TED Blog

Help the Abreu Fellows win a grant

2010-03-19T18:45:00Z

The Abreu Fellows are in the running for a $250K grant from Pepsi. You can vote for them once a day ... all month.

The Abreu Fellows program is a project of Jose Abreu's 2009 TED Prize wish -- to teach children around the world to play music using El Sistema ("the system"), a proven and self-sustaining model that teaches kids life skills along with musical skills.

Learn more about El Sistema >>

Watch some El Sistema alums play in perhaps the best orchestra you've ever seen >>

Vote for the Abreu Fellows to win a $250K grant >>

Medical miracle on Everest: Ken Kamler on TED.com

2010-03-18T17:11:10Z

When the worst disaster in the history of Mount Everest climbs occurred, Ken Kamler was the only doctor on the mountain. At TEDMED, he shares the incredible story of the climbers' battle against extreme conditions and uses brain imaging technology to map the medical miracle of one man who survived roughly 36 hours buried in the snow. (Recorded at TEDMED, October 2009 in San Diego, CA. Duration: 20:50)

Watch Ken Kamler's talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 600+ TEDTalks.

Q&A with Chef Dan Barber: Can organic farming feed the world?

2010-03-17T20:01:00Z

At TED2010, Chef Dan Barber drew a standing ovation with his unlikely love story about fish: sustainably farmed, outrageously delicious fish, which offers a model for the future of food production. A key figure in the farm-to-table movement, Dan occupies an unusual space as chef-scholar: His op/eds appear regularly in The New York Times and elsewhere; and he prepares genius menus nightly at his two Blue Hill Restaurants -- one in New York City and one at the Stone Barns farm in Pocantico Hills, NY. We caught up with Dan in New York to better understand the meaty issues he raised in his talk.

In your talk, you made it clear that you hate the question, "How are you going to feed the world?" But you sure answered it convincingly. So -- at the risk of alienating you -- can local, organic farming feed the world?

Here’s what I know: Conventional agriculture has never succeeded in feeding the world, and it’s never produced anything good to eat. For the future, we need to look toward alternatives. Does that mean a world full of local and organic farms? Yes, those ideas will certainly become more important as we move forward—they’ve been proven to work (just look at the recent International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development, the most comprehensive study to date on the future of agriculture), and they’re critical to conserving the planet’s natural resources. But I also think we need to radically reconsider what agriculture looks like—perhaps it involves models like Veta La Palma, or agroforestry, or perennial wheat polycultures, like the ones being developed at The Land Institute. These are systems that demonstrate natural resilience and ecological stability, which are essential for facing the challenges ahead.

Your TEDtalk presents itself as a really gentle tale, but it's actually a pretty radical proposition for rethinking food production. Talk to me about where you think agriculture has gone wrong.

When you say that agriculture has gone wrong, it sounds like you're advocating for a system that's 200 years old. I couldn't be further from that; I love technology. But I do think we're heading for a vastly different food experience, in our lifetimes. I think the conventional food system -- which is based on lots of cheap energy, lots of cheap labor, lots of available water, lots of soil erosion -- is going to be a dead man walking 20 years from now. And that's because the things it relies upon are not going to be available.

If you look at the carrying capacity of agricultural areas throughout the world, their ecological habitats are changing. So I think we're looking at -- in our lifetime -- great collapses of food services. We need the humbleness and clarity to see that our food, while benefitting from technological advances, has benefitted even more from free ecological resources: Cheap energy, lots of water everywhere, and a stable climate. But studies have shown these are eroding. And if you take these away -- if you don't have those in abundance -- you're not only going to NOT feed the world, you're not going to be able to eat the way we do now. We're going to be forced into a new system. The question is: Is that going to be a traumatic transition, or are we going to start preparing for it now?

The typical and very loud argument against organic farming is that it can't scale, that the yields aren't high enough. How do you respond to that?

Yield is a tricky topic, especially if you have an agenda. I know this from our own farming: You can look at yield a lot of different ways. When a study says that conventional farms produce more per acre than organic farms, they're talking about yield, not total output.

Yield is generally defined by economists as yield for a particular crop. When you farm in a monoculture, that's easy to measure. But when you farm organically, you grow several different crops. So your yield per individual crop is lower, but your total output of caloric foods is higher.

Read more after the jump -- including the single most important thing you can do to improve your food supply >>

And then there's the transaction cost of getting from the farm to the marketplace: THAT'S the expensive part; that's the problem for organic farmers. It's much more expensive to distribute products from diverse farms. Monocultured farms are much easier -- one variety, one pick up, one drop off to Walmart, etc.

