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Welcome to Evil Week, our annual dive into all the slightly sketchy hacks we’d usually refrain from recommending. Want to weasel your way into free drinks, play elaborate mind games, or, er, launder some money? We’ve got all the info you need to be successfully unsavory.
You want to see someone’s Instagram story anonymously or without them knowing you saw it? Honey, join the club. Since their 2016 rollout, Instagram Stories have been a phenomenon. Users can post freely about their day, their interests, their thoughts, their outfits, their accomplishments, and more—without having to…
Before the 1950s, filmmakers didn’t think about teenagers as anything other than adults-in-waiting—accessories to the adult characters in films. That changed circa the release of Nicholas Ray’s 1955 James Dean star vehicle Rebel Without a Cause, the success of which made studios realize that teens were driving around…
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Max has a handful of original series worth streaming in November, starting with season two of the Issa Rae comedy Rap Sh!t, which stars KaMillion and Aida Osman as estranged friends turned rap partners (November 9) followed by season two of Julia, the comedy-drama based on the life of Julia Child (November 16). At the…
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AI is everywhere, and it’s only going to continue taking over our lives. You don’t even need to download anything AI-specific in order to try it out for yourself. In fact, you can do it right from Instagram. Meta is now rolling out its AI chatbots to its various products—including Instagram, WhatsApp, and…
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TEDWomen editorial director Pat Mitchell, activist, filmmaker and entrepreneur Maya Penn and TED’s head of curation Helen Walters host Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
TEDWomen 2023 kicked off in its new home of Atlanta, Georgia with a moving and wide-ranging session of talks and performances about the future of global democracy, the pursuit of freedom in Russia and Ukraine, the path to recovery for survivors and more.
The event: Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023, hosted by TEDWomen editorial director Pat Mitchell, TED’s head of curation Helen Walters and activist, filmmaker and entrepreneur Maya Penn
When and where: Wednesday, October 11, 2023, at the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia
Speakers: Yordanos Eyoel, Irina Karamanos Adrian, Oleksandra Matviichuk, Jane Ferguson, Dasha Navalnaya, Ava DuVernay, Christine Schuler Deschryver, Chris Anderson
The Merian Ensemble performs at Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)
Music: Introduced by Atlanta Symphony Orchestra music director Nathalie Stutzmann, chamber music group The Merian Ensemble open the week with an evocative and transporting performance of Nicole Chamberlain’s “Atalanta” for flute, oboe, bass clarinet, harp and viola.
Democracy entrepreneur Yordanos Eyoel speaks at Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)
It’s not news that democracy is under attack globally. In order to encourage new democracies (and protect established ones), we need more than robust institutions — we need grassroots action, says democracy entrepreneur Yordanos Eyoel, who explores innovative ways to nurture nascent pro-democracy groups wherever they’re threatened.
Former First Lady of Chile Irina Karamanos Adrian speaks at Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
As a feminist, Irina Karamanos Adrian was not thrilled to become Chile’s First Lady. She shares how she overturned the position’s institutionalized responsibilities in an effort to make them more transparent, asserting that it’s undemocratic for an unelected position to have such power.
Human rights defender Oleksandra Matviichuk speaks at SESSION 1 at TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward. October 11-13, 2023, Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
How do we defend people’s freedom and dignity against authoritarianism, asks human rights lawyer Oleksandra Matviichuk. In the face of Russian troops occupying Ukraine, she emphasizes the extraordinary capabilities of ordinary people — and urges us all to stand together.
War reporter Jane Ferguson speaks at Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Women journalists shape the way the world sees wars, says war reporter Jane Ferguson. Illuminating the historic impact of female-led reporting, she highlights the perspective-broadening power of humanizing stories from war zones.
Corruption fighter Dasha Navalnaya speaks at Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Dasha Navalnaya is the daughter of an important man: Alexey Navalny, the leader of the Russian opposition and one of Vladimir Putin’s top critics. She shares the story of her father’s poisoning and imprisonment — and why Russians need your help to bring down Putin’s authoritarian regime.
TEDWomen editorial director Pat Mitchell and writer, producer and filmmaker Ava DuVernay speak at Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
In conversation with TEDWomen editorial director Pat Mitchell, writer, producer and filmmaker Ava DuVernay discusses how she turned Caste — Isabel Wilkerson’s Pulitzer-Prize winning nonfiction analysis of race in the US — into Origin, a gripping narrative film exploring both the book’s thesis and the author’s life story.
Human rights activist Christine Schuler Deschryver speaks at SESSION 1 at TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward. October 11-13, 2023, Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Human rights activist Christine Schuler Deschryver shares how her organization, City of Hope, is modeling a new recovery program for women survivors of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, one that allows women to reclaim their bodies while developing skills to become future community leaders.
Head of TED Chris Anderson speaks at Session 1 at TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
We’re well aware of how quickly hate and misinformation go viral. But in a one-of-a-kind preview of his upcoming book, head of TED Chris Anderson argues generosity can be infectious as well — creating powerful ripple effects that help us thrive.
Dance group Mahogany-N-Motion performs at Session 1 at TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)
Closing performance: Mahogany-N-Motion, a student-run women’s dance group from Spelman College — a historically Black liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia — close out the session with an energetic, drumline-infused performance that brought the TEDWomen crowd to its feet.
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Just a few short years ago, the pickings were extremely slim for horror movies with explicitly queer characters and themes—plenty of great movies with subtext (some of which we’ll get to), but very few that made that subtext into text. That, despite horror movies having legions of queer fans (seriously, the biggest…
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The basic human right to live on a sustainable, equitable planet is being threatened by a global climate crisis. How do we stop the loss of ecosystems, displacement of communities and destruction of livelihoods?
The third day of TEDWomen Presents — an online festival featuring interviews with leading women, interactive workshops, specially curated film screenings and more — focused on environmental rights, with a conversation between climate justice activist Vanessa Nakate and Mary Robinson, Chair of The Elders and former president of Ireland, as well as a live interview with actor and activist Jane Fonda and TEDWomen Editorial Director Pat Mitchell.
Climate justice activist Vanessa Nakate and Chair of The Elders and former president of Ireland Mary Robinson speak at TEDWomen Presents. (Photo Courtesy of TED)
Big idea: To mitigate the impacts of climate change, Africa needs climate financing to lift people out of energy poverty.
How? Capitalism plays a major role in degrading the environment. In a sprawling conversation surrounding the current state of the climate crisis, Mary Robinson and Vanessa Nakate explore the need for an intersectional approach that promotes racial justice and lifts people out of energy poverty; the urgent need for climate finance in Africa; and the disproportionate impact of climate change on women and girls throughout the world. Despite the complexity of the climate crisis, Nakate says that, if we all act as one, “No one is too small to make a difference, and no action is too small to transform the world.”
Actor and activist Jane Fonda speaks at TEDWomen Presents on October 27, 2022. (Photo Courtesy of TED)
Big idea: To truly advance climate action, we need to change the people in power.
How? Building off her Fire Drill Fridays movement — a series of weekly climate demonstrations on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC — Jane Fonda launched the Jane Fonda Climate PAC, aimed at electing climate champions (and defeating fossil fuel supporters) in the upcoming 2022 US midterm elections. In conversation with Pat Mitchell, Fonda clarifies why she’s bringing her climate activism into the electoral arena: after decades of marching, protesting and civil disobedience, the country was still not getting essential climate legislation passed because of the fossil fuel industry’s stranglehold on both sides of the aisle. For candidates to gain her PAC’s support, they must sign a pledge to not take money from the fossil fuel industry and demonstrate a commitment to holding oil and gas companies accountable for their environmental devastation. Two such candidates include Luke Warford, who’s running for the Texas Railroad Commission, and Lina Hidalgo, who’s running for judge in Harris County, Texas. “I believe the most important thing I’ve ever done is creating this PAC,” Fonda says. “I’m going to continue to do this until I die.”
Wondering what you can do to join the fight for change? Fonda encourages everyone to share stories of their own climate activism — whether it be drinking from a reusable water bottle or installing solar panels in your community — and invites anyone to join the next Fire Drill Fridays gathering on December 2, 2022, in Washington, DC. Climate activism is our “awesome responsibility,” she says: it’s time for all hands on deck.
Join the TEDWomen Community newsletter list to be the first to hear updates from the community and announcements about TEDWomen 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia — October 11-13, 2023.
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Young people across the world are reimagining the future and catalyzing the changes we need today. One thing is clear: we need to listen to youth voices now more than ever. In two days of virtual talks, we heard from five inspiring youth leaders about their most pressing concerns and the opportunities they see to deliver a fairer, greener world for everybody.
The event: TED Salon: Reimagine, hosted by Sally Kohn and presented in partnership with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
Cause for celebration: For 75 years, UNICEF has been working tirelessly for child rights and for the well-being of every child. Whoever they are. Wherever they live. Learn more about their 75-year journey.
