Natthi Sharma: Making Sense of the Weird Quantum Reality at TEDxEMU

The audience will first be exposed to experimental results on electrons/photons that require for their explanation very counter-intuitive concepts, such as being here and there or spinning up and down at the same time, underlying quantum physics. Very special visual analogs will be used --- analogies are always useful to comprehend new in terms of known --- to comfort the intellectual paralysis of our (predisposed) mind in understanding the co-existence of mutually exclusive attributes in the microscopic quantum world.

 Dr. Natthi Sharma is professor of physics at Eastern Michigan University since 1986.

 

Boaz Almog "levitates" a superconductor

How can a super-thin, three-inch disk levitate something 70,000 times its own weight? In a riveting, futuristic demonstration, Boaz Almog shows how a phenomenon known as quantum locking allows a superconductor disk to float over a magnetic rail -- completely frictionlessly and with zero energy loss.

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Marco Tempest: The electric rise and fall of Nikola Tesla

Combining projection mapping and a pop-up book, Marco Tempest tells a visually arresting story about Nikola Tesla -- called "the greatest geek who ever lived" -- from his triumphant invention of alternating current to his penniless last days.

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Brian Greene: Why is our universe fine-tuned for life?

At the heart of modern cosmology is a mystery: Why does our universe appear so exquisitely tuned to create the conditions necessary for life? In this tour de force tour of some of science's biggest new discoveries, Brian Greene shows how the mind-boggling idea of a multiverse may hold the answer to the riddle.

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Tan Le: A headset that reads your brainwaves

Tan Le's astonishing new computer interface reads its user's brainwaves, making it possible to control virtual objects, and even physical electronics, with mere thoughts (and a little concentration). She demos the headset, and talks about its far-reaching applications.

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Taylor Wilson: Yup, I built a nuclear fusion reactor

Taylor Wilson believes nuclear fusion is a solution to our future energy needs, and that kids can change the world. And he knows something about both of those: When he was 14, he built a working fusion reactor in his parents' garage. Now 17, he takes the TED stage to tell (the short version of) his story.

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Angela Belcher: Using nature to grow batteries

Inspired by an abalone shell, Angela Belcher programs viruses to make elegant nanoscale structures that humans can use. Selecting for high-performing genes through directed evolution, she's produced viruses that can construct powerful new batteries, clean hydrogen fuels and record-breaking solar cells. At TEDxCaltech, she shows us how it's done. Angela Belcher looks to nature for inspiration on how to engineer viruses to create extraordinary new materials.

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TEDxYYC - Kirk Sorensen - Thorium

At TEDxYYC 2011, Kirk Sorensen talks about the liquid fuel thorium reactor -- a way to produce energy that is safer, cleaner and more efficient than current nuclear power.

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Phil Plait: How to defend Earth from asteroids

What's six miles wide and can end civilization in an instant? An asteroid -- and there are lots of them out there. With humor and great visuals, Phil Plait enthralls the TEDxBoulder audience with all the ways asteroids can kill, and what we must do to avoid them.

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TEDxPhoenix - Lucianne Walkowicz - Look Up for a Change

In her TEDxPhoenix 11.11.11 TEDxTalk, Lucianne Walkowicz explains the importance of preserving our dark night sky from the perils of light pollution and other lesser-known factors. In Lucianne's eyes, "Our night sky is a natural resource, it's like a park you can visit without ever having to travel there. But like any natural resource, if we don't protect it, if we don't preserve it and treasure it, it will slip away from us and be gone."

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Bill Doyle: Treating cancer with electric fields

Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation are the best-known methods for treating cancer. At TEDMED, Bill Doyle presents a new approach, called Tumor Treating Fields, which uses electric fields to interrupt cancer cell division. Still in its infancy -- and approved for only certain types of cancer -- the treatment comes with one big benefit: quality of life.

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Dan Cobley: What physics taught me about marketing

Physics and marketing don't seem to have much in common, but Dan Cobley is passionate about both. He brings these unlikely bedfellows together using Newton's second law, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, the scientific method and the second law of thermodynamics to explain the fundamental theories of branding.

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Yoav Medan: Ultrasound surgery -- healing without cuts

Imagine having a surgery with no knives involved. At TEDMED, surgeon Yoav Medan shares a technique that uses MRI to find trouble spots and focused ultrasound to treat such issues as brain lesions, uterine fibroids and several kinds of cancerous growths.

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Debate: Does the world need nuclear energy?

Nuclear power: the energy crisis has even die-hard environmentalists reconsidering it. In this first-ever TED debate, Stewart Brand and Mark Z. Jacobson square off over the pros and cons. A discussion that'll make you think -- and might even change your mind.

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Marcus du Sautoy: Symmetry, reality's riddle

The world turns on symmetry -- from the spin of subatomic particles to the dizzying beauty of an arabesque. But there's more to it than meets the eye. Here, Oxford mathematician Marcus du Sautoy offers a glimpse of the invisible numbers that marry all symmetrical objects.

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Salman Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education

Salman Khan talks about how and why he created Khan Academy, a carefully structured series of educational videos offering complete curricula in seversl subjects. He shows the power of interactive exercises, and calls for teachers to consider flipping the traditional classroom script -- give students video lectures to watch at home, and do "homework" in the classroom with the teacher available to help.

OK, there is no physics in this video...but using videos to teach something is the goal of this blog...

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Brian Cox: What really goes on at the Large Hadron Collider

"Rock star physicist" Brian Cox talks about his work on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Discussing the biggest of big science in an engaging, accessible way, Cox brings us along on a tour of the massive complex and describes his part in it -- and the vital role it's going to play in understanding our universe.

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Lucianne Walkowicz: Finding planets around other stars

How do we find planets -- even habitable planets -- around other stars? By looking for tiny dimming as a planet passes in front of its sun, TED Fellow Lucianne Walkowicz and the Kepler mission have found some 1,200 potential new planetary systems. With new techniques, they may even find ones with the right conditions for life.

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Sean Carroll: Distant time and the hint of a multiverse

At TEDxCaltech, cosmologist Sean Carroll attacks -- in an entertaining and thought-provoking tour through the nature of time and the universe -- a deceptively simple question: Why does time exist at all? The potential answers point to a surprising view of the nature of the universe, and our place in it.

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Aaron O'Connell: Making sense of a visible quantum object (TED Talks)

Physicists are used to the idea that subatomic particles behave according to the bizarre rules of quantum mechanics, completely different to human-scale objects. In a breakthrough experiment, Aaron O'Connell has blurred that distinction by creating an object that is visible to the unaided eye, but provably in two places at the same time. In this talk he suggests an intriguing way of thinking about the result.

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