About this event: Aesthetics was first put forward by Baumgarten, a German philosopher. "Aesthetics" is complex. It can be applied to all aspects of our life, such as music, mathematics, physics, biology, psychology and so on. Have you ever noticed the mathematical aesthetics of the golden ratio in architecture, music around you? Have you ever known the inherent...

A round-up of funny, interesting and strange stories on the Internet this week: Hyperbole and a Half's Allie Brosh is back after a two-year hiatus, with part 2 of an illustrated account of overcoming depression. Dark and delightful. [Hyperbole and a Half] Even world-famous scientists have tiffs. Obviously this bet between Stephen Hawki...

On the anniversary of September 11, we're proud to launch an idea that is the deepest possible antidote to terror. It's the powerful story of Zak Ebrahim, who grew up the son of a terrorist (his father helped plan the 1993 WTC bombing), and chose tolerance over hatred. This idea reaches you in a form that's new for us: It's the first in a...

Laurence Kemball-Cook on his Pavegen at TEDYou during TEDActive 2012, March 1, 2012. Photo: Michael Brands / TED TEDActive's TEDYou Session 2 has it all: smiles, education (reform) reform, dances for disability, interrupting cows, kung fu and robotic twins. Leigh Rowan, “The Zaniness of the Frequent Flyer”: Leigh Rowan, COO of Moderne Co...

The founder of Zimbabwe's first graphic arts college shares some teaching resources he loves. Ten years after writing the book on Africa's graphic design heritage, Saki Mafundikwa is now at work on a new text -- about the long, rich history of African art and innovation (TED Talk: Ingenuity and elegance in ancient African alphabets). Mafundik...

About this event: 'Luck' in all its facets and forms has invariably played a significant role in our lives. However, the workings of luck are often mysterious and enigmatic. Science and technology has provided humans with a significant level of control over nature, ability to forecast events and occurrences while minimizing contingencies. Furthermore, t...

A new way to practice for the SAT. The SAT, a standardized college admissions exam, is a mammoth test, and every minute of practice is invaluable. But SAT practice courses can be expensive -- which oftentimes means kids with less money, or from disadvantaged backgrounds, do worse. One year ago, Khan Academy, a free online platform for learni...

Before TEDGlobal 2013, director Bruno Giussani reached out to the giant community of TEDx organizers around the world to ask for some comic relief. He asked them, “What are the funniest videos from your event?” And, as usual, TEDx’ers came through -- with wild enthusiasm. Below, the 5 hilarious TEDx Talks Giussani selected to show at TEDG...

At first glance, the image above may look like an artistic tangle of worms. But it is actually a visualization of the words that appear most often in TED Talk descriptions. Each line corresponds to a word, and its snaking movement shows how its frequency of use has changed over time. Mouse over the word “work” and you can see that the line p...

Mathematicians Hannah Fry and Thomas Oléron Evans have crunched the numbers. Forget utilities -- these are the properties you really should be investing in. To our minds, there is nothing more magical than a full-blown family argument caused by a good old-fashioned game of Monopoly. Officially, Monopoly ends when all players but one go bankrupt...

At TEDGlobal 2012, Max Little (watch his TED Talk) asked the public to contribute voice samples to the Parkinson's Voice Initiative, a data-gathering project that aims to help develop a way to diagnose the neurological disease quickly, non-invasively and in its early stages. If it succeeds, it could change the quality of care for Parkinson's p...

TED Fellow Renée Hlozek -- currently a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Astrophysics at Princeton University -- recently established a fund and mentoring program to bring young South African female science undergraduates to the US for summer research. The mentorship’s first recipient, Julia Healy, just completed four weeks w...

Enjoy this sampling of the stories from around the internet that captured our interest this week: Can a disabled form of HIV be used to fight cancer? A story in The New York Times delves into an experimental treatment. Earlier this week, Markham Nolan shared how his team verifies videos from war-torn regions to make sure that they are legi...

About this event: ‘’The Hidden Key’’ The door at the end of the road that makes Man human, and the new ways that await discovery behind that door; new skills, new cultures and new inventions... and the hidden key that opens that door! How do you think Edison invented the bulb in the first try, or how did someone find the first vaccine? Who has revealed the scien...

