Pollination: it's vital to life on Earth, but largely unseen by the human eye. Filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg shows us the intricate world of pollen and pollinators with gorgeous high-speed images from his film "Wings of Life," inspired by the vanishing of one of nature's primary pollinators, the honeybee.

Nearly 28,000 species of orchid grow all around the world, bearing every imaginable color, shape and pattern. There's a cunning purpose behind these elaborate displays: many orchids trick insects into pollinating, sometimes even into having sex with them. How do they deploy these deceptive tactics? Anne Gaskett dives into the surprisingly comple...

Bees are nature’s tiny workers. These talks examine why they’re crucial to the earth and worth saving.

Bring plants inside, outside and to your community with these talks all about the power of gardening and nourishing the nature around us.

The weather's warmer, flowers are blooming. Let's celebrate the world coming back to life!

Bugs are one of nature's wonders. These insect-obsessed speakers talk about how ants form societies, how bees pollinate flowers, and how termites can be quite ... tasty.

A simple ode to joy and the light it brings.

Zoologist Dr. Lucy King helms the Human-Elephant Coexistence Program for the Kenyan research charity Save the Elephants.

About this event: The steady accumulation of experience, the rejection of unquestioned norms, the cross-pollination of unconnected ideas, the breaking down of monolithic concepts. By doing these, you may see the new world which you have never seen before.

Louie Schwartzberg is a cinematographer, director and producer who captures breathtaking images that celebrate life -- revealing connections, universal rhythms, patterns and beauty.

As the TED team travels around the world hosting salons in 14 cities, we're collecting great local stories. Here's a quick report from TED@Nairobi, held May 5, 2012 at the Braeburn Theatre, and organized by Suraj Sudhakar  of TEDxKibera. Start with this Storify from Nanjira Sambuli that rounds up tweets from TED@Nairobi: From the blog...

About this event: Our goal at TEDxMidwest is to bring powerful ideas from great speakers to a 350 person audience, that is every bit as amazing as the speakers. It’s a day long exploration with people who think differently and, who in spite of the challenges, have had great success. Overall, it’s a cross-pollination of ideas from science, the arts, technology, bu...

About this event:

"This small bee is holding up a large mirror -- how much is it going to take to contaminate humans?" says Spivak. "I know what it feels like when I have the flu. I know how difficult it is for me to get to the grocery store to get good nutrition. But what if I lived in a food desert and had to travel a long distance to get to the store, and, whe...

Most people rarely feel compelled to stare at grains of sand. But when those same grains are magnified hundreds of times and rendered in three dimensions, they appear like individual pieces of colored glass crafted by a skilled artist -- no two pieces the same. In today’s TEDTalk, photographer turned microbiologist turned inventor Gary Gr...

Writer Seth Godin explains why it's absolutely fine if you steal his ideas ... you have to promise to make them better. Please don’t steal my car. If you drive away with it, I won't have it any more, which is a real hassle. Please don’t steal my identity or my reputation either. Neither travels well, and all the time you’re using it, yo...

Take a step back and consider the exquisite network of systems that sustain life on Planet Earth. The air we breathe, the food we eat and the ground we walk on are all carefully regulated by natural systems in an intertwined dance -- which means that any change we make in our environment can set off a chain of unexpected reactions. In this week’...

TEDx is a grassroots initiative, created in the spirit of TED’s overall mission to research and discover “ideas worth spreading.” TEDx brings the spirit of TED to local communities around the globe through TEDx events. These events are organized by passionate individuals who seek to uncover new ideas and to share the latest research in their loc...

TED and Wikipedia have teamed up in the spirit of open, accessible knowledge. “I firmly believe that nonprofit organizations should magnify their impact by collaborating wherever their aims align,” says Andy, one of TED’s Wikipedians-in-Residence. Andy works as a consultant, advising organizations about Wikipedia, Wikiquote and numerous ot...

About this event: In considering a programme for TEDxCourtauldInstitute 2015, we are keen to build upon the dialogue started at last year’s event, ‘Colouring Life’; seeing the world through different lenses, being global citizens, sharing ideas and making change. Our world faces a spectrum of issues and conflicts, and in a digital age these take hold faster than...

About this event: TEDxPasadenaWomen is a full-day conference which happened most recently on Saturday, October 29, 2016. The gathering included 15 speakers and 1 special performance from the Pasadena Civic Ballet. Speakers were curated from around the globe, and included thought leaders in the United States and abroad, as well as grassroot speakers local to Pasad...

We’re all looking for a tribe -- a group of people we can talk with, bat around ideas with, make things happen with. And we’re all looking for inspiration -- things to spark our imagination, send us off in new directions, and keep us buoyed when things get tough. One week each year, TED hosts a conference where both can be found in spades, a...

About this event: TEDxAjaoEstate would be a fast-paced, highly curated program featuring talks and performances in the spirit of TEDx. This would include music, tech demos, short talks, video interludes, live performances, interactive exhibitions, and other creative surprises. ▸ A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE In addition to the cross-pollination of ideas, we are also seeki...

“It is great to be back in Mississippi — yes it is,” said Kermit the Frog on the TEDxJackson stage in 2014. “I have deep roots here.” The Muppet was alluding to the fact that his creator, Jim Henson, was from the area. Kermit spoke about his humble southern upbringing in a swamp not too far from Jackson’s Capri Theater, where the event wa...

It's not a joke; it's a lab for collaboration. Listen to too much talk about innovation, and before long you're bound to hear someone utter the "cross" word. It might be followed by "fertilization," maybe "pollination," perhaps even "disciplinary," but the sharing of ideas with unlike-minded people is a hot topic, the holy grail of wannabe world...

We wouldn’t have chocolate without flies, and seven other reasons to respect and protect these bugs that bug us, from entomologist Bryan Lessard. When most people think of flies, they think of buzzing, irritation, pests, annoyance. But when I think about flies -- and I do constantly, as a researcher who studies them -- these are some of the thi...

Astrobiologist and geologist Louisa Preston looks for analogues to possible life on Mars in the most extreme environments on Earth. Now she's also considering how humans might someday make a home on the red planet, and is raising funds on Kickstarter in support of AstroGardening – an educational exhibit designed to explore how we might somed...

About this event: Acting as a hub of energy and inspiration, TEDxRenfrewCollingwood is a day-long event that brings together creators, catalysts, designers and thinkers to share their ideas worth spreading on the TEDx stage. A day of listening that invites thought, discussion and play, the TEDx talks are interspersed with activities, performances, and food worth...

Crystal Giants by Giovanni Badino This book shows clearly how the reality of nature can go far beyond human imagination. Badino and the explorers of La Venta bring the reader on the exploration of one of the most astonishing places of the world, the Giant Crystal Cave of Naica, discovered in a silver mine in Chihuahua, Mexico, in 2000. This und...

In 1945, there were 4.5 million hives of bees in the United States. Today, there are just about 2 million. It’s been a subtle decline over time, but one that has dramatically accelerated over the past seven years. And this should be extremely alarming, given that bees pollinate one-third of the world’s crops. In today’s talk, given at TED...