The talks in brief:
Education rights champion Makhtoum Abdalla speaks at TEDSalon: Reimagine, presented in partnership with UNICEF. (Photo courtesy of TED)
Makhtoum Abdalla, education rights champion
Big idea: For children in refugee camps, schools and education are powerful tools of liberation. Makhtoum Abdalla, displaced as a child in Sudan and now living in a refugee camp, is using education as a springboard for his deepest dream: to ensure all children are educated and taught the skills needed to build a brighter future and become “captains of their destiny.”
How? Scoring one of the highest scores on South Sudan’s Grade 8 exam while living in the Otash refugee camp in Darfur, Abdalla caught the attention of UNICEF Sudan, who made him a Youth Advocate in 2020. He shares his goals of going to Columbia University to become a doctor and save children from malnutrition and hunger. As a youth advocate, he’s a voice for the ambitions of refugee kids like himself, championing easily accessible education so that everybody can tap into the world’s most powerful resource: knowledge.
Climate justice advocate Nkosilathi Nyathi speaks at TEDSalon: Reimagine, presented in partnership with UNICEF. (Photo courtesy of TED)
Nkosilathi Nyathi, climate justice advocate
Big idea: Although the climate crisis is largely caused by irresponsible adults in developed countries, it’s the children of developing nations — like Nkosilathi Nyathi’s Zimbabwe — that suffer from climate disaster the most. In a world where the clock is ticking off the minutes until climate disasters become unstoppable, we must involve everyone in finding solutions — including the children who suffer most acutely.
How? Since the age of 10, Nkosilathi Nyathi has engaged youth in the struggle to reduce emissions in Zimbabwe and to teach them that even small gestures can make a difference. Nyathi believes that a deeper commitment to climate education will give young people the tools they need to come up with their own solutions, and to help implement them once they’re discovered. But before that can happen, adults must listen — which is why Nyathi mobilizes youth to protest Zimbabwe’s climate policies, and why UNICEF has appointed him as a Youth Advocate to help spread his message to leaders all over the world.
Family reunification visionary Elizabeth Zion speaks at TEDSalon: Reimagine, presented in partnership with UNICEF. (Photo courtesy of TED)
Elizabeth Zion, family reunification visionary
Big idea: Fleeing religious persecution, Elizabeth Zion’s mother and siblings left Nigeria for Ireland — without her father, who to this day has been prevented from joining his family in the country where his daughter was born. Without him, Zion’s mother faced not only the struggles of raising five children as a single parent but also seven months of homelessness. Zion’s story is not unique — and each time that story is relived, its tragedy is underscored by the fact that it’s entirely avoidable.
How? Being raised by a family is a basic human right — one which is typically passed over by immigration regulations in countries the world over. Zion’s father has been trying to join her for 18 years — her entire life — and his absence, due entirely to red tape, has been devastating for her family. In order to keep families like hers together, Zion says, governments must not only commit to this right but also open up legal pathways — and reduce bureaucratic barriers — for families to enter their countries together, not one by one, whether they’re fleeing war, famine or religious persecution.
Accessibility champion Jane Velkovski speaks at TEDSalon: Reimagine, presented in partnership with UNICEF. (Photo courtesy of TED)
Jane Velkovski, accessibility champion
Big idea: Freedom of movement is a human right. We should make assistive technology available to anyone who needs it.
How? “This chair is my legs — this chair is my life,” says 13-year-old disability advocate Jane Velkovski. Born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) — a condition that causes his muscles to grow weak even as his mind grows stronger — he relies on a motorized wheelchair to provide the freedom and independence every teenager craves. Most kids can walk by the age of two, says Velkovski, but he wasn’t eligible for a government-provided power chair until the age of six. At age five, Velkovski says he got lucky when a family overseas sent him a power chair after their child with SMA outgrew it. But he worries about other kids who aren’t as fortunate. He argues that kids need to move independently from the earliest age possible, and policymakers must provide assistive technology to children with disabilities. “I see this world as a playground where people and governments are like a team,” he says. “We need to make sure everyone is able to play.”
Mental well-being motivator Peachy Liv speaks at TEDSalon: Reimagine, presented in partnership with UNICEF. (Photo courtesy of TED)
Peachy Liv, mental well-being motivator
Big idea: Social media is a powerful tool. It can amplify your voice and broadcast your ideas to a global audience, but it can also make it easier for others to criticize or attack you. We can — and must — make social media more user-friendly.
How? When Peachy Liv was 12 years old, she started creating videos for YouTube to share her ideas about education with other students her age. The platform helped her connect with millions of viewers but also made her vulnerable to harmful online criticism. If you have a strong voice online, she says, especially as a young person or as someone trying to make change in the world, people think you’re putting yourself on a pedestal — and they try to knock you down. According to Liv, more than one-third of teenagers have experienced a form of cyber-bullying. As individuals, she says, we can build our resilience to online negativity by practicing self-acceptance and seeking out support from friends and family or trusted mental-health professionals. We can also create better online spaces by committing to treat each other with kindness and respect. And if you ever need a break from social media, that’s OK, too. “Technology is my generation’s tool to fight for our future,” Liv says. “It should help us, not hurt us.”
Makhtoum Abdalla speaks at TEDSalon UNICEF: Reimagine. Photo Courtesy of TED.
Hosts Bruno Giussani and Christiana Figueres open Session 6 of Countdown Summit on October 15, 2021 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
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It’s the last morning of Countdown Summit, and we have a better sense of the exciting climate initiatives that are scaling up — but also of the size of the mountain we’re climbing.
In Session 6, eight speakers take it all on — from forests and soil, to markets and law, to arts and communication.
The event: Countdown Summit: Session 6, hosted by Paris Climate Agreement architect Christiana Figueres and TED’s Bruno Giussani, at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland on Friday, October 15, 2021
Speakers: Farwiza Farhan, Jane Zelikova, Sathya Raghu Mokkapati, Sandrine Dixson-Declève, Solitaire Townsend, Lucas Joppa, James K. Thornton, Naima Penniman
Performance: Poet and “freedom-forging futurist” Naima Penniman delivers a stunning spoken word poem — an evocative, moving tribute to the natural world and our connection to it.
The talks in brief:
TED Fellow Farwiza Farhan talks about our greatest untapped environmental resource at Session 6 of Countdown Summit on October 15, 2021 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Farwiza Farhan, TED Fellow and forest conservationist
Big idea: Farwiza Farhan is well-known for her fight to preserve the Leseur ecosystem, one of the last places on Earth where orangutans, rhinos, elephants and tigers still roam the wilderness together. But for Farhan, the true warriors are the women on the ground fighting day-to-day conservation battles.
How? Farhan is inspired by women like Sumini, an Indonesian conservationist helming the first woman-led ranger team at the front lines of forest preservation. Working within a patriarchal tribe where women are typically subservient, Sumini led the efforts to map her native forest, a crucial first step for both government recognition of her homeland and for saving its crucial environmental and economic resources. In a country where forestry initiatives usually benefit male elders (and strengthen existing inequalities), social and environmental justice requires nurturing women like Sumini in every local community, Farhan says.
Jane Zelikova, climate change scientist
Big Idea: From growing crops to storing carbon, healthy soil matters more now than ever — and we need to protect it.
Why? Under your feet, soil is teeming with hardworking and diverse microbial life that has the potential to stop global warming in its tracks, says climate change scientist Jane Zelikova. The “wee beasties” (or microbes, as described by Dutch scientist Antoni van Leeuwenhoek centuries ago) help accumulate and store massive amounts of carbon, clean water, nourish crops and reduce pollution — but over the last 12,000 years, we have lost billions of tons of that carbon in our soils. Zelikova urges us to rethink agricultural practices to protect our soils and the carbon they hold; to get more carbon in the ground by growing diverse, climate-adapted crops; and to leave the microbes alone to do what they do best. “Soils are the literal foundation of life on this planet — the reason that we eat and the climate solution just waiting to be unlocked,” says Zelikova. “Let’s build back our soils and help our planet by looking down to the ground.”
TED Fellow Sathya Raghu Mokkapati presents his work on a greenhouse-in-a-box that can help raise small farmers out of poverty. He speaks at Session 6 of Countdown Summit on October 15, 2021 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Sathya Raghu Mokkapati, TED Fellow and green farming innovator
Big idea: Small-scale farmers need a dependable, regular income to avoid poverty. “Greenhouse-in-a-box” technology can help.
How? For small-scale farmers in India, farming has long been an unreliable source of income, as crops that flourish one season can fail the next. Climate risk is now making the profession nearly impossible. According to TED Fellow and green farming innovator Sathya Raghu Mokkapati, one farmer in India dies by suicide every 51 minutes. The Indian entrepreneur is determined to improve the plight of small farmers and provide them with dependable income even amidst the ongoing threat of climate change. That’s why he and his team developed what they call a greenhouse-in-a-box. The small, easy-to-build structure is covered with netting to cut off heat, prevent bugs and increase crop yields using less water. Raghu Mokkapati estimates that this low-cost technology can bring a farmer an extra $100 per month in profits. So far, nearly 2,000 farmers in South India have joined Raghu Mokkapati in his movement — he hopes to reach 100,000 farmers in the next five years.
