TED Talks with English transcript

Daniele Quercia: Happy maps

TED@BCG Berlin

Daniele Quercia: Happy maps
2,410,100 views

Mapping apps help us find the fastest route to where we’re going. But what if we’d rather wander? Researcher Daniele Quercia demos “happy maps” that take into account not only the route you want to take, but how you want to feel along the way.

Aziz Abu Sarah: For more tolerance, we need more ... tourism?

TED2014

Aziz Abu Sarah: For more tolerance, we need more ... tourism?
1,494,756 views

Aziz Abu Sarah is a Palestinian activist with an unusual approach to peace-keeping: Be a tourist. The TED Fellow shows how simple interactions with people in different cultures can erode decades of hate. He starts with Palestinians visiting Israelis and moves beyond ...

Asha de Vos: Why you should care about whale poo

TEDGlobal 2014

Asha de Vos: Why you should care about whale poo
1,426,028 views

Whales have a surprising and important job, says marine biologist Asha de Vos: these massive creatures are ecosystem engineers, keeping the oceans healthy and stable by ... well, by pooping, for a start. Learn from de Vos, a TED Fellow, about the undervalued work that whales do to help maintain the stability and health of our seas -- and our planet.

Michael Rubinstein: See invisible motion, hear silent sounds

TEDxBeaconStreet

Michael Rubinstein: See invisible motion, hear silent sounds
2,075,056 views

Meet the “motion microscope,” a video-processing tool that plays up tiny changes in motion and color impossible to see with the naked eye. Video researcher Michael Rubinstein plays us clip after jaw-dropping clip showing how this tech can track an individual’s pulse and heartbeat simply from a piece of footage. Watch him re-create a conversation by amplifying the movements from sound waves bouncing off a bag of chips. The wow-inspiring and sinister applications of this tech you have to see to believe.

Erin McKean: Go ahead, make up new words!

TEDYouth 2014

Erin McKean: Go ahead, make up new words!
1,936,780 views

In this fun, short talk from TEDYouth, lexicographer Erin McKean encourages — nay, cheerleads — her audience to create new words when the existing ones won’t quite do. She lists out 6 ways to make new words in English, from compounding to “verbing,” in order to make language better at expressing what we mean, and to create more ways for us to understand one another.

Mundano: Trash cart superheroes

TEDGlobal 2014

Mundano: Trash cart superheroes
1,044,495 views

In Brazil, "catadores" collect junk and recyclables. But while they provide a vital service that benefits all, they are nearly invisible as they roam the streets. Enter graffiti artist Mundano, a TED Fellow. In a spirited talk, he describes his project "Pimp My Carroça," which has transformed these heroic workers' carts into things of beauty and infused them with a sense of humor. It's a movement that is going global.

Carol Dweck: The power of believing that you can improve

TEDxNorrkoping

Carol Dweck: The power of believing that you can improve
10,274,895 views

Carol Dweck researches “growth mindset” — the idea that we can grow our brain's capacity to learn and to solve problems. In this talk, she describes two ways to think about a problem that’s slightly too hard for you to solve. Are you not smart enough to solve it … or have you just not solved it yet? A great introduction to this influential field.

Jeremy Howard: The wonderful and terrifying implications of computers that can learn

TEDxBrussels

Jeremy Howard: The wonderful and terrifying implications of computers that can learn
2,532,971 views

What happens when we teach a computer how to learn? Technologist Jeremy Howard shares some surprising new developments in the fast-moving field of deep learning, a technique that can give computers the ability to learn Chinese, or to recognize objects in photos, or to help think through a medical diagnosis. (One deep learning tool, after watching hours of YouTube, taught itself the concept of "cats.") Get caught up on a field that will change the way the computers around you behave ... sooner than you probably think.

Bruno Torturra: Got a smartphone? Start broadcasting

TEDGlobal 2014

Bruno Torturra: Got a smartphone? Start broadcasting
1,329,421 views

In 2011, journalist Bruno Torturra covered a protest in São Paulo which turned ugly. His experience of being teargassed had a profound effect on the way he thought about his work, and he quit his job to focus on broadcasting raw, unedited experiences online. In this fascinating talk, he shares some of the ways in which he's experimented with livestreaming on the web, and how in the process he has helped to create a very modern media network.

Hannah Fry: The mathematics of love

TEDxBinghamtonUniversity

Hannah Fry: The mathematics of love
5,166,184 views

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.

Khalida Brohi: How I work to protect women from honor killings

TEDGlobal 2014

Khalida Brohi: How I work to protect women from honor killings
1,214,500 views

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.

Vernā Myers: How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them

TEDxBeaconStreet

Vernā Myers: How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them
2,004,581 views

Our biases can be dangerous, even deadly — as we've seen in the cases of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner, in Staten Island, New York. Diversity advocate Vernā Myers looks closely at some of the subconscious attitudes we hold toward out-groups. She makes a plea to all people: Acknowledge your biases. Then move toward, not away from, the groups that make you uncomfortable. In a funny, impassioned, important talk, she shows us how.

Dave Troy: Social maps that reveal a city's intersections — and separations

TEDGlobal 2014

Dave Troy: Social maps that reveal a city's intersections — and separations
1,360,205 views

Every city has its neighborhoods, cliques and clubs, the hidden lines that join and divide people in the same town. What can we learn about cities by looking at what people share online? Starting with his own home town of Baltimore, Dave Troy has been visualizing what the tweets of city dwellers reveal about who lives there, who they talk to — and who they don’t.