So you argue that acre-for-acre, over time, the yield on an organic farm surpasses that of conventional farms.

Yes. The TOTAL CALORIC yield on an organic farm far surpasses a conventional farm. That's on every credible study out there. That's not even an issue.

Let's talk about grain. Because if you're talking about feeding the world, it's really about grain. Now, if you're an organic corn farmer, by definition, you can't grow corn every year. You have to get nitrogen back in the soil. So you'll grow corn, and then you'll grow a legume, and so you'll fix the nitrogen and improve the soil structure. Now, if you're a conventional farmer, you're growing just corn and nothing else but corn. So you might look at this system and say the conventional farmer got more corn. But what that doesn't show is that the organic farmer also got soybeans, switchgrass, vetch, alfalfa ...

So an organic farm will absolutely yield less corn, but that doesn’t mean you’re yielding less food. It just means you’re producing less corn.

And presumably this is a healthier system, right? If you have greater diversity of crops, you have a greater diversity of food that the population is eating.

That's a really important point. Because the reason the conventional corn farmer is doing what he's doing is because of our diets. It isn't just the agribusiness corporations pulling levers behind the curtain, it's also the decisions we're making as individuals. If we diversify our diets -- if we eat less processed food, or switch to animals raised on grass instead of corn -- it supports a healthier system.

So that's why I think it's important to get people to realize they have a very powerful set of decisions to make when they eat. And those decisions have a huge effect on how the world works. That's very powerful! I mean: How many issues raised at TED can one get up from their seat and say: "Today I'm going to do something about that." With food, you can vote for the kinds of food you want three times a day.

Let's talk about those decisions we're making. You're obviously extremely diligent in researching just how sustainable a particular fish is...

I know. It's annoying...

It's not annoying. It's just time-consuming. So for the rest of us who aren't experts -- but who want to eat responsibly and healthfully -- what are a few things we can do that will actually make a difference?

Buying at a farmers market is the biggest difference you can make overnight. People complain that cities don't have fresh, sustainable food, but it's just not true. In New York, San Francisco, LA -- everywhere, there's an explosion of farmers markets. So the number one thing to do is to shop at these markets, because generally you're dealing with farmers who are local and small-scale. And if they're small-scale, they're generally diverse. They're generally trying to figure out how to produce the best food with the least input cost - in terms of ecological resources. And that's a very exciting system to support.

The second thing you could do is grow your own food. It sounds crazy, but it's not. If you're across the street here, in New York, you could grow herbs in your windowsill. If you're in the suburbs, you can plant in your back lawn. It's not about providing 100% of your food; it's about doing something that connects you to a natural system, and gets you closer to the food you're eating.

Another thing is to talk to the manager at your local supermarket. They're very responsive in trying to procure the kinds of fruits and vegetables that you want. And there are also political outlets, in terms of who you vote for. It's like what Gandhi said, "Almost everything you do will seem insignificant, but it's important that you do it."

It's interesting: 10 years ago you wouldn't have had me at TED, and we wouldn't have been sitting here talking about this. There's been a huge change in consciousness.

Along those lines: At TED we think a lot about how ideas spread. You've been involved with this particular idea on many fronts -- through your restaurant, your farm, your op/eds... What are the key ways that the idea of the local food movement has spread?

It's all about the flavor. Because when you taste really fresh, delicious food -- food that's been grown the right way -- you become greedy for more. And then you are by definition being an environmentalist, because that's the food that's the most ecologically responsible, and by definition you're a nutritionist -- because that's the food that's the most nutrient-dense. And you're being a community activitist, because you're engaged in the kind of community system you want to support. So a lot of important things flow from good food. But at the end of the day, it's about food that tastes good. This idea has spread through hedonism.

Why does conventionally raised food taste so bland?

Well, there are a couple of reasons. The main reason is that it's bred for yield. If you're breeding a tomato -- or a carrot, or a sheep to produce lamb -- you can choose from a lot of characteristics. The characteristic of choice for the last 40 years has been yield. The second characteristic is: How long can it travel? How long can it last on a supermarket shelf or in your refrigerator? When you're breeding for those characteristics, well, those are the characterisitics you're going to get. It has almost nothing to do with farming, actually. It's all about breeding.

The second issue is that conventionally raised produce takes a long time to get to you, so the flavor diminishes. And they're picking fruits and vegetables when they're not ripe. In a small local system, they're generally picking it the day before they go to market.

