The thrill of discovery -- in math

"Mathematician -- best job in the world" Open in your browser

This week on TED.com June 11, 2016

Talk of the week Cédric Villani: The thrill of discovery -- in mathematics 16:23 minutes · Filmed Feb 2016 · Posted Jun 2016 · TED2016 Hidden truths permeate our world; they're inaccessible to our senses, but elegant math allows us to uncover their mysteries. In this survey of mathematical breakthroughs, Cédric Villani speaks to the pure thrill of discovery. "Beautiful mathematical explanations are not only for our pleasure," he says. "They change our vision of the world." Watch now »

Playlist of the week Your next favorite TED Talk? This hand-picked list of favorites from 2016 is a great playlist to take on a road trip. Watch » Total run time 3:34:33

More TED Talks Watch this mind-bending demo of experiments from Google's Art Project -- that let you explore the world's greatest museum collections in vivid, hyper-zoomed-in detail. Join director Amit Sood and artist Cyril Diagne in a fast, fun series of big-screen demos, and glimpse the exciting future of global access to great art. Watch » A quarter of the world's population follows the Chinese zodiac. Even if you don't believe in it, you'd be wise to know how it works, says ShaoLan Hseuh. In this fun, informative talk, she shares some tips for understanding the ancient tradition, which is believed to influence your personality, career, marriage prospects and how you'll do in a given year -- and influences global trends in surprising ways. Watch » Negin Farsad weaves comedy and social commentary to cleverly undercut stereotypes of Muslim culture. In this uproarious talk/stand-up hybrid, Farsad offers a detailed breakdown of the different types of haters she's encountered in her work. "Comedy is one of our best weapons," she says. "We've tried a lot of approaches to social justice, like war and competitive ice dancing. I think it's time we try and tell a really good joke." Watch » "Once upon a time in America," says professor Sajay Samuel, "going to college did not mean graduating with debt." Today, higher education has become a consumer product -- costs have skyrocketed, saddling students with a combined debt of over $1 trillion, while universities and loan companies make massive profits. Samuel proposes a radical solution: link tuition costs to a degree's expected earnings, so that students can make informed decisions about their future, restore their love of learning and contribute to the world in a meaningful way. Watch »

Read more on ideas.ted.com Politics: Wish you could vote in others countries' elections? Now you can (kind of) » A new project from the Good Country Index lets you share your opinion on Brexit, the Iceland presidency and more to come Film: A filmmaker explores the power of silence » It's surprisingly loud Body: How your body's microbes might govern your weight » In other words: Is your biome making you fat?

Quote of the Week “ What if students and parents treated higher education as a consumer product? Everybody else seems to. Then, like any other consumer product, you would demand to know what you're paying for." Sajay Samuel How college loans exploit students for profit

Becoming Wise We may get wiser with age, but that doesn't mean we have to grow up to wise up. In this hour, TED speakers explore what it means to find wisdom at every stage of life. Hear from Joshua Prager, Boyd Varty, Tony Porter, Robert Waldinger -- and Adora Svitak, who's now 18, as she reflects on a talk she gave at 12. TED Radio Hour on iTunes »

 

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The passing of time, caught in a single photo

Day to night ... Open this newsletter in your browser

This week on TED.com June 5, 2016

Talk of the week Stephen Wilkes: The passing of time, caught in a single photo 12:36 minutes · Filmed Feb 2016 · Posted Jun 2016 · TED2016 Photographer Stephen Wilkes crafts stunning compositions of landscapes as they transition from day to night, exploring the space-time continuum within a two-dimensional still photograph. Journey with him to iconic locations like the Tournelle Bridge in Paris, El Capitan in Yosemite National Park and a life-giving watering hole in heart of the Serengeti in this tour of his art and process. Watch now »

Playlist of the week Borders, reimagined Get to know our interconnected world with talks that transcend our understanding of global boundaries and their limitations. Watch » 9 TED Talks • Total run time 2:07:26