Sandrine Dixson-Declève, co-president of the Club of Rome
Big idea: In the 50 years since The Limits to Growth report was published by the Club of Rome, the alarming climate trends that it warned about have drastically increased.
What have we learned since then? Updated models of humanity’s growth continue to show that the business-as-usual scenario isn’t working, demonstrating that we must shift our growth patterns, says Sandrine Dixson-Declève, co-president of the Club of Rome. With the launch of the EarthforAll initiative, Dixson-Declève and the Club of Rome have identified five turnarounds that will enable us to thrive: energy, food, inequality, poverty and population (including health and education). Previewing the Club’s next report, Dixson-Declève explains that now is the time to do things differently, transitioning new and existing capital towards solutions. She estimates that the cost of shifting to sustainable growth will be around five percent of global GDP each year — an achievable, single-digit number. The cost of inaction is much greater. “We have too much bad news for complacency, but we have too much good news for despair,” says Dixson-Declève, quoting The Limits to Growth coauthor Donella Meadows. “Let’s kick complacency out the door.”
Solitaire Townsend, sustainability solution seeker
Big idea: The industry of “professional services” — such as advertising and PR firms, big management consultancies and finance companies, corporate law firms and lobbyists — have a massive but largely unnoticed influence on climate.
How? Solitaire Townsend calls it the “X-industry,” where “X” stands for influence. Even though the direct carbon footprint of this sector is relatively small, the “brainprint” of the X-industry is felt everywhere — they’re the storytellers and problem-solvers who act as “the grease in the wheels of all businesses on Earth,” Townsend says. For instance: big consulting groups provide financial modeling for new oil and gas exploration; lobbyists fight for less regulation of those projects; and PR firms protect the reputations of companies that do the drilling. In this sense, the greenhouse gas impact of the industry is enormous — if uncalculated. Building off the three groups of carbon emission measurement (referred to as Scopes 1, 2 and 3), Townsend believes we need a new “Scope X” — a way to calculate the “emissions of influence” of the X-industry and hold it to account. Armed with this data, the X-industry could move from being an abettor in environmental destruction to part of the solution.
Can we “code” the program for net-zero emissions? Lucas Joppa, Chief Environmental Officer at Microsoft, shares his answer at Session 6 of Countdown Summit on October 15, 2021 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Bret Hartman / TED)
Lucas Joppa, Microsoft’s Chief Environmental Officer
Big idea: By treating the plan to achieve net-zero carbon emissions as a coding challenge, we can identify and resolve “bugs” in the system.
How? The developers of any net-zero carbon program face the same challenge as software engineers, says Lucas Joppa, Chief Environmental Officer at Microsoft. Issues with the program are bugs in the code. Joppa identifies three of these “bugs” in our plan to achieve net-zero and explains how to fix them. First, we need a common definition for the term net-zero. Without one, our progress as a planet remains difficult to track. Second, we struggle to define the impact or benefit of different carbon offsets on the climate because we lack a universal unit of measurement for carbon offsets. We need to standardize both how we record carbon outputs and how we measure carbon offsets. Third, we should support the fledgling market for carbon removal and ensure that it’s as robust as the market for carbon offsets. Although we’re working against the clock, Joppa believes we will rise to what has become the greatest challenge of our time: recoding our current course on climate change.
James K. Thornton, eco-lawyer and author
Big idea: There are signs that China is becoming a global environmental leader.
How? James K. Thornton is the founder of ClientEarth, a nonprofit law firm working to address the climate crisis. He tells the story of his team’s work in China, where they’ve been training judges and prosecutors on climate law and litigation in a growing effort to use the power of the legal system to create positive environmental impact. He estimates that their cooperation with China’s environment ministry, judiciary and federal prosecutors has initiated some 80,000 environmental cases — ranging from environmental NGOs suing polluting companies to large financial institutions ending their investments in coal. More needs to be done, Thornton says, but the current, systematic commitment to change is a sign of hope.
Mark your calendar: Tune in to the Countdown Global Livestream on October 30, 2021. This virtual event will lay out a credible and realistic pathway to a zero-carbon future. Save the date.
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Countdown is a global initiative to accelerate solutions to the climate crisis. Watch the talks, interviews and performances from the Countdown Global Launch at ted.com/countdown.
Actor and activist Jane Fonda cohosts session 3 of the Countdown Global Launch on October 10, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)
Transforming big systems is a huge task. Energy, transportation, industry and infrastructure all pose their own challenges. And yet that transformation is already happening. The experts in Session 3 showed us how and where, and offered powerful ideas for accelerating it: developing an economy without coal, decarbonizing fossil fuels, electrifying mobility and more.
This session was cohosted by actor and activist Jane Fonda and climate activist Xiye Bastida, who kicked off the hour by discussing what it means to fight for climate justice and how to ignite large-scale change.
Climate activist Xiye Bastida cohosts session 3 of the Countdown Global Launch on October 10, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)
The talks in brief:
Varun Sivaram, clean energy executive, physicist, author
Big idea: India has a historic opportunity to power its industrialization with clean energy.
How? In a country where fossil fuels are still a luxury for many (only six percent of Indians own cars, and only two percent have air conditioning), India has a unique opportunity to build a new, green energy infrastructure from the ground up. An incredible 70 percent of India’s infrastructure of 2030 hasn’t been built yet, says Varun Sivaram, CTO of India’s largest renewable energy company, presenting the nation with a historic opportunity to industrialize using clean energy. By making renewable energy “the beating heart of a reimagined economy,” Sivaram thinks India can add thousands of gigawatts of solar and wind production capacity, green the country’s power grid and transportation system, and radically improve energy efficiency — electrifying communities that remain beyond the reach of the power grid.
Myles Allen, climate science scholar
Big idea: The fossil fuel industry can play a central role in solving climate change by decarbonizing their product. Oil and gas companies know how to decarbonize their fuels, and they have the money to do it. Now, they need the will.
How? The fossil fuel industry contributes 85 percent of the world’s CO2 emissions. To stop global warming, oil and gas companies need to stop dumping carbon into the atmosphere — but that doesn’t mean they have to stop selling their product altogether, says climate scientist Myles Allen. In lieu of a total ban on fossil fuels, which would harm the growth of developing countries (and is frankly unrealistic), Allen proposes a bold plan for fossil fuel companies to progressively decarbonize their product and reach net zero emissions by 2050. Engineers at energy companies have known how to decarbonize fossil fuels for years: collect CO2 as it burns, purify and compress it, and inject it deep into the Earth from which it came, where it can be stored for thousands of years. This process is expensive, so fuel companies haven’t done it yet at scale. But Allen puts forth a progressive decarbonization model in which 10 percent of fuels can be decarbonized by 2030, 50 percent by 2040 and 100 percent by 2050, allowing companies time to build a robust carbon dioxide disposal industry that works for everyone. With the know-how, money and plan to get to net zero emissions, all fossil fuel companies need now is will power.
“Africa and other poor nations deserve to get the balance of what’s remaining in the world’s carbon budget,” says energy researcher Rose M. Mutiso. She speaks at the Countdown Global Launch on October 10, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)
Rose M. Mutiso, energy researcher
Big idea: The world must reach a zero emission future. On the way there, Africa deserves its fair share of the carbon budget to make that transition possible and equitable.
Why? 48 African countries, combined, are responsible for less than one percent of the world’s carbon footprint, says Rose M. Mutiso. Pointing to this stark divide between those with limited energy access and those who have it in abundance, she highlights why Africa’s energy needs must be prioritized when reimagining the global carbon budget. The solution may sound counterintuitive, but to achieve a zero emission future, Africa needs to produce more carbon in the short term in order to develop in the long term — all while wealthier continents drastically cut their own emissions. For climate adaptation to be possible, Mutiso says, the world must recognize the vulnerability of developing countries and grant them the resources needed to build resilient infrastructures.
Monica Araya, electrification advocate
Big idea: The global shift to 100-percent clean transportation is under way.
How? People around the world are demanding clean air — and cities are responding, says Monica Araya. In her home base of Amsterdam, for instance, the city is rolling out a plan to make all transportation fully emission-free by 2030. The city will ban petrol and diesel vehicles, starting with public buses and working up to all kinds of traffic, from taxis, trucks and ferries to personal cars and motorcycles. Other cities across the globe are following suit by electrifying transportation options and championing sustainable forms of travel. There is (and will be) resistance to change, Araya notes — our addiction to fossil fuels runs deep. So we need clever combinations of finance and policy. Whether we can create healthy cities, while meeting our transportation needs, all depends on the choices we make this decade. “The end of the internal combustion engine is within sight,” Araya says. “The question is no longer whether this will happen, but when.”
Al Gore and climate activists Ximena Loría, Nana Firman, Gloria Kasang Bulus and Tim Guinee
Big idea: It’s been almost 15 years since Al Gore sounded the alarm on climate change with An Inconvenient Truth. Today, with the Climate Reality Project, he’s helping mold future leaders to build the movement for climate survival and social justice from the ground up.
How? Gore introduces us to four of the graduates of the Climate Reality Project, who each confront climate change on their own terms and on their own doorsteps: Ximena Loría, founder of Misión 2 Grados, an NGO influencing public policy in Central America; Nana Firman, “daughter of the rainforest” and advocate for climate justice among Indigenous peoples; Gloria Kasang Bulus, a Nigerian activist for women and education; and Tim Guinee, a first responder and climate change fighter in upstate New York. Together, they’re gathering local actors into a global, grass-roots movement that aims to turn the climate fight around. “The global pandemic, structural and institutional racism with its horrific violence, the worsening impacts of the climate crisis: all of these have accelerated the emergence of a new and widespread collective understanding of our connection to the natural world, the consequences of ignoring science and our sacred obligation to build a just society for all,” Gore says.
Photographer Stephen Wilkes distills time in a single image by capturing the transformation of a landscape over the course of a single day. He presents his work at the Countdown Global Launch on October 10, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)
Stephen Wilkes, photographer
Big idea: When we look at a landscape in the wild, we see only a moment in time. Photographer Stephen Wikes seeks to grasp the complex choreography of the natural world as it transitions from day to night — and to more deeply feel the impacts the human race is having on Earth’s ecosystems.
How? Using a special technique that captures the passage of time from day to night in a single image, Stephen Wilkes is able to photograph vanishing habitats and species in astonishing detail. These narrative images reveal how Earth changes over time, in all its beautiful complexity, and drive home the impacts of climate change with unprecedented force — from the threat of melting ice to the Arctic food chain to the disruption of flamingo migrations in Africa. “Our planet is changing before our eyes, but to witness that change is also to witness the remarkable relationships between all of nature — to see the infinite beauty of it, to learn how much bigger than us it is, and why it is worth fighting for,” Wilkes says.
Raye Zaragoza sings “Fight For You,” a song dedicated to everyone who stands up for the Earth, at the Countdown Global Launch on October 10, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)
With an acoustic guitar on her knee, folk songwriter Raye Zaragoza sings her original song “Fight For You,” dedicated to everyone who stands up for the Earth. Later in the session, musician and actor Yemi Alade returns to sing “Africa,” a celebration song for a continent already experiencing the harmful effects of climate change.
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TED looks a little different this year, but much has also stayed the same. The TED2020 mainstage program kicked off Thursday night with a session of talks, performances and visual delights from brilliant, creative individuals who shared ideas that could change the world — and stories of people who already have. But instead of convening in Vancouver, the TED community tuned in to the live, virtual broadcast hosted by TED’s Chris Anderson and Helen Walters from around the world — and joined speakers and fellow community members on an interactive, TED-developed second-screen platform to discuss ideas, ask questions and give real-time feedback. Below, a recap of the night’s inspiring talks, performances and conversations.
Sharing incredible footage of microscopic creatures, Ariel Waldman takes us below meters-thick sea ice in Antarctica to explore a hidden ecosystem. She speaks at TED2020: Uncharted on May 21, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)
Ariel Waldman, Antarctic explorer, NASA advisor
Big idea: Seeing microbes in action helps us more fully understand (and appreciate) the abundance of life that surrounds us.
How: Even in the coldest, most remote place on earth, our planet teems with life. Explorer Ariel Waldman introduces the thousands of organisms that call Antarctica home — and they’re not all penguins. Leading a five-week expedition, Waldman descended the sea ice and scaled glaciers to investigate and film myriad microscopic, alien-looking creatures. Her footage is nothing short of amazing — like wildlife documentary at the microbial level! From tiny nematodes to “cuddly” water bears, mini sea shrimp to geometric bugs made of glass, her camera lens captures these critters in color and motion, so we can learn more about their world and ours. Isn’t nature brilliant?
Did you know? Tardigrades, also known as water bears, live almost everywhere on earth and can even survive in the vacuum of space.
Tracy Edwards, Trailblazing sailor
Big Idea: Despite societal limits, girls and women are capable of creating the future of their dreams.
How: Though competitive sailing is traditionally dominated by men, women sailors have proven they are uniquely able to navigate the seas. In 1989, Tracy Edwards led the first all-female sailing crew in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race. Though hundreds of companies refused to sponsor the team and bystanders warned that an all-female team was destined to fail, Edwards knew she could trust in the ability of the women on her team. Despite the tremendous odds, they completed the trip and finished second in their class. The innovation, kindness and resourcefulness of the women on Edwards’s crew enabled them to succeed together, upending all expectations of women in sailing. Now, Edwards advocates for girls and women to dive into their dream fields and become the role models they seek to find. She believes women should understand themselves as innately capable, that the road to education has infinite routes and that we all have the ability to take control of our present and shape our futures.
Quote of the talk: “This is about teaching girls: you don’t have to look a certain way; you don’t have to feel a certain way; you don’t have to behave a certain way. You can be successful. You can follow your dreams. You can fight for them.”
Classical musicians Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Isata Kanneh-Mason perform intimate renditions of Sergei Rachmaninov’s “Muse” and Frank Bridge’s “Spring Song” at TED2020: Uncharted on May 21, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)
Virtuosic cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, whose standout performance at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made waves with music fans across the world, joins his sister, pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason, for an intimate living room performance of “Muse” by Sergei Rachmaninov and “Spring Song” by Frank Bridge.
And for a visual break, podcaster and design evangelist Debbie Millman shares an animated love letter to her garden — inviting us to remain grateful that we are still able to make things with our hands.
Dallas Taylor, Host/creator of Twenty Thousand Hertz podcast
Big idea: There is no such thing as true silence.
Why? In a fascinating challenge to our perceptions of sound, Dallas Taylor tells the story of a well-known, highly-debated and perhaps largely misunderstood piece of music penned by composer John Cage. Written in 1952, 4′33″ is more experience than expression, asking the listener to focus on and accept things the way they are, through three movements of rest — or, less technically speaking, silence. In its “silence,” Cage invites us to contemplate the sounds that already exist when we’re ready to listen, effectively making each performance a uniquely meditative encounter with the world around us. “We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to reset our ears,” says Taylor, as he welcomes the audience to settle into the first movement of 4’33” together. “Listen to the texture and rhythm of the sounds around you right now. Listen for the loud and soft, the harmonic and dissonant … enjoy the magnificence of hearing and listening.”
Quote of the talk: “Quietness is not when we turn our minds off to sound, but when we really start to listen and hear the world in all of its sonic beauty.”
Dubbed “the woman who redefined man” by her biographer, Jane Goodall has changed our perceptions of primates, people and the connection between the two. She speaks with head of TED Chris Anderson at TED2020: Uncharted on May 21, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)
Jane Goodall, Primatologist, conservationist
Big idea: Humanity’s long-term livelihood depends on conservation.
Why? After years in the field reinventing the way the world thinks about chimpanzees, their societies and their similarities to humans, Jane Goodall began to realize that as habitats shrink, humanity loses not only resources and life-sustaining biodiversity but also our core connection to nature. Worse still, as once-sequestered animals are pulled from their environments and sold and killed in markets, the risk of novel diseases like COVID-19 jumping into the human population rises dramatically. In conversation with head of TED Chris Anderson, Goodall tells the story of a revelatory scientific conference in 1986, where she awakened to the sorry state of global conservation and transformed from a revered naturalist into a dedicated activist. By empowering communities to take action and save natural habitats around the world, Goodall’s institute now gives communities tools they need to protect their environment. As a result of her work, conservation has become part of the DNA of cultures from China to countries throughout Africa, and is leading to visible transformations of once-endangered forests and habitats.
Quote of the talk: “Every day you live, you make an impact on the planet. You can’t help making an impact … If we all make ethical choices, then we start moving towards a world that will be not quite so desperate to leave for our great-grandchildren.”
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Civil disobedience is becoming a new normal, says actor and activist Jane Fonda. She speaks with host Pat Mitchell about Fire Drill Fridays, her weekly climate demonstrations, at TEDWomen 2019: Bold + Brilliant on December 5, 2019 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)
At age 81, actor and activist Jane Fonda is putting herself on the line for the planet, literally. In a video interview with TEDWomen curator Pat Mitchell, Fonda speaks about Fire Drill Fridays, the weekly demonstrations on Capitol Hill she leads in partnership with Greenpeace.
Since moving to Washington D.C. in September 2019, Fonda has staged a sit-in at the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill every Friday to protest the extraction of fossil fuels. She’s been arrested multiple times and spent a night in jail, and her actions are inspiring people around the world to host their own Fire Drill Fridays. She believes protest is becoming a new normal — at least until we see the changes we need. But, she says, we don’t all need to get arrested to raise awareness. She details some of the ways we can pressure our lawmakers and hold governments accountable.
Here are highlights from the interview.
Pat Michell: Talk to us about the origin of Fire Drill Fridays.
