TED’s Helen Walters hosts Session 10 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Session 10 of TED2024 plumbs the depths of human emotions, celebrating the beauty of community art, the everyday bravery of family life, the power of sound and more.
The event: Talks from Session 10 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, hosted by TED’s Helen Walters
When and where: Thursday, April 18, 2024, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada
Speakers: Jaime Rojo, Lily Yeh, Mark Grimmer, Kelly Corrigan, Felipe Sánchez Luna, Kylan Gibbs, Lear deBessonet
Broadway legend Brian Stokes Mitchell performs at Session 10 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)
Performance: Joined onstage by a marching band, broadway legend Brian Stokes Mitchell belts “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)” accompanied by pianist Todd Almond — and participation from TED-attendees-turned-singers throughout the TED Theater.
The talks in brief:
Jaime Rojo speaks at Session 10 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Photographer Jaime Rojo shares his experience photographing the migration of monarch butterflies across North America each year, diving into the latest research behind how these mesmerizing insects make their multi-thousand-mile journey.
Lily Yeh speaks at Session 10 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)
From Rwanda to North Philadelphia to the Chinese countryside, barefoot artist Lily Yeh uses the world’s streets and walls as her canvas, collaborating with local communities to weave beauty and healing through the vibrant tapestry of their collective stories and talents.
Mark Grimmer speaks at Session 10 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)
We are living in the age of immersive experiences, says Mark Grimmer, cofounder of 59 Productions. Redefining narrative possibilities, he shares several multidisciplinary projects, including a multi-sensory exhibit of David Bowie that re-animated his kaleidoscopic career through a whirlwind of objects, costumes and videos — and showed what happens when diverse ideas collide.
Kelly Corrigan speaks at Session 10 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)
Kelly Corrigan ponders the “Olympic achievements” of everyday bravery: the mundane triumphs each of us racks up simply navigating life’s tribulations, big and small. While bravery may consist of simply hanging around and listening (regardless of whether times are tough or boring), its reward is a “maximum dosage” of total human emotion.
Felipe Sanchez Luna speaks at Session 10 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)
In an astounding sonic experience, Felipe Sánchez Luna takes the audience on a journey of music and code, mixing notes and rhythms with ones and zeroes. His composition combines real recordings with data, AI-driven music and human creativity to tap into the transformative power of sound to evoke a deeper, emotional understanding of our world.
Kylan Gibbs speaks at Session 10 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)
Video games are increasingly immersive, but they can still make you feel like you’re in a “closed” system, taken from one scripted point to another based on the buttons you press. Inworld cofounder Kylan Gibbs is helping expand this world with “AI agents” — characters powered by AI that have depth, realism and “brains.” He explains how these agents generate new game outcomes unique to each player’s decisions, augmenting our ability to tell stories.
Lear deBessonet speaks at Session 10 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Church pageants, football games and Mardi Gras aren’t just spectacles — they’re universal human experiences. Theater director Lear deBessonet‘s productions ignite the communal, healing thrill of collective expression by drawing their huge casts (often involving scores of performers) from a cross-section of their host communities.
The MEI Screaming Eagles Marching Band makes it out of the theater and into the Vancouver Convention Centre’s “Loop” after Session 10 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
TED2024, held April 15-19, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada, is a week of talks, discovery sessions, excursions, dinners, performances and more celebrating “The Brave and the Brilliant.” Special thanks to our strategic partners PwC, Adobe, Schneider Electric and Northwestern Mutual.
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Head of TED Chris Anderson speaks at Session 9 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)
In Session 9 of TED2024, great minds working on world-shifting innovations shared their work, from a biologist who raised mice with two dads to a computer scientist with a more democratic crowdfunding model. Whether at home or on the global stage, these big ideas have the potential to shape what’s possible.
The event: Talks from Session 9 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, hosted by head of TED Chris Anderson
When and where: Thursday, April 18, 2024, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada
Speakers: Katsuhiko Hayashi, Carole K. Hooven, Chris Duffy, Anima Anandkumar, Kevin Owocki, Gibran Huzaifah
Elle Cordova performs at Session 9 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Performance: Writer, musician and comedian Elle Cordova personified the most beloved fonts, including Futura, Times New Roman, Garamond and more. The funny and smart typographical adventure included a nod to TED’s preferred Helvetica, as well as an audition from Comic Sans to represent the org with a new motto: “thinky thoughts are good.”
The talks in brief:
Katsuhiko Hayashi speaks at Session 9 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Biologist Katsuhiko Hayashi dives into the science behind how his team used breakthrough assisted reproductive technology to raise healthy young from the skin cells of two male mice. The accomplishment has implications for endangered species — and the shape of all future families.
