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The Nile Project
TED Fellows 27 Jan 2012, 9:00 pm CET
TED: Gayle Tzemach Lemmon: Women entrepreneurs, example not exception - Gayle Tzemach Lemmon (2011)
TEDTalks (video) 27 Jan 2012, 5:06 pm CET
Women aren’t micro--so why do they only get micro-loans? At TEDxWomen reporter Gayle Tzemach Lemmon argues that women running all types of firms-- from home businesses to major factories-- are the overlooked key to economic development.
TED: Ariel Garten: Know thyself, with a brain scanner - Ariel Garten (2011)
TEDTalks (video) 26 Jan 2012, 5:08 pm CET
Imagine playing a video game controlled by your mind. Now imagine that game also teaches you about your own patterns of stress, relaxation and focus. At TEDxToronto Ariel Garten shows how looking at our own brain activity gives new meaning to the ancient dictum "know thyself."
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TEDNews:
Twitter / TEDNews 25 Jan 2012, 9:58 pm CET
RT @TEDConversation: What if we measure our progress with Gross National Smiling instead of GDP? Join this Live Chat with Ron Gutman: ht ...
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TEDNews:
Twitter / TEDNews 25 Jan 2012, 5:59 pm CET
Today's #TED, from @WCBADoctorBrian: Doctors make mistakes. Can we talk about that? http://t.co/ikyupItR
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tedtalks:
Twitter / tedtalks 25 Jan 2012, 5:59 pm CET
Today's #TED, from @WCBADoctorBrian: Doctors make mistakes. Can we talk about that? http://t.co/jOwb6NfQ
TED: Brian Goldman: Doctors make mistakes. Can we talk about that? - Brian Goldman (2011)
TEDTalks (video) 25 Jan 2012, 5:50 pm CET
Every doctor makes mistakes. But, says physician Brian Goldman, medicine's culture of denial (and shame) keeps doctors from ever talking about those mistakes, or using them to learn and improve. Telling stories from his own long practice, he calls on doctors to start talking about being wrong.
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TEDNews:
Twitter / TEDNews 25 Jan 2012, 4:59 am CET
@thehungryfool Thank you! Do you have a favorite?
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TEDNews:
Twitter / TEDNews 25 Jan 2012, 4:53 am CET
RT @BillGates: We cannot tolerate a world in which 1 in 7 people is undernourished, stunted, and in danger of starving to death. http:// ...
New TED Book asks: can changing how we teach make our kids smarter, more creative?
TED Blog 24 Jan 2012, 7:48 pm CET
Ten years ago, educator Sugata Mitra and his colleagues cracked open a hole in a wall bordering an urban slum in New Delhi, installed a networked PC, and left it there for the local children to freely explore. What they quickly saw in their ‘Hole in the Wall’ experiment was that kids from one of the most desperately poor areas of the world could, without instruction, quickly learn how the PC operated. The children also freely collaborated, exploring the world of high-tech online connectivity with ease. The experiment (which provided the inspiration for the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire) was the dawning of Mitra’s introduction to self-organized learning, and it would shape the next decade of his research. Beyond the Hole in the Wall: Discover the Power of Self-Organized Learning is an important update to Mitra’s groundbreaking work, and offers new research and ideas that show how self-directed learning can make kids smarter and more creative. Mitra provides step-by-step instruction on how to integrate it into any classroom. and the book includes a foreword by Nicholas Negroponte, founder of both MIT’s Media Lab and the One Laptop per Child Association.. Beyond The Hole in the Wall offers important lessons that could reshape our schools and reinvigorate our educational system. We recently spoke with Mitra about his ideas.
What is self-organized learning?
In most schools, we measure children on what they know. By and large, they have to memorize the content of whatever test is coming up. Because measuring the results of rote learning is easy, rote prevails. What kids know is just not important in comparison with whether they can think.
Self-organized learning is a process where children in groups take on a topic or question which they then research using the Internet. While doing it, they have myriad discussions with each other that deepen their understanding of the answer. Along the way, there is no adult supervision or guidance of any sort.
How is this form of learning better? Experiments show that children in unsupervised groups are capable of answering questions many years ahead of the material they’re learning in school. In fact, they seem to enjoy the absence of adult supervision, and they are very confident of finding the right answer. Ultimately, they retain the learning effortlessly and for years, much longer than what we see with rote memorization of facts and figures.
What are the barriers that stand in the way of its widespread adoption? The existing Victorian system of education was created to mass-produce identical human beings, mainly to serve an aristocracy, and, in modern times, an industrial elite. Governments find it difficult to move away from this model, because it has worked. But in a tech-driven knowledge economy this method is not needed anymore, and it will not serve us. But too often we see that teachers and educational administrators feel threatened by self-organized learning. They, therefore, think it is not learning at all.
