Ideas worth spreading

Simple designs to save a life

1,845,098 views | Amy Smith • TED2006

Fumes from indoor cooking fires kill more than 2 million children a year in the developing world. MIT engineer Amy Smith details an exciting but simple solution: a tool for turning farm waste into clean-burning charcoal.

Fumes from indoor cooking fires kill more than 2 million children a year in the developing world. MIT engineer Amy Smith details an exciting but simple solution: a tool for turning farm waste into clean-burning charcoal.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

About the speaker

Amy Smith

inventor, engineer

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Amy Smith designs cheap, practical fixes for tough problems in developing countries. Among her many accomplishments, the MIT engineer received a MacArthur "genius" grant in 2004 and was the first woman to win the Lemelson-MIT Prize for turning her ideas into inventions.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.