This week's TED Talks All in the Family. The Jeffersons. Good Times -- if you loved these classic, boundary-breaking TV sitcoms, you can thank legendary TV producer Norman Lear. In this intimate, smart conversation with Eric Hirshberg, he, shares with humility and humor, how his tough childhood, and his relationship with "the foolishness of the human condition," has shaped his life and creative vision to this day. Watch » In some parts of the world, it's easier to get an automatic rifle than a glass of clean drinking water. Is this just the way it is? Physician Samantha Nutt has spent her life treating the young victims of the global arms trade -- and suggests a bold, commonsense solution for ending the cycle of violence. "War is ours," she says. "We buy it, sell it, spread it and wage it. We are therefore not powerless to solve it." Watch » Sue Desmond-Hellmann advocates for precision public health -- combining big data, gene sequencing and other high-tech tools with good old-fashioned patient care. As she shows, the approach has already helped cut HIV transmission from mothers to babies by nearly half in sub-Saharan Africa, and now it's being used to fight infant death all over the world. Learn how this new approach to medicine is helping moms have healthier babies. Watch » Can the way you speak and write today predict your future mental state? In this fascinating talk, neuroscientist Mariano Sigman investigates how the words we use can hint at our inner lives in ways we aren't conscious of -- and details a word-mapping algorithm that could predict the development of schizophrenia. (And listen for a fascinating detour into the very origin of consciousness itself.) Watch »

Read more on ideas.ted.com Urban life: Why cities, not nations, rule the world Are cities the world's best hope for future democracy? What, me worry: Why do some Americas deny there's a drought? How to rethink the US' relationship to water -- and fight denialism 6 books: How our dreams illuminate our lives A reading list from Brainpicker's Maria Popova

Quote of the Week “ Interviewer: How old do you feel? Norman Lear: I am the peer of whoever I'm talking to."   -- Norman Lear An entertainment icon on living a life of meaning

 

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 © 2016 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

The beauty of being a misfit

A powerful talk. Open in your browser

This week on TED.com May 28, 2016

Talk of the week Lidia Yuknavitch: The beauty of being a misfit 12:58 minutes · Filmed Feb 2016 · Posted May 2016 · TED2016 To those who feel like they don't belong: there is beauty in being a misfit. Author Lidia Yuknavitch shares her own wayward journey in an intimate recollection of patchwork stories about loss, shame and the slow process of self-acceptance. "Even at the moment of your failure, you are beautiful," she says. "You don't know it yet, but you have the ability to reinvent yourself endlessly. That's your beauty." Watch now »

Playlist of the week Plug into your power! There are plenty of ways to be engaged in your community beyond voting. Tap into your inner activist with these talks about accomplishing real change. Watch » 8 TED Talks • Total run time 1:41:00

More TED Talks Can the way you speak and write today predict your future mental state, even the onset of psychosis? In this fascinating talk, neuroscientist Mariano Sigman reflects on ancient Greece and the origins of introspection to investigate how our words hint at our inner lives -- and details a word-mapping algorithm that could predict the development of schizophrenia. "We may be seeing in the future a very different form of mental health," Sigman says, "based on objective, quantitative and automated analysis of the words we write, of the words we say." Watch » Zaria Forman's large-scale compositions of melting glaciers, icebergs floating in glassy water and waves cresting with foam explore moments of transition, turbulence and tranquility. Join her as she discusses the meditative process of artistic creation and the motivation behind her work. "My drawings celebrate the beauty of what we all stand to lose," she says. "I hope they can serve as records of sublime landscapes in flux." Watch » The barbershop can be a safe haven for black men, a place for honest conversation and trust -- and, as physician Joseph Ravenell suggests, a good place to bring up tough topics about health. He's turning the barbershop into a place to talk about medical problems that statistically affect black men more often and more seriously, like high blood pressure. It's a new approach to problem solving with broad applications. "What is your barbershop?" he asks. "Where is that place for you where people affected by a unique problem can meet a unique solution?" Watch » Before he fought in the galactic battles of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Adam Driver was a United States Marine with 1/1 Weapons Company. He tells the story of how and why he became a Marine, the complex transition from soldier to civilian -- and Arts in the Armed Forces, his nonprofit that brings theater to the military. Because, as he says: "Self-expression is just as valuable a tool as a rifle on your shoulder." Followed by a powerful performance of Marco Ramirez's "I am not Batman" by Jesse J. Perez and Matt Johnson. (Adult language) Watch » Adam's talk is featured in TED Talks: War & Peace, premiering Monday, May 30, at 9pm on PBS television.

