2014年11月29日 星期六

What the people of the Amazon know that you don't

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TED
This week on TED.com
November 29, 2014

Mark Plotkin: What the people of the Amazon know that you don’t

16:35 minutes · Filmed Oct 2014 · Posted Nov 2014 · TEDGlobal 2014

"The greatest and most endangered species in the Amazon rainforest is not the jaguar or the harpy eagle," says Mark Plotkin, "It's the isolated and uncontacted tribes." In an energetic and sobering talk, the ethnobotanist brings us into the world of the forest's indigenous tribes and the incredible medicinal plants that their shamans use to heal. He outlines the challenges and perils that are endangering them — and their wisdom — and urges us to protect this irreplaceable repository of knowledge.

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Total run time 5:42:25

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2014年11月22日 星期六

Tiny satellites that map the Earth: An amazing demo

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TED
This week on TED.com
November 22, 2014

Will Marshall: Tiny satellites show us the Earth as it changes in near-real-time

08:01 minutes · Filmed Mar 2014 · Posted Nov 2014 · TED2014

Satellite imaging has revolutionized our knowledge of the Earth, with detailed images of nearly every street corner. But Planet Labs' Will Marshall says we can do better and go faster -- by getting smaller. He introduces his tiny satellites -- no bigger than 10 by 10 by 30 centimeters -- that, when launched in a cluster, provide high-res images of the entire planet, updated daily.

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Remember the Ice Bucket Challenge last summer? Meet the mom who started it all. When Nancy Frates's son Pete hurt his wrist in a baseball game, he got an unexpected diagnosis: it wasn’t a broken bone, it was ALS. In this inspiring talk, Nancy tells the story of what happened next. Watch »

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  Here are my photos from the audience and the practice run and afterward: https://www.facebook.com/jurvetson/posts/10154859094775611

After many years of TED, this is the first time I have seen a standing ovation for a new product introduction. So proud to see other people's reactions for the first time.

And Planet Labs launched their Planet Explorers program today for developers who want to build apps that take advantage of raster scanning the entire Earth every day: https://www.planet.com/explorers/ He ends with the question: What would you do?

So far: 71 satellites launched and a new hardware design every six weeks."
 

2014年11月15日 星期六

What if we ended the war on drugs?

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TED
This week on TED.com
November 15, 2014

Ethan Nadelmann: Why we need to end the War on Drugs

17:26 minutes · Filmed Oct 2014 · Posted Nov 2014 · TEDGlobal 2014

Is the War on Drugs doing more harm than good? In a bold talk, drug policy reformer Ethan Nadelmann makes an impassioned plea to end the "backward, heartless, disastrous" movement to stamp out the drug trade. He gives two big reasons we should focus on intelligent regulation instead.

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Antibiotic drugs save lives. But we simply use them too much — and often for non-lifesaving purposes, like (mis)treating the flu and even raising cheaper chickens. Result: the drugs stop working for everyone. Ramanan Laxminarayan calls on all of us, patients and doctors alike, to think of antibiotics -- and their ongoing effectiveness -- as a finite resource, and to think twice before we tap into it. It’s a sobering look at how global medical trends can strike home. Watch »

Wouldn’t you want to know if your doctor was a paid spokesman for a drug company? Or held personal beliefs incompatible with the treatment you want? Right now, in the US at least, your doctor simply doesn’t have to tell you about that. And when physician Leana Wen asked her fellow doctors to open up, the reaction she got was … unsettling. Watch »

Vincent Moon travels the world with a backpack, a laptop and a camera, filming astonishing music and ritual the world rarely sees -- from a powerful Sufi ritual in Chechnya to an ayahuasca journey in Peru. He hopes his films can help people see their own cultures in a new way, to make young people say: "Whoa, my grandfather is as cool as Beyoncé." Followed by a mesmerizing performance by jazz icon Naná Vasconcelos. Watch »

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  Very courageous of you. I had misgivings at the concept but you won me over. We should know when a doctor makes money from drug companies or where we are referred. It's called ethical behavior.

The end-of-life scenario with your mother is disturbing. It is a disconnect from what patients want and a flaunting of the physician's view that they somehow know best. I am sorry for the words you still hear in your mind as a result of that. Thank you for your effort."

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