12 truths I learned from life and writing

talk__description
A few days before she turned 61, writer Anne Lamott decided to write down everything she
knew for sure. She dives into the nuances of being a human who lives in a confusing,
beautiful, emotional world, offering her characteristic life-affirming wisdom and humor on
family, writing, the meaning of God, death and more.

speaker__who_he_is
With disarming familiarity, Anne Lamott tackles what most don’t like to consider. Her
honest writing helps us make sense of life’s chaos.

speaker__why_listen
Anne Lamott hooks into our common experience and guides us to an understanding infused
with openness. An activist, former alcoholic and Sunday School teacher, Lamott uses humor
to weave through loss, parenthood, faith and the cancer diagnosis given to her best friend,
in beloved books like Bird by Bird and Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers. She
says, "Hope begins in the dark ... if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn
will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up."Her next book, Hallelujah
Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy, was released in April 2017.

speaker__what_others_say
Lamott ... isn’t writing to placate a particular group. She's addressing herself to anyone
who's ever awakened in the morning with no clue about what happened the night before, to
people who understand that sarcasm, pettiness, self-centeredness and doubt can peacefully
coexist with a love for whatever divinity you worship.

talks__tags
aging, art, beauty, books, birds, communication, Christianity, family, friendship, humanity,
God, funny, love, personal growth, self, writing, society

url__webpage
[Link]

url__audio
[Link]
Thoughts on humanity, fame and love

talk__description
"I sell dreams, and I peddle love to millions of people," says Shah Rukh Khan, Bollywood's
biggest star. In this charming, funny talk, Khan traces the arc of his life, showcases a few of
his famous dance moves and shares hard-earned wisdom from a life spent in the spotlight.

speaker__who_he_is
With a fan following that runs into multi-millions, Shah Rukh Khan is at forefront of the
Indian film industry and continues to rule at the box office in India.

speaker__why_listen
One of the world's biggest movie stars, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan is also an
entrepreneur and inspired philanthropist. He heads the film production company Red
Chillies Entertainments, whose Chennai Express was the highest-grossing film of 2013, and
his recent film Raees also topped the box office in India. He's also the proud co-owner of
two cricket franchises, the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Trinbago Knight [Link] the fall,
he will host TED's brand-new TV series in Hindi for Star Plus, titled TED Talks India: Nayi
Soch, which translates to "new thinking."As a philanthropist and spokesperson, Khan stands
up for causes ranging from the environment and water-supply issues to rural solar power.
Khan's nonprofit Meer Foundation, named for his father, focuses on supporting victims of
acid attacks through a 360-degree approach that helps with medical treatment, legal aid,
rehabilitation and livelihood support.

speaker__what_others_say
nan

talks__tags
aging, art, dance, communication, entertainment, family, happiness, future, movies, india,
humanity, music, personal growth, technology, success, love

url__webpage
[Link]

url__audio
[Link]

What will humans look like in 100 years?

talk__description
We can evolve bacteria, plants and animals -- futurist Juan Enriquez asks: Is it ethical to
evolve the human body? In a visionary talk that ranges from medieval prosthetics to present
day neuroengineering and genetics, Enriquez sorts out the ethics associated with evolving
humans and imagines the ways we'll have to transform our own bodies if we hope to
explore and live in places other than Earth.

speaker__who_he_is
Juan Enriquez thinks and writes about the profound changes that genomics and brain
research will bring about in business, technology, politics and society.

speaker__why_listen
A broad thinker, Juan Enriquez bridges disciplines to build a coherent look ahead. He is the
managing director of Excel Venture Management, a life sciences VC firm. He published (with
Steve Gullans)Â Evolving Ourselves: How Unnatural Selection and Nonrandom Mutation
Are Shaping Life on Earth. The book describes a world where humans increasingly shape
their environment, themselves and other [Link] cofounded the company that
made the world's first synthetic life form, and seed funded a company that may allow
portable brain reading.

speaker__what_others_say
Juan Enriquez will change your view of change itself.

talks__tags
aging, bacteria, biotech, bioethics, biology, brain, collaboration, chemistry, DNA,
engineering, evolution, future, genetics, humanity, innovation, invention, life, nature,
neuroscience, physiology, science, society, technology, human body

url__webpage
[Link]

url__audio
[Link]

The science of cells that never get old

talk__description
What makes our bodies age ... our skin wrinkle, our hair turn white, our immune systems
weaken? Biologist Elizabeth Blackburn shares a Nobel Prize for her work finding out the
answer, with the discovery of telomerase: an enzyme that replenishes the caps at the end of
chromosomes, which break down when cells divide. Learn more about Blackburn's
groundbreaking research -- including how we might have more control over aging than we
think.
speaker__who_he_is
Elizabeth Blackburn won a Nobel Prize for her pioneering work on telomeres and
telomerase, which may play central roles in how we age. She is president of the Salk
Institute and author of the New York Times Best Seller, "The Telomere Effect."

speaker__why_listen
Dr. Blackburn is the president of the Salk Institute and a pioneering molecular biologist. She
received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2009 for discovering the molecular
nature of telomeres, the ends of chromosomes that serve as protective caps essential for
preserving genetic information, and for co-discovering telomerase, an enzyme that
maintains telomere ends. Both telomeres and telomerase are thought to play central roles
in aging and diseases such as cancer, and her work helped launch entire new fields of
research in these areas. In addition to the Nobel Prize, Blackburn has received nearly every
major scientific award including the Lasker, Gruber, and Gairdner prizes. She has served as
president of the American Association of Cancer Research and the American Society for Cell
Biology, and on editorial boards of scientific journals including Cell and Science. She
coauthored the best-selling book The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living
Younger, Healthier, Longer.

