This mind-bending new science might explain life’s biggest questions

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This week on TED.com August 29, 2015

Talk of the week Jim Al-Khalili: How quantum biology might explain life’s biggest questions 16:09 minutes · Filmed Jun 2015 · Posted Aug 2015 · TEDGlobalLondon How does a robin know to fly south? The answer might be weirder than you think: Quantum physics may be involved. Jim Al-Khalili rounds up the extremely new, extremely strange world of quantum biology, where something Einstein once called "spooky action at a distance" helps birds navigate, and quantum effects might explain the origin of life itself. Watch now »

Playlist of the week Talks that prove you already live in the future That crazy, sci-fi future we all imagine? It’s here. Watch » 9 TED Talks • Total run time 1:50:41

More from TED.com When disaster strikes, who's first on the scene? More and more, it’s a robot. In her lab, Robin Murphy builds robots that fly, tunnel, swim and crawl through disaster scenes, helping firefighters and rescue workers save more lives safely -- and help communities return to normal up to three years faster. Watch » Modern work -- from waiting tables to crunching numbers to designing products -- is about solving brand-new problems every day, flexibly and collaboratively. But as Yves Morieux shows in this insightful talk, too often, an overload of rules, processes and metrics keeps us from doing our best work together. Meet the new frontier of productivity: cooperation. Watch » How do insects reproduce? In some of the wildest ways imaginable. In this enlightening, very funny talk, biologist Marlene Zuk shares some of the ways that insects are astonishing -- not least for the creative ways they have sex. Watch » Too often, we wait for a deadly disease outbreak before we get serious about making a vaccine for it -- while the medical industry is busy dreaming up treatments such life-threatening issues as hair loss. Seth Berkley lays out the market realities and unbalanced risks behind why we aren't making vaccines for the world's killer diseases. Watch »

read more about ideas on ted.com Education: Three principles for leading a strong school » Requirements: Thick skin, tough attitude -- and fierce love   Response: Rich Benjamin's thoughtful response to comments on his talk » ... after some commenters questioned his right to talk about white-only communities   Art: Don't try to understand it -- just enjoy this complex, mesmerizing art » Dustin Yellin's multi-layered masterworks

Quote of the Week “ I've spent more than three decades trying to get my head around quantum mechanics. One of the founders of quantum mechanics, Niels Bohr, said, If you're not astonished by it, then you haven't understood it." Jim Al-Khalili How quantum biology might explain life’s biggest questions

Join the Conversation On the TED Blog: Great advice from a young TED speaker: Start a TED-Ed Club at your school. The music of sign language, a computer of water drops: At the TED Fellows Retreat, 21 speakers share ideas that swim against the tide. Read the best quotes. #blacklivesmatter: A playlist of powerful StoryCorps interviews that tell stories of the African-American experience then and now. Got 20 minutes to see some jaw-dropping talks? Use our magical playlist generator to build a perfect playlist just for you. Just click Surprise Me.

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A visual history of human knowledge

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This week on TED.com August 22, 2015

Talk of the week Manuel Lima: A visual history of human knowledge 12:49 minutes · Filmed Mar 2015 · Posted Aug 2015 · TED2015 How does knowledge grow? Sometimes it begins with one insight and grows into many branches; other times it grows as a complex and interconnected network. Infographics expert Manuel Lima explores the thousand-year history of mapping data -- from languages to dynasties -- using trees and networks of information. It's a fascinating history of visualizations, and a look into humanity's urge to map what we know. Watch now »

Playlist of the week These speakers have dream jobs What do you want to be when you grow up? These speakers have staked out cool careers — some you probably never knew existed. Watch » 11 TED Talks • Total run time 2:10:05

More from TED.com Alix Generous is a young woman with a million and one ideas -- she's done award-winning science, helped develop new technology and tells a darn good joke (you'll see). She has Asperger's, a form of autistic spectrum disorder that can impair the basic social skills required for communication, and she's worked hard for years to learn how to share her thoughts with the world. In this funny, personal talk, she shares her story -- and her vision for tools to help more people communicate their big ideas. Watch » Tony Wyss-Coray studies the impact of aging on the human body and brain. In this eye-opening talk, he shares new research from his Stanford lab and other teams which shows that a solution for some of the less great aspects of old age might actually lie within us all. It could be a fountain of youth ... but there's a catch. Watch » Dustin Yellin makes mesmerizing artwork that tells complex, myth-inspired stories. How did he develop his style? In this disarming talk, he shares the journey of an artist -- starting from age 8 -- and his idiosyncratic way of thinking and seeing. Follow the twisty, individual, very funny path that leads him up to his latest major work (or two). Watch » Who is listening in on your phone calls? On a landline, it could be anyone, says privacy activist Christopher Soghoian, because (did you know this?) surveillance backdoors are built into the phone system to allow governments to listen in. Now, some tech companies are resisting the call to build the same backdoors into our mobile phones. Learn more about the next frontier of privacy in your pocket. Watch »

read more about ideas on ted.com Tech: This plane can fly for 118 hours nonstop » ... without using a single drop of fuel. The amazing story of Solar Impulse II   Women: The power of "and" » Can we be both fierce and feminine, tough and caring? A lesson from women warriors Art: The beauty of calligraphy meets the pop of street art » A gorgeous London mural inspired by a quote

