TED: Ideas worth spreading

Can we, as adults, grow new neurons? Neuroscientist Sandrine Thuret says that we can, and she offers research and practical advice on how we can help our brains better perform neurogenesis—improving mood, increasing memory formation and preventing the decline associated…

In the United States, two institutions guide teenagers on the journey to adulthood: college and prison. Sociologist Alice Goffman spent six years in a troubled Philadelphia neighborhood and saw first-hand how teenagers of African-American and Latino backgrounds are funneled down…

By Jon Gosier, Investor, data scientist, entrepreneur. For TED Hooray for technology! It makes everything better for everyone!! Right? Well, no. When a new technology, like ebooks or health trackers, is only available to some people, it has unintended consequences…

Pia Mancini and her colleagues want to upgrade democracy in Argentina and beyond. Through their open-source mobile platform they want to bring citizens inside the legislative process, and run candidates who will listen to what they say. Transcript I have…

TEDMED 2014 · Filmed Sep 2014 Big problems need big solutions, sparked by big ideas, imagination and audacity. In this talk, journalist Gail Reed profiles one big solution worth noting: Havana’s Latin American Medical School, which trains global physicians to…

See the Video here Transcript So in 1781, an English composer, technologist and astronomer called William Herschel noticed an object on the sky that didn’t quite move the way the rest of the stars did. And Herschel’s recognition that something…

Does money make you mean? Does lack of money make you sick? Epidemiologist Richard Wilkinson and social psychologist Paul Piff discuss the human effects of economic and social inequality. What do a disease-fighting epidemiologist (retired) and an up-and-coming social psychologist have…

Right now you have a movie playing inside your head. It’s an amazing multi-track movie. It has 3D vision and surround sound for what you’re seeing and hearing right now, but that’s just the start of it. Your movie has…

Our consciousness is a fundamental aspect of our existence, says philosopher David Chalmers: “There’s nothing we know about more directly…. but at the same time it’s the most mysterious phenomenon in the universe.” He shares some ways to think about…

By Laura McClure for TED Ethicists are concerned about the recently published details of a mood alteration experiment conducted on Facebook users. Ready to go beyond the headlines? 5 primary sources worth reading next. Source: “Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social…