Jane Fonda: “I was very inspired by Greta Thunberg, the Swedish student, and by the young school climate strikers. Greta says: we have to get out of our comfort zone, we have to behave like our house is burning — because it is. She really struck a chord in me. … It’s an enormous challenge. We have eleven years, many say, a decade. And I thought, ‘Oh, I’m so lucky that I am healthy and living in a decade where we, who are alive, can actually make the difference — we can make the difference as to whether there is a livable future or not.’ What a glorious responsibility we have. We have to step up to the plate. …
“So, I decided, like Greta, I was going to put my body on the line and move to the center of American power, Washington, DC, and have a rally every Friday like the students do. And we work with the students — they speak at my rallies and I speak at their rallies — and then after we speak, we engage in civil disobedience and risk getting arrested.”
PM: Do you have any concerns about putting your body on the line and your life on hold?
JF: “I realize that not everybody can leave work and go do what I’m doing. But I must say that requests are pouring in, and not only from the United States but from other countries, people who want to start Fire Drill Fridays. And the people who are coming and getting arrested with me and engaging in civil disobedience, many of them have never done it before. And they find it transformative.
“But the fact is that there are so many things people can do, starting with talking about it, expressing how you feel about it … even when it’s uncomfortable. … Of course voting is very, very important, and we have to vote for the people that are the bravest, the boldest of our elected officials.”
PM: What would success for Fire Drill Fridays look like to you?
JF: “Success would look like every state stops all new fossil fuel expansion. Because if they keep drilling, fracking and mining, the problem will just get worse. So that no matter what we do with windmills and solar collectors and so forth, we’ll never be able to catch up. We have to stop all new expansion.”
PM: Will Fire Drill Fridays continue?
JF: “There has been such an interest in it … from all around the country, people asking if they can start one … we’re thinking about maybe doing it in Los Angeles.
“But I want to correct one thing: I’m not leading. It’s the young people, it’s the students, that are leading. It’s always the young people that step up with the courage. And it’s pretty amazing, because they’re risking a lot. It’s pretty brave to take a Friday off from school … but they’re doing it anyway. There have been millions of them … all around the world, and they’re saying, ‘Don’t let us have to deal with this by ourselves, we didn’t create this problem. Come and help us.’ So, Grandmas unite!”
PM: Do you leave this experience with a new level of hope or optimism?
JF: “Yes, I am optimistic. … [People] want to do something but no one has asked them. We have to ask them. We have to get organized. … This coming year is the critical year. What happens is going to be so important. Especially someone who is healthy, who feels relatively young, who has a platform — we have to use it in every possible way we can.”
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Singer-songwriter Shawnee brings her undeniable stage presence to TEDWomen 2019: Bold + Brilliant (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)
The world is experiencing the consequences of climate change and the urgency couldn’t be more clear. In Session 3 of TEDWomen 2019, we dug deep into some of the most pressing environmental issues of our time — exploring solutions and the many ways people across the globe are fighting for change.
The event: TEDWomen 2019, Session 3: Planet Protectors, hosted by Whitney Pennington Rodgers and Chee Pearlman
When and where: Thursday, December 5, 2019, 11am PT, at La Quinta Resort & Club in La Quinta, California
Speakers: Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Kelsey Leonard, Shawnee, Colette Pichon Battle, Renee Lertzman, Jane Fonda
Music: Singer-songwriter Shawnee brings their undeniable stage presence and music of empowerment to the stage, performing two songs: “Way Home” and “Warrior Heart.”
The talks in brief:
Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, environmental activist
Big idea: To combat climate change, we must combine our current efforts with those of indigenous people. Their rich, extensive knowledge base and long-standing relationship with the earth are the keys to our collective survival.
Why? Modern science and technology date back only a few hundred years, but indigenous knowledge spans thousands, says Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim. As she puts it: “For us, nature is our supermarket … our pharmacy … our school.” But climate change threatens indigenous people’s — and all of humanity’s — way of life; in her nomadic community, some of their social fabric is unraveling under the strain of its effects. To ensure resilience in the face of these developments, she suggests a marriage of new and old learnings to map and share crucial information for global survival. “We have 10 years to change it. 10 years is nothing,” she says. “So we need to act all together and we need to act right now.”
Quote of the talk: “I think if we put together all the knowledge systems that we have — science, technology, traditional knowledge — we can give the best of us to protect our peoples, to protect the planet, to restore the ecosystems that we are losing.”
“We need to fundamentally transform the way in which we value water,” says Kelsey Leonard. She speaks at TEDWomen 2019: Bold + Brilliant on December 5, 2019 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)
Kelsey Leonard, indigenous legal scholar and scientist
Big idea: Granting bodies of water legal personhood is the first step to addressing both our water crises and injustices — especially those endured by indigenous people.
Why? Water is essential to life. Yet in the eyes of the law, it remains largely unprotected — and our most vulnerable communities lack access to it, says Kelsey Leonard. As a representative of the Shinnecock Indian Nation, she shares the wisdom of her nokomis, or grandmother, on how we should honor this precious resource. We must start by asking like: What if we asked who water is, in the same way that we might ask who is our mother? This perspective shift transforms the way we fundamentally think about water, she says — prompting us to grant water the same legal rights held by corporations. In this way, and by looking to indigenous laws, we can reconnect with the lakes, oceans and seas around us.
Quote of the talk: “We are facing a global water crisis. And if we want to address these crises in our lifetime, we need to change. We need to fundamentally transform the way in which we value water.”
Colette Pichon Battle, attorney and climate equity advocate
Big idea: Climate migration — the mass displacement of communities due to climate change — will escalate rapidly in coming years. We need to prepare by radically shifting both policies and mindsets.
Why? Scientists predict climate change will displace more than 180 million people by 2100. Colette Pichon Battle believes the world is not prepared for these population shifts. As a generational native of southern Louisiana and an attorney who has worked on post-Hurricane Katrina disaster recovery, Pichon Battle urges us to plan before it’s too late. How? By first acknowledging that climate change is a symptom of exploitative economic systems that privilege the few over the many and then working to transform them. We need to develop collective resilience by preparing communities to receive climate migrants, allocating resources and changing social attitudes. Lastly, she says, we must re-indigenize ourselves — committing to ecological equity and human rights as foundational tenets of a new climate-resilient society.
Quote of the talk: “All of this requires us to recognize a power greater than ourselves and a life longer than the one we will live. We must transform from a disposable, short-sighted reality of the individual to one that values the long-term life cycle of our collective humanity. Even the best of us are entangled in an unjust system. To survive, we will have to find our way to a shared liberation.”
Renee Lertzman, climate psychologist
Big idea: We need to make our emotional well-being a fundamental part of the fight against climate change.
How? What’s happening to our planet seems overwhelming. And while we have tons of information on the science of climate change, we know much less about its emotional impact. Renee Lertzman has interviewed hundreds of people about how climate change makes them feel, and she wants to equip us with a toolkit to handle our climate grief and still be able to take action. Patience, compassion and kindness are qualities we need to deploy more often in our conversations about the crisis, she says. As climate events push us outside our “window of tolerance” — the stresses we can withstand without becoming overwhelmed — numbness and apathy are natural responses. Many people tell her: “I don’t know where to start.” She recommends practicing attunement: listening to our own feelings and those of others, accepting them without judgement and meeting our experiences with curiosity. Whether we’re with a few friends or at a larger climate action gathering, remembering that we are human is a key ingredient in the fight for our world.
Quote of the talk: “These are hard issues. This is a hard moment to be a human being. We’re waking up.”
Civil disobedience is becoming a new normal, says actor and activist Jane Fonda. She speaks with host Pat Mitchell about Fire Drill Fridays, her weekly climate demonstrations, at TEDWomen 2019: Bold + Brilliant on December 5, 2019 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)
Jane Fonda, actor, author and activist
Big idea: In the wake of climate change, protest is becoming a new normal — at least until we see the changes we need.
Why? In a video interview with TEDWomen curator Pat Mitchell, Fonda discussed Fire Drill Fridays, the weekly demonstrations on Capitol Hill she leads in partnership with Greenpeace. Since moving to Washington D.C. in September, Fonda has staged a sit-in at the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill every Friday to protest the extraction of fossil fuels. At age 81, she has been arrested multiple times and spent a night in jail — and her actions are inspiring people around the world to host their own Fire Drill Fridays. But, she says, we don’t need to get arrested to raise awareness; there are many other ways to put pressure on lawmakers and hold governments accountable. Read a full recap of her interview here.
Quote of the talk: “I’m not leading. It’s the young people, it’s the students, that are leading. It’s always the young people that step up with the courage.”
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“You don’t predict the future; you imagine the future,” says author Charlie Jane Anders. She speaks at TEDWomen 2019: Bold + Brilliant, on December 5, 2019 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)
In Session 2 of TEDWomen 2019, we met some extraordinary pattern makers: people helping us predict the future, improve our relationship to technology and unearth powerful discoveries.
The event: TEDWomen 2019, Session 2: Pattern Makers, hosted by Pat Mitchell and Cloe Shasha
When and where: Thursday, December 5, 2019, 8:30AM PT, at La Quinta Resort & Club in La Quinta, California
Speakers: Lucy King, Jennifer Zhu Scott, Angie Murimirwa, Jiabao Li, Eva Galperin, Charlie Jane Anders
The talks in brief:
Lucy King, elephant advocate
Big idea: As their foraging territories shrink, African elephants encroach on agricultural lands, upsetting a delicate balance between them and their human neighbors. Amid an increase in wrecked crops and houses, Lucy King developed a method to bar elephants from cultivated fields without needing to erect huge (and often ineffective) electric fences.
