top 10 ted talks: jill bolte taylor’s stroke of insight

From 2005 to 2009, three $100,000 TED Prizes were awarded annually to help their winners realize a chosen wish to change

the world. From 2010, in a changed selection process, a single winner is

chosen to ensure that TED can maximize its efforts in achieving the winner's wish.

Each winner unveils their wish at the main annual conference.

Top 10 TED Talks:1. Jill Bolte Taylor’s Stroke of Insight2. Jeff Han’s Touchscreen Foreshadows the

iPhone and More3. David Gallo Shows Underwater

Astonishment4. Blaise Aguera y Arcas Demos Photosynth5. Arthur Benjamin does “Mathemagic”6. Sir Ken Robinson says Schools Kill

Creativity7. Hans Rosling Shows the Best Stats

You’ve Ever Seen8. Tony Robbins Asks Why We Do What We

Do9. Al Gore on Averting a Climate Crisis10.Johnny Lee Demos Wii Remote Hacks

TED TALKS 4D VIEWED:Following are some of the TED talks that we watched last year as part of our TED project. We found most of these talks to be very fascinating and had many interesting conversations that stemmed from these incredible speakers. You might notice that some of our class’s TED talks were inspired by these speakers.

Sheila Patek Clocks The World’s Fastest Animals

Sheila Patek was a very interesting researcher. The class took guesses on the world’s fastest animal. Most people thought cheetahs, and we were shocked to see that it was actually a mantis shrimp!

Margaret Wertheim on the Beautiful Math of Coral.

Margaret Wertheim mastered a project to create a full-scale model of a coral reef from yarn and crochet hooks. She taught us about the mathematics of coral, hyperbolic space, and how beauty can be found in all parts of nature.

Robert Full: Learning from the Gecko’s Tail.

Robert Full taught us how scientists can use biomimetics to copy nature’s intelligent designs. He showed us different ways researchers use technology inspired by geckos to complete a multitude of different tasks.

Kiran Bir Sethi Teaches Kids to Take Charge

. Kiran Bir Sethi was a very inspirational speaker. She taught our class that kids truly can make a difference, and showed how a group of schoolchildren helped to increase literacy in their community in India. She left us with a powerful quote:

“If not now, then when? If not us, then who?”

Charles Anderson Discovers Dragonflies that Cross Oceans

. We learned about the incredible perseverance of a very tiny insect with this TED talk. Some dragonflies can fly over 16,000 kilometers in their lifetime to avoid monsoon rains.

Ursus Wehrli Tidies Up Art

. We got a very interesting and eccentric look at one person’s interpretation of art. Ursus Wehrli took famous paintings and organized their shapes. He presented a very humorous take on the big question, “What is art?” Our class also enjoyed talking about this and creating our own definition of the term.

Janine Benyus: Biomimicry in Action

. This was a fascinating talk that definitely stood out to our class. Janine Benyus showed us how scientists can mimic nature to help solve some very complicated problems, or just to make life easier. Our class visited her organization’s website, asknature.org, to see what other solutions exist within the world of biomimicry.

Blaise Aguera y Arcas Demos Photosynth

. We were able to take a close-up look at a fish market in Wisconsin and walk around the streets of cities we’d never seen with this amazing TED talk. After viewing, we were able to actually use the new Google Technology he described in our classroom.

Parent TED Talks

. We also had the opportunity to have some parents share their technological expertise.

Mrs. Schindler: EnviroscapeWe saw how our everyday actions can make a big impact on the level of pollution in our water.

Mr. McGowan: Synthetic Aperture Radars We got a close-up look at the use of radar technology in Iraq.

Mr. Tran: ReceptorsWe saw how Mr. Tran’s company develops receptors to study the behavior of various animals.