Biologist Sheila Patek is addicted to speed -- animal speed. She's measured the fastest animal movements in the world, made by snail-smashing mantis shrimp and the snapping mandibles of trap-jaw ants.

Kwabena Boahen wants to understand how brains work -- and to build a computer that works like the brain by reverse-engineering the nervous system. His group at Stanford is developing Neurogrid, a hardware platform that will emulate the cortex’s inner workings.

Cheryl Hayashi studies the delicate but terrifically strong silk threads that make up a spider's web, finding startling applications for human use.

Markus Fischer led the team at Festo that developed the first ultralight artificial bird capable of flying like a real bird.

Paula Hammond, head of MIT's Department of Chemical Engineering, is developing new technologies to kill cancer cells.

In his work in applied mathematics, Steven Strogatz studies the way math and biology intersect.

David Camarillo's research focuses on understanding and preventing traumatic brain injury.

Saad Bhamla studies biomechanics across species to engineer knowledge and tools that inspire curiosity.

Anand Varma's photos tell the story behind the science on everything from primate behavior and hummingbird biomechanics to amphibian disease and forest ecology.

At MIT, Hugh Herr builds prosthetic knees, legs and ankles that fuse biomechanics with microprocessors to restore (and perhaps enhance) normal gait, balance and speed.

Technology is always a big theme at TED (it's the "T," after all), and in this session we draw back the curtain to take a closer look at what's really going on within some of the world's most influential companies. But this isn't just about the current headline-grabbers. Speakers will also share thoughts and demos of cutting-edge design to s...

“As you can see, my legs are bionic,” said Hugh Herr on the TED2014 stage. "The artificial part of my body is malleable, able to take on any form, any function, a blank slate through which to create structures that can extend beyond biological capability." Standing tall in a suit hemmed at his knees, Herr spoke eloquently about his work c...

Invented here. There. And, well, everywhere. This year’s TEDWomen is dedicated to out-of-the-box thinking from women around the globe. TEDWomen 2013 will take place on December 4th through 6th in San Francisco -- but the whole world will be watching. There are 220 TEDxWomen events being held in 58 countries, each tuning into the webcast of the a...

By Becky Chung and Emily McManus The SF Jazz theater fills with the beeping and plinking sounds of a cellphone. Bora Yoon, a TED Fellow and experimental musician who weaves found sounds from old and new technologies, is on stage surrounded by her instruments: a golden flowered gramophone horn, a mixer, a computer and her phone. The cellph...

About this event: Dear TEDxers, We are excited to announce our next Virtual Salon event on how Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in the lab translates to Human Health in the 21st Century. The Salon is scheduled for Tuesday October 27th, 2020 at 17:00 CET (5.00pm Monaco Time*) and will last approximately 60 minutes. Save the date and sign-up to our...

The phrase “truth or dare” is a false binary -- facing the truth often requires daring action, and vice versa. That’s why, at TED2015: Truth and Dare, the two go hand-in-hand. TED2015 happens March 16-20 in Vancouver and Whistler, and we dare to think this will be the most provocative, invigorating, mind-shifting TED yet. The 58 speakers on o...

If you’ve ever seen grainy old sports footage—for example, a boxing match from the late 1800s, a Princeton/Yale game from 1903, or Babe Ruth’s famous home run from 1932—you probably noticed how different the game looks compared to its modern counterpart. The equipment looks clunky, the uniforms impossibly baggy. Even the bodies of the players lo...

Roboticist Auke Ijspeert designs biorobots, machines modeled after real animals that are capable of handling complex terrain and would appear at home in the pages of a sci-fi novel. The process of creating these robots leads to better automata that can be used for fieldwork, service, and search and rescue. But these robots don't just mimic the n...

Creating functional prosthetics at a fraction of the cost of imported tech, bionic innovator and TED Fellow Enzo Romero shares a groundbreaking model for designing 3D-printed assistive technology sourced from recycled materials -- built in and for his native Peru. Hear how Luke Skywalker's bionic hand in Star Wars inspired Romero to pursue mecha...

Hugh Herr is building the next generation of bionic limbs, robotic prosthetics inspired by nature's own designs. Herr lost both legs in a climbing accident 30 years ago; now, as the head of the MIT Media Lab's Biomechatronics group, he shows his incredible technology in a talk that's both technical and deeply personal — with the help of ballroom...

We're not done with anatomy. We know a tremendous amount about genomics, proteomics and cell biology, but as Diane Kelly makes clear at TEDMED, there are basic facts about the human body we're still learning. Case in point: How does the mammalian erection work?

Fasten your seat belt as software engineer Alex Koster takes us on a journey in what he calls the "software dream car" of the future. He breaks down how massive technological shifts are transforming the automotive industry and paints a vivid picture of where cars are headed -- from AI drivers to interiors and exteriors shaped by augmented and vi...

Humans will soon have new bodies that forever blur the line between the natural and synthetic worlds, says bionics designer Hugh Herr. In an unforgettable talk, he details "NeuroEmbodied Design," a methodology for creating cyborg function that he's developing at the MIT Media Lab, and shows us a future where we've augmented our bodies in a way t...

When you look at sporting achievements over the last decades, it seems like humans have gotten faster, better and stronger in nearly every way. Yet as David Epstein points out in this delightfully counter-intuitive talk, we might want to lay off the self-congratulation. Many factors are at play in shattering athletic records, and the development...

From the EG conference: Productivity guru Tim Ferriss' fun, encouraging anecdotes show how one simple question -- "What's the worst that could happen?" -- is all you need to learn to do anything.

Biologist Robert Full shares slo-mo video of some captivating critters. Take a closer look at the spiny legs that allow cockroaches to scuttle across mesh and the nanobristle-packed feet that let geckos to run straight up walls.

Mr. Rastra Bimochan Timalsena is more than just a YouTuber who puts every bit of hard work on his videos. An advocate by profession, Mr. Timalsena manages to present every bit of fun content filled with facts after a long session of judicial actions in his office. Also a lecturer at National Law College, it is his efforts on Random Nepali channe...