Carole K. Hooven speaks at Session 9 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Exploring the intersection of science, parenthood and societal norms, behavioral endocrinologist Carole K. Hooven delves into the evolutionary biology and cultural influence behind the differences between sexes — starting with how and why kids play.
Chris Duffy speaks at Session 9 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Before he was a comedian and host of the TED podcast How to Be a Better Human, Chris Duffy taught elementary school. He shares what he learned from his fifth graders about nurturing your grown-up sense of humor, proposing that there are perks in seeing the world as a kid does: full of hilarious, amazing and extremely weird things.
Anima Anandkumar speaks at Session 9 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Perhaps generative AI can write a competent song lyric, but by itself, it lacks the physical knowledge to build a better airplane. To model physical processes, says AI professor Anima Anandkumar, these systems must grasp the finest details of the real world, from molecular bonds to ocean currents. She shares recent AI projects that demonstrate this ability — forecasting weather, designing medical devices and more.
Kevin Owocki speaks at Session 9 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Gitcoin founder Kevin Owocki introduces quadratic funding, a new kind of crowdfunding model. Unlike Kickstarter or Patreon, quadratic funding uses a mathematical formula to match contributions based on the number of contributors rather than the amount given. The more people who care about a project, the more funding it will get.
Gibran Huzaifah speaks at Session 9 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
When Gibran Huzaifah started an aquaculture farm in Indonesia, he was quickly confronted by the lack of technology in the industry. Farmers had insufficient data insights into murky ponds and spent huge sums on manual feeding. So he launched a start-up to automate feeding, eliminate resource waste and solve supply disadvantages for small farmers.
TED attendees during Session 9 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)
TED2024, held April 15-19, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada, is a week of talks, discovery sessions, excursions, dinners, performances and more celebrating “The Brave and the Brilliant.” Special thanks to our strategic partners PwC, Adobe, Schneider Electric and Northwestern Mutual.
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Pour résister aux prédateurs, la nature a parfois des idées originales. Si moult agresseurs arrivent à détourner les techniques de défenses de leurs proies, certaines d’entre elles sont tellement surprenantes qu’elles s’avèrent redoutablement efficaces.
Loin des stratégies d’évitement comme le mimétisme ou le camouflage, ces méthodes de défense sont souvent très agressives et laissent peu de chance au prédateur d’arriver à ses fins.
Le coléoptère bombardier (pheropsophus jessoensis) de la famille des carabidés, déploie une méthode plutôt brutale. Celui-ci a la capacité de projeter un spray chimique chaud et nocif lorsqu’il est dérangé, généralement par des fourmis. Le spray est produit à partir d'une réaction entre plusieurs composés chimiques, l’hypergolique, l'hydroquinone et le peroxyde d'hydrogène. Ils sont stockés dans deux réservoirs situés dans l’abdomen du coléoptère. La chaleur de cette réaction amène le mélange près du point d’ébullition de l’eau et produit du gaz qui entraîne une éjection. Celle-ci avoisine les cent degrés, et est projetée à plus de dix mètres par seconde. Les dégâts provoqués peuvent être mortels pour les assaillants.
L’attaque chimique du coléoptère bombardier est également très efficace dans des situations beaucoup plus périlleuses. Avalé par le crapaud Bufo japonicus, il peut projeter le liquide dans l'estomac de son prédateur, comme l’ont étudié des chercheurs de l'université de Kobe au Japon. L'insecte est régurgité dans 43 % des cas par le crapaud, qui peut s'en sortir sans dommages plus d'une heure après l'ingestion.
Certains insectes utilisent la force collective pour se défendre. C’est par exemple le cas des abeilles géantes (Apis Dorsata Binghami) qui vivent dans le sous-continent indien et que l’on trouve aussi en Chine et en Australie. Guy Theraulaz, Chercheur au CNRS au Centre de recherches sur la cognition animale, explique que « contrairement aux abeilles que l’on trouve en Europe, ces abeilles géantes construisent leurs nids principalement à l'air libre, dans des endroits très éloignés du sol, sur les branches d’arbres les plus hautes ou sous les surplombs des falaises. Et chaque colonie se compose d'un seul rayon vertical très grand, dont la surface peut parfois atteindre un mètre carré, et l’ensemble du rayon est généralement recouvert par une masse très dense d'abeilles sur plusieurs couches. »
Ces abeilles, en cas d’attaque de frelons, ont développé une technique de défense collective que l’on nomme « scintillement » ou encore « ondulation de défense ». « Lorsqu’elles détectent l’approche d’un frelon, les abeilles de la couche externe ramènent brusquement leur abdomen vers le haut et elles le secouent de manière synchronisée », explique Guy Theraulaz. Ce comportement « se propage ensuite aux ouvrières les plus proches qui adoptent également la même posture, ce qui crée une onde à la fois visuelle et sonore sur la surface du rayon, qui ressemble un peu au mouvement d’une ola comme on peut parfois les observer dans des stades. » Plus le frelon s’approche du nid, et plus les mouvements synchronisés deviennent importants et fréquents. Cela fait généralement fuir le prédateur.
Certaines larves de tenthrèdes (Allantus cinctus et Endelomyia aethios), souvent appelées « fausses chenilles » car elles ne donnent pas de papillons et qu’elles appartiennent à la même famille que les guêpes (Hyménoptère), utilisent un mécanisme de défense similaire aux abeilles géantes. Vivant en colonies, elles se rassemblent généralement par douzaines sur une même branche ou sur le bord d'une même feuille. Lorsqu’elles se sentent menacées, elles effectuent des mouvements défensifs avec le ventre et produisent des vibrations.
« Les larves peuvent également gratter la surface de la feuille sur laquelle elles se trouvent grâce à des protubérances situées sur leur segment caudal ce qui produit un son stridulatoire. Ces sons peuvent également maintenir la cohésion du groupe de larves et l’aider à découvrir des feuilles fraîches », décrit Guy Theraulaz. Du fait de leur grégarité, « les secousses d'un seul individu peuvent être imitées par d’autres, conduisant à des "vagues" de secousses au sein du groupe et des mouvements synchronisés. » La synchronisation est donc liée à des informations à la fois visuelles et acoustiques, conclut l’expert.
Dans certains cas, l’issue est sans appel pour l’insecte attaqué. Il doit alors, dans un ultime râle, se sacrifier pour le groupe en explosant ! C’est le cas de Camponotus saundersi, une espèce de fourmi que l’on trouve en Malaisie et au Brunei, dans la canopée de la forêt tropicale. Certaines ouvrières se donnent la mort en explosant, principalement pour se défendre lors de combats territoriaux contre d'autres espèces de fourmis, comme les fourmis tisserandes Oecophylla smaragdina, mais également pour éviter d'être dévorée par ces mêmes fourmis ou araignées.
Pour entreprendre cette attaque suicide, la fourmi possède deux glandes mandibulaires surdimensionnées et remplies de poison qui s'étendent sur tout son corps. Quand la bataille tourne mal, l’ouvrière contracte vigoureusement ses muscles abdominaux afin de rompre son abdomen au pli intersegmentaire et de briser les glandes mandibulaires. Elle émet ainsi une sécrétion collante dans toutes les directions, à partir de la partie antérieure de sa tête. Cette colle, corrosive et agissant comme un irritant chimique, a la capacité d'empêcher et de bloquer tous les assaillants qui se trouvent à proximité.
Head of TED Chris Anderson (left) listens along as host of TED Radio Hour, Manoush Zomorodi, reads some of her early insights from TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)
We’re about halfway through TED2024, and Session 7 was a whopper — covering everything from preventative medicine for one of the world’s rare diseases to quantum computing, the future of audio computing and a sprinkle of musical improvisational comedy.
The event: Talks from Session 7 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, hosted by TED’s Chris Anderson and host of TED Radio Hour Manoush Zomorodi
When and where: Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada
Speakers: Sonia Vallabh, Diabaté Abdoulaye, Reggie Watts, Hartmut Neven, Tammy Ma, Jason Rugolo
The talks in brief:
Sonia Vallabh speaks at Session 7 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)
Biomedical researcher Sonia Vallabh’s life was turned upside down when she learned she had the genetic mutation for a rare and fatal illness, prion disease, which could strike at any time. Fifteen years later, Vallabh’s search for a cure has led her to new insights about the importance of preventative medicine.
Diabaté Abdoulaye speaks at Session 7 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Malaria is a disease as old as humankind, says scientist Diabaté Abdoulaye. He shows the path to a malaria-free world by harnessing the potential of “gene drive” technology — which augments the genetics of mosquitos to reduce disease transmission — combined with community support and funding.
Reggie Watts performs at Session 7 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
“No one loves perception more than people who are conscious,” jokes musician and comedian Reggie Watts. In an absurdist ode to improvisation, he beatboxes, raps, loops his own rhythms and philosophizes on how we’re all making it up as we go along.
Hartmut Neven speaks at Session 7 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)
By replacing the binary logic of ones and zeroes with the laws of quantum physics, quantum computing allows us to perform computations with way fewer steps. Hartmut Neven, the founder and lead of Google Quantum AI, sees exciting commercial applications on the horizon; imagine, for instance, a phone that could warn you if you enter a room with dangerous viruses or detect allergens in your food.
