Nine stories, from nine amazing storytellers

John Hodgman has perfected a way of stating pure invention as though it were well-understood and accepted fact. But he uses this talent to highlight, not obscure, a remarkable tale of falling in love.

Often a story takes us, not in straight lines, but in circles, ending up where we began. And on returning, like Becky Blanton, we’re surprised to find that the journey has changed us so profoundly that the old place is completely new.

The form of a story often transcends the content. Dan Barber relates a traditional tale finding true love after the heartbreak of youthful infatuation — only it’s with fish. For his restaurant. To cook.

A good story will have a surprise — a twist. And if it’s done well, as in this excerpt from Patsy Rodenburg, the twist will have the audience gasping, not just with astonishment, but with a realization of a newfound insight into human nature.

In a good narrative the hero is far from perfect, and it’s these imperfections that make the story engaging and relatable. Mike Rowe talks about the strength he gained by being completely and utterly wrong.

While there is strength in learning from stories, the danger, as eloquently expressed byChimamanda Adichie, is that we will confuse a person with a single story that happens to look like them.

We don’t normally think of the supposedly cold and detached world of science as a fertile realm for stories. Yet, at it’s heart science is about humans, and it turns out the stories are everywhere. In this spectacular example, Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroscientist, watches her own mind fail as she suffers a stroke.

Sometimes the power of a story is not in the magnitude of what happens, but in how it’s told.Carmen Agra Deedy is a master of the craft; here she uses every technique available to paint a beautiful, touching, and witty portrait of her mother through a simple trip to the shopping mall.

And sometimes all thoughts of the form and craft of a story fade to nothing in the face of the story itself. Emmanuel Jal uses story, poetry, and song to tell of his life, and rescue, as a child soldier.

An Evening with Psychologist Paul Ekman

A unique bond formed between the Dalai Lama and Paul Ekman when the two first met in 2000. The leader of Tibetan Buddhism and the renowned Western-trained scientist soon realized that despite their different educational and religions backgrounds, they shared the same motivation for analyzing emotions: a commitment to reducing human suffering. Following their first encounter, the two men spent 40 hours in discussion over three subsequent meetings, believing that the combined insight of Buddhism and Western psychology would lead to new understandings of human emotion.

These groundbreaking conversations are captured in their new book, Emotional Awareness: Overcoming the Obstacles to Psychological Balance and Compassion. As they discuss the roots of love, compassion, anger, and morality, the two men offer stunning insight into what unifies us all.

2010 at a Glance: Best Video Posts!

TOP 9 Posts:

1. Social Media Addiction: Are You At Risk? 
   Facebook and social media have been blamed for a lot of ills of late — divorce, teens run wild and even asthma atta...
2. The Fog of War -Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S McNamara 
   Robert S. Mcnamera's own words about everything from 2. world war, JFK, Vietnam and the Tonkin bay incident, the cold war and the Cuba crise..
3. Seth Priebatsch: Building the game layer on top of the world 
   By now, we're used to letting Facebook and Twitter capture our social lives on the web -- building a "social layer" on top of the real world...
4. The Tobacco Conspiracy 
   A history of the tobacco industry's lies and scams. From the US in 1953 to Africa today, the controversy between individual responsability a...
5. Blogging is All In this program by the University of Maryland at College Park, Lee Thornton, professor of journalism at the University of Maryland, sits dow...
6. The Incredible Human Machine National Geographic Channel takes you on a journey through an ordinary, and extraordinary, day in the life of the most spectacular machine e...
7. Naked Science: Birth Of The Earth 
   Our Earth was spinning very fast when it was spit out of the Sun as a molten glob four and one half billion years ago in the initial explosi...
8. The Wonder and Beauty of Teaching Physics Walter Lewin, professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, sheds light on everyday phenomena such as rainbows and wha
9. 1. Feynman: Take the world from another point of view 
   Richard Phillips Feynman (May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American physicist known for his work in the pa...

Seven Ages of Britain

Seven Ages of Britain is a BBC television documentary series which is written and presented by David Dimbleby.

The series covers the history of Britain’s greatest art and artifacts over the past 2000 years. Each episode covers a different period in British history.