Does the idea of self-organized learning work better with today’s child, who is often highly wired and making a wide range of online choices each day? Yes, it does. Right now, we have a generation of children 16 years old or younger who have never known a world without many of the connecting technologies that we take for granted and rely on heavily. How do these devices affect, and even improve, how we absorb information? Self-organized learning would not work at all without the Internet. Educationists have suggested this type of instruction as a method for years, but the resources were not there until recently. Now, with the Internet, we have the means and the capabilities to watch self-organized learning flourish. It’s a very exciting time.
Beyond the Hole in the Wall: Discover the Power of Self-Organized Learning is part of the TED Books series, which is available for the Kindle and Nook as well as on Apple’s iBookstore.
Extreme swimming with the world’s most dangerous jellyfish: Diana Nyad on TED.com
TED Blog 24 Jan 2012, 5:57 pm CET
In the 1970s, Diana Nyad set long-distance swim records that are still unbroken. Thirty years later, at 60, she attempted her longest swim yet, from Cuba to Florida. In this funny, powerful talk at TEDMED, she talks about how to prepare mentally to achieve an extreme dream, and asks: What will YOU do with your wild, precious life? (Recorded at TEDMED 2011, October 2011, in San Diego, California. Duration: 16:58)
Watch Diana Nyad’s talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 1,000+ TEDTalks.
Learn more about our content partner TEDMED >>
Watch more talks from our friends at TEDMED on TED.com >>
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TEDNews:
Twitter / TEDNews 24 Jan 2012, 5:29 pm CET
Today's #TED: Extreme swimmer Diana Nyad asks, What will you do with your wild, precious life? http://t.co/1A3K5vJQ
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tedtalks:
Twitter / tedtalks 24 Jan 2012, 5:29 pm CET
Today's #TED: Extreme swimmer Diana Nyad asks, What will you do with your wild, precious life? http://t.co/Blsphd15
TED: Diana Nyad: Extreme swimming with the world's most dangerous jellyfish - Diana Nyad (2011)
TEDTalks (video) 24 Jan 2012, 5:23 pm CET
In the 1970s, Diana Nyad set long-distance swim records that are still unbroken. Thirty years later, at 60, she attempted her longest swim yet, from Cuba to Florida. In this funny, powerful talk at TEDMED, she talks about how to prepare mentally to achieve an extreme dream, and asks: What will YOU do with your wild, precious life?
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TEDNews:
Twitter / TEDNews 24 Jan 2012, 3:21 pm CET
#TED Senior Fellow Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is Oscar-nominated w/Daniel Junge for "Saving Face." Watch her TEDTalk: http://t.co/aN1uRMVn
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Sri Lanka: The kingdom of giants
TED Fellows 24 Jan 2012, 10:45 am CET
Sri Lanka: The kingdom of giants
While the width of its fluke is the length of an average Sri Lankan fishing boat, it is with great respect that we maneouver through its territory knowing that a mere flick of the tail would send us reeling. But it is with unending fascination that we stop to watch. Even as a researcher who has the privilege to spend many hours weaving through their world, each encounter reminds me how lucky I am to experience something that only the smallest percentage of our world has, and ever will get the opportunity to marvel at.
The largest animal to ever roam the planet, the blue whale, is fast becoming a national icon; a symbol for the Sri Lanka in a new era of peace. While Sri Lankans are now free to roam and experience the entire country, the blue whale is free to explore the entire ocean, however, those in our waters do not wander afar. The northern Indian Ocean basin is home to a population of blue whales that, unlike others of this species, remain resident all year round. While the warm waters of the tropics are a key reason for tourists from around the world to flock to our shores, it is precisely what prevents most whales from hanging around throughout the year. Tropical waters are generally less food-rich than those in the cooler areas such as the poles. For a species that feeds exclusively on tiny shrimplike animals called krill, that are no bigger than a 2 rupee coin, and consume about 3.6 metric tons or 2/3rds of the weight of an elephant in a single day – having areas rich with food is a key to their survival.
The blue whale is a baleen whale. This means they have fringed plates of fingernail-like material, called baleen attached to their upper jaws and a distinct absence of teeth. These giant animals feed by gulping an enormous mouthful of water, which is made possible by the expansion of their throat pleats. The whale then uses its massive tongue, which weighs as much as an elephant, to force the water out through the thin, overlapping baleen plates. The krill that are left behind are then swallowed in a single gulp.
So why are they called blue whales? Because as they swim under the surface of the ocean, they take on a beautiful tinge of blue; while at the surface, they are a mottled blue-gray in colour. While blue whales are generally considered solitary, in Sri Lanka, one often gets the opportunity to see more than just a couple in a single area. So why are our waters so popular with these great leviathans? Well, evidence comes in the form of a reddish substance that floats at the surface of the water before dissolving….blue whale poo! It gets its beautiful hue from the reddish-pink krill that the whales consume…and the fact that they defaecate is a sign that they are feeding in our waters.