Tammy Ma speaks at Session 7 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
In 2022, physicist Tammy Ma and her team used a giant laser to achieve a scientific breakthrough: fusion ignition, or the combining of two hydrogen atoms for energy generation. She explains the science behind this groundbreaking success and explores what’s needed to make a fusion-powered world a reality.
Jason Rugolo speaks at Session 7 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)
Deeptech inventor and designer Jason Rugolo introduces a new hands-free, screen-free computer you can wear on your ears and talk to like a friend. In contrast to digital assistants like Siri — which require you to issue specific commands — Rugolo shows how audio computers will use LLMs and machine learning to understand your intentions and engage with you like a person.
The audience and theater at Session 7 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
TED2024, held April 15-19, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada, is a week of talks, discovery sessions, excursions, dinners, performances and more celebrating “The Brave and the Brilliant.” Special thanks to our strategic partners PwC, Adobe, Schneider Electric and Northwestern Mutual.
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Head of TED Chris Anderson hosts Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)
Bold ideas often meet resistance — but what if they were met with curiosity? Session 5 of TED2024 didn’t shy away from audacious ideas. Instead, it invited us all to embrace the discomfort of considering the impossible and unfamiliar, to find the courage to step into someone else’s shoes and assume goodness in those around us — because that’s what catalyzes imagination and possibility.
From the search for extraterrestrial life to the future of democracy, speakers delved into topics that challenge conventions and will spark conversation long after they stepped off the red circle.
The event: Talks from Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, hosted by TED’s Chris Anderson
When and where: Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada
Speakers: Avi Loeb, Bill Ackman, Alison Taylor, Andrew Yang, Bari Weiss, Scott Galloway
Musician Xiuhtezcatl performs at Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)
Performance: Xochimilco artist Xiuhtezcatl (or X) performed the songs “Careful” and “Veils,” seamlessly blending influences from his Indigenous and Mexican heritage with a fervent dedication to environmental activism.
The talks in brief:
Astrophysicist Avi Loeb speaks at Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)
Diving into theories around interstellar phenomena such as the Oumuamua asteroid, astrophysicist Avi Loeb suggests we haven’t found scientific proof of alien life simply because we haven’t dedicated the proper funding. He explores the research needed to find the higher intelligence potentially residing galaxies away, imagining a future where otherworldly knowledge helps improve life on Earth.
Business professor Alison Taylor (left) and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman speak at Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)
In a wide-ranging conversation, Bill Ackman, the founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, sits down with business professor Alison Taylor to discuss the activist investor playbook and how it applies to the social and political realms. They dig into free speech, Ackman’s notoriously long posts on X, the conversation around Harvard and DEI as well as the intersection of power, voice and wealth.
Political reformer Andrew Yang speaks at Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Jason Redmond / TED
American politics has an incentives problem, says political reformer Andrew Yang. The current system caters to primary voters, which has created a disconnect between overall Congressional approval and reelection rates. How do we realign incentives to make government work for more people? Yang shows why nonpartisan primaries and ranked-choice voting could be the answer.
Journalist and editor Bari Weiss speaks at Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
In an unflinching look at issues that widen the political divide in the US, journalist and editor Bari Weiss highlights why courage is the most important virtue — and shares examples of people who have wielded it. She urges us all to say what we believe in the face of conformity and silence.
Marketing professor Scott Galloway speaks at Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
NYU marketing professor Scott Galloway dissects the data showing that, in the US, younger people are worse off financially than their parents were at the same age. He shows the knock-on effects of this theft of generational wealth, asking: If we allow this to keep happening, do we really love our kids?
The audience gives a standing ovation at Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)
TED2024, held April 15-19, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada, is a week of talks, discovery sessions, excursions, dinners, performances and more celebrating “The Brave and the Brilliant.” Special thanks to our strategic partners PwC, Adobe, Schneider Electric and Northwestern Mutual.
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Head of TED Chris Anderson and Audacious Project executive director Anna Verghese host Session 4 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Ryan Lash / TED)
For Session 4 of TED2024, illuminators from diverse disciplines explored the bright future of their fields. From AI as a digital species to explosive art that climbs into the sky, speakers looked at how light (literally and figuratively) can shape our climate, social interactions, scientific discoveries and more.
The event: Talks from Session 4 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, cohosted by head of TED Chris Anderson and executive director of the Audacious Project Anna Verghese
When and where: Tuesday, April 16, 2024, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada
Speakers: Mustafa Suleyman, Nour E. Rawafi, Millie Chu Baird, Sarah J. Doherty, Sara Giusto, Cai Guo-Qiang
An audacious update: Videos throughout the session provided updates on the Audacious Project’s 2018 cohort, including Girl Trek, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Sightsavers, The Bail Project and Living Goods + Last Mile Health. Learn more about their work.
JA Collective performs at Session 4 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Ryan Lash / TED)
Performance: Jordan Johnson and Aidan Carberry’s JA Collective perform a hypnotic exploration of movement, alternating between the abrupt and fluid, moving one another across the stage accompanied by stunny visual art.
The talks in brief:
Mustafa Suleyman speaks at Session 4 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Ryan Lash / TED)
Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman offers a vision of a future infused with AGI, proposing that AI’s ubiquity and skillset make it more than just a tool — it should instead be considered a digital species. While the metaphor may not be perfect, he suggests this framework can allow us to better consider how we want AI to grow and where we need to be more cautious.
Nour E. Rawafi speaks at Session 4 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Ryan Lash / TED)
From sustaining life on Earth to its potential for catastrophic solar storms, astrophysicist Nour E. Rawafi sheds light on why understanding the sun is crucial to our future. He illuminates its enduring mysteries and humanity’s next technological steps to unraveling them — like sending probes on a galactic journey into the atomosphere of our fiery neighbor.
Millie Chu Baird speaks at Session 4 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Ryan Lash / TED)
Even though its atmospheric volume is dwarfed by that of CO2, methane is 80 times more effective at trapping heat. Thus, cutting methane emissions is key to tackling climate change, says environmental advocate Millie Chu Baird. With the help of a new satellite called MethaneSAT, supported by the Audacious Project, she hopes to improve ourunderstanding of where all that methane comes from as well as our ability to address its impacts.
Sarah J. Doherty speaks at Session 4 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Ryan Lash / TED)
Aerosol emissions are responsible for the deaths of between four and 10 million people, but they also cool the planet (by about half a degree, scientists estimate) by making clouds more reflective, bouncing sunlight back into space. Atmospheric scientist Sarah J. Doherty explains how we might both reduce pollution and lower temperatures by replacing toxic aerosols with their natural counterparts.
Sara Giusto speaks at Session 4 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Ryan Lash / TED)
Sara Giusto is a talent manager — but not in the way you might imagine. Her biggest client is imma: a pink-bobbed, CGI-created “virtual human” influencer. Giusto shares how imma’s influence extends to real-world issues and emotions, raising an important question: In an increasingly virtual world, what’s really real?
Cai Guo-Qiang speaks at Session 4 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Speaking in Mandarin translated live with an AI-generated imitation of his voice powered by technology from Metaphysic, multidisciplinary artist Cai Guo-Qiang shares how he creates captivating spectacles from gunpowder and fireworks, enchanting audiences worldwide with scenes of alien footprints, mushroom clouds and more.
TED attendees share a fun moment before Session 4 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Gilberto Tadday / TED)
TED2024, held April 15-19, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada, is a week of talks, discovery sessions, excursions, dinners, performances and more celebrating “The Brave and the Brilliant.” Special thanks to our strategic partners PwC, Adobe, Schneider Electric and Northwestern Mutual.
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The opening of Session 3 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)
Many of the world’s systems, big and small, could use an upgrade. In a dynamic Session 3 at TED2024, six speakers explore how to do just that — taking on everything from global development and capitalism to robots and vertical farming.
The event: Talks from Session 3 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, hosted by TED’s Helen Walters
When and where: Tuesday, April 16, 2024, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada
Speakers: Karthik Muralidharan, Daniela Rus, Rumman Chowdhury, Hiroki Koga, Zeynep Ton, Pete Stavros
Special appearance: Lily James Olds, the director of the TED Fellows program, announces the 2024 cohort of TED Fellows, whose work spans five continents and represents 11 countries — including, for the first time, Georgia. Read more about them here.
The talks in brief:
Karthik Muralidharan speaks at Session 3 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)
Spoiler: There is such a thing as a free lunch in global development, says economics professor Karthik Muralidharan. Although key indicators like school enrollment rates reached historic highs, most children are surviving, not thriving. He explains that with smarter resource allocation and evidence-based interventions, we can achieve more — without spending more.
Daniela Rus speaks at Session 3 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)
Despite breathtaking advances, the worlds of AI and robotics remain siloed. Roboticist and computer scientist Daniela Rus describes how “liquid networks” — a more flexible, efficient and sustainable AI paradigm — promise to shatter the barrier between AI and robotics, creating a future where bespoke machines shape our everyday lives.
