull, that flies by flapping its wings. A soaring demo fresh from TEDGlobal 2011.
https://www.ted.com/talks/markus_fischer_a_robot_that_flies_like_a_bird

Michael Hansmeyer: Building unimaginable shapes

Inspired by cell division, Michael Hansmeyer writes algorithms that design outrageously fascinating shapes and forms with millions of facets. No person could draft them by hand, but they're buildable -- and they could revolutionize the way we think of architectural form.
https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_hansmeyer_building_unimaginable_shapes

Hamish Jolly: A shark-deterrent wetsuit (and it's not what you think)

Hamish Jolly, an ocean swimmer in Australia, wanted a wetsuit that would deter a curious shark from mistaking him for a potential source of nourishment. (Which, statistically, is rare, but certainly a fate worth avoiding.) Working with a team of scientists, he and his friends came up with a fresh approach — not a shark cage, not a suit of chain-...
https://www.ted.com/talks/hamish_jolly_a_shark_deterrent_wetsuit_and_it_s_not_what_you_think

Thomas Heatherwick: Building the Seed Cathedral

A future more beautiful? Architect Thomas Heatherwick shows five recent projects featuring ingenious bio-inspired designs. Some are remakes of the ordinary: a bus, a bridge, a power station ... And one is an extraordinary pavilion, the Seed Cathedral, a celebration of growth and light.
https://www.ted.com/talks/thomas_heatherwick_building_the_seed_cathedral

Nina Tandon: Caring for engineered tissue

Tissue engineer and TED Fellow Nina Tandon is growing artificial hearts and bones. To do that, she needs new ways of caring for artificially grown cells -- techniques she's developed by the simple but powerful method of copying their natural environments.
https://www.ted.com/talks/nina_tandon_caring_for_engineered_tissue

Mathieu Lehanneur: Science-inspired design

Naming science as his chief inspiration, Mathieu Lehanneur shows a selection of his ingenious designs -- an interactive noise-neutralizing ball, an antibiotic course in one layered pill, asthma treatment that reminds kids to take it, a living air filter, a living-room fish farm and more.
https://www.ted.com/talks/mathieu_lehanneur_science_inspired_design

Fiorenzo Omenetto: Silk, the ancient material of the future

Fiorenzo Omenetto shares 20+ astonishing new uses for silk, one of nature's most elegant materials -- in transmitting light, improving sustainability, adding strength and making medical leaps and bounds. On stage, he shows a few intriguing items made of the versatile stuff.
https://www.ted.com/talks/fiorenzo_omenetto_silk_the_ancient_material_of_the_future

Deborah Gordon: What ants teach us about the brain, cancer and the Internet

Ecologist Deborah Gordon studies ants wherever she can find them -- in the desert, in the tropics, in her kitchen ... In this fascinating talk, she explains her obsession with insects most of us would happily swat away without a second thought. She argues that ant life provides a useful model for learning about many other topics, including disea...
https://www.ted.com/talks/deborah_gordon_what_ants_teach_us_about_the_brain_cancer_and_the_internet

Robert Full: The secrets of nature's grossest creatures, channeled into robots

How can robots learn to stabilize on rough terrain, walk upside down, do gymnastic maneuvers in air and run into walls without harming themselves? Robert Full takes a look at the incredible body of the cockroach to show what it can teach robotics engineers.
https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_full_the_secrets_of_nature_s_grossest_creatures_channeled_into_robots

Heather Barnett: What humans can learn from semi-intelligent slime

Inspired by biological design and self-organizing systems, artist Heather Barnett co-creates with physarum polycephalum, a eukaryotic microorganism that lives in cool, moist areas. What can people learn from the semi-intelligent slime mold? Watch this talk to find out.
https://www.ted.com/talks/heather_barnett_what_humans_can_learn_from_semi_intelligent_slime

Jaap de Roode: How butterflies self-medicate

Just like us, the monarch butterfly sometimes gets sick thanks to a nasty parasite. But biologist Jaap de Roode noticed something interesting about the butterflies he was studying — infected female butterflies would choose to lay their eggs on a specific kind of plant that helped their offspring avoid getting sick. How do they know to choose thi...
https://www.ted.com/talks/jaap_de_roode_how_butterflies_self_medicate

Emma Teeling: The secret of the bat genome

In Western society, bats are often characterized as creepy, even evil. Zoologist Emma Teeling encourages us to rethink common attitudes toward bats, whose unique and fascinating biology gives us insight into our own genetic makeup.
https://www.ted.com/talks/emma_teeling_the_secret_of_the_bat_genome

Rupal Patel: Synthetic voices, as unique as fingerprints

Many of those with severe speech disorders use a computerized device to communicate. Yet they choose between only a few voice options. That's why Stephen Hawking has an American accent, and why many people end up with the same voice, often to incongruous effect. Speech scientist Rupal Patel wanted to do something about this, and in this wonderfu...
https://www.ted.com/talks/rupal_patel_synthetic_voices_as_unique_as_fingerprints

Cheryl Hayashi: The magnificence of spider silk

Cheryl Hayashi studies spider silk, one of nature's most high-performance materials. Each species of spider can make up to 7 very different kinds of silk. How do they do it? Hayashi explains at the DNA level -- then shows us how this super-strong, super-flexible material can inspire.
https://www.ted.com/talks/cheryl_hayashi_the_magnificence_of_spider_silk

Hannah Fry: Is life really that complex?