How? Through research inspired by local folklore, King discovered that elephants avoid beehives, because they don’t want to get stung. As a result, she developed “beehive fences” that release insects when elephants attempt to breach them — and send these pachyderms packing. In tandem with these fences, King’s “Human-Elephant Co-Existence” program encourages farmers to plant crops that pollinators love and elephants hate, which could help farmers establish new livelihoods.
Quote of the talk: “Can you imagine the terror of an elephant literally ripping the roof off your mud hut in the middle of the night and having to hold your children away as the trunk reaches in looking for food in the pitch dark?”
Jennifer Zhu Scott, entrepreneur and technologist
Big idea: Our personal data is a valuable asset — but we’re not getting paid for it. Giving individuals pricing power over their own data could reduce inequality by empowering people, instead of businesses.
Why? The most successful companies in the world profit from the data produced by the everyday people who use their services. So why aren’t we getting a paycheck? Data ownership is a personal and economic issue, says Jennifer Zhu Scott, yet too often our conversations fixate on data privacy and regulation rather than the potential prosperity that data ownership could bring. For some, it might even be a path out of poverty. Take China — a society that saw its poverty rate plunge from 88 percent in 1981 to 0.7 percent by 2015 as businesses went from being state-owned to privately owned. It wasn’t a perfect transition by any means, she says, but it’s a case study for how personal ownership can improve people’s lives. We can create an economic model for individuals to control and barter their own information, instead of letting Facebook or Tencent do it, and startups are already creating tools to make this a reality.
Quote of the talk: “Whoever owns the data owns the future.”
Angie Murimirwa, education activist, executive director of the Campaign for Female Education for Africa
Big idea: “Social interest,” or paying back interest on a loan through service rather than currency, can promote economic prosperity in communities across Africa — helping girls stay in school, get job training and obtain and pay off loans.
How? Young women in sub-Saharan Africa often can’t afford school and have difficulty finding consistent wages and loans, keeping them trapped in a cycle of poverty and inequality. Angie Murimirwa believes that one solution lies in empowering young people through “social interest” — a kind of loan that can be paid off by service, such as mentorship and teaching, and not by currency. Not only has social interest facilitated Murimirwa’s own success, but she has also watched it benefit thousands of others. In fact, nearly 6,300 young women have borrowed close to three million dollars — with a repayment rate above 95 percent.
Quote of the talk: “We are building a powerful force gaining ever greater momentum, as we open the door for more and more girls to go to school, succeed, lead and, in turn, support thousands more.”
Jiabao Li, artist and engineer
Big idea: Technology affects the way we perceive reality, creating a hyper-fragmented humanity vulnerable to seemingly “mental” allergies. But as with many cures, the problem is also the solution.
How? To emphasize this human-made phenomenon, Jiabao Li created a series of perceptual machines to help question the ways we experience the world in the age of digital media. Her conceptual designs include a bulbous helmet that mimics the amplification effect of social media and two web browser plug-ins — one that helps us notice things we’d usually ignore and another that dilutes algorithmic influence. Technology is designed to change what we see and what we think, and in many ways it’s separated us from each other. But we could use it to make the world connected again.
Quote of the talk: “By exploring how we interface with these technologies, I hope we could step out of our habitual, almost machine-like behaviors, and finally find common ground between each other.”
Eva Galperin, cybersecurity expert and technical advisor
Big idea: Stalkerware is on the rise. We need to educate the public on how to protect themselves and convince antivirus companies to begin detecting it.
How? Eva Galperin was shocked to discover that an alarming number of people are being hacked by their current or former partners. A common and particularly insidious form of this abuse is “stalkerware,” software designed to track or spy on someone without their knowledge. Stalkers buy a program, install it on their victim’s devices and gain remote access, allowing them see their victim’s every movement, text message or email. When Galperin discovered that most antivirus softwares do not detect these programs, she launched the Coalition Against Stalkerware to raise awareness and advocate for antivirus companies to detect it. She hopes that by next year, antivirus software will be able to offer stalkerware detection to discourage abusers and protect victims.
Quote of the talk: “Full access to a person’s phone is the next best thing to full access to a person’s mind.”
Charlie Jane Anders, author and futurist
Big Idea: Dreaming about our collective future is the first step toward creating a better one.
How: The world is changing so fast that no one — not even futurists like Charlie Jane Anders — can predict what it will look like in a few years. Now, instead of trying to predict it, she vaccinates herself against the acute onset of future shock by imagining it in all its wild possibilities. In a process that’s part fever dream and part research-based extrapolation, she constructs future worlds by living them through the characters in her work and speculating about the delights and challenges that could arise. It’s by engaging in such directed flights of fancy, Anders suggests, that we can begin constructing a better world of tomorrow.
Quote of the talk: “You don’t predict the future; you imagine the future.”
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Yilian Cañizares rocks the TED stage with a jubilant performance of her signature blend of classic jazz and Cuban rhythms. She performs at TEDSummit: A Community Beyond Borders, July 24, 2019, in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Bret Hartman / TED)
The penultimate session of TEDSummit 2019 had a bit of everything — new thoughts on aging, loneliness and happiness as well as breakthrough science, music and even a bit of comedy.
The event: TEDSummit 2019, Session 5: Stages of Life, hosted by Kelly Stoetzel and Alex Moura
When and where: Wednesday, July 24, 2019, 5pm BST, at the Edinburgh Convention Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland
Speakers: Nicola Sturgeon, Sonia Livingstone, Howard Taylor, Sara-Jane Dunn, Fay Bound Alberti, Carl Honoré
Opening: Raconteur Mackenzie Dalrymple telling the story of the Goodman of Ballengeich
Music: Yilian Cañizares and her band, rocking the TED stage with a jubilant performance that blends classic jazz and Cuban rhythms
Comedy: Amidst a head-spinning program of big (and often heavy) ideas, a welcomed break from comedian Omid Djalili, who lightens the session with a little self-deprecation and a few barbed cultural observations
The talks in brief:
“In the world we live in today, with growing divides and inequalities, with disaffection and alienation, it is more important than ever that we … promote a vision of society that has well-being, not just wealth, at its very heart,” says Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland. She speaks at TEDSummit: A Community Beyond Borders, July 24, 2019, in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland
Big idea: It’s time to challenge the monolithic importance of GDP as a quality-of-life metric — and paint a broader picture that also encompasses well-being.
How? In 2018, Scotland, Iceland and New Zealand established the Wellbeing Economy Governments group to challenge the supremacy of GDP. The leaders of these countries — who are, incidentally, all women — believe policies that promote happiness (including equal pay, childcare and paternity rights) could help decrease alienation in its citizens and, in turn, build resolve to confront global challenges like inequality and climate change.
Quote of the talk: “Growth in GDP should not be pursued at any and all cost … The goal of economic policy should be collective well-being: how happy and healthy a population is, not just how wealthy a population is.”
Sonia Livingstone, social psychologist
Big idea: Parents often view technology as either a beacon of hope or a developmental poison, but the biggest influence on their children’s life choices is how they help them navigate this unavoidable digital landscape. Society as a whole can positively impact these efforts.
How? Sonia Livingstone’s own childhood was relatively analog, but her research has been focused on how families embrace new technology today. Changes abound in the past few decades — whether it’s intensified educational pressures, migration, or rising inequality — yet it’s the digital revolution that remains the focus of our collective apprehension. Livingstone’s research suggests that policing screen time isn’t the answer to raising a well-rounded child, especially at a time when parents are trying to live more democratically with their children by sharing decision-making around activities like gaming and exploring the internet. Leaders and institutions alike can support a positive digital future for children by partnering with parents to guide activities within and outside of the home. Instead of criticizing families for their digital activities, Livingstone thinks we should identify what real-world challenges they’re facing, what options are available to them and how we can support them better.
Quote of the talk: “Screen time advice is causing conflict in the family, and there’s no solid evidence that more screen time increases childhood problems — especially compared with socio-economic or psychological factors. Restricting children breeds resistance, while guiding them builds judgment.”
Howard Taylor, child safety advocate
Big idea: Violence against children is an endemic issue worldwide, with rates of reported incidence increasing in some countries. We are at a historical moment that presents us with a unique opportunity to end the epidemic, and some countries are already leading the way.
How? Howard Taylor draws attention to Sweden and Uganda, two very different countries that share an explicit commitment to ending violence against children. Through high-level political buy-in, data-driven strategy and tactical legislative initiatives, the two countries have already made progress on. These solutions and others are all part of INSPIRE, a set of strategies created by an alliance of global organizations as a roadmap to eliminating the problem. If we put in the work, Taylor says, a new normal will emerge: generations whose paths in life will be shaped by what they do — not what was done to them.
Quote of the talk: “What would it really mean if we actually end violence against children? Multiply the social, cultural and economic benefits of this change by every family, every community, village, town, city and country, and suddenly you have a new normal emerging. A generation would grow up without experiencing violence.”