Another factor is that conventional farming relies on chemical additions to the soil. These boost yield, but do nothing to boost flavor. You get flavor from flavinoids, and you get flavinoids from biologically diverse soil -- this means there are nutrients in the soil that are feeding the plant, as it's being grown, and you're tasting that.

With animals, too, conventional systems aim for the greatest yield. So we're raising animals in the cheapest possible way, and that includes feeding them really cheaply. When you're feeding corn to a pig that normally thrives on a diverse diet, or to a sheep that's naturally an herbivore, you're going to get flavors that are really dumbed down.

Like the salmon in your talk: The one that tasted like the chicken it had been fed.

Right. That's a good example. You get a salmon, but you don't get a salmon with good flavor.

What are some of the new technologies or new techniques being used on modern organic farms -- at Stone Barns for example -- that excite you?

Stone Barns is not a Shaker village, and we’re not Luddite in our methods or practices. While we support organic farming, we do so in a thoroughly modern context, employing the most innovative, up to date, and efficient technologies to move food forward. One example is the refractometer—a small, handheld device that measures Brix, the sugar content of a fruit or vegetable. Traditionally it was used to help winemakers determine when to harvest their grapes. But it also provides a tool for testing the nutritional value—and, from my perspective—the flavor of a simple carrot. By testing with the refractometer, farmers can make sure their vegetables have an adequately high sugar content before they harvest, and, if not, have a chance to correct the error. Likewise, I know grass-fed beef purveyors who are using ultrasound machines to perfect the consistency of their product. They ultrasound the animal between the 12th and 13th rib to check for marbling— if it’s not sufficient, the farmer can change the animal’s diet or ultimately decide to switch to a different breed entirely.

Genetically modified foods are often invoked as a necessary ingredient for feeding the world. I suspect you're generally opposed to the practice. Are there cases where it makes sense? Golden rice, for example?

I'm not radically opposed to the science of genetic modification, but so far there’s been no evidence of significant progress, in part because it’s embedded within the same tired agribusiness thinking. Yes, there is a way to use biotechnology, but the research needs to be conducted independently (not for profits and patents), and understood as one tool in a toolkit, rather than a silver bullet. Autar Mattoo, a scientist who works for the USDA, exemplifies that. Autar argues for what he calls a “bio-sustainability” solution—marrying genetic engineering with sustainable principles. His research has shown a synergism between transgenic tomatoes and organic cover crop. It’s brilliant stuff.

Do you find yourself over time delving deeper into the chemical nature of the food you're working with?

I do, I'm so regretful that I wasn't a better biology student. If I had it do over again, I'd spend more time on that. Because at the end of the day, it IS about the biology.

You were an English and Poli Sci major at Tufts. Did your family worry you were throwing your education away when you decided to become a chef?

When I told my Dad I was going to be a chef, he said, "Son, I love books. But I don't read for a living."

But he was also very supportive in the end. You know, it was also a different decision back then. Chefs weren't rock stars. There was no Food Network.

In your earlier talk on TED.com, you make a controversial case for foie gras. I hear you also raise and serve a veal that even non-veal eaters (like me) can stomach. Is there any food that's black-and-white? Anything you absolutely won't cook with?

Tomatoes in February.

Do you have any guilty pleasures, food-wise?

People always ask me this. I should come up with one! But the thing is, I feel guilty about everything. I'm an upper East Side Jew. What don't I feel guilty about?

TED Senior Fellow Naomi Natale launches One Million Bones

2010-03-17T19:15:21Z

On Sunday, Naomi Natale -- installation artist, photographer, social activist and TED Senior Fellow -- launched her latest project, One Million Bones. She writes:

One Million Bones is a fundraising art installation designed to recognize victims of present genocides. Our mission is to increase global awareness of these atrocities while raising the critical funds needed to provide humanitarian aid to the displaced and marginalized victims.

One Million Bones will represent victims of genocide, creating a visual demand for solutions to this issue. One million people will each create one bone to represent one victim. Installed together, these one million bones will flood the National Mall in Washington DC, unearthing the memory of these victims, while calling citizens to action.

Photos of the kickoff bone-making event:

Watch her TEDx talk from TEDxMidatlantic:

Get involved at One Million Bones >>

Offering Your Content in 100 Languages

2010-03-17T18:00:00Z

From left: Seth Bindernagel, Director of Localization for Mozilla; Leonard Chien, Director, Lingua Project for Global Voices; June Cohen, Executive Producer of TED Media.