Can an algorithm forecast the site of the next riot? In this accessible talk, mathematician Hannah Fry shows how complex social behavior can be analyzed and perhaps predicted through analogies to natural phenomena, like the patterns of a leopard's spots or the distribution of predators and prey in the wild.
https://www.ted.com/talks/hannah_fry_is_life_really_that_complex

Vijay Kumar: The future of flying robots

At his lab at the University of Pennsylvania, Vijay Kumar and his team have created autonomous aerial robots inspired by honeybees. Their latest breakthrough: Precision Farming, in which swarms of robots map, reconstruct and analyze every plant and piece of fruit in an orchard, providing vital information to farmers that can help improve yields ...
https://www.ted.com/talks/vijay_kumar_the_future_of_flying_robots

Carl Schoonover: How to look inside the brain

There have been remarkable advances in understanding the brain, but how do you actually study the neurons inside it? Using gorgeous imagery, neuroscientist and TED Fellow Carl Schoonover shows the tools that let us see inside our brains.
https://www.ted.com/talks/carl_schoonover_how_to_look_inside_the_brain

Hadyn Parry: Re-engineering mosquitos to fight disease

In a single year, there are 200-300 million cases of malaria and 50-100 million cases of dengue fever worldwide. So: Why haven't we found a way to effectively kill mosquitos yet? Hadyn Parry presents a fascinating solution: genetically engineering male mosquitos to make them sterile, and releasing the insects into the wild, to cut down on diseas...
https://www.ted.com/talks/hadyn_parry_re_engineering_mosquitos_to_fight_disease

Regina Dugan: From mach-20 glider to hummingbird drone

"What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?" asks Regina Dugan, then director of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. In this breathtaking talk she describes some of the extraordinary projects -- a robotic hummingbird, a prosthetic arm controlled by thought, and, well, the internet -- that her agency has create...
https://www.ted.com/talks/regina_dugan_from_mach_20_glider_to_hummingbird_drone

Van Jones: The economic injustice of plastic

When we throw away our plastic trash, where does it go? In this hard-hitting talk, Van Jones shows us how our throwaway culture hits poor people and poor countries "first and worst," with consequences we all share no matter where we live. He offers some ways to reclaim our planet from plastic garbage.
https://www.ted.com/talks/van_jones_the_economic_injustice_of_plastic

Roman Krznaric: How to be a good ancestor

Our descendants own the future, but the decisions and actions we make now will tremendously impact generations to come, says philosopher Roman Krznaric. From a global campaign to grant legal personhood to nature to a groundbreaking lawsuit by a coalition of young activists, Krznaric shares examples of ways we can become good ancestors -- or, as ...
https://www.ted.com/talks/roman_krznaric_how_to_be_a_good_ancestor

Roger Hanlon: The amazing brains and morphing skin of octopuses and other cephalopods

Octopus, squid and cuttlefish -- collectively known as cephalopods -- have strange, massive, distributed brains. What do they do with all that neural power? Dive into the ocean with marine biologist Roger Hanlon, who shares astonishing footage of the camouflaging abilities of cephalopods, which can change their skin color and texture in a flash....
https://www.ted.com/talks/roger_hanlon_the_amazing_brains_and_morphing_skin_of_octopuses_and_other_cephalopods

Emma Hart: Self-assembling robots and the potential of artificial evolution

What if robots could build and optimize themselves -- with little to no help from humans? Computer scientist Emma Hart is working on a new technology that could make "artificial evolution" possible. She explains how the three ingredients of biological evolution can be replicated digitally to build robots that can self-assemble and adapt to any e...
https://www.ted.com/talks/emma_hart_self_assembling_robots_and_the_potential_of_artificial_evolution

Natsai Audrey Chieza: Fashion has a pollution problem -- can biology fix it?

Natsai Audrey Chieza is a designer on a mission -- to reduce pollution in the fashion industry while creating amazing new things to wear. In her lab, she noticed that the bacteria Streptomyces coelicolor makes a striking red-purple pigment, and now she's using it to develop bold, color-fast fabric dye that cuts down on water waste and chemical r...
https://www.ted.com/talks/natsai_audrey_chieza_fashion_has_a_pollution_problem_can_biology_fix_it

Dame Ellen MacArthur: The surprising thing I learned sailing solo around the world

What do you learn when you sail around the world on your own? When solo sailor Ellen MacArthur circled the globe – carrying everything she needed with her – she came back with new insight into the way the world works, as a place of interlocking cycles and finite resources, where the decisions we make today affect what's left for tomorrow. She pr...
https://www.ted.com/talks/dame_ellen_macarthur_the_surprising_thing_i_learned_sailing_solo_around_the_world

Caleb Chung: Playtime with Pleo, your robotic dinosaur friend

Pleo the robot dinosaur acts like a living pet -- exploring, cuddling, playing, reacting and learning. Inventor Caleb Chung talks about Pleo and his wild toy career at EG07, on the week that Pleo shipped to stores for the first time.
https://www.ted.com/talks/caleb_chung_playtime_with_pleo_your_robotic_dinosaur_friend
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