How cohousing can make us happier (and live longer)

Rethink your home and how you live in it ... Open in browser

This week on TED.com July 29, 2017

Talk of the week Grace Kim: How cohousing can make us happier (and live longer) 10:15 minutes · Filmed Apr 2017 · Posted Jul 2017 · TED2017 Loneliness doesn't always stem from being alone. For architect Grace Kim, loneliness is a function of how socially connected we feel to the people around us -- and it's often the result of the homes we live in. She shares an age-old antidote to isolation: cohousing, a way of living where people choose to share space with their neighbors, get to know them, and look after them. Rethink your home and how you live in it with this eye-opening talk. Watch now »

Playlist of the week #Goals Counterintuitive advice that will help you set and achieve your goals for the short term, the long term and those moments in between. Watch » 5 TED Talks • Total run time 51:44

This week's new TED Talks Jimmy Lin is developing technologies to catch cancer earlier. He shares a breakthrough technique that looks for small signals of cancer's presence via a simple blood test, detecting the recurrence of some forms of the disease 100 days earlier than traditional methods. And with cancer, early detection can make all the difference. Watch » A handful of people working at a handful of tech companies steer the thoughts of billions of people every day, says Tristan Harris. And they're all competing for one thing: your attention. Harris shows how tech companies prey on our psychology for their own profit, and calls for a design renaissance in which our phones and apps encourage us to live the lives we want. Watch » Do your kidneys have a sense of smell? Turns out, the same scent detectors found in your nose are also found in some pretty unexpected places -- like your muscles, your kidneys and even your lungs. In this quick talk filled with weird facts, physiologist Jennifer Pluznick explains why they're there and what they do. Watch » Corals in the Pacific Ocean have been dying at an alarming rate. But it's not too late to save them, says TED Fellow Kristen Marhaver in this hopeful talk about why we should keep fighting to save our oceans. "Corals have always been playing the long game," she says, "and now so are we." Watch »

Read more on ideas.ted.com Brain: Want to understand alien intelligence? Start with the octopus » What is consciousness, and does an octopus have it too? Food: Inside a vertical ocean farm » A clever plan that grows oysters, scallops, seaweed and more Culture: Did you watch The Bachelorette this season? We did and here's why » A thoughtful talk with Aunt Vernā Myers on race, love and television

Quote of the Week “ From our homes, we look down into the courtyard, and depending on the time of year, we see this: kids and grownups in various combinations playing and hanging out with each other. There's a lot of giggling and chatter. There's a lot of hula-hooping. And every now and then, "Hey, quit hitting me!" or a cry from one of the kids. These are the sounds of our daily lives, and the sounds of social connectedness." Grace Kim How cohousing can make us happier (and live longer)

Sincerely, x: Pepper spray Listen to TED and Audible's new podcast, Sincerely, X. This episode, titled "Pepper Spray," follows a woman whose visit to the store triggers a panic attack, giving listeners an inside look into those suffering from PTSD and how to help. Available now on Apple Podcasts, the TED Android app, or wherever you get your podcasts.

 

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How your brain hallucinates your conscious reality

A delightfully disorienting talk. Open in browser

This week on TED.com July 22, 2017

Anil Seth: Your brain hallucinates your conscious reality 17:01 minutes · Filmed Apr 2017 · Posted Jul 2017 · TED2017 Right now, billions of neurons in your brain are working together to generate a conscious experience, and not just any conscious experience -- your experience of the world around you and of yourself within it. How does this happen? According to neuroscientist Anil Seth, we're all hallucinating all the time; when we agree about our hallucinations, we call it "reality." Join Seth for a delightfully disorienting talk that may leave you questioning the very nature of your existence. Watch now »

Playlist of the week How do you create new words? 4 fun talks -- from linguists, dictionary experts and word-makers -- about how and why we make up new words. Watch » Total run time 45:21

