7 blockbuster talks from this year's TED

The TED website has seen its traffic more than double since we started putting up talks from TED2009. Here are seven of the very best of those (in the order in which they were given at the conference).

 1. Juan Enriquez looks beyond the economic crisis to the next stage in our species' evolution. Stand by for mindboggling science ...and a lot of laughs too. http://tr.im/iU5O

 
2. Pattie Maes gave a short, stunning demo of a technology developed in her lab at MIT which combined a personal projector with cellphone, computing and web technologies to create what she called a 'sixth sense'. More than 3m people have now viewed her talk. http://tr.im/iU6w
 
3
. Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, won a standing ovation for her appeal for a beautiful, unexpected technique for nurturing creativity http://tr.im/iU65

 
4. International phenom Gustavo Dudamel conducted an orchestra of kids from Venezuela, many of whom had been recruited from poverty-stricken villages and slums through the (TED Prize-winning) El Sistema program, and raised to a level of talent and passion that beggars belief. http://tr.im/iU51

 
5. Bonnie Bassler explained the startling discovery that bacteria communicate with each other in sophisticated ways to coordinate attack strategies.... and what we can do about it. Remarkable science made understandable and thrilling. http://tr.im/iU3Y

 
6. Willie Smits told the story of an astonishing decade-long labor of love in which he re-grew from scratch a rainforest that had been destroyed, offering hope for one of the world's most alarming problems. http://tr.im/iU4F

 
7. Barry Schwartz brought the audience to its feet with his plea for a rediscovery of "practical wisdom" in business and public affairs http://tr.im/iU5t

 If these excite you, you can see the full set by selecting TED2009 from the "Show by event" option on the left of this page. (Truth be told, they're all pretty hot.)

13 responses
Just learned that we can use Twitter to connect with TED.
Chris - I digg what you do and love what you give...
Sorry, the nerd in me couldn't help but point this out :)
http://imgur.com/28I9I.png
TED = All good. Some of my favourite web content here.
According to @whiteafrican, at the ICTD conference in Qatar today Bill Gates mentioned that Hans Rosling's 2006 TED speech "Debunking Third-World Myths With the Best Stats You've Ever Seen" was one of his favourites.

It is indeed an amazing display of how the right tools can stop us from drawing the wrong conclusions about poverty, health and development.

I'm subscribed to TED via iTunes. Most of the talks are truly inspirational!
Awwwww, not Nalini Nadkami? Her TED2009 talk was so intriguing and passionate that you said you were a little bit in love with her!
I think the phrase was "...in a totally appropriate way." ;-) Hers is great too. Nice pairing with Willie Smits. Rainforests, and how to save them.
As much as I love the documentaries.... I still love Ngozi Okonjo-iweala's speech... too powerful....it left me speechless....
Awesome list Chris. I keep introducing people to TED — from when I interviewed with my current employer in Oct 2006. I have TED on my iPhone, too.
lol @ Tom Bielecki
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