2014年10月25日 星期六

The world's weirdest science

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TED
This week on TED.com
October 25, 2014

Marc Abrahams: The world's weirdest scientific studies

13:12 minutes · Filmed Sep 2014 · Posted Oct 2014 · TEDMED 2014

As founder of the Ig Nobel awards, Marc Abrahams explores the world’s most improbable research. In this thought-provoking (and occasionally side-splitting) talk, he tells stories of truly weird science -- and makes the case that silliness matters.

Playlist of the week

Insights on breast cancer

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide. Listen as researchers, doctors, technologists -- and a dancer -- share their perspectives. Watch »

7 TED Talks • Total run time 1:56:53

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In 1963, Jacques Cousteau lived for 30 days in an underwater laboratory on the floor of the Red Sea. This summer, his grandson Fabien Cousteau broke that record -- he lived for 31 days aboard the Aquarius, an underwater research laboratory nine miles off the coast of Florida. In a charming talk he brings his wondrous adventure to life. Watch »

Technology allows us to give cash directly to the poorest people on the planet. But is that the right thing to do? In this thought-provoking talk, veteran aid worker Joy Sun explores two ways to help. Watch »

Fred Swaniker grew up in Ghana, Gambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. What he learned: the quality of leadership across Africa varies wildly -- and in countries with weak governments, a single bad leader can wreak unimaginable havoc, the kind it takes generations to clean up. Swaniker looks at the three generations of African leaders, and shares a vision to develop the leadership of the future. Watch »

Does a set of data make you feel more comfortable? More successful? Then your interpretation of it is likely wrong. In a surprisingly moving talk, Susan Etlinger explains why, as we collect more and more data, we need to deepen our critical thinking skills. Because it's time to move beyond counting things to really understanding them. Watch »

read more about great ideas

On the TED Ideas blog: How do cultures around the world make decisions?
Plus: Sit down and read our powerful interview with photographer Giles Duley, just back from Lebanon's refugee camps. Sad and hopeful.
 

Quote of the Week

Grit is sticking with your future — day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years — and working really hard to make that future a reality."

Angela Lee Duckworth
Angela Lee Duckworth: The key to success? Grit

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  A horrible cocktail of Orwell's captivity and Huxley's irrelevance? I would have thought we were already near that point, but then comes along Susan Etlinger with this brilliant and actually quite soothing talk. Thank you.

It seems she's working more in the field of social data mining, but her insights are clearly applicable, or should be recommended, in other data mining fields (pun intended) as well.

"...frankly, data doesn't create meaning, we do.""

how it all began

TED speakers explore our origins as a species — who we are, where we come from, where we're headed — and how we're connected to what that came before. On the new TED Radio Hour »

 

 

2014年10月18日 星期六

One more reason to get a good night's sleep

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TED
This week on TED.com
October 18, 2014

Jeff Iliff: One more reason to get a good night’s sleep

11:41 minutes · Filmed Sep 2014 · Posted Oct 2014 · TEDMED 2014

What does our brain do while we're sleeping? New research suggests that, among its many jobs, it cleans itself up after a busy day. Jeff Iliff explains an unusual mechanism that we're just beginning to understand about how our brains work -- and why we need sleep.

Playlist of the week

10 talks from authors (10 talks)

These well-known writers weave beautiful words on the page … and on the stage. Watch »

Total run time 2:40:32


More from TED.com

50 million people in the world today are refugees, forcefully displaced from their home by war and violence. With jawdropping stats and images -- and personal stories from kids she's met in refugee camps -- Melissa Fleming of the UN's refugee agency shares a vision for camps as places of education, where young people can learn the skills they’ll need to rebuild. Watch »

Along with a crew of technologists and scientists, Jorge Soto is developing a simple, noninvasive, open-source test that looks for early signs of multiple forms of cancer, using a mobile phone camera and the computing power of the cloud. Onstage at TEDGlobal 2014, he demonstrates a working prototype of the mobile platform for the first time. Watch »

Myriam Sidibe is a warrior in the fight against childhood disease. Her weapon of choice? A bar of soap. For cost-effective prevention against sickness, it’s hard to beat soapy hand-washing, which cuts down risk of pneumonia, diarrhea, cholera and worse. Sidibe, a public-health expert, makes a smart case for public-private partnerships to promote clean hands — and local, sustainable entrepreneurship. Watch »