Quote of the Week “ For a long time, we believed in a natural ranking order in the world around us, the great chain of being, or Scala naturae in Latin, a top-down structure that starts with God at the very top, followed by angels, noblemen, common people, animals, and so on. Over time, this concept adopted the branching schema of a tree. ... However, nowadays we are facing new complex, intricate challenges that cannot be understood by a simple tree diagram. And a new metaphor is emerging, and it's providing us with a new lens to understand the world around us. And this new metaphor is the metaphor of the network." Manuel Lima A visual history of human knowledge

Join the Conversation On the TED Blog: We talk to three self-described introverts who share their stories on Susan Cain's new Quiet community. Here's an idea: Play your way to recovery. TED Fellow Cosmin Mihaiu talks about his videogames that secretly work as physical therapy. Read about a brand-new TV show about TED on Brazilian TV, a Thanksgiving drive to collect stories from elders, and other news from the TED community. Want to find the next TED Talk you'll love to watch? Take the quiz: What TED Talk are you?

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The surprising way groups like ISIS stay in power

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This week on TED.com August 15, 2015

Talk of the week Benedetta Berti: The surprising way groups like ISIS stay in power 05:38 minutes · Filmed Mar 2015 · Posted Aug 2015 · TED2015 ISIS, Hezbollah, Hamas. These three very different groups are known for violence — but that’s only a portion of what they do, says policy analyst Benedetta Berti. They also attempt to win over populations with social work: setting up schools and hospitals, offering safety and security, and filling the gaps left by weak governments. Understanding the broader work of these groups suggests new strategies for ending the violence. Watch now »

Playlist of the week Small ways to change the world The little things that you (yes, you) can do now (yes, now) to make a difference. Watch » 10 TED Talks • Total run time 1:51:18

More from TED.com Swallowing pills to get medication is a quick, painless and ... often not entirely effective way of treating disease. What could be a better way? Lasers. In this passionate talk, TED Fellow Patience Mthunzi explains her idea to use lasers to deliver drugs directly to cells infected with HIV. It's early days yet, but a powerful idea with potential. Watch » As America becomes more and more multicultural, Rich Benjamin noticed a phenomenon: Some communities were actually getting less diverse. So he got out a map, found the whitest towns in the USA -- and moved in. In this funny, honest, empathetic talk, he shares what he learned as a black man in Whitopia. Watch » In the fog of war, civilian casualties often go uncounted. Artist Matt Kenyon, whose recent work memorialized the names and stories of US soldiers killed in the Iraq war, decided he should create a companion monument, to the Iraqi civilians caught in the war's crossfire. Learn how he built a secret monument to place these names in the official record. Watch » Seventy thousand years ago, our human ancestors were insignificant animals, just minding their own business in a corner of Africa with all the other animals. But now, few would disagree that humans dominate planet Earth; we've spread to every continent, and our actions determine the fate of other animals (and possibly Earth itself). How did we get from there to here? Historian Yuval Noah Harari suggests a surprising reason for the rise of humanity. Watch »

read more about ideas on ted.com Introverts: Yes, it's okay to eat alone » Susan Cain on introverts at work -- and what it's like for a quiet person to give a TED Talk Tech: The jaw-dropping, brain-twisting world of quantum computing » Where a bit can be a 1 and a 0 at the same time Food: What happens when a genetic scientist marries an organic farmer » Beyond the hype, the truth about how we grow food now

Quote of the Week “ We need to know what makes these organizations tick. We know a lot about how they fight, why they fight, but no one looks at what they're doing when they're not fighting. ... We cannot understand these groups, let alone defeat them, if we don't have the full picture." Benedetta Berti The surprising way groups like ISIS stay in power

Join the Conversation On the TED Blog: We talk to Larry Lessig about his plan to run for US president -- to make a point about the political system. This November, come to New York for TED Talks Live, an evening (or six) of live on-stage talks about science, education, and war and peace. Are you awesome? Apply to join the TED Fellows program, a network of world-changing people working at the leading edge of their fields (whether that's tech, science, art, education ...). Want to find the next TED Talk you'll love? Let us surprise you with a custom playlist you can create in three clicks. Get started ...

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