This is absolutely amazing. I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising that the key to fighting just about every deadly disease we know of is probably as simple as eating fresh, tasty foods.

William Li presents a new way to think about treating cancer and other diseases: anti-angiogenesis, preventing the growth of blood vessels that feed a tumor. The crucial first (and best) step: Eating cancer-fighting foods that cut off the supply lines and beat cancer at its own game.

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This is freaking awesome. It’s only a matter of time before we have custom house pets, bacteria that cleans air, water and anything else we want, in fact, bacteria that creates just about any chemical element or structure that we want. The possibilities are pretty wild.

The part about watermarks in the DNA is impressive.

Craig Venter and team make a historic announcement: they’ve created the first fully functioning, reproducing cell controlled by synthetic DNA. He explains how they did it and why the achievement marks the beginning of a new era for science.
–TED.com

You also may be interested in Gregory Stock on TED with “To Upgrade is Human”: http://www.ted.com/talks/gregory_stock_to_upgrade_is_human.html

Disturbing images and information about the state of the oceans and predictions for the future. I hope my daughter can see the ocean as beautiful as I’ve seen it in my life.

In this bracing talk, coral reef ecologist Jeremy Jackson lays out the shocking state of the ocean today: overfished, overheated, polluted, with indicators that things will get much worse. Astonishing photos and stats make the case.

Dean Kamen is one of my future thinking heroes. He is one of the many reasons I think we can expect cybernetic replacements that outperform human originals in the next 10-20 years. You may know Dean Kamen as the inventor of the Segway, which makes most people think that he’s a frivolous inventor–but it’s quite different once you hear him speak about his inventions and the reasons he invents. It may surprise you to hear that the Segway was invented as a philanthropic device. See his other TED talks for more viewing interest: http://www.ted.com/speakers/dean_kamen.html

In this talk:

“Soldiers who’ve lost limbs in service face a daily struggle unimaginable to most of us. At TEDMED, Dean Kamen talks about the profound people and stories that motivated his work to give parts of their lives back with his design for a remarkable prosthetic arm.” – from TED

I was just telling some friends that I thought the future of gaming would have more impact on the real world. My wife has been playing a lot of Farmville on Facebook recently and it got me thinking that if we could harness the power of games like that to make people desire with such gusto to sit and click through such menial tasks, we could convert any kind of work into a game. Maybe all jobs in the future will be games–and all schools and lessons will be too. Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could learn to write code by playing a game?

Well, Jane McGonigal already has games that affect the real world.
Check out Evoke: http://www.urgentevoke.com/ to take a crash course in saving the world.

Synopsis of this talk on TED:

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.

At TEDxUSC, David Logan talks about the five kinds of tribes that humans naturally form — in schools, workplaces, even the driver’s license bureau. By understanding our shared tribal tendencies, we can help lead each other to become better individuals.

This is a TED talk certainly worth the viewing. I think Geoff Mulgan is spot on with regard to what we can accomplish and what we can expect to see of the changing economy in the next 10-20 years.

As we reboot the world’s economy, Geoff Mulgan poses a question: Instead of sending bailout money to doomed old industries, why not use stimulus funds to bootstrap some new, socially responsible companies — and make the world a little bit better?

Dan Barber has two fascinating talks here. Enjoy:

How I Fell in Love with a Fish

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.

Foie Gras Parable

At the Taste3 conference, chef Dan Barber tells the story of a small farm in Spain that has found a humane way to produce foie gras. Raising his geese in a natural environment, farmer Eduardo Sousa embodies the kind of food production Barber believes in.

Just a few thoughts on the future from TED:

As globalization and technological advances bring us hurtling towards a new integrated future, Ian Goldin warns that not all people may benefit equally. But, he says, if we can recognize this danger, we might yet realize the possibility of improved life for everyone.

View on TED: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ian_goldin_navigating_our_global_future.html

Most of his tricks are easy to spot but his technique and delivery make this TED talk hilarious:

Like your uncle at a family party, the rumpled Swedish doctor Lennart Green says, “Pick a card, any card.” But what he does with those cards is pure magic — flabbergasting, lightning-fast, how-does-he-do-it? magic.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/lennart_green_does_close_up_card_magic.html