More TED Talks Climate change is real, case closed. But there's still a lot we don't understand about it, and the more we know the better chance we have to slow it down. One still-unknown factor: How might clouds play a part? There's a small hope that they could buy us some time to fix things ... or they could make global warming worse. Climate scientist Kate Marvel takes us through the science of clouds and what it might take for Earth to break its own fever. Watch » Why do so many companies make bad decisions, even with access to unprecedented amounts of big data? With stories from Nokia to Netflix to the oracles of ancient Greece, Tricia Wang demystifies big data and identifies its pitfalls, suggesting that we use "thick data" -- precious, unquantifiable insights from actual people -- to make the right business decisions and thrive in the unknown. Watch » The divisiveness plaguing American politics today is nothing new, says law scholar Noah Feldman. In fact, it dates back to the early days of the republic, and a dispute between Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. Join Feldman for some fascinating history of American factionalism -- and a hopeful reminder about how the Constitution has proven itself to be greater than partisanship. Watch » Born with a genetic visual impairment that has no correction or cure, Susan Robinson is legally blind (or partially sighted, as she prefers it) and entitled to a label she hates: "disabled." In this funny and personal talk, she digs at our hidden biases by explaining five ways she flips expectations of disability upside down. Watch »

Read more on ideas.ted.com Consumers: Ideas for curbing your plastic habit >> How to use less, and catch more before it ends up in the ocean  Business: Three practically painless ways to expand your network >> A few simple steps to take to broaden and deepen your ties

Quote of the Week “ In fact, we're all hallucinating all the time, including right now. It's just that when we agree about our hallucinations, we call that reality." Anil Seth How your brain hallucinates your conscious reality

ted radio hour: Prevention! We know we should plan for the future, but it's often hard to take the necessary steps. This hour, TED speakers explore what to do today to prepare ourselves for tomorrow. Listen on Apple Podcasts, NPR, the TED Android app, or wherever you go for your audio fix.

SINCERELY, X -- NOW ON APPLE PODCASTS We just released Sincerely, X, a new podcast from TED and Audible. Our first episode, "Dr. Burnout," features a doctor who says she committed a fatal mistake with a patient, leading her to a disturbing diagnosis about the medical field. Listen to her story now on Apple Podcasts, the TED Android app or wherever you get your podcasts.  Listen now »

 

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Amazing scientific tools made from paper

Clever inventions turn everyday materials into powerful scientific devices. Open in browser

This week on TED.com July 15, 2017

Manu Prakash: Lifesaving scientific tools made of paper 13:58 minutes · Filmed Apr 2017 · Posted Jul 2017 · TED2017 Inventor Manu Prakash turns everyday materials into powerful scientific devices, from paper microscopes to a clever new mosquito tracker. From the TED Fellows stage, he demos Paperfuge, a hand-powered centrifuge inspired by a spinning toy that costs 20 cents to make and can do the work of a $1,000 machine, no electricity required. Watch now »

Playlist of the week Life lessons from writers 5 writers share musings and observations pulled from the pages of their own books, from fellow wordsmiths and from the world around them. Watch » 5 TED Talks • Total run time 1:10:27

More TED Talks Rivers are one of nature's most powerful forces -- they bulldoze mountains and carve up the earth, and their courses are constantly moving. In this visual-packed talk, geoscientist Liz Hajek shows us how rocks deposited by ancient rivers can be used as a time machine to study the history of the earth. Watch » What are our screens and devices actually doing to us? Psychologist Adam Alter studies how much time our screens steal from us (and how they're getting away with it). It turns out, all those hours you spend staring at your smartphone, tablet or computer might be making you miserable. Learn what you can do about it. Watch » You can kick Jorge Ramos out of your press conference (as Donald Trump did in 2015), but you can never silence him. A reporter for more than 30 years, Ramos believes that a journalist's responsibility is to question and challenge those in power. In this compelling talk -- which earned him a standing ovation midway through -- Ramos explains why, in certain circumstances, he believes journalists must take sides. (In Spanish with English subtitles.) Watch » It's a fateful moment in history. We've seen divisive elections, divided societies and the growth of extremism -- all fueled by anxiety and uncertainty. "Is there something we can do, each of us, to be able to face the future without fear?" asks Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks. In this electrifying talk, the spiritual leader gives us three specific ways we can move from the politics of "me" to the politics of "all of us, together." Watch »

Read more on ideas.ted.com Psychology: Are you smarter than a pigeon? You might be surprised >> Three questions that show: Sometimes we humans are bird-brained Gallery: What goes into making a museum diorama? Learn the secrets of these magical displays

Quote of the Week “ The rule that I've adopted is: I will never use my phone at the table. It's far away, as far away as possible, because we're really bad at resisting temptation. At first, I struggled. But you overcome the withdrawal the same way you would from a drug. And what happens is, life becomes more colorful, richer, more interesting." Adam Alter Why our screens make us less happy

TED Radio hour: Crisis and response Moments of crisis can upend our lives, but can also help define them. This episode, TED speakers explore how a quick, compassionate or unexpected response can turn crisis into opportunity. Listen to TED Radio Hour »

TED's Summer reading list Need to find your next read? 101 book suggestions from TED speakers.

 

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 © 2017 TED, All rights reserved. You're receiving the TED Talks weekly newsletter because you subscribed to it on TED.com. (Was this forwarded by a friend? You can sign up here: http://www.ted.com/newsletter ) Our mailing address is: TED 330 Hudson Street 11th Floor New York, NY 10013 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list   update subscription preferences   view email in browser

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A newsletter for your inner scientist Do you love science as much as the TED science team does? Our bi-weekly newsletter will bring you the stories, videos and links we're talking about (for free). Enjoy a preview below! Subscribe now Image: Shutterstock China takes the lead in building a quantum internet from space China's Micius satellite has beamed a quantum signal to ground-based stations, the first proof that entangled particles can be transmitted over thousands of kilometers. Though only one pair of entangled photons reached the ground station (out of thousands of pairs that the satellite beamed down), it is a proof of principle that quantum communication can be achieved over vast distances. And such quantum communication offers the promise of a global network that would be hard to hack. TED Talk: How quantum biology might explain life's biggest questions Image: Nic McPhee / Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0) Cats came from Asia and Egypt The domestic cat first came from the Middle East more than 6,000 years ago, according to a new analysis of DNA from hundreds of ancient and modern cats. But that ancient lineage was joined by a new one that came out of Egypt roughly 3,000 years ago and then spread along shipping routes. And the beloved tabby cat only evolved less than 1,000 years ago. Today, of course, cats have conquered the internet, though some still argue that our feline companions are not truly domesticated, even all these thousands of years later. Playlist: Fascinating history Image: CDC / F. A. Murphy (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) Designer protein blocks flu Scientists have made a protein that can protect cells, and even mice, from getting infected with the flu. The protein latches onto the outer coating of the influenza virus, blocking its ability to bind to and infect cells. For the moment, the manufactured protein does not block all strains of influenza known to sicken humans, and no one's yet studied the side effects -- but the research raises the possibility of a new weapon in the fight against a very common and deadly disease. TED Talk: How we'll fight the next deadly virus Recently discovered "Maybe .... we are not alone:" NASA's Kepler telescope finds 10 more Earth-like planets Observations from NASA's Kepler Space Telescope revealed 10 rocky worlds that are the right distance from their parent stars for water (if it exists there) to pool on the surface, boosting their chances of hosting life. (The Guardian) Asia's rivers send more plastic into the ocean than all other continents combined Every year, millions of tons of plastics are produced and trashed, with much of it eventually ending up in the ocean. Though countries don't tend to report how much plastic they are flushing, a recent study suggests that around 86 percent of ocean plastic pollution is coming from Asia. (Quartz) Gray seals are making a huge comeback After nearly being hunted to extinction, gray seals have recolonized the East Coast of the US. A recent aerial survey suggests gray seals off the southeastern Massachusetts coast now number between 30,000 and 50,000. (Popular Science) Video: See invisible air Check out what the world would look like if you could see invisible air currents, temperature gradients and differences in pressure or composition of the air. (Veritasium) Using pig brain cells to fight Parkinson's Living Cell Technologies, a New Zealand-based biotech company, has been developing a Parkinson's treatment that uses cells from the brains of pigs -- specifically the choroid plexus, a brain structure that makes a cocktail of growth factors. The hope is that compounds made by these cells will nourish the remaining dopamine-producing cells in the brains of patients with Parkinson's. (New Scientist)   Science ... animated Animation: Rob Kohr, Travis Spangler, Andy Rash Sunscreen comes in many forms, each with its own impacts on your body and the environment. With so many options, how do you choose which one is best for you? Mary Poffenroth explains how sunscreens work and compares different application methods, SPFs and active ingredients to help you make the best choice. TED-Ed lesson: Which sunscreen should you choose? Check out TED Science & Tech on Facebook Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe now View the "Science worth knowing" archive You are receiving this email because you've subscribed to our mailing list. Copyright © 2017 TED, All rights reserved. You're receiving the TED Talks weekly newsletter because you subscribed to it on TED.com. (Was this forwarded by a friend? You can sign up here: http://www.ted.com/newsletter ) Our mailing address is: TED 330 Hudson Street 11th Floor New York, NY 10013 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list