Each week, TEDx chooses four of our favorite talks, highlighting just a few of the enlightening speakers from the TEDx community, and its diverse constellation of ideas worth spreading. Below, give this week’s talks a listen. Why you hate math: Laura Overdeck at TEDxWestVillageWomen When dining out, how often do you slide your check acros...

In his talk at TEDGlobal 2010, Conrad Wolfram championed a radical new way of teaching mathematics: removing the notion that math is the same as calculating, and completely redesigning the curriculum around the new possibilities opened by computers. He's now launched a website to collect ideas, and in November he will be hosting The Computer...

Photo: James Duncan Davidson Welcome to Autonomous Agile Aerial Robots i.e. flying robots that can move like anything. Vijay Kumar, a professor at University of Pennsylvania, makes robots related to unmanned airplanes. But those are big and heavy and aren't autonomous -- they need humans to pilot them. The robots he works with are tiny...

Architecture and microbiology may seem like an odd couple, but TED Senior Fellow Jessica Green would beg to differ. In today’s talk, she reveals what’s teeming all over the surfaces around us, and how it can help us build smarter, healthier buildings. As the founding director of the Biology in the Built Environment Center at the University of...

Saki Mafundikwa founded the Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts, ZIVA, a Bauhaus-style school focused on African heritage. (“Vigital” denotes visual arts taught using digital tools.) It's the first graphic design and new media college in the nation, and he wanted his students to understand the power of design--and in particular to understand ...

TED Studies, created in collaboration with Wiley, are curated video collections — supplemented by rich educational materials — for students, educators and self-guided learners. The Edge of Knowledge explores the fascinating implications of some of science's most perplexing theories: quantum mechanics, general relativity and attempts to unify the...

About this event: The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics hosted "TEDxNCSSM" on April 13, 2013 as a celebration of human achievement and experience in a wide variety of fields. The Dean of Science, Dr. Amy Sheck, was the recipient of this TEDx license and served as the lead organizer for this conference - which was designed to emulate the celebrated ...

From dancing math to teaching in languages other than English – this week’s X marks the spot is a selection of TEDx Talks about rethinking education. Each week, TEDx chooses four of our favorite talks, highlighting just a few of the enlightening speakers from the TEDx community, and its diverse constellation of ideas worth spreading. Below, find...

About this event: Edward Lorenz, an American mathematician, and meteorologist was a pioneer of the Chaos Theory. His findings led to the coinage of the term, ‘Butterfly Effect,’ a term that has stemmed from an academic paper he presented in 1972. When Lorenz was studying weather patterns, he noticed that small differences in the start of a process caused major ch...

We've heard a lot about robots at TED over the years. Demos of amazing specialized robots ... talk about what robots can and can't do ... and will they take jobs from humans and is that a good or a bad thing? What's missing is a concrete example of a multi-purpose robot that can indeed do many tasks. Well, it's time to meet a general robot t...

This week, over at the TEDx blog, we got really into oceans and all the fascinating creatures that hang out there. (Especially sea turtles. We’re obsessed.) We explored how baby sea turtles survive the great wide world, how dolphins blow bubble rings for underwater play, and how divers feel swimming with some of the world’s largest mammals. ...

About this event: How is the study of mathematics enhanced by understanding fractal patterns in nature or art? How can political scientists use their knowledge of ethical philosophy to create stronger public policy? Why is it important for scientists to take active roles as leaders in their communities? Although most of the focus in our college careers is on ch...

How two Australian sisters channeled their love of STEM and coral reefs into the most glorious participatory art project. “We’re used to thinking about math as something you have to learn through textbooks and equations,” says science writer Margaret Wertheim. But through their Institute for Figuring, she and her sister, Christine, have made it...

Patterns delight the mind and eye. And yet, they sometimes lead to us getting stuck — not just in behaviors, but in systems. The speakers in Session 2, “Radical Repatterning,” can see what's beyond the status quo. Below, recaps of the talks in Session 2, in chronological order, from a speaker who will challenge how you think about math to...

Dance -- and physical activity -- should have the same status in schools as math, science and language. Psst: it may even help raise test scores, says Sir Ken Robinson. For several years, I’ve been a patron of the London School of Contemporary Dance. In 2016, I was invited to give the annual lecture in honor of founding principal Robert Cohan, ...

Leland Melvin is an engineer, educator, former NASA astronaut and NFL wide receiver. He shares his stories of perseverance and excellence to inspire communities for lasting positive change.