Technology, Entertainment, Design

Giving an audience of intellectuals malaria was one great idea presented at TED this year.

Recently TED held its annual conference, and new speeches are being made available. Issues like education, disease and sustainability around the world have always been a large concern for society and concepts or ideas can be a big step in solving these issues.

TED.com is a site devoted to bringing the worlds greatest minds together to give “the talks of their lives, ” which usually focus on important issues that the world is facing. These speeches are then made available online for free to the whole world.

TED stands for technology, entertainment, design. Over the years they have expanded the content. While some speeches may not interest some I am sure almost anyone can find something of interest.

Talks cover issues such as education, global warming, the economy and more. All these issues and all the other ideas the talks cover are so important.

One speech given by Bill Gates this year discussed malaria and education. During the speech he released mosquitoes into the crowd saying “there's no reason only poor people should have the experience.” He also discussed how to better improve our education by improving our teachers.

"I wasn't prepared for this conference to be so profound. The combined IQ of the attendees is incredible." Gates said about TED.

Both these issues are extremely important. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention malaria takes over one million lives each year. And why would we not want to improve our education system?

David Merrill demonstrated something called “Siftables.” These are interactive computers similar to the letter blocks we played with as kids. He shows one program for these that lets you make music.

What an amazing idea! TED is filled with amazing creations like this and speeches that will really get you thinking. I was first alerted to TED around a year ago by a friend. The insight and inspiration that TED fills me with is incredible.

I cannot even try to cover all topics discussed during TED. I suggest everyone take a few minutes out of their day and at least browse the TED talks list. You will find something that interests you.