articles and essays on our blog, ideas.ted.com Invention: The surprising keys to new medical breakthroughs » Right now, the way we discover medical treatments is slow and limited. One visionary researcher shows what's possible when we try something new. Art: Why is it so hard for artists to make a living? » As humans, we treasure art, music and writing -- but we pay art makers poorly. Fiction writer Monica Byrne asks: Why is that?  Conversation: A cup of tea with Oliver Sacks » Science writer Laura J. Snyder recalls a curious chat ...

Quote of the Week “ I don’t want pity. I’m saying this to illustrate that, under the current economic models, even when writers win, they lose. About a year ago, I realized this, and resolved three things: (1) that my work had value and deserved monetary compensation, (2) that I could not trust the existing economic models to give me that compensation, and (3) I had to find new ones." Monica Byrne How do artists make a living?

 

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This scientist can hack your dreams

"...a canvas that flickers to life when we fall asleep" Open in your browser

This week on TED.com May 22, 2016

Talk of the week Moran Cerf: This scientist can hack your dreams 18:00 minutes · Filmed Feb 2016 · Posted May 2016 · TED2016 What if we could peek inside our brains and see our dreams -- or even shape them? Studying memory-specific brain cells, neuroscientist (and ex-hacker) Moran Cerf found that our sleeping brains retain some of the content we encounter when we're awake and that our dreams can influence our waking actions. Where could this lead us? "Neuroscientists are now giving us a new tool to control our dreams," Cerf says, "a new canvas that flickers to life when we fall asleep." Watch now »

Playlist of the week How music affects us Music is a fundamental aspect of humanity -- so exactly how does it impact us? These talks offer a look at our fascinating relationship with the music we make. Watch » 8 TED Talks • Total run time 2:34:53

More TED Talks Anyone who has lost a loved one to pancreatic cancer knows the devastating speed with which it can affect an otherwise healthy person. TED Fellow and biomedical entrepreneur Laura Indolfi is developing a revolutionary way to treat this complex and lethal disease: a drug delivery device that acts as a cage at the site of a tumor, preventing it from spreading and delivering medicine only where it's needed. "We are hoping that one day we can make pancreatic cancer a curable disease," she says. Watch » Sebastian Junger has seen war up close, and he knows the impact that battlefield trauma has on soldiers. But he suggests there's another major cause of pain for veterans when they come home: the experience of leaving the tribal closeness of the military and returning to an alienating and bitterly divided modern society. "Sometimes, we ask ourselves if we can save the vets," Junger says. "I think the real question is if we can save ourselves." (This talk comes from the PBS special TED Talks: War & Peace, which premieres Monday, May 30.) Watch » Everyone has an opinion about how to legislate sex work (whether to legalize it, ban it or even tax it) ... but what do workers themselves think would work best? Activist Toni Mac explains four legal models that are being used around the world, and shows us the model that she believes will work best to keep sex workers safe and offer greater self-determination. "If you care about gender equality or poverty or migration or public health, then sex worker rights matter to you," she says. "Make space for us in your movements." (Adult themes) Watch » In the US, the press has a right to publish secret information the public needs to know, protected by the First Amendment. But government surveillance has made it ever more dangerous for whistleblowers, the source of virtually every important story about national security since 9/11, to share information. In this concise, informative talk, Freedom of the Press Foundation co-founder and TED Fellow Trevor Timm traces the recent history of government action against individuals who expose crime and injustice, and advocates for technology that can help them do it safely and anonymously. Watch »

Read more on ideas.ted.com Education: The surprisingly good things that kids are learning from video games » Kids don't love "educational video games" -- but what can they learn from the games they really love, like Minecraft, Call of Duty and World of Warcraft?

Quote of the Week “ Charles Darwin said, 'I sometimes think that general and popular treatises are almost as important for the progress of science as original work.' In fact, Origin of Species was written for a general and popular audience, and was widely read when it first appeared. Darwin knew what we seem to have forgotten, that science is not only for scientists." Laura Snyder The philosophical breakfast club

 

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