Rumman Chowdhury speaks at Session 3 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)
Will AI systems dominate our lives, or will they enhance human agency? Rumman Chowdhury, CEO and cofounder of Humane Intelligence, says that for AI to achieve its full potential, we must invite non-experts into the development process and empower people to shape and train new technologies.
Hiroki Koga speaks at Session 3 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)
Inside a vertical farming facility, you can control every environmental factor (temperature, humidity, light, pollination, etc.). You can also experiment regularly, improving practices to generate the sweetest strawberries year-round, says Hiroki Koga, CEO of Oishii. He shares how innovations in big data are making vertical farming an affordable, eco-friendly alternative to traditional farming.
Zeynep Ton speaks at Session 3 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)
Essential work doesn’t pay well, but MIT management professor Zeynep Ton believes it should. She points to companies like Costco or the Spanish supermarket chain Mercadona, which have reduced costs and worker turnover — and increased profits and productivity — by paying their workers decent, livable wages.
Pete Stavros speaks at Session 3 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)
What if all employees had stock ownership in the companies they worked for? Investor Pete Stavros turned over stock ownership of a manufacturing company to its 800 workers, drastically improving the company’s productivity, profitability and the lives of its workers — a testament to the power of employee ownership.
The audience and theater at Session 3 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
TED2024, held April 15-19, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada, is a week of talks, discovery sessions, excursions, dinners, performances and more celebrating “The Brave and the Brilliant.” Special thanks to our strategic partners PwC, Adobe, Schneider Electric and Northwestern Mutual.
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In this complex world, it’s easy to believe that the future is out of our hands. But there are some who understand that the future doesn’t just happen — it’s made. Among these are the TED Fellows: innovators, activists, artists, inventors and dreamers. The TED Fellows program, now celebrating its fifteenth year, provides communication training, professional tools, network-building opportunities and amplification on the global stage to early-stage innovators working across multiple disciplines in over 100 countries.
We are thrilled to announce the 2024 cohort of TED Fellows, whose work spans five continents and represents 11 countries — including, for the first time, Georgia. This year’s TED Fellows include an entrepreneur who is reshaping health care in conflict zones, an engineer who created a cold chain solution saving lives in rural African communities and a scientist pioneering new, safer AI technologies — to name just a few.
Each TED Fellow was selected for their remarkable achievements, the potential impact of their work and their commitment to community building. TED is honored to welcome these new Fellows into this dynamic global network of 500+ Fellows creating meaningful change in their communities and the world.
Mohamed Aburawi
Health systems entrepreneur | Libya + Canada
Mohamed Aburawi is a surgeon and founder of Speetar, a digital health platform reshaping health care in conflict zones across the Middle East and Africa, especially his native Libya. Through this work, Speetar is helping to dismantle barriers to quality care and advocate for health care as a fundamental human right.
Sahba Aminikia
Composer, artistic director | Iran + US
Iranian-born composer, pianist and educator Sahba Aminikia is the founder and artistic director of Flying Carpet Children Festival, an annual mobile arts festival and artist residency for refugee children escaping conflict zones.
Joel Bervell
Medical mythbuster | Ghana + US
Joel Bervell is a medical student educating people about health care disparities and biases through viral social media content. By sharing stories and studies with his audience of more than one million about the neglect of marginalized groups, he advocates for change in the health care system.
Lehua Kamalu
Ocean navigator | Hawaii + US
Lehua Kamalu is a captain and navigator of traditional Hawaiian ocean-voyaging canoes. She preserves and teaches these ancient sustainable navigation practices by integrating them into digital storytelling and daily life for future generations.
Huiyi Lin is an economic policy researcher and half of Chow and Lin, an artist duo addressing food insecurity and poverty. This photo is from Chow and Lin’s series, The Poverty Line, which shows what people can afford to eat at the poverty line in countries around the world.
Huiyi Lin
Visual artist, poverty researcher | Singapore + China
Huiyi Lin is an economic policy researcher and one half of Chow and Lin, an artist duo using statistical, mathematical and computational techniques to address food insecurity and poverty. Chow and Lin combine research, design and photography to raise awareness about global inequality in visually arresting ways.
Ramin Hasani
AI scientist, entrepreneur | US, Austria + Iran
Ramin Hasani is cofounder and CEO of Liquid AI, where he helped invent liquid neural networks: a new AI technology inspired by living brains and physics. These revolutionary networks are more flexible and efficient than current AI solutions, shaping the future of machine learning and artificial intelligence research.
