TED Talks with English transcript

Wendy Woods: The business benefits of doing good

TED@BCG Milan

Wendy Woods: The business benefits of doing good
1,410,286 views

"The only way we're going to make substantial progress on the challenging problems of our time is for business to drive the solutions," says social impact strategist Wendy Woods. In a data-packed talk, Woods shares a fresh way to assess the impact all parts of business can have on all parts of society, and then adjust them to not only do less harm but actually improve things. Learn more about how executives can move beyond corporate social responsibility to "total societal impact" -- for the benefit of both a company's bottom line and society at large.

Play
Bob Inglis: American bipartisan politics can be saved -- here's how

TEDxBeaconStreet

Bob Inglis: American bipartisan politics can be saved -- here's how
2,133,181 views

Former Republican member of the U.S. Congress Bob Inglis shares an optimistic message about how conservatives can lead on climate change and other pressing problems -- and how free enterprise (and working together across ideologies) hold the solutions. "The United States was not built by those who waited and wished to look behind them," Inglis says. "Lead now ... Tell the American people that we still have moon shots in us."

Play
David Katz: The surprising solution to ocean plastic

TED@IBM

David Katz: The surprising solution to ocean plastic
1,901,240 views

Can we solve the problem of ocean plastic pollution and end extreme poverty at the same time? That's the ambitious goal of The Plastic Bank: a worldwide chain of stores where everything from school tuition to cooking fuel and more is available for purchase in exchange for plastic garbage -- which is then sorted, shredded and sold to brands who reuse "social plastic" in their products. Join David Katz to learn more about this step towards closing the loop in the circular economy. "Preventing ocean plastic could be humanity's richest opportunity," Katz says.

Play
Edsel Salvaña: The dangerous evolution of HIV

TEDGlobal 2017

Edsel Salvaña: The dangerous evolution of HIV
1,348,118 views

Think we're winning the battle against HIV? Maybe not, as the next wave of drug-resistant viruses arrives. In an eye-opening talk, TED Fellow Edsel Salvana describes the aggressive HIV subtype AE that's currently plaguing his home of the Philippines -- and warns us about what might become a global epidemic.

Play
Leila Takayama: What's it like to be a robot?

TEDxPaloAlto

Leila Takayama: What's it like to be a robot?
1,183,118 views

We already live among robots: tools and machines like dishwashers and thermostats so integrated into our lives that we'd never think to call them that. What will a future with even more robots look like? Social scientist Leila Takayama shares some unique challenges of designing for human-robot interactions -- and how experimenting with robotic futures actually leads us to a better understanding of ourselves.

Play
Azim Khamisa and Ples Felix: What comes after tragedy? Forgiveness

TEDWomen 2017

Azim Khamisa and Ples Felix: What comes after tragedy? Forgiveness
1,124,318 views

On one awful night in 1995, Ples Felix's 14-year-old grandson murdered Azim Khamisa's son in a gang initiation fueled by drugs, alcohol and a false sense of belonging. The deadly encounter sent Khamisa and Felix down paths of deep meditation, to forgive and to be forgiven -- and in an act of bravery and reconciliation, the two men met and forged a lasting bond. Together, they've used their story as an outline for a better, more merciful society, where victims of tragedy can grow and heal. Prepare to be moved by their unimaginable story. "Peace is possible," Khamisa says. "How do I know that? Because I am at peace."

Play
Anna Rosling Rönnlund: See how the rest of the world lives, organized by income

TED2017

Anna Rosling Rönnlund: See how the rest of the world lives, organized by income
1,744,449 views

What does it look like when someone in Sweden brushes their teeth or when someone in Rwanda makes their bed? Anna Rosling Rönnlund wants all of us to find out, so she sent photographers to 264 homes in 50 countries (and counting!) to document the stoves, bed, toilets, toys and more in households from every income bracket around the world. See how families live in Latvia or Burkina Faso or Peru as Rosling Rönnlund explains the power of data visualization to help us better understand the world.