Age of Conquest. The first part of the chronicle begins with the Roman invasion and ends with the Norman Conquest. David travels throughout Britain in search of the greatest works of art from the time: the mosaics of Bignor Roman Villa, the burial treasure of Sutton Hoo, Anglo-Saxon poetry and Alfred the Great’s Jewel.

Age of Worship. The story of British art in the Middle Ages, spanning from the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170 to the death of Richard II in 1400. It was an age defined by worship – whether worship of God, the king, or one’s lady love.

Age of Power. This episode looks at the Tudors and spans from Henry VIII’s accession in 1509 to the first performance of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII exactly 100 years later.

Age of Revolution. In the 17th century, when the people of Britain learned to question everything. The result was the Civil War, in which everyone, including artists, had to take sides. Out of it came a reinvented monarchy, a scientific revolution and, ultimately, the great Cathedral of St Paul’s.

Age of Money. In the 18th century, the triumph of commerce led to the emergence of a new ‘middle’ class, a group of people who craved pleasure and novelty, and developed its own tastes in art. The result was a golden age in painting, with Hogarth, Reynolds and Gainsborough reinventing the British style.

Age of Empire. The story of the British Empire from 1750 to 1900, revealed through its art and treasures. David Dimbleby travels through Britain, America and India, tracing the descent from adventure and inspiration into moral bankruptcy as the Empire became a self-serving bureaucratic machine.

Age of Ambition. In the last episode, David Dimbleby looks at how the 20th century saw ordinary Britons upturning ancient power structures and class hierarchies. The catalyst was the First World War, which embroiled the whole nation and called traditional values into question.

Watch the full documentary now (playlist – 6 hours)

Hanna Rosin: New data on the rise of women

Hanna Rosin reviews startling new data that shows women actually surpassing men in several important measures, such as college graduation rates. Do these trends, both US-centric and global, signal the "end of men"? Probably not -- but they point toward an important societal shift worth deep discussion.

The role of the face in human emotions: Paul Ekman

Psychologist Paul Ekman joins Harry Kreisler to talk about his scientific work on the human face. They discuss what is now known about the role of the face in human emotions and the implications of these insights for human communication, self understanding and national security.

The Secret You

With the help of a hammer-wielding scientist, Jennifer Aniston and a general anaesthetic, Professor Marcus du Sautoy goes in search of answers to one of science’s greatest mysteries: how do we know who we are?

While the thoughts that make us feel as though we know ourselves are easy to experience, they are notoriously difficult to explain. So, in order to find out where they come from, Marcus subjects himself to a series of probing experiments.

He learns at what age our self-awareness emerges and whether other species share this trait. Next, he has his mind scrambled by a cutting-edge experiment in anesthesia.

Having survived that ordeal, Marcus is given an out-of-body experience in a bid to locate his true self. And in Hollywood, he learns how celebrities are helping scientists understand the microscopic activities of our brain.

Finally, he takes part in a mind-reading experiment that both helps explain and radically alters his understanding of who he is.

Feynman: Take the world from another point of view

Richard Phillips Feynman (May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American physicist known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics and the physics of thesuperfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics (he proposed the parton model). For his contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman, jointly with Julian Schwinger and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, received theNobel Prize in Physics in 1965.

Debate: Does the world need nuclear energy?

Nuclear power: the energy crisis has even die-hard environmentalists reconsidering it. In this first-ever TED debate, Stewart Brand and Mark Z. Jacobson square off over the pros and cons. A discussion that'll make you think -- and might even change your mind.

Fix Me

Horizon follows the emotional journey of three young people with currently untreatable conditions to see if within their lifetime, they can be cured.

Sophie is desperate to discover if there’s a medical breakthrough which will get her walking again – a car crash after celebrating her A level results left her paralyzed from the waist down.

Anthony’s leg was amputated after a rugby accident on the eve of his eighteenth birthday. Will he ever be able to regrow his leg? Father of four Dean is desperate for a cure for his damaged heart to avoid an early death.

They’ve all read the headlines about the astonishing potential of stem cells to heal the body. Now they’ve been given access to the pioneering scientists who could transform their lives.

With so much at stake, each meeting is highly emotional as our three young people find out if science can fix them.

Watch the full documentary now (playlist – 58 minutes)

Give Advice the Right Way

A call to men everywhere: Don’t “act like a man.”