Paule Joseph
Chemosensory researcher, nurse | Venezuela + US
Taste and smell researcher Paule Joseph explores how conditions such as COVID-19, obesity, neurodegenerative disorders and substance abuse affect the chemical senses. Her lab combines clinical research, behavioral neuroscience, genomics and molecular biology, offering insights on how taste and smell affect our daily lives.
VacciBox (pictured here) is a cold chain solution saving lives in rural African communities. It was created by mechanical engineer Norah Magero.
Norah Magero
Mechanical engineer | Kenya
Norah Magero is a mechanical engineer and creator of VacciBox, a cold chain solution saving lives in rural communities. She is working to build an Africa that manufactures and produces its own climate-health care technology.
Royal Ramey
Wildland firefighter | US
Royal Ramey is the cofounder of the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program (FFRP), a nonprofit providing career opportunities to formerly incarcerated firefighters in California. A 12-year wildland firefighter veteran, Ramey draws on his own lived experience, rethinking job training for the formerly incarcerated and addressing the challenges they face re-entering the workforce.
The Enguri River in western Georgia is a local swimming spot — but it’s also an illegal route into the de facto region of Abkhazia. Photojournalist Daro Sulakauri documents the impact of Russian occupation in her native Georgia, defending against the erasure of Georgian culture, history and borders.
Daro Sulakauri
Photojournalist, visual artist | Georgia
Photojournalist Daro Sulakauri chronicles social and political issues in the Caucasus. By focusing on issues that are considered taboo, such as early marriages and the impact of Russian occupation, she defends against the erasure of Georgian culture, history and borders.
Erika Moore Taylor
Equity bioengineer | US
Biomedical engineer Erika Moore Taylor researches how ancestry and sociocultural data affect disease development. Unlike many researchers, she accounts for diverse populations when building regenerative tissue models to create more equitable disease models.
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Head of TED Chris Anderson and host of The TED AI Show Bilawal Sidhu speak at Session 2 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
AI is reshaping how we interact with the world around us and within us, expanding creative possibilities and bringing us closer together by dissolving barriers of all kinds. But anyone who’s paying attention can spot its obvious flaws and potential pitfalls.
From trailblazing platforms making software accessible to micro-robotics revolutionizing health care (including a mind-blowing demo you won’t want to miss), Session 2 of TED2024 explored the frontiers of tech with visionary entrepreneurs, scientists and creators. They offered glimpses of what good AI could do for the world when governed with empathy and curiosity.
The event: Talks from Session 2 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, hosted by head of TED Chris Anderson and creative technologist and host of The TED AI Show Bilawal Sidhu
When and where: Tuesday, April 16, 2024, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada
Speakers: Vinod Khosla, Fei-Fei Li, Thomas Dohmke, Niceaunties, Alex Luebke, Vivek Kumbhari, Helen Toner
A special challenge: President and CEO of the Bezos Earth Fund Andrew Steer announces the AI for Climate and Nature Grand Challenge, a groundbreaking initiative set to distribute up to $100 million in grants to harness AI in the fight against climate change and nature loss.
The talks in brief:
Investing legend Vinod Khosla speaks at Session 2 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)
Vinod Khosla is a self-proclaimed techno-optimist who believes in the power of “foolish ideas.” He shares his predictions for how technology will continue improving human lives, discussing expanded medical care through AI doctors, a massive robotic workforce, planes that can travel 4,000 miles per hour and more.
AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li speaks at Session 2 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)
AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li proposes that the progress of AI’s understanding of spatial intelligence – the ability to derive predictions and insight from objects’ relationships to one another – is catalyzing robotic learning, bringing us closer to a world where AI not only sees and creates but also interacts with the world around us.
GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke speaks at Session 2 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Software development has long been the purview of specialized workers. By removing the barrier between programming languages and human ones, GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke shows how AI is poised to change that forever. He demos never-before-seen software his team has been developing that promises to empower people to create code using just their spoken words — in any language.
Artist Niceaunties speaks at Session 2 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
From sushi-bedecked cars with legs to elderly women wearing cat-shaped masks made of cereal, artist Niceaunties’ surreal “Auntieverse” — a mind-bending homage to “auntie culture” prevalent in Asian communities — charmingly showcases the creative potential of human-AI partnerships.
Engineer and entrepreneur Alex Luebke swallows PillBot in a mind-blowing demo at Session 2 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)
Meet PillBot: a wireless micro-robot that can go inside the human body and take a look around. In a (literally) stomach-turning demo, engineer and entrepreneur Alex Luebke swallows a PillBot and physician-scientist Vivek Kumbhari navigates it around his stomach with a game controller, showing how the device allows direct visualization of internal organs and could move us past the age of invasive, expensive endoscopies.