Play
Scott Williams: The hidden role informal caregivers play in health care

TED@Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

Scott Williams: The hidden role informal caregivers play in health care
1,142,175 views

Once a cared-for patient and now a caregiver himself, Scott Williams highlights the invaluable role of informal caregivers -- those friends and relatives who, out of love, go the extra mile for patients in need. From personal care to advocacy to emotional support, unpaid caregivers form the invisible backbone of health and social systems all over the world, Williams says -- and without them, these systems would crumble. "How can we make sure that their value to patients and society is recognized?" he asks.

Play
Jacob Collier: A one-man musical phenomenon

TED2017

Jacob Collier: A one-man musical phenomenon
1,024,059 views

Jacob Collier is a one-man band and force of nature. In a dynamic, colorful performance, he recreates the magical room at his home in London where he produces music, performing three songs in which he sings every part and plays every instrument -- accompanied by kaleidoscopic visuals that take cues from the music and grow in real time.

Play
Ben Cort: What commercialization is doing to cannabis

TEDxMileHigh

Ben Cort: What commercialization is doing to cannabis
2,391,492 views

In 2012, Colorado legalized cannabis and added to what has fast become a multibillion-dollar global industry for all things weed-related: from vape pens to brownies and beyond. But to say that we've legalized marijuana is subtly misleading -- what we've really done is commercialized THC, says educator Ben Cort, and that's led to products that are unnaturally potent. In an eye-opening talk, Cort examines the often unseen impacts of the commercial cannabis industry -- and calls on us to question those who are getting rich off of it.

Play
Marily Oppezzo: Want to be more creative? Go for a walk

TEDxStanford

Marily Oppezzo: Want to be more creative? Go for a walk
3,727,050 views

When trying to come up with a new idea, we all have times when we get stuck. But according to research by behavioral and learning scientist Marily Oppezzo, getting up and going for a walk might be all it takes to get your creative juices flowing. In this fun, fast talk, she explains how walking could help you get the most out of your next brainstorm.

Play
Alexis Charpentier: How record collectors find lost music and preserve our cultural heritage

TEDxMontreal

Alexis Charpentier: How record collectors find lost music and preserve our cultural heritage
971,293 views

For generations, record collectors have played a vital role in the preservation of musical and cultural heritage by "digging" for obscure music created by overlooked artists. Alexis Charpentier shares his love of records -- and stories of how collectors have given forgotten music a second chance at being heard. Learn more about the culture of record digging (and, maybe, pick up a new hobby) with this fun, refreshing talk.

Play
Vivek Maru: How to put the power of law in people's hands

TEDGlobal 2017

Vivek Maru: How to put the power of law in people's hands
1,265,181 views

What can you do when the wheels of justice don't turn fast enough? Or when they don't turn at all? Vivek Maru is working to transform the relationship between people and law, turning law from an abstraction or threat into something that everyone can understand, use and shape. Instead of relying solely on lawyers, Maru started a global network of community paralegals, or barefoot lawyers, who serve in their own communities and break the law down into simple terms to help people find solutions. Learn more about how this innovative approach to using the law is helping socially excluded people claim their rights. "A little bit of legal empowerment can go a long way," Maru says.

Play
Stewart Brand and Chris Anderson: Mammoths resurrected, geoengineering and other thoughts from a futurist

TED2017

Stewart Brand and Chris Anderson: Mammoths resurrected, geoengineering and other thoughts from a futurist
1,163,242 views

Stewart Brand is a futurist, counterculturist and visionary with a very wide-ranging mind. In conversation with TED Curator Chris Anderson, Brand discusses ... just about everything: human nature, bringing back the wooly mammoth, geoengineering, rewilding and science as organized skepticism -- plus the story of an acid trip on a San Francisco rooftop in the '60s that sparked a perspective-shifting idea. "The story we're told is that we're the next meteor," Brand says, but "things are capable of getting better."