“The first half of this century is going to be transformed by a new software revolution: the living software revolution. Its impact will be so enormous that it will make the first software revolution pale in comparison,” says computational biologist Sara-Jane Dunn. She speaks at TEDSummit: A Community Beyond Borders, July 24, 2019, in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Sara-Jane Dunn, computational biologist
Big idea: In the 20th century, computer scientists inscribed machine-readable instructions on tiny silicon chips, completely revolutionizing our lives and workplaces. Today, a “living software” revolution centered around organisms built from programmable cells is poised to transform medicine, agriculture and energy in ways we can scarcely predict.
How? By studying how embryonic stem cells “decide” to become neurons, lung cells, bone cells or anything else in the body, Sara-Jane Dunn seeks to uncover the biological code that dictates cellular behavior. Using mathematical models, Dunn and her team analyze the expected function of a cellular system to determine the “genetic program” that leads to that result. While they’re still a long way from compiling living software, they’ve taken a crucial early step.
Quote of the talk: “We are at the beginning of a technological revolution. Understanding this ancient type of biological computation is the critical first step. And if we can realize this, we would enter into the era of an operating system that runs living software.”
Fay Bound Alberti, cultural historian
Big idea: We need to recognize the complexity of loneliness and its ever-transforming history. It’s not just an individual and psychological problem — it’s a social and physical one.
Why? Loneliness is a modern-day epidemic, with a history that’s often recognized solely as a product of the mind. Fay Bound Alberti believes that interpretation is limiting. “We’ve neglected [loneliness’s] physical effects — and loneliness is physical,” she says. She points to how crucial touch, smell, sound, human interaction and even nostalgic memories of sensory experiences are to coping with loneliness, making people feel important, seen and helping to produce endorphins. By reframing our perspective on this feeling of isolation, we can better understand how to heal it.
Quote of talk: “I am suggesting we need to turn to the physical body, we need to understand the physical and emotional experiences of loneliness to be able to tackle a modern epidemic. After all, it’s through our bodies, our sensory bodies, that we engage with the world.”
Fun fact: “Before 1800 there was no word for loneliness in the English language. There was something called: ‘oneliness’ and there were ‘lonely places,’ but both simply meant the state of being alone. There was no corresponding emotional lack and no modern state of loneliness.”
“Whatever age you are: own it — and then go out there and show the world what you can do!” says Carl Honoré. He speaks at TEDSummit: A Community Beyond Borders, July 24, 2019, in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Bret Hartman / TED)
Carl Honoré, writer, thinker and activist
Big idea: Stop the lazy thinking around age and the “cult of youth” — it’s not all downhill from 40.
How? We need to debunk the myths and stereotypes surrounding age — beliefs like “older people can’t learn new things” and “creativity belongs to the young.” There are plenty of trailblazers and changemakers who came into their own later in life, from artists and musicians to physicists and business leaders. Studies show that people who fear and feel bad about aging are more likely to suffer physical effects as if age is an actual affliction rather than just a number. The first step to getting past that is by creating new, more positive societal narratives. Honoré offers a set of simple solutions — the two most important being: check your language and own your age. Embrace aging as an adventure, a process of opening rather than closing doors. We need to feel better about aging in order to age better.
Quote of the talk: “Whatever age you are: own it — and then go out there and show the world what you can do!”
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At TEDSummit 2019, more than 1,000 members of the TED community will gather for five days of performances, workshops, brainstorming, outdoor activities, future-focused discussions and, of course, an eclectic program of TED Talks — curated by TED Global curator Bruno Giussani, pictured above. (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)
With TEDSummit 2019 just two months away, it’s time to unveil the first group of speakers that will take to the stage in Edinburgh, Scotland, from July 21-25.
Three years ago, more than 1,000 members of the TED global community convened in Banff, Canada, for the first-ever TEDSummit. We talked about the fracturing state of the world, the impact of technology and the accelerating urgency of climate change. And we drew wisdom and inspiration from the speakers — and from each other.
These themes are equally pressing today, and we’ll bring them to the stage in novel, more developed ways in Edinburgh. We’ll also address a wide range of additional topics that demand attention — looking not only for analysis but also antidotes and solutions. To catalyze this process, half of the TEDSummit conference program will take place outside the theatre, as experts host an array of Discovery Sessions in the form of hands-on workshops, activities, debates and conversations.
Check out a glimpse of the lineup of speakers who will share their future-focused ideas below. Some are past TED speakers returning to give new talks; others will step onto the red circle for the first time. All will help us understand the world we currently live in.
Here we go! (More will be added in the coming weeks):
Anna Piperal, digital country expert
Bob Langert, corporate changemaker
Carl Honoré, author
Carole Cadwalladr, investigative journalist
Diego Prilusky, immersive media technologist
Eli Pariser, organizer and author
Fay Bound Alberti, historian
George Monbiot, thinker and author
Hajer Sharief, youth inclusion activist
Howard Taylor, children safety advocate
Jochen Wegner, editor and dialogue creator
Kelly Wanser, geoengineering expert
Ma Yansong, architect
Marco Tempest, technology magician
Margaret Heffernan, business thinker
María Neira, global public health official
Mariana Lin, AI personalities writer
Mariana Mazzucato, economist
Marwa Al-Sabouni, architect
Nick Hanauer, capitalism redesigner
Nicola Jones, science writer
Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland
Omid Djalili, comedian
Patrick Chappatte, editorial cartoonist
Pico Iyer, global author
Poet Ali, Philosopher, poet
Rachel Kleinfeld, violence scholar
Raghuram Rajan, former central banker
Rose Mutiso, energy for Africa activist
Sandeep Jauhar, cardiologist
Sara-Jane Dunn, computational biologist
Sheperd Doeleman, black hole scientist
Sonia Livingstone, social psychologist
Susan Cain, quiet revolutionary
Tim Flannery, carbon-negative tech scholar
Tshering Tobgay, former Prime Minister of Bhutan
With them, a number of artists will also join us at TEDSummit, including:
Djazia Satour, singer
ELEW, pianist and DJ
KT Tunstall, singer and songwriter
Min Kym, virtuoso violinist
Radio Science Orchestra, space-music orchestra
Yilian Cañizares, singer and songwriter
Registration for TEDSummit is open for active members of our various communities: TED conference members, Fellows, past TED speakers, TEDx organizers, Educators, Partners, Translators and more. If you’re part of one of these communities and would like to attend, please visit the TEDSummit website.
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TED2019 may be past, but the TED community is busy as ever. Below, a few highlights.
Amplifying 2 million women across the U.S. Activist Ai-jen Poo, Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza and Planned Parenthood past president Cecile Richards have joined forces to launch Supermajority, which aims to train 2 million women in the United States to become activists and political leaders. To scale, the political hub plans to partner with local nonprofits across the country; as a first step, the co-founders will embark on a nationwide listening tour this summer. (Watch Poo’s, Garza’s and Richards’ TED Talks.)
Sneaker reseller set to break billion-dollar record. Sneakerheads, rejoice! StockX, the sneaker-reselling digital marketplace led by data expert Josh Luber, will soon become the first company of its kind with a billion-dollar valuation, thanks to a new round of venture funding. StockX — a platform where collectible and limited-edition sneakers are bought and exchanged through real-time bidding — is an evolution of Campless, Luber’s site that collected data on rare sneakers. In an interview with The New York Times, Luber said that StockX pulls in around $2 million in gross sales every day. (Watch Luber’s TED Talk.)
A move to protect iconic African-American photo archives. Investment expert Mellody Hobson and her husband, filmmaker George Lucas, filed a motion to acquire the rich photo archives of iconic African-American lifestyle magazines Ebony and Jet. The archives are owned by the recently bankrupt Johnson Publishing Company; Hobson and Lucas intend to gain control over them through their company, Capital Holdings V. The collections include over 5 million photos of notable events and people in African American history, particularly during the Civil Rights Movement. In a statement, Capital Holdings V said: “The Johnson Publishing archives are an essential part of American history and have been critical in telling the extraordinary stories of African-American culture for decades. We want to be sure the archives are protected for generations to come.” (Watch Hobson’s TED Talk.)
10 TED speakers chosen for the TIME100. TIME’s annual round-up of the 100 most influential people in the world include climate activist Greta Thunberg, primatologist and environmentalist Jane Goodall, astrophysicist Sheperd Doeleman and educational entrepreneur Fred Swaniker — also Nancy Pelosi, the Pope, Leana Wen, Michelle Obama, Gayle King (who interviewed Serena Williams and now co-hosts CBS This Morning home to TED segment), and Jeanne Gang. Thunberg was honored for her work igniting climate change activism among teenagers across the world; Goodall for her extraordinary life work of research into the natural world and her steadfast environmentalism; Doeleman for his contribution to the Harvard team of astronomers who took the first photo of a black hole; and Swaniker for the work he’s done to educate and cultivate the next generation of African leaders. Bonus: TIME100 luminaries are introduced in short, sharp essays, and this year many of them came from TEDsters including JR, Shonda Rhimes, Bill Gates, Jennifer Doudna, Dolores Huerta, Hans Ulrich Obrest, Tarana Burke, Kai-Fu Lee, Ian Bremmer, Stacey Abrams, Madeleine Albright, Anna Deavere Smith and Margarethe Vestager. (Watch Thunberg’s, Goodall’s, Doeleman’s, Pelosi’s, Pope Francis’, Wen’s, Obama’s, King’s, Gang’s and Swaniker’s TED Talks.)