Catherine Crump: The small and surprisingly dangerous detail the police track about you

TEDGlobal 2014

Catherine Crump: The small and surprisingly dangerous detail the police track about you
1,982,256 views

A very unsexy-sounding piece of technology could mean that the police know where you go, with whom, and when: the automatic license plate reader. These cameras are innocuously placed all across small-town America to catch known criminals, but as lawyer and TED Fellow Catherine Crump shows, the data they collect in aggregate could have disastrous consequences for everyone the world over.

Thomas Hellum: The world's most boring television ... and why it's hilariously addictive

TEDxArendal

Thomas Hellum: The world's most boring television ... and why it's hilariously addictive
2,309,105 views

You've heard about slow food. Now here's slow ... TV? In this very funny talk, Norwegian television producer Thomas Hellum shares how he and his team began to broadcast long, boring events, often live -- and found a rapt audience. Shows include a 7-hour train journey, an 18-hour fishing expedition and a 5.5-day ferry voyage along the coast of Norway. The results are both beautiful and fascinating. Really.

Aakash Odedra: A dance in a hurricane of paper, wind and light

TEDGlobal 2014

Aakash Odedra: A dance in a hurricane of paper, wind and light
910,308 views

Choreographer Aakash Odedra is dyslexic and has always felt that his best expression comes through movement. “Murmur” is his ode to that experience, teaming up with co-creators Lewis Major and Ars Electronica Futurelab. Watch him spin his way through the center of a storm, as pages of books take flight all around him.

Rainer Strack: The workforce crisis of 2030 -- and how to start solving it now

TED@BCG Berlin

Rainer Strack: The workforce crisis of 2030 -- and how to start solving it now
1,825,947 views

It sounds counterintuitive, but by 2030, many of the world's largest economies will have more jobs than adult citizens to do those jobs. In this data-filled -- and quite charming -- talk, human resources expert Rainer Strack suggests that countries ought to look across borders for mobile and willing job seekers. But to do that, they need to start by changing the culture in their businesses.

Ben Saunders: To the South Pole and back — the hardest 105 days of my life

TED2014

Ben Saunders: To the South Pole and back — the hardest 105 days of my life
1,144,289 views

This year, explorer Ben Saunders attempted his most ambitious trek yet. He set out to complete Captain Robert Falcon Scott's failed 1912 polar expedition — a four-month, 1,800-mile round trip journey from the edge of Antarctica to the South Pole and back. In the first talk given after his adventure, just five weeks after his return, Saunders offers a raw, honest look at this "hubris"-tinged mission that brought him to the most difficult decision of his life.

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

TEDGlobal 2014

Mark Plotkin: What the people of the Amazon know that you don't
1,613,699 views

"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.

Emily Balcetis: Why some people find exercise harder than others

TEDxNewYork

Emily Balcetis: Why some people find exercise harder than others
3,770,270 views

Why do some people struggle more than others to keep off the pounds? Social psychologist Emily Balcetis shows research that addresses one of the many factors: our vision. In an informative talk, she shows how when it comes to fitness, some people quite literally see the world differently -- and offers a surprisingly simple solution to overcome these differences.

Robert Muggah: How to protect fast-growing cities from failing

TEDGlobal 2014

Robert Muggah: How to protect fast-growing cities from failing
982,046 views

Worldwide, violence is on the decline, but in the crowded cities of the global south — cities like Aleppo, Bamako and Caracas — violence is actually accelerating, fueled by the drug trade, mass unemployment and civil unrest. Security researcher Robert Muggah turns our attention toward these "fragile cities," super-fast-growing places where infrastructure is weak and government often ineffective. He shows us the four big risks we face, and offers a way to change course.

Nancy Frates: Meet the mom who started the Ice Bucket Challenge

TEDxBoston

Nancy Frates: Meet the mom who started the Ice Bucket Challenge
1,072,268 views

Remember the Ice Bucket Challenge craze this 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, and there is no cure. In this inspiring talk, Nancy tells the story of what happened next.

Rosie King: How autism freed me to be myself

TEDMED 2014

Rosie King: How autism freed me to be myself
2,683,245 views

“People are so afraid of variety that they try to fit everything into a tiny little box with a specific label,” says 16-year-old Rosie King, who is bold, brash and autistic. She wants to know: Why is everyone so worried about being normal? She sounds a clarion call for every kid, parent, teacher and person to celebrate uniqueness. It’s a soaring testament to the potential of human diversity.

Michael Green: What the Social Progress Index can reveal about your country

TEDGlobal 2014

Michael Green: What the Social Progress Index can reveal about your country
1,253,384 views

The term Gross Domestic Product is often talked about as if it were “handed down from god on tablets of stone.” But this concept was invented by an economist in the 1930s. We need a more effective measurement tool to match 21st century needs, says Michael Green: the Social Progress Index. With charm and wit, he shows how this tool measures societies across the three dimensions that actually matter. And reveals the dramatic reordering of nations that occurs when you use it.

Leana Wen: What your doctor won’t disclose

TEDMED 2014

Leana Wen: What your doctor won’t disclose
2,030,830 views

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.