Play
Lisa Feldman Barrett: You aren't at the mercy of your emotions -- your brain creates them

TED@IBM

Lisa Feldman Barrett: You aren't at the mercy of your emotions -- your brain creates them
5,299,612 views

Can you look at someone's face and know what they're feeling? Does everyone experience happiness, sadness and anxiety the same way? What are emotions anyway? For the past 25 years, psychology professor Lisa Feldman Barrett has mapped facial expressions, scanned brains and analyzed hundreds of physiology studies to understand what emotions really are. She shares the results of her exhaustive research -- and explains how we may have more control over our emotions than we think.

Play
Lana Mazahreh: 3 thoughtful ways to conserve water

TED@BCG Milan

Lana Mazahreh: 3 thoughtful ways to conserve water
1,189,745 views

According to the UN, nearly one in three people worldwide live in a country facing a water crisis, and less than five percent of the world lives in a country that has more water today than it did 20 years ago. Lana Mazahreh grew up in Jordan, a state that has experienced absolute water scarcity since 1973, where she learned how to conserve water as soon as she was old enough to learn how to write her name. In this practical talk, she shares three lessons from water-poor countries on how to save water and address what's fast becoming a global crisis.

Play
Soyapi Mumba: Medical tech designed to meet Africa's needs

TEDGlobal 2017

Soyapi Mumba: Medical tech designed to meet Africa's needs
1,046,951 views

In sub-Saharan Africa, power outages, low technology penetration, slow internet and understaffed hospitals plague health care systems. To make progress on these problems in Malawi, TED Fellow Soyapi Mumba and his team created a new system from scratch -- from the software that powers their electronic health records to the infrastructure used to support it. In this quick, hopeful talk, Mumba shares how his jack-of-all-trades mindset can help reshape health care in low-resource environments.

Play
Tiffany Watt Smith: The history of human emotions

TED@Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

Tiffany Watt Smith: The history of human emotions
3,518,597 views

The words we use to describe our emotions affect how we feel, says historian Tiffany Watt Smith, and they've often changed (sometimes very dramatically) in response to new cultural expectations and ideas. Take nostalgia, for instance: first defined in 1688 as an illness and considered deadly, today it's seen as a much less serious affliction. In this fascinating talk about the history of emotions, learn more about how the language we use to describe how we feel continues to evolve -- and pick up some new words used in different cultures to capture those fleeting feelings in words.

Play
Yvette Alberdingk Thijm: The power of citizen video to create undeniable truths

TEDxSkoll

Yvette Alberdingk Thijm: The power of citizen video to create undeniable truths
1,134,924 views

Could smartphones and cameras be our most powerful weapons for social justice? Through her organization Witness, Yvette Alberdingk Thijm is developing strategies and technologies to help activists use video to protect and defend human rights. She shares stories of the growing power of distant witnesses -- and a call to use the powerful tools at our disposal to capture incidents of injustice.

Play
Mindy Scheier: How adaptive clothing empowers people with disabilities

TED@Tommy

Mindy Scheier: How adaptive clothing empowers people with disabilities
992,756 views

Do you have a favorite T-shirt or pair of jeans that transforms you and makes you feel confident -- makes you feel like you? That's because what you wear can affect your mood, your health and your self-esteem, says fashion designer Mindy Scheier. Inspired by her son, who was born with a degenerative disorder that makes it hard for him to dress himself or wear clothing with buttons or zippers, Scheier set out to make clothing that works for everyone, including the differently abled. Learn more about how she's made fashion history by producing the world's first mainstream adaptive clothing line.

Play
Kamau Gachigi: Success stories from Kenya's first makerspace

TEDGlobal 2017

Kamau Gachigi: Success stories from Kenya's first makerspace
1,167,779 views

Africa needs engineers, but its engineering students often end up working at auditing firms and banks. Why? Kamau Gachigi suspects it's because they don't have the spaces and materials needed to test their ideas and start businesses. To solve this problem, Gachigi started Gearbox, a makerspace and hardware accelerator that provides a rapid prototyping environment for both professionals and people with no formal engineering background. In this forward-thinking talk, he shares some of the extraordinary projects and innovations coming out of his Kenyan fab lab.

