The intriguing mystery of your body's microbes

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This week on TED.com February 28, 2015

Talk of the week Rob Knight: How our microbes make us who we are 17:24 minutes · Filmed Feb 2014 · Posted Feb 2015 · TED2014 Rob Knight is a pioneer in studying human microbes, the community of tiny single-cell organisms living inside our bodies that have a huge — and largely unexplored — role in our health. "The three pounds of microbes that you carry around with you might be more important than every single gene you carry around in your genome," he says. Find out why. Watch now »

Playlist of the week How does my brain work? How does the brain create inspired inventions, the feeling of hunger, the experience of beauty, the sense of self? Researchers at the edge of neuroscience explain … Watch » 9 TED Talks • Total run time 2:20:43

More from TED.com Nearly 1000 "honor" killings are reported in Pakistan each year, murders by a family member for behavior deemed "shameful," such as a relationship outside of marriage. When Khalida Brohi lost a close friend to the practice, she resolved to campaign against it. Yet she met resistance from an unlikely source: the very community she hoped to protect. In this powerful, honest talk, Brohi shares how she took a hard look at her own process, and offers sharp insights for other passionate activists. Watch »; How do vaccines prevent disease -- even among people too young to get vaccinated? It's a concept called "herd immunity," and it relies on a critical mass of people getting their shots to break the chain of infection. Health researcher Romina Libster shows how herd immunity contained a deadly outbreak of H1N1 in her hometown. (In Spanish with subtitles.) Watch » City agencies collect data and statistics on every part of urban life. But as Ben Wellington suggests in this entertaining talk, sometimes they just don't know what to do with it. He shows how a combination of unexpected questions and smart data crunching can produce strangely useful insights, and shares tips on how to release large sets of data so that anyone can use them. Watch » Small coincidences. They happen all the time and yet, they pass us by because we are not looking for them. In a delightfully subtle trick, magician Helder Guimarães demonstrates with a deck of cards, a dollar bill and a stuffed giraffe. Watch »

read more about ideas on ted.com Gallery: Take the happy route » In Boston, Barcelona, Berlin, Turin, a mapping app shows the happiest way to explore. 7 ways to practice emotional first aid » Guy Winch shares seven useful ways to reboot your emotional health … starting right now Q&A: How microbes make us healthy » And why you shouldn't give probiotics to your dog

Quote of the Week “ Imagine if there were a kind of neglected organ in our bodies that weighed just as much as the brain and in some ways was just as important to who we are. And imagine if, through scientific advances, we were just beginning to understand its importance to how we think of ourselves. Wouldn't you want to know more about it? Well, it turns out that we do have something just like that: our gut, or rather, its microbes. Rob Knight How our microbes make us who we are

Join the Conversation A powerful story of standing up for justice, from TED Fellow Boniface Mwangi. StoryCorps shares a wonderful conversation between Barack Obama and a young White House mentee.

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Why we all need to practice emotional first aid

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This week on TED.com February 21, 2015

Talk of the week Guy Winch: Why we all need to practice emotional first aid 17:24 minutes · Filmed Nov 2014 · Posted Feb 2015 · TEDxLinnaeusUniversity We'll go to the doctor when we feel flu-ish or a nagging pain. So why don't we see a health professional when we feel emotional pain: guilt, loss, loneliness? Too many of us deal with common psychological-health issues on our own, says Guy Winch. But we don't have to. He makes a compelling case to practice emotional hygiene — taking care of our emotions, our minds, with the same diligence we take care of our bodies. Watch now »

Playlist of the week Words to live by (11 talks) These speakers offer beautiful, sweeping, simple life advice — the kind to tuck in the back of your mind and let inspire you onward. Watch » Total run time 2:40:58

More from TED.com Childhood trauma isn’t something you just get over as you grow up. Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris shares data that shows how the stress of abuse and neglect has effects that unfold across a lifetime. (For instance: Kids who’ve experienced high levels of trauma are, when they grow up, at triple the risk for heart disease and lung cancer.) A compelling plea for pediatric medicine to confront trauma, head-on. Watch » In some parts of the world, half of the women lack basic reading and writing skills. The reasons vary, but in many cases, literacy isn't valued by fathers, husbands, even mothers. Photographer and TED Fellow Laura Boushnak traveled to countries including Yemen, Egypt and Tunisia to meet the brave women -- schoolgirls, political activists, 60-year-old moms -- who are fighting the statistics and learning to read. Watch » "We will start inhabiting outer space," says Angelo Vermeulen, crew commander of a NASA-funded Mars simulation. "It might take 50 years or it might take 500 years, but it’s going to happen." In this charming talk, the TED Senior Fellow describes is work to make sure humans are prepared for life in deep space ... and shares a fascinating art project in which he challenged people worldwide to design homes we might live in there. Watch » Fifty-three years ago, James A. White Sr. joined the US Air Force. But as an African American man, he had to go to shocking lengths to find a place for his young family to live nearby. He tells this powerful story about the lived experience of racism -- and how it echoes today in the way he's had to teach his grandchildren to interact with police. Watch »

read more about ideas on ted.com Gallery: The fleeting beauty of ice caves » Astonishing landscapes carved into a glacier How data-driven mapping sees Ferguson » Surprising views of the divided city of St. Louis Gallery: When reading is an act of daring » Meet women who learn to read against all odds

Quote of the Week “ Loneliness won't just make you miserable, it will kill you. I'm not kidding. Chronic loneliness increases your likelihood of an early death by 14 percent. In fact, scientists have concluded that chronic loneliness poses as significant a risk for your longterm health and longevity as cigarette smoking. Now cigarette packs come with warnings saying, "This could kill you." But loneliness doesn't. And that's why it's so important that we prioritize our psychological health, that we practice emotional hygiene. Because you can't treat a psychological wound if you don't even know you're injured." Guy Winch Why we all need to practice emotional first aid

Join the Conversation Truth and dare? TED curator Chris Anderson and Kelly Stoetzel tell the story behind TED2015's theme » What our intern learned from watching every TED-Ed Lesson »

ted2016: DREAM.  registration is open TED is actively seeking new applicants who'll add new perspectives and fresh ideas to our conference community. Much of the attendance fee is tax-deductible and supports TED's free work around the world. Learn more about attending TED2016 »

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The mathematics of love

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This week on TED.com February 14, 2015

Talk of the week Hannah Fry: The mathematics of love 16:56 minutes · Filmed Apr 2014 · Posted Feb 2015 · TEDxBinghamtonUniversity Finding the right mate is no cakewalk -- but is it even mathematically likely? In a charming talk, mathematician Hannah Fry shows patterns in how we look for love, and gives her top three tips (verified by math!) for finding that special someone. Watch now »

Playlist of the week 11 must-see TED Talks This primer of 11 classic TED Talks will introduce you to beloved speakers like Amy Cuddy, Brené Brown, Sir Ken Robinson and Chimamanda Adichie ... Watch » Total run time 3:19:26

More from TED.com What if your job didn’t control your life? Brazilian CEO Ricardo Semler practices a radical form of corporate democracy, rethinking everything from board meetings to how workers report their vacation days (they don’t have to). It’s a vision that rewards the wisdom of workers, promotes work-life balance — and leads to some deep insight on what work, and life, is really all about. Bonus question: What if schools were like this too? Watch » Just like us, the monarch butterfly sometimes gets sick thanks to a nasty parasite. But biologist Jaap de Roode noticed something interesting about the butterflies he was studying — infected female butterflies would choose to lay their eggs on a specific kind of plant that helped their offspring avoid getting sick. How do they know to choose this plant? Think of it as “the other butterfly effect” — in this fascinating discovery about brand-new science. Watch » 60% of people with dementia wander off, a hugely stressful problem for both patients and caregivers. In this charming talk, hear how teen inventor Kenneth Shinozuka came up with a novel solution to help his night-wandering grandfather and the aunt who looks after him ... and how he hopes to help others with Alzheimer's. Watch » What do you do with an outdated encyclopedia in the information age? With X-Acto knives and an eye for a good remix, artist Brian Dettmer makes beautiful, unexpected sculptures that breathe new life into old books. Watch »

read more about ideas on ted.com Gallery: New art carved from old books >> A closer look at Brian Dettmer's work 10 real-life love stories from Storycorps >> ... that will grab you by the heart 18 bold private spacecraft >> Meet the companies that are driving the next space age

