Lynn Rothschild is passionate about the origin and evolution of life on earth or elsewhere -- while at the same time pioneering the use of synthetic biology to enable space exploration.

TED Speakers are the thought-leaders who have created great things through crowdsourcing and collaboration. At TED 2014, Skype enabled these individuals to co-create their next chapter in music, architecture, education etc. Skype at TED2014 Skype at TEDGlobal 2013 The Open Translation Project began with a grassroots spirit and the enthusiasm o...

In 2013, TED published more than 250 talks, each with an idea worth spreading. And yet, certain ideas seemed to resonate throughout the year, as if speakers at different events were singing parts of the same choral symphony. As 2013 draws to a close, here is a look at some of the big ideas we parsed this year. Consider it the rousing finale ...

Something special happens when you think again. All it takes is an insightful thought and -- all of a sudden -- your brain does a backflip and you see faulty assumptions underlying what you’d always taken to be true. The first day of mainstage talks at TEDGlobal 2013 brought so many of these paradigm-shifting moments -- and many more that ju...

The public education system in the US has been the same for over a century, with teachers talking at students and giving them tests. But at Iowa BIG, teens address their community's most pressing needs -- and the results are benefiting them and their town. In 2012, some members of the community in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, asked, “What should school ...

When it comes to archaeological features, the Nasca Lines are celebrities. A giant monkey with a curled tail, an owl waving hello, a wavy geometric spider — these geoglyphs, carved into the soil of the high desert, were made between 200 to 700 AD and are still visible from overhead. First studied in the 1920s, they’ve been the subject of fas...

There are two things Africa-rising apologists are quick to cite as examples of the continent's ability to leapfrog past its challenges and end up with solutions that are far ahead of the rest of the world: mobile phones and mobile money. But the frequency with which these two are wielded have also rendered them well-worn. Is Africa’s ability...

Henry Evans is an enthusiastic world traveler. In the past year, he has visited Vermillion, South Dakota; Sydney, Australia; and Qusar, Azerbaijan. He’s explored halls of the Smithsonian, gone scuba diving in California, and flown over Bora Bora. He is in the midst of finagling a trip to space. Evans, it should be noted, does all this trav...

The technology advances of the last 30 years were great. But they're just the start. What's most exciting is still to come, says Nilofer Merchant. In the next 30 years, the full Star Trek story will actually come true. Already, we’ve seen many of the show’s far-fetched ideas come to fruition. Everyone now carries a communicator, aka the sm...

The past two weeks have seen some fascinating TED-related news items. Below, highlights. As the mayor of Tirana, Albania, Edi Rama transformed his city into a multi-colored explosion of geometric pattern. (Watch his TED Talk.) The leader of Albania’s opposition Socialist Party, Rama has now been named the nation's new Prime Minister following h...

About this talk: How can drones revolutionize healthcare in rural Rwanda and potentially beyond? Partnering across disciplines, UPS has helped create the world’s first drone-based medical delivery system, transporting emergency medical supplies to remote villages in Rwanda. On track to hopefully save thousands of lives a year, this scalable syst...

Daniel Suarez's novel Kill Decision features a scientist, Laura McKinney, whose work studying ants is purloined by bad guys wanting to use her research to create an automated drone army. It's pretty terrifying; here's an excerpt. McKinney gestured to the covered object in the center of the table. "What's in the sack?" "Something you should...

About this event: TEDxJohannesburgSalon: Hacking the Farm The nature, texture, and complexion of the farm is changing. The gates are opening—slowly if not surely—to many who were previously excluded. Land reform promises to deliver tangible justice to those who've been deprived for far too long. Human population is projected to reach an astounding 9.7 billion by...

At TED2014, we asked speakers and attendees to riff off the conference's theme ("The Next Chapter") and tell us what might radically change society, life, technology and so on in the next 30 years. From funny and wry to deeply insightful, the answers will surprise you. "One of the things about learning how to read -- we have been doing a lot ...

"Athletic" is a term we use to describe human beings. But could it also be used to describe a machine? In a demo recorded yesterday in his robot lab at TEDGlobal 2013, systems engineer Raffaello D'Andrea shows us that the answer is yes. He demonstrates with quadcopters, mechanically simple flying robots with four propellers.  Their design...