Play
Fredros Okumu: Why I study the most dangerous animal on earth -- mosquitoes

TEDGlobal 2017

Fredros Okumu: Why I study the most dangerous animal on earth -- mosquitoes
1,191,616 views

What do we really know about mosquitoes? Fredros Okumu catches and studies these disease-carrying insects for a living -- with the hope of crashing their populations. Join Okumu for a tour of the frontlines of mosquito research, as he details some of the unconventional methods his team at the Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania have developed to target what has been described as the most dangerous animal on earth.

Play
Peter Ouko: From death row to law graduate

TEDGlobal 2017

Peter Ouko: From death row to law graduate
1,026,393 views

Peter Ouko spent 18 years in Kamiti Prison in Kenya, sometimes locked up in a cell with 13 other grown men for 23 and a half hours a day. In a moving talk, he tells the story of how he was freed -- and his current mission with the African Prisons Project: to set up the first law school behind bars and empower people in prison to drive positive change.

Play
Kevin Njabo: How we can stop Africa's scientific brain drain

TEDGlobal 2017

Kevin Njabo: How we can stop Africa's scientific brain drain
962,425 views

How can Africans find solutions to Africa's problems? Conservation biologist Kevin Njabo tells his personal story of how he nearly became part of the group of African scientists who seek an education abroad and never return -- and why he's now building a permanent base on the continent to nurture and support local talent. "I'm not coming back alone. I'm bringing with me Western scientists, entrepreneurs and students," Njabo says. "When that happens, Africa will be on the way to solving Africa's problems."

Play
Touria El Glaoui: Inside Africa's thriving art scene

TEDGlobal 2017

Touria El Glaoui: Inside Africa's thriving art scene
927,692 views

Art fair curator Touria El Glaoui is on a mission to showcase vital new art from African nations and the diaspora. She shares beautiful, inspiring, thrilling contemporary art that tells powerful stories of African identity and history -- including works by Senegalese photographer Omar Victor Diop, Moroccan artist Hassan Hajjaj and Zimbabwean painter Kudzanai-Violet Hwami. "It is really through art that we can regain our sense of agency and empowerment," El Glaoui says. "It is through art that we can really tell our own story."

Play
Sue Jaye Johnson: What we don't teach kids about sex

TED Residency

Sue Jaye Johnson: What we don't teach kids about sex
3,419,225 views

As parents, it's our job to teach our kids about sex. But beyond "the talk," which covers biology and reproduction, there's so much more we can say about the human experience of being in our bodies. Introducing "The Talk 2.0," Sue Jaye Johnson shows us how we can teach our children to tune in to their sensations and provide them with the language to communicate their desires and emotions -- without shutting down or numbing out.

Play
Naoko Ishii: An economic case for protecting the planet

TEDGlobal>NYC

Naoko Ishii: An economic case for protecting the planet
1,276,294 views

We all share one planet -- we breathe the same air, drink the same water and depend on the same oceans, forests and biodiversity. Economist Naoko Ishii is on a mission to protect these shared resources, known as the global commons, that are vital for our survival. In an eye-opening talk about the wellness of the planet, Ishii outlines four economic systems we need to change to safeguard the global commons, making the case for a new kind of social contract with the earth.

Play
Christopher Ategeka: How adoption worked for me

TEDGlobal 2017

Christopher Ategeka: How adoption worked for me
1,023,347 views

Talent is universal, but opportunity isn't, says TED Fellow Christopher Ategeka. In this charming, hopeful talk, Ategeka tells his story of being orphaned at a young age -- and how being adopted gave him the chance to experience a new culture, acquire an education and live up to his full potential. "We may not be able to solve the bigotry and the racism of this world today," Ategeka says, "But certainly we can raise children to create a positive, inclusive, connected world full of empathy, love and compassion."

Play