TED's June Cohen led a panel on social translation at South by Southwest this weekend. The panel -- run as a tight, advice-dense conversation -- brought together leaders from three of the web's most prominent social (i.e. volunteer) translation projects, including Seth Bindernagel, Director of Localization for Mozilla's Firefox browser, and Leonard Chien, who directs the "Lingua" translation project for the Global Voices blog. (Leonard, himself a translator, flew in from Taiwan to participate.)

There are only a handful of these projects, which -- like TED's Open Translation Project -- allow volunteers worldwide to translate the content of websites or software. But the early results for all of them have been so explosively encouraging that the idea simply has to spread. The panel gave a perfect opportunity to both share information among us, and package it for others...

The scale of each program obviously varies (with success measured very differently on a citizen journalism blog than on a web browser...) Global Voices is now translated in 20 languages, with 120 people contributing 600 translated articles every month. One third of their audience reads a translated version.

Firefox -- which has had a volunteer translation program since the browser first launched -- has versions in 75 languages (with language packs available in 25 more). This means that every version of Firefox ships with all 75 languages complete. Mozilla has 350M users worldwide, and 50% market share in many countries where a non-English version is used.

And TED, which launched its project 9 months ago, has 3500 volunteers working in 80 languages. They've started work on 8000 translations, of which 5000 have been published. TED's international audience has increased 300% since the program launched.

We'll post a comprehensive summary early next week, for those who couldn't join us at South by Southwest. But first: A few key takeaway points: (1) None of these programs has ever had a problem with someone purposely mis-translating work (2) All the panelists believe volunteer translators often do a better job than professional translators, not because they're more skilled, but because they're passionate about the work (Note: Leonard is himself a professional translator, and he finds this is true in his own work) (3) To set volunteers up for success -- and ensure quality of the final product -- create a strong workflow and a process for QA/proofreading. (4) You can motivate and thank volunteer translators by crediting them publicly for their work; encouraging the formation of language groups and communities; thanking them regularly and sincerely (5) "Open" strategies bring tremendous rewards -- not just in terms of cost savings (which is obvious) but also in strengthening relationships: these projects offer audience members/user the opportunity to contribute toward your mission, and become part of your virtual team. You can't put a number on that. (6) If you're considering a volunteer translation program, you should not take it on unless you're ready to commit to a long-term relationship with your translators. You can't just turn something like this on and then off as you feel like it. But on the flip side, don't feel like you have to do everything at once. You can have a translation program without fully internationalizing your site or product.

Gaming can make a better world: Jane McGonigal on TED.com

2010-03-17T15:15:05Z

Games like World of Warcraft give players the means to save worlds, and incentive to learn the habits of heroes. What if we could harness this gamer power to solve real-world problems? Jane McGonigal says we can, and explains how. (Recorded at TED2010, February 2010 in Long Beach, CA. Duration: 20:04)

Watch Jane McGonigal's talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 600+ TEDTalks.

Quiz show: Listen to TED's June Cohen on the BBC's Digital Planet

2010-03-17T13:00:00Z

At SXSW this past weekend, June Cohen, Executive Producer of TED Media, joined an Internet celebrity quiz show by the BBC radio show Digital Planet. She was paired with Jay Adelson of Digg, and the team ultimately triumphed over tech journalist Bill Thompson and We the Media author Dan Gillmor (in a very friendly face-off).

Listen to the quiz show here >>

June and Jay particularly excelled at the game "App or Mishap," weeding out the real applications from those the panel made up. The final round -- omitted from the broadcast -- posed the provocative question, "What technology would you like invented? Or uninvented?" June offered two possibilities, one small and easy; one big and difficult. The big and difficult: "Instantaneous, accurate translation online. Nothing would do more to promote peace on this planet." The small and easy: "An email recall button, for those moments when you realize you accidentally cc:ed the person you were writing about."

Suspended animation is within our grasp: Mark Roth on TED.com

2010-03-15T15:15:00Z

Mark Roth studies suspended animation: the art of shutting down life processes and then starting them up again. It's wild stuff, but it's not science fiction. Induced by careful use of an otherwise toxic gas, suspended animation can potentially help trauma and heart attack victims survive long enough to be treated. (Recorded at TED2010, February 2010, in Long Beach, CA. Duration: 18:13)

Watch Mark Roth's talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 600+ TEDTalks.

A viral scene from TED's Saturday SXSW panel

2010-03-13T20:00:00Z

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Cast: Audience at TED's Saturday-morning panel "How to Create a Viral Video." Hands: Damian Kulash from OK Go. (Proof.) Camera: TED's Jason Wishnow. Inspiration: Surprised Kitty and her 21 million views on YouTube.