Meet Sports Illustrated’s first hijab-wearing model. Model and activist Halima Aden will be the first hijab-wearing model featured in Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit issue, debuting May 8. Aden will wear two custom burkinis, modestly designed swimsuits. “Being in Sports Illustrated is so much bigger than me,” Aden said in a statement, “It’s sending a message to my community and the world that women of all different backgrounds, looks, upbringings can stand together and be celebrated.” (Watch Aden’s TED Talk.)
Scotland post-surgical deaths drop by a third, and checklists are to thank. A study indicated a 37 percent decrease in post-surgical deaths in Scotland since 2008, which it attributed to the implementation of a safety checklist. The 19-item list created by the World Health Organization is supposed to encourage teamwork and communication during operations. The death rate fell to 0.46 per 100 procedures between 2000 and 2014, analysis of 6.8 million operations showed. Dr. Atul Gawande, who introduced the checklist and co-authored the study, published in the British Journal of Surgery, said to the BBC: “Scotland’s health system is to be congratulated for a multi-year effort that has produced some of the largest population-wide reductions in surgical deaths ever documented.” (Watch Gawanda’s TED Talk.) — BG
And finally … After the actor Luke Perry died unexpectedly of a stroke in February, he was buried according to his wishes: on his Tennessee family farm, wearing a suit embedded with spores that will help his body decompose naturally and return to the earth. His Infinity Burial Suit was made by Coeio, led by designer, artist and TED Fellow Jae Rhim Lee. Back in 2011, Lee demo’ed the mushroom burial suit onstage at TEDGlobal; now she’s focused on testing and creating suits for more people. On April 13, Lee spoke at Perry’s memorial service, held at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank; Perry’s daughter revealed his story in a thoughtful instagram post this past weekend. (Watch Lee’s TED Talk.) — EM
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Jamie Paik unveils robogamis: folding robots that can morph and reshape themselves as the situation demands. She speaks at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, on April 18 at Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Bret Hartman / TED)
The more we look, the more our digital and analog worlds are blending. What is this future we are entering? In Session 9 of TED2019, we peer into the thrilling, sometimes frightening, often hilarious world of technology.
The event: Talks and tech demos from TED2019, Session 9: Play, hosted by head of TED Chris Anderson and poet Sarah Kay
When and where: Thursday, April 18, 2019, 11:15am, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC
Speakers: Emmett Shear, Anthony Veneziale, Janelle Shane, Ivan Poupyrev, Jamie Paik and Herman Narula
… and now, for something completely different: Master improver Anthony Veneziale took to the TED stage for a truly off-the-cuff performance. Armed with an audience-suggested topic (“stumbling into intimacy”) and a deck of slides he’d never seen before, Veneziale crafted a profoundly humorous meditation about the human experience at the intersection of intimacy, connection and … avocados?
The talks in brief:
In a live conversation with a Twitch gamer, Emmett Shear (who cofounded TwitchTV) presents his vision for the future of interactive entertainment. He speaks at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, on April 18, 2019, at Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Bret Hartman / TED)
Emmett Shear, cofounder of Justin.tv and TwitchTV and part-time partner at Y Combinator
Janelle Shane, AI humorist
Ivan Poupyrev, inventor, scientist, designer of interactive products
Jamie Paik, founder and director of the Reconfigurable Robotics Lab
Herman Narula, entrepreneur, gamer, cofounder and CEO of Improbable
Sarah Kay announces season two of TED’s original podcast series Sincerely, X. The new season premieres May 6, 2019 with Kay as its host. She speaks at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, on April 18, 2019, at Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Bret Hartman / TED)
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Hosts Chee Perlman and Anthony Veneziale keep the showing moving along swiftly, hosting TED Unplugged at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, on April 16, 2019 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
In a fast-paced session of talks curated by TED arts and design curator Chee Pearlman and hosted with improv leader Anthony Veneziale, 12 members of the TED community shared ideas in a special format: each had to keep their talks under six minutes, with auto-advancing, timed slides. And yes, the mic does cut after six minutes!
The talks in brief:
Entrepreneur Brickson Diamond shares his journey from feeling like a Martian as a kid to finding his tribe. He speaks during TED Unplugged at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, on April 16, 2019 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Brickson Diamond, entrepreneur and co-chair of the Blackhouse Foundation
Cady Coleman, astronaut who has flown on the Space Shuttle twice and lived on the International Space Station for almost 6 months (and delivered the first TED Talk given in space)
Janet Iwasa, Molecular animator and TED Senior Fellow
“These days I believe less in silver bullets and more in people who show up to help,” says software engineer and public servant Matt Cutts. He speaks during TED Unplugged at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, on April 16, 2019 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Matt Cutts, Software engineer and public servant
Lucy Farey-Jones, Technology strategist
Bjarke Ingels, (Interplanetary) architect
In an ode to parrotfish, marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson shares five ways that these reef fish are special. She speaks during TED Unplugged at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, on April 16, 2019 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Marine biologist, launching the first think tank for ocean cities
Rob Gore, Emergency room doctor
Stefan Sagmeister, Designer
John Werner, TEDxBeaconStreet organizer
“Everybody deserves access to information about their bodies and the organs inside their bodies — especially the ones that give us pleasure,” says Andrea Barrica. She speaks during TED Unplugged at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, on April 16, 2019 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Andrea Barrica, Sex tech entrepreneur
David Kwong, Magician and cruciverbalist
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The TED community is brimming with new books and projects. Below, a selection of highlights.
A powerful story of an American odyssey. Writer and business leader Casey Gerald has published a new memoir on his journey through American life. Titled There Will Be No Miracles Here, the book tells Gerald’s story from a childhood of scraping by, to Yale University, to his role as the leader of a nonprofit placing MBA graduates in communities where they can share their knowledge and make a difference. In an interview with NYMag, Gerald says, “I feel very certain that this book, writing it and giving it away, was the highest and best use of the luxury of being alive. Only time will tell whether that’s true.” The memoir, which The New York Times calls “magnificent,” can be found in bookstores and online. (Watch Gerald’s TED Talk.)
New insights on the benefits of playing instruments. In collaboration with neuroscientist Daniel Levitin, guitar manufacturer Fender has published a new report on the emotional, physical and mental benefits of playing instruments with a focus on the guitar. The study has some fascinating findings: women make up half of all new and aspiring guitar players, 72% of participants began playing guitar as a way of bettering themselves and 42% of participants considered guitar-playing a part of their identity. On the study, Levitin said, “Playing an instrument has a meditative aspect that can release positive hormones in the brain … When we play an instrument, it allows us to see ourselves differently — taking on something that is seen as being a masterful skill in society.” (Watch Levitin’s TED Talk.)
A free resource on integrating ethics and tech. In a closing keynote at the 2018 Borah Symposium, game designer and technologist Jane McGonigal spoke about the tangible benefits of video games. As quoted in The Argonaut, McGonigal said, “Microsoft Research estimated that the United States’ global life expectancy had increased by 2.825 million years just because of the amount of increase in physical activity [from the release of Pokémon Go]. That’s a real outcome.” McGonigal also discussed Ethical OS, her latest project, a free online ethics toolkit for technology makers and futurists. McGonigal crafted it in collaboration with the Omidyar Network and her team at the Institute for the Future, where she is the Director for Game Research and Development. (Watch McGonigal’s TED Talk.)
Marvel’s SHURI series is here. The Black Panther universe has a new addition: a comic series focusing on Shuri, the princess of Wakanda. Written by Afrofuturist writer Nnedi Okorafor and illustrated by Leonardo Romero, the first issue was released last week. This series signals a departure from the Black Panther lore so far. According to Marvel, SHURI leads the eponymous main character on exciting adventures and challenges as she strives to lead Wakanda — the fictional African country of the Black Panther universe — in the absence of her brother, King T’Challa. The first issue has three gorgeous covers by artist Sam Spratt and the second issue is out next month. (Watch Okorafor’s TED Talk. and read our new interview with her)
Brief Answers to Big Questions. The final book of the late theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking was published in October, seven months after Hawking passed away at age 76. Published by Bantam Books, Brief Answers to Big Questions explores some of life’s greatest mysteries, including the existence of God and the possibility of time travel (spoiler alert: Hawking says no and maybe, respectively). The book was finished and polished by Hawking’s family members, who drew from his research, notes and papers following his death. In addition, Hawking, widely considered one of the most influential scientists of his generation, will be honored at the 2019 Breakthrough Prize ceremony. Hawking was awarded a Special Fundamental Physics Prize by the organization in 2013 for his discovery that black holes emit radiation. (Watch Hawking’s TED Talk.)
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