TEDxSHOW

2022-06-19 21:00:00 WHY DOES THE UNIVERSE EXIST?

Why is there something instead of nothing? In other words: Why does the universe exist (and why are we in it)? Philosopher and writer Jim Holt follows this question toward three possible answers. Or four. Or none.

The speaker:

Jim Holt · Writer and philosopher. Why is there something rather than nothing? In his book "Why Does the World Exist?" Jim Holt dares to ask.

Watch full: click

#Philosophy Open / Comment

2022-06-18 21:00:01 THE UNEXPECTED MATH BEHIND VAN GOGH'S "STARRY NIGHT"

Physicist Werner Heisenberg said, "When I meet God, I am going to ask him two questions: why relativity? And why turbulence? I really believe he will have an answer for the first." As difficult as turbulence is to understand mathematically, we can use art to depict the way it looks. Natalya St. Clair illustrates how Van Gogh captured this deep mystery of movement, fluid and light in his work.

The speaker:

Natalya St. Clair · Educator.

Watch full: click

#TEDEd #Art #Math Open / Comment

2022-06-17 21:00:01 A ROBOT THAT FLIES LIKE A BIRD

Plenty of robots can fly -- but none can fly like a real bird. That is, until Markus Fischer and his team at Festo built SmartBird, a large, lightweight robot, modeled on a seagull, that flies by flapping its wings. A soaring demo fresh from TEDGlobal 2011.

The speaker:

Markus Fischer · Designer. Markus Fischer led the team at Festo that developed the first ultralight artificial bird capable of flying like a real bird.

Watch full: click

#Animals #Biomimicry #Design Open / Comment

2022-06-16 21:00:01 HOW TO MAKE HARD CHOICES

Here's a talk that could literally change your life. Which career should I pursue? Should I break up -- or get married?! Where should I live? Big decisions like these can be agonizingly difficult. But that's because we think about them the wrong way, says philosopher Ruth Chang. She offers a powerful new framework for shaping who we truly are.

The speaker:

Ruth Chang · Philosopher. Ruth Chang asks why some choices are so hard — and what that means for the human condition.

Watch full: click

#DecisionMaking #Philosophy Open / Comment

2022-06-16 05:00:02 Ever say “I’ll be happy when …?” Here’s why you need to stop doing that — now

Every time you say that or its cousins "If I just had ____" or "When I get through ____", what you’re really saying is “I can’t be happy now.” Author and designer Ingrid Fetell Lee explains why -- and how she broke this habit. Open / Comment

2022-06-15 21:00:00 WHY ARE SOME PEOPLE LEFT-HANDED?

Today, about one-tenth of the world's population are southpaws. Why are such a small proportion of people left-handed -- and why does the trait exist in the first place? Daniel M. Abrams investigates how the uneven ratio of lefties and righties gives insight into a balance between competitive and cooperative pressures on human evolution.

The speaker:

Daniel Abrams · Educator.

Watch full: click

#Anthropology #Collaboration #Design Open / Comment

2022-06-14 21:00:01 CAN YOU SOLVE THE PIRATE RIDDLE?

It's a good day to be a pirate. Amaro and his four mateys – Bart, Charlotte, Daniel, and Eliza have struck gold – a chest with 100 coins. But now, they must divvy up the booty according to the pirate code — and pirate code is notoriously complicated. Can you help come up with the distribution that Amaro should propose to make sure he lives to tell the tale? Alex Gendler shows how.

The speaker:

Alex Gendler · Educator.

Watch full: click

#Collaboration #TEDEd #Math Open / Comment

2022-06-13 21:00:01 THE STORY OF 'OUMUAMUA, THE FIRST VISITOR FROM ANOTHER STAR SYSTEM

In October 2017, astrobiologist Karen J. Meech got the call every astronomer waits for: NASA had spotted the very first visitor from another star system. The interstellar comet -- a half-mile-long object eventually named `Oumuamua, from the Hawaiian for "scout" or "messenger" -- raised intriguing questions: Was it a chunk of rocky debris from a new star system, shredded material from a supernova explosion, evidence of alien technology or something else altogether? In this riveting talk, Meech tells the story of how her team raced against the clock to find answers about this unexpected gift from afar.

The speaker:

Karen J. Meech · Astronomer, astrobiologist. Karen J. Meech is an astronomer who investigates how habitable worlds form and explores the bigger picture of whether there is life elsewhere.

Watch full: click

#Astronomy #Exploration #Nature Open / Comment

2022-06-12 21:00:01 WHY YOU SHOULD QUIT SOCIAL MEDIA

Does quitting social media make you an unemployable Luddite? Computer scientist Dr. Cal Newport doesn't think so. In this eye-opening talk, he debunks three objections commonly offered up as rationale for keeping that all-important Facebook account.

The speaker:

Cal Newport · Educator
An Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University, Cal Newport has also written multiple books about improving performance at school and in the workplace.

Watch full: click

#Technology #SocialMedia #Work Open / Comment

2022-06-11 21:00:00 BLUEGRASS VIRTUOSITY FROM ... NEW JERSEY?

All under the age of 16, brothers Jonny, Robbie and Tommy Mizzone are from New Jersey, a US state that's better known for the rock of Bruce Springsteen than the bluegrass of Earl Scruggs. Nonetheless, the siblings began performing bluegrass covers, as well as their own compositions, at a young age. Here, they play three dazzling songs in three different keys, passing the lead back and forth from fiddle to banjo to guitar.

The speaker:

Sleepy Man Banjo Boys · Bluegrass musicians. The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys is made up of 11-year-old banjo sensation Jonny Mizzone and his brothers Robbie, 14, on fiddle, and Tommy, 15, on guitar.

Watch full: click

#Entertainment #Music #Performance Open / Comment