Yesterday, while our staff finished last-minute preparations for TEDGlobal 2014, a kind of hush fell over the streets of Rio de Janeiro as Brazilians voted in their presidential election. In a race between more than 10 candidates, President Dilma Rousseff emerged as the front-runner, taking 41.5% of the vote, with runner-up Aécio Neves captu...

Let’s shake ourselves out of our four-wheeled stupor, look at the vehicles and devices being developed, and reimagine how we’ll move around our cities, says TED technology curator Alex Moura. Humanity has come a long way from traveling by horse, but when we consider the future of transportation in cities, too many of us are still stuck in the 1...

The TED community has been very busy over the past few weeks. Below, some newsy highlights. A major upgrade for prosthetics. After nearly a decade in development, Dean Kamen’s prosthetic arm is finally nearing its commercial launch two years after its approval by the FDA. Developed for wounded soldiers at the behest of the United States D...

What if one person could change the world? What if we could harness our collective talent, insight and wisdom? And what if, together, we could spark a movement with positive impact far into the future? For a third year, UPS has partnered with TED to bring experts in business, logistics, design and technology to the stage to share ideas fr...

In P.W. Singer's most recent book, "Wired for War," he studies robotic and drone warfighters -- and explores how these new war machines are changing the very nature of human conflict. He has also written on other facets of modern war, including private armies and child soldiers.

To explore is human. It's as basic as cooking and bathing, and as essential as song and dance. It's not something that needs a lengthy explanation -- whether you're 3 or 103, it's the tingly feeling you get in the bottom of your stomach when you venture into unknown terrain. Across ages and cultures, there have always been explorers -- the pe...

Few sensations feel better than when your mind does a backflip and, all of a sudden, you are suddenly able to see things in new and unexpected ways. At TEDGlobal 2013, themed “Think Again,” you’ll have this feeling often. "The approach we adopted," explains TEDGlobal curator Bruno Giussani, "is to take a closer look at the global remix happeni...

“If you’re a teen, you’ve been called apathetic, narcissistic and social-media obsessed,” said Taylor Trudon, the youth editor at Huffington Post. Standing tall in a crisp white blazer, the 25-year-old shared how she went from keeping a high school diary — decorated with stickers and magazine clippings of John Mayer and Uggs — to becoming th...

So much of our world is determined by code -- be it the code of life or a string of 1s and 0s. In this session, “Code Power,” we hear from Linus Torvalds, who changed how code is written, and from Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani, who wants to open up the field dramatically. And after examining the particular code of punctuation at the ...

Around the world, right now, several countries are developing autonomous weapons that use artificial intelligence to locate, track and destroy their targets. AI professor Toby Walsh explains why that’s a problem. Artificial intelligence is in the news a lot, and it’s safe to say that it’s not always benign. That’s why the United Nations is host...

In the final session of TED2017, we look ahead to the future we'll build together. Below, recaps of the talks from Session 11, in chronological order. A design renaissance for our apps. "There's a hidden goal driving all of our technology, and that goal is the race for our attention." says Tristan Harris. He would know; he used to work in...

About this event: You are cordially invited to the next TEDxTheHague salon! Our March edition is themed Back to the Roots of TED and generously hosted at the Hans and Freya residence. At this salon we go back to our roots with an evening where we indulge in the diversity of TED videos. Let past perceptions be challenged and join the conversation around these t...

In session 1 of TED2013, we are meeting many new robots. First, we watched the amazing clip above of a troupe of tiny humanoid Nao robots dancing intricate choreography in unison. (They were presented by Bruno Maisonnier of Aldebaran Robotics at TEDxConcorde and beamed straight to the TED stage.) Next, Rodney Brooks unveiled Baxter, the huma...

In this excerpt from her new book, Courtney Martin reflects on the repercussions of a world filled with gizmo-laden gadgets ... and shows how a simpler way is both possible and good for the soul. It’s easy to get self-hating when you start reflecting on just how precious and misspent your attention is on a daily basis. It’s enough to make you f...

They hibernate for centuries and then come back to life! They make their own antifreeze and their own sunscreen! You’ll never look at moss the same way again. If you’ve ever had difficulty keeping a houseplant alive, imagine trying to grow anything in Antarctica. The sun shines 24/7 in the summer and then vanishes in the winter. Fresh water is ...