At TEDWomen, Tony Porter makes a call to men everywhere: Don’t “act like a man.” Telling powerful stories from his own life, he shows how this mentality, drummed into so many men and boys, can lead men to disrespect, mistreat and abuse women and each other. His solution: Break free of the “man box.”

Celebrating Dirty Jobs

Mike Rowe, the host of "Dirty Jobs," tells some compelling (and horrifying) real-life job stories. Listen for his insights and observations about the nature of hard work, and how it’s been unjustifiably degraded in society today.

Watch

Richard Dawkins Answers Reddit Questions

Watch out this very interesting interview, specially the hate mails in the end! Really funny... :D

The Jews: A People’s History

This five-part documentary explores 4,000 years of Jewish history, starting with the origins of the Jewish people in the Middle East right through to present day Judaism.

The series researches the roots of the Jewish people, seeking clues about Judaism at the archaeological excavation sites, the centers of culture and in the written evidence of the Jewish Diaspora.

The purpose of the documentary is to give the public deeper insight, beyond the Holocaust and Israeli politics, into the Jewish people, Nina Koshofer, director of the documentary, said. We wanted to enlighten people on the historical development of Jews and their faith. We chose people with whom the public could identify.

Koshofer has focused most of her attention on known personalities. We also want to show the diversity of the Jewish people the rich and the poor, the famous and unknowns… We also wanted to try and answer the question that perhaps never really can be answered who is Jewish and what is Jewish… Koshofer added.

Koshofer is aiming to show that the answers to many questions are as varied as the number of Jews who live in the world today. One cannot portray Jews as one idea or ideal. Episodes included: Exodus, Diaspora, Stigma, The Star of David, Zion.

Watch the full documentary now (playlist – 4 hours)

Energy War

Forget the axis of evil, its the axis of oil

The Cold War and the War on Terror were about ideology and globalization. The 21st century will be dominated by the struggle for energy: It will be every man for himself and it's going to get dirty.

In the two-part documentary Energy War, VPRO's Backlight investigates the major developments with regards to energy sources. Featuring NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman.

The film describes the geopolitical consequences of the dependency on fossil fuels. In the struggle for the last sources of fossil fuels, countries all over the world are forced to take new political and moral decisions and have to enter into awkward alliances: rogue regimes must be tolerated and befriended. With a special focus on the gas conflict between Georgia and Russia and the position of Saudi Arabia. 

Featuring a.o. Thomas Friedman, author of international bestseller The World is Flat. Friedman sheds his light on the inverse connection between rising oil prices and the establishment of free democracies. 

The film then moves on to take a look at the international markets for alternative energy. If oil and gas are scarce and expensive in the future, where will countries turn to keep their economy going and their population warm and happy? Could solar energy or bio fuels become the main energy sources of the post-fossil fuel era? Will governments, multinationals or small producers be the motor of the green race?

Future Consumers, Lifestyles and Online Communities - impact of new technology, communications

Future of Telecom and Consumers. Belgacom client event - 700 CEOs and CIOs by conference keynote speaker Dr Patrick Dixon. Future of communications, marketing, management, leadership, virtual teams and virtual organisations. Virtual meetings and distance learning. Future bandwidth, video streaming demand, convergence and divergence of technology. Future innovations in communication. Strategy for emerging markets and developed markets.Banks will become phone companies and telecom companies will become banks. Mobile payment systems, micro-payments, mobile phone credit card transactions and loans.All innovation is divergent - doing things different and better. But most companies focus on convergence on price, quality, features.image, branding, winning customers, online marketing and building trust. Consumer changes, preferences and lifestyles. Videoconferencing and virtual teams. Winning the war for talent - motivation and leadership styles.

William Ury: Negotiating for Sustainable Agreements

About William Ury: William Ury is a mediator, writer and speaker, working with conflicts ranging from family feuds to boardroom battles to ethnic wars. He's the author of "Getting to Yes."

Kiran Bedi: A police chief with a difference

Kiran Bedi has a surprising resume. Before becoming Director General of the Indian Police Service, she managed one of the country's toughest prisons -- and used a new focus on prevention and education to turn it into a center of learning and meditation. She shares her thoughts on visionary leadership at TEDWomen.