While Sri Lanka is now being crowned one of the most accessible places in the world to see blue whales, for over two thousand years another giant has become synonymous with our island – the elephant. It became such a symbol of Sri Lanka that the coat of arms used during Dutch and British rule were adorned with an elephant standing majestically between two stands of palm trees. Sri Lanka is a blessed land. An unimaginable range of cultural and natural sights, smells and sounds abound as you travel through this island and the sight of the largest land mammal roaming the planet today is certainly one to behold. The mere fact that it is possible to see the largest land mammal and the largest marine mammal in one holiday makes Sri Lanka a very unique land and definitely worth a visit.
Unfortunately, both these species, the largest mammals in their respective habitats are endangered – they face a very high risk of extinction in the wild. They face problems related to increasing human encroachment – directly linked to increasing population size. Blue whales face significant threats from increasing ship traffic and elephants suffer from loss of territory and habitat due to increasing land development. While research on blue whales is still at its infancy mostly due to the costs related to working in the marine environment, we are beginning to understand their needs and better ways to conserve the populations.
So, while we sit back and enjoy the moment it is always important to remember to treat these giants with respect. We must recognize that these are wild animals, and while seeing them is a moment to celebrate, there is no guarantee for nature. To truly appreciate these giants, we must watch them in their natural habitat indulging in their natural behaviours. Rushing to get as close as possible or any other invasive action on our part only disturbs them and sends them fleeing. It is essential that you tell your operator that while you are keen to watch these animals you are happy to hang back and get the real experience to prevent harassing the animals. Make a statement about the importance of conserving these species when you pick your guide and don’t be afraid to vocalize if you think they are disrupting the animal’s behaviour. We have to remember that while we have the privilege to experience these giants, two of the greatest that have ever lived, they are not ours to destroy. We have a responsibility to protect them as they belong to all of us and most of all to our unborn children.
Event innovations from TEDx events: We pick 5
TED Blog 24 Jan 2012, 1:11 am CET
TEDx events — powered by passionate volunteer hosts and committed audience members — are hotbeds of innovation, and we’re constantly looking to them for what’s next in event planning, audience participation and outreach. Each month, the TEDx team picks 10 great event ideas bubbling up from the TEDx community, highlighting them in a newsletter and on the TEDx Innovations page on the TEDx site.
We’ve picked five of our January favorites below — see all 10 on the TEDx Innovations page, where you can also sign up for February’s newsletter.
(And if you have a TEDx innovation to share, email tedxstories@ted.com.)
During TEDxValencia,
attendees wrote out ideas and thoughts on Post-it notes,
which were displayed on a wall during the event. Afterward, the
notes were scanned and compiled on an interactive
microsite. Learn more from TEDxValencia >
Dez Propaganda
commissioned an 18-minute composition for
TEDxValedosVinhedos, written by Valmor Pedretti Jr., with
vocal contribution from Luiza Caspary. Attendees got a copy of
the song on a CD in their gift bags, and you can hear it
here >>><
At TEDxDelft, sponsor
Senz let attendees test their storm umbrellas — designed
with one side longer than the other — against a giant wind machine
just outside the venue. Result?
Hilarious pics >>
The TEDxAmericanRiviera stage
was covered with rectangles of Mylar stretched across iron tubing.
During rehearsal, speakers were given white pens and asked to write
their “idea worth spreading” on the mylar. The makeshift boards
were covered by the end of the day, and gave an amazing close-up
when captured
on video >>
On TEDxYouthDay,
TEDxYouth@Chisinau held a viewing party for 47 young people at the
juvenile prison in Lipcani, Moldova. At the end, the group
was asked to write what “youth” means to them on a piece of paper,
and then to fold a paper plane and fly it through the air. As youth
reporter Alexandru Lebedev writes: “Some of them drew prison
symbols, others wrote the names of social networks that they have
heard about, and some wrote that they want to fall in love, or to
love, or to have a family, or to have a house and a place that
could give them warmth.”
Read the full story on the TEDx blog >>>
See all 10 innovations on the TEDx Innovations page, where you can also sign up for February’s newsletter.
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TEDNews:
Twitter / TEDNews 23 Jan 2012, 5:35 pm CET
Today's #TED: Lisa Harouni gives an accessible intro to 3D printing: http://t.co/18JoQGMC
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tedtalks:
Twitter / tedtalks 23 Jan 2012, 5:35 pm CET
Today's #TED: Lisa Harouni gives an accessible intro to 3D printing: http://t.co/HDFKdaRQ
TED: Lisa Harouni: A primer on 3D printing - Lisa Harouni (2011)
TEDTalks (video) 23 Jan 2012, 5:17 pm CET
2012 may be the year of 3D printing, when this three-decade-old technology finally becomes accessible and even commonplace. Lisa Harouni gives a useful introduction to this fascinating way of making things -- including intricate objects once impossible to create.
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