In 2011 Ronnie Cahana suffered a severe stroke that left him with locked-in syndrome: completely paralyzed except for his eyes. While this might shatter a normal person’s mental state, Cahana found peace in “dimming down the external chatter,” and “fell in love with life and body anew.” His daughter Kitra shares how she documented her father's spiritual experience, as he helped guide others even in a state of seeming helplessness. Watch »

read more about new ideas

On ideas.ted.com.
Quiz: Are you smarter than a 19th-century 5th grader? Further reading on sports science. And a new way to learn more about Ebola.
Plus: Where's my flying car?
 

Quote of the Week

Humanity's long, slow journey of equality is actually speeding up."

Bono
The good news on poverty (Yes, there's good news)

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  .
Empathy is so strong, it blows me away every time I use it! I tried to imagine the opening scene myself (with my mother instead of my father). When I got to the last letter, the letter s, my whole worldview shifted slightly! Tears were not longer absent.

I strongly recommend trying it. But be careful -- worldviews are about to shift slightly!"
 

2014年10月11日 星期六

The surprising reason you should care about privacy

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TED
This week on TED.com
October 11, 2014

Glenn Greenwald: Why your privacy matters

20:37 minutes · Filmed Oct 2014 · Posted Oct 2014 · TEDGlobal 2014

You might not worry about your privacy online -- since you're not doing anything you need to hide, right? But at TEDGlobal, journalist Glenn Greenwald suggests that even perfectly law-abiding people have the right not to be watched online. Why? Because when we know we're being watched, whether it's by a camera, a guard or an email sniffer, it changes how we act. Hear a case for privacy you might not have considered.

Playlist of the week

The importance of educating girls

In too many places, education is not a given for girls. Hear from two amazing young women who faced great risk to change that, and two inspiring adults who support them -- including the father of Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. Watch »

4 TED Talks • Total run time 56:07

More from TED.com

In 2013, migrants sent $413 billion home to families and friends — which is three times more than the total of global foreign aid. This money, known as remittances, plays a major role in the economies of many countries. Economist Dilip Ratha describes the promise of these “dollars wrapped with love” and shows how they are stifled by financial obstacles. Watch »

Pia Mancini and her colleagues want to upgrade democracy in Argentina and beyond. Through their open-source mobile platform they want to bring citizens inside the legislative process, and run candidates who will listen to what they say. Watch »

About 10,000 people a month Google the phrase, “Am I ugly?” Meaghan Ramsey of the Dove Self-Esteem Project has a feeling that many of them are young girls. In a deeply unsettling talk, she walks us through the surprising impacts of low body and image confidence—from lower grade point averages to greater risk-taking with drugs and alcohol. And then shares the key things all of us can do to disrupt this reality. Watch »

French economist Thomas Piketty caused a sensation in early 2014 with his book on a simple, brutal formula explaining economic inequality: r > g (meaning that return on capital is generally higher than economic growth). Here, he talks through the massive data set that led him to conclude: Economic inequality is not new, but it is getting worse, with radical possible impacts. Watch »

news and moments from TEDGlobal 2014

TEDGlobal 2014: South! What happened this week in Rio de Janeiro? We got the latest news on  Ebola ... heard from a crusading lawyer in Afghanistan ... learned the dreams of refugees ... and blew our minds with a monkey-brain interface. Read all about it »

 

Quote of the Week

[Psychiatric] drugs have so many side effects because using them to treat a complex psychiatric disorder is a bit like trying to change your engine oil by opening a can and pouring it all over the engine block. Some of it will dribble into the right place, but a lot of it will do more harm than good."

David Anderson
Your brain is more than a bag of chemicals

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  This is a real eye-opener for me. I had no idea that it could cost so much for migrants to send money back to the families. If they are in America legally, I think our government should develop a program that would get the money where it is supposed to go with minimal cost. The recruiters that do these horrible deeds now are going to pay later. They should pay now but it seems that many governments profit from this practice, too. It seems that people with no integrity are always creating harm for people with integrity. The way of so much of the world. I need to find out who to contact to write to them about this issue. Thank you for this talk."