Quote of the Week “ Let's take away all of the boarding school aspects of: this is when you arrive, this is how you dress, this is how you go to a meeting, this is what you say, this is what you don't say -- and let's see what's left." Ricardo Semler How to run a company with (almost) no rules

Join the Conversation Coming out in my TED Talk was hard ... but watching it with my coworkers was even harder >> A TEDx event in the Galapagos -- that focuses on the humans who live there >>

ted2016: DREAM.  registration is open TED is actively seeking new applicants who'll add new perspectives and fresh ideas to our conference community. Much of the attendance fee is tax-deductible and supports TED's free work around the world. Learn more about attending TED2016 >>

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You are receiving this email because you've subscribed to our mailing list. We also send out daily emails, if you can't get enough of us. We love you too. Copyright © 2015 TED, All rights reserved. You're receiving the TED Talks weekly newsletter because you subscribed to it on TED.com. Our mailing address is: TED 250 Hudson St., Room 1002 New York, NY 10013 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list   update subscription preferences   view email in browser

10 things you might think about psychology -- that are wrong

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This week on TED.com February 7, 2015

Talk of the week Ben Ambridge: 10 things you might think about psychology -- that are wrong 14:55 minutes · Filmed Jan 2014 · Posted Feb 2015 · TEDxYouth@Manchester How much of what you think about psychology is actually wrong? In this whistlestop tour of dis-proved science, Ben Ambridge walks through 10 popular ideas that have been proven wrong — and uncovers a few surprising truths about how our brains really work. Watch now »

Playlist of the week How our language changes over time Language isn’t set in stone (or in dictionaries)—it evolves every time we use it. Enjoy these talks on the way we talk and write now. Watch » Total run time 1:18:42

More new TED Talks Today, a single email can launch a worldwide movement. But as sociologist Zeynep Tufekci suggests, even though online activism is easy to grow, it often doesn't last. Why? She compares modern movements -- Gezi, Ukraine, Hong Kong -- to the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and uncovers a surprising benefit of organizing protest movements the way it happened before Twitter. Watch » “Ebola threatens everything that makes us human,” says Bruce Aylward of the World Health Organization. And when the Ebola epidemic exploded in 2014, it caused a worldwide panic. But humanity can beat Ebola -- and Aylward shares the four strategies that will help us succeed. The fight against Ebola is not yet won, he says, but it can be. Watch » Making toast doesn’t sound very complicated -- until someone asks you to draw the process, step by step. Tom Wujec loves asking people and teams to draw how they make toast, because the process reveals unexpected truths about how we can solve our biggest, most complicated problems at work. Watch » What do you do with an outdated encyclopedia in the information age? With X-Acto knives and an eye for a good remix, artist Brian Dettmer makes beautiful, unexpected sculptures that breathe new life into old books. Watch »

read more about ideas on ted.com Does your startup name matter? Some get-real advice from Hackers & Founders ... Should you hold that meeting? Use our handy flowchart to find out ... and a Leadership 101 reading list to refresh your thinking.

Seven Deadly Sins Sinful behavior is human -- and nearly impossible to avoid. TED speakers including Nick Hanauer and Ken Jennings talk about the guilty pleasure of behaving badly, and the challenge of being good. On the TED Radio Hour »

Join the Conversation A romantic new TED Book: The Mathematics of Love » Revealed: The TED2015 speaker lineup » “ Clinton Robinson comments on Tom Wujec: Got a wicked problem? First, tell me how you make toast   I really appreciated the presentation of data regarding each process and how many drawings each took. It highlighted for me the benefits and drawbacks of each approach. We all are seeking to be more collaborative and innovative but your last point really drove something home for me. Sometimes we create a solution looking for a problem when we should be doing just the opposite. We should be all standing on a "burning platform" to emphasize the critical nature of our work. This is maybe not the process to use when seeking random opportunity?"

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You are receiving this email because you've subscribed to our mailing list. We also send out daily emails, if you can't get enough of us. We love you too. Copyright © 2015 TED, All rights reserved. You're receiving the TED Talks weekly newsletter because you subscribed to it on TED.com. Our mailing address is: TED 250 Hudson St., Room 1002 New York, NY 10013 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list   update subscription preferences   view email in browser