Each year, TED hosts the world's most fascinating thinkers - convention-breaking mavericks, icons, and geniuses - who give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes or less about the best ideas in Technology, Entertainment, Design and much more.
Through this exciting co-production between TED and NPR, each episode will focus around a theme (such as "Happiness") and TEDTalks that put ideas about the theme through the paces.
But the TEDTalks are just a launching point. Woven into and around a Talk, we've layered innovative soundscapes that bring ideas to life and break-off into conversation with the original speakers to probe why an idea made waves, got inside people's heads, and provoked excitement. Sometimes only portions of the original TEDTalk is played; other times you hear them almost in their entirety. Each approach to every idea is different, yet fascinating listening and great radio.
The TED Radio Hour offers a fresh step back from the frenetic pace of news. By pulling back from immediate events to explore the ideas underlying them, a whole new, connected picture opens up. And, for the most part, it's hopeful: astonishing inventions, fresh approaches to old problems, new ways to teach and learn. Through this series, public radio stations can offer the one gift you can hang onto even after you've given it away -- the magic of an idea worth spreading.
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Data, numbers, algorithms are supposed to be neutral ... right? Computer scientist Joy Buolamwini discusses the way biased algorithms can lead to real-world inequality.
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Sea level rise will displace millions by 2100 — and the Louisiana bayous, where Colette Pichon Battle lives, may disappear entirely. She describes how we can avert the worst when disaster strikes.
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How can we make amends for the atrocities of slavery and segregation? Historian and preservationist Brent Leggs discusses one step in confronting the past: preserving African American historic sites.
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When A.J. Jacobs set out to thank everyone who made his morning cup of coffee, he realized the chain of thank-you's was endless. This hour, Jacobs shares ideas on gratitude — and how to make it count.
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Sleep is crucial for our health — and there are alarming consequences when we don't get enough. Matthew Walker explores the many benefits of a full night of sleep, and how to make sleep a priority.
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NASA engineer Nagin Cox lives on Earth but works on Mars time, where days are longer and time works differently. Her work with the rovers has entirely changed the way she thinks about time on Earth.
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For generations, Indigenous people have used slow but sophisticated technology to build elaborate structures. Architect Julia Watson says their designs can guide our response to the climate crisis.
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This past year has changed how many of us experience time, upending our expectations of how we pass our hours, days, and months. So, we asked you: How has your relationship with time changed?
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It's easy to see why sloths have become icons of laziness. But zoologist Lucy Cooke says behind their leisurely pace is a marvelous evolutionary advantage that is the secret to their survival.
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Anyone from anywhere can give a TED Talk. This hour, we're joined by curator Cloe Shasha Brooks, who leads a massive search each year to discover brilliant speakers who often fly under the radar.