(If you're at SXSWi, come to TED's Sunday-morning panel: "Offering Your Content in 100 Languages" at 9:30am to learn how our dedicated band of volunteer translators has opened TEDTalks to a global audience; panelists from Global Voices and Mozilla will talk about their own massively user-sourced translation efforts.)

New Best of the Web talk: Gary Vaynerchuk

2010-03-13T14:13:54Z

Gary Vaynerchuk: Do what you love (no excuses!)

At the Web 2.0 Expo, entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk gives a shot in the arm to dreamers and up-and-comers who face self-doubt. The Internet has made the formula for success simpler than ever, he argues. So there's now no excuse not to do what makes you happy.

Watch Gary Vaynerchuk's talk >>

The magic of the placebo: Eric Mead on TED.com

2010-03-12T16:04:02Z

Sugar pills, injections of nothing -- studies show that, more often than you'd expect, placebos really work. At TEDMED, magician Eric Mead does a trick to prove that, even when you know something's not real, you can still react as powerfully as if it is. (Warning: This talk is not suitable for viewers who are disturbed by needles or blood.) (Recorded at TEDMED, October 2009 in San Diego, CA. Duration: 9:06)

Watch Eric Mead's talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 600+ TEDTalks.

Come see TED's two panels at SXSW

2010-03-11T16:10:00Z

South by Southwest 2010 starts Friday in Austin, Texas, and the TED team is heading down to present two panels:

How to Create a Viral Video
Saturday, March 13, 11am

From pranks and mashups to world-changing talks, viral videos infect our minds every day. But how does a video go viral? Margaret Gould Stewart from YouTube, Jonathan Wells from Flux.net and Jason Wishnow, TED.com's Director of Film + Video, share strategies -- from editing to distribution to, well, having the right friends. Plus: hear direct from Damian Kulash of OK Go about their new 7-million-views-in-9-days music video -- and how his label's ban on embedding video led OK Go, just yesterday, to leave the majors and start their own label.

(We're having an OK Go moment here at TED. If you haven't yet seen the jawdropping treadmill video -- watch it. And the new, also jawdropping video for "This Too Shall Pass," proudly embedded above. They know from viral video.)

Offering Your Content in 100 Languages
Sunday, March 14, 9:30am

The web is a global medium, but most websites are siloed in a single language. A social translation program is one way to make your website more accessible to a global audience, while also turning users into contributors. Is social translation an option for your website? If so, how do you ensure quality? What motivates volunteers? Is machine translation an option? Learn from leading-edge social translation projects, including panelists from Global Voices and Mozilla, as well as June Cohen, who oversees TED's massive Open Translation Project, which has so far subtitled TEDTalks in 72 languages and counting.

Ozomatli: Hear the new single and see our exclusive photos

2010-03-10T20:30:00Z

The awesome LA band Ozomatli rocked TED's Wednesday night block party in Long Beach last month -- check out our exclusive photos from the street (and see many more photos here).

You can stream Ozomatli's new single, "It's Only Paper," from their upcoming album Fire Away (due out April 20). Spinner.com calls the single a "dance-heavy sonic mosaic of hip-hop, funk and Latin grooves" with a socially conscious message -- and a guest vocal from Jack Johnson. (At right, below, is another Ozo fan: ukulele star Jake Shimabukuro.)

Top and bottom photos: TED / Marla Aufmuth. Center photo: TED / James Duncan Davidson.

How I fell in love with a fish: Dan Barber on TED.com

2010-03-10T15:06:02Z

Chef Dan Barber squares off with a dilemma facing many chefs today: how to keep fish on the menu. With impeccable research and deadpan humor, he chronicles his pursuit of a sustainable fish he could love, and the foodie's honeymoon he's enjoyed since discovering an outrageously delicious fish raised using a revolutionary farming method in Spain. (Recorded at TED2010, February 2010 in Long Beach, CA. Duration: 19:02)

Watch Dan Barber's talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 600+ TEDTalks.

Gary Lauder's new traffic sign: Take Turns

2010-03-09T15:06:02Z

Fifty percent of traffic accidents happen at intersections. Gary Lauder shares a brilliant and cheap idea for helping drivers move along smoothly: a new traffic sign that combines the properties of "Stop" and "Yield" -- and asks drivers to be polite. (Recorded at TED2010, February 2010, in Long Beach, CA. Duration: 4:27)

Watch Gary Lauder's talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 600+ TEDTalks.