AI policy expert Helen Toner speaks at Session 2 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
No one understands AI — not even experts, says policy expert Helen Toner. But that doesn’t mean we can’t govern it. She makes the case that people and policymakers need to push for more research into AI interpretability (measuring what these systems can do) as well as regulations that require AI companies to share what they’re building and why.
The audience in the TED Theater during Session 2 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
TED2024, held April 15-19, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada, is a week of talks, discovery sessions, excursions, dinners, performances and more celebrating “The Brave and the Brilliant.” Special thanks to our strategic partners PwC, Adobe, Schneider Electric and Northwestern Mutual.
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Hosts Chris Anderson, Monique Ruff-Bell and Helen Walters unveil TED’s new tagline — “Ideas change everything” — at Session 1 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Monday, April 15, 2024 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
It’s time for TED! And this year’s conference marks a big year: the 40th anniversary of TED, honoring the inaugural conference in 1984.
With that in mind, TED2024 kicked off with a classically eclectic opening session, ranging from a powerful conversation on how Israel and Palestine can find peace to the future of AI to visual storytelling as you’ve never before seen it.
The event: Talks from Session 1 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, hosted by Chris Anderson, Monique Ruff-Bell and Helen Walters
When and where: Monday, April 15, 2024, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada
Speakers: Aziz Abu Sarah, Maoz Inon, Demis Hassabis, Kristine McDivitt Tompkins, RuPaul Charles, Willie Williams, Angus Hervey
Musician and comedian Elle Cordova (left) performs alongside guitarist Toni Lindgren at Session 1 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Monday, April 15, 2024 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Performance: Writer, musician and comedian Elle Cordova shares a poem she wrote about the Big Bang and, joined by guitarist Toni Lindgren, plays “Carl Sagan” — an original song about the endless scroll of social media and our desire to reach out to others across the void.
The talks in brief:
Peacemakers Aziz Abu Sarah (left) and Maoz Inon speak at Session 1 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Monday, April 15, 2024 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Peacemakers Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon discuss the immeasurable tragedies they’ve experienced growing up in Palestine and Israel, respectively — and how they choose reconciliation over revenge, again and again. With a fierce belief in a better future, they work to foster opportunities for connection and understanding across divides, collectively building hope for peace.
DeepMind cofounder Demis Hassabis (right) speaks with head of TED, Chris Anderson, at Session 1 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Monday, April 15, 2024 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
DeepMind cofounder Demis Hassabis shows how AI might solve humanity’s “big questions” by identifying patterns in impossibly huge (and humanly incomprehensible) datasets. In conversation with head of TED Chris Anderson, Hassabis explores AI from its game-playing, algorithmic roots to the current high-powered arms race.
Kristine McDivitt Tompkins, the president of Tompkins Conservation and former CEO of Patagonia, speaks at Session 1 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Monday, April 15, 2024 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Since the 1990s, Kristine McDivitt Tompkins, the president of Tompkins Conservation and the former CEO of Patagonia, has worked with her husband to rewild more than two million acres of crucial habitat in the southernmost regions of Argentina and Chile. She explains how actively restoring natural territories and bringing back missing species can heal the planet amidst our ongoing climate and extinction crises.
Drag superstar RuPaul Charles debuts “On the Spot,” TED’s new interactive Q&A format, at Session 1 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Monday, April 15, 2024 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
In an engaging dish session, drag superstar RuPaul Charles takes the stage to debut “On the Spot,” TED’s new interactive Q&A format. Giving rapid-fire responses to a stream of unexpected questions, Ru enlightens us on everything from the power of drag to expand our definitions of self to the value of not taking anything too seriously.
Multimedia show director Willie Williams speaks at Session 1 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Monday, April 15, 2024 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Redefining the boundaries of live entertainment, multimedia show director Willie Williams showcases his work designing and directing transcendent shows for artists like U2, David Bowie and many more. He shares his thinking on how to weave cutting-edge tech with imaginative visuals to create unforgettable experiences and connections.
Economist and journalist Angus Hervey speaks at Session 1 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Monday, April 15, 2024 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Whether or not you believe that world is on track for imminent doom might depend on where you get your news, says Angus Hervey, founder of Fix The News. He delivers good news for humanity that the media cycle missed last year, from advances in clean energy technologies to declining rates of extreme poverty, crime and disease.
The audience and theater at Session 1 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Monday, April 15, 2024 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
TED2024, held April 15-19, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada, is a week of talks, discovery sessions, excursions, dinners, performances and more celebrating “The Brave and the Brilliant.” Special thanks to our strategic partners PwC, Adobe, Schneider Electric and Northwestern Mutual.
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