speaker__what_others_say
Few scientists garner the kind of admiration and respect that Dr. Blackburn receives from
her peers for her scientific accomplishments and her leadership, service and integrity

talks__tags
aging, biology, bioethics, biomechanics, health, human body, innovation, life, discovery,
nature, DNA, science, Nobel Prize

url__webpage
[Link]

url__audio
[Link]

What you can do to prevent Alzheimer's

talk__description
Alzheimer's doesn't have to be your brain's destiny, says neuroscientist and author of "Still
Alice," Lisa Genova. She shares the latest science investigating the disease -- and some
promising research on what each of us can do to build an Alzheimer's-resistant brain.

speaker__who_he_is
Through her fiction, Lisa Genova beckons us into the lives of people with neurological
disease, making their worlds real and relatable.
speaker__why_listen
Lisa Genova wields her ability to tell a story and her knowledge of the human brain to talk
about medical conditions like Alzheimer’s in warmly human terms. Her writing, often
focusing on those who are misunderstood, explores the lives of people living with
neurological diseases and disorders. A bestselling author, her work has been transformed
into an Oscar-winning film, Still Alice, but the real triumph is Genova’s ability to help
us empathize with a person’s journey we otherwise couldn’t even begin to
understand. Her newest book, Inside the O’Briens, is about Huntington’s disease.

speaker__what_others_say
Genova, who has left behind her science career to write full time, once thought she would do
research that might lead to treatments or cures for brain diseases. Instead, her novels are
opening eyes.

talks__tags
aging, biomechanics, disease, future, genetics, health, medical research, mental health,
"Alzheimers", mind, science, neuroscience

url__webpage
[Link]

url__audio
[Link]

A roadmap to end aging

talk__description
Cambridge researcher Aubrey de Grey argues that aging is merely a disease -- and a curable
one at that. Humans age in seven basic ways, he says, all of which can be averted.

speaker__who_he_is
Aubrey de Grey, British researcher on aging, claims he has drawn a roadmap to defeat
biological aging. He provocatively proposes that the first human beings who will live to
1,000 years old have already been born.

speaker__why_listen
A true maverick, Aubrey de Grey challenges the most basic assumption underlying the
human condition -- that aging is inevitable. He argues instead that aging is a disease -- one
that can be cured if it's approached as "an engineering problem." His plan calls for
identifying all the components that cause human tissue to age, and designing remedies for
each of them — forestalling disease and eventually pushing back death. He calls the
approach Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS). With his astonishingly
long beard, wiry frame and penchant for bold and cutting proclamations, de Grey is a
magnet for controversy. A computer scientist, self-taught biogerontologist and researcher,
he has co-authored journal articles with some of the most respected scientists in the
[Link] the scientific community doesn't know what to make of him. In July 2005, the MIT
Technology Review challenged scientists to disprove de Grey's claims, offering a $20,000
prize (half the prize money was put up by de Grey's Methuselah Foundation) to any
molecular biologist who could demonstrate that "SENS is so wrong that it is unworthy of
learned debate." The challenge remains open; the judging panel includes TEDsters Craig
Venter and Nathan Myhrvold. It seems that "SENS exists in a middle ground of yet-to-be-
tested ideas that some people may find intriguing but which others are free to doubt," MIT's
judges wrote. And while they "don't compel the assent of many knowledgeable scientists,"
they're also "not demonstrably wrong."

speaker__what_others_say
Aubrey de Grey is a man of ideas, and he has set himself toward the goal of transforming the
basis of what it means to be human.

talks__tags
aging, biotech, disease, engineering, future, health care, science, technology

url__webpage
[Link]

url__audio
[Link]

Experiments that hint of longer lives

talk__description
What controls aging? Biochemist Cynthia Kenyon has found a simple genetic mutation that
can double the lifespan of a simple worm, C. elegans. The lessons from that discovery, and
others, are pointing to how we might one day significantly extend youthful human life.

speaker__who_he_is
When it comes to aging well, having “good genes” (or rather, mutant ones) is key, says
Cynthia Kenyon. She unlocked the genetic secret of longevity in roundworms — and now
she’s working to do the same for humans.

speaker__why_listen
Cynthia Kenyon is revolutionizing our understanding of aging. As an expert in biochemistry
and biophysics at the University of California at San Francisco, she is particularly interested
in the influence that genetics have on age-related diseases (from cancer to heart failure) in
living [Link] biggest breakthrough was figuring out that there’s a “universal
hormonal control for aging”: carbohydrate intake, which can have a dramatic effect on
how two critical genes behave, reducing insulin production and boosting repair and
renovation activities. So far, her theory has proved true for worms, mice, rats, and monkeys
— and she suspects it applies to humans, [Link] studying aging, Kenyon believes that she
and other scientists (many of whom have successfully duplicated her experiments) will be
able to pinpoint the molecules responsible for the onset of age-related diseases in people
and prevent them. She’s co-founded a drug-development company called Elixir
Pharmaceuticals to do just [Link] says: "The link between aging and age-related disease
suggests an entirely new way to combat many diseases all at once; namely, by going after
their greatest risk factor: aging itself."

speaker__what_others_say
Ten years ago, we thought aging was probably the result of a slow decay, a sort of rusting.
But Professor Kenyon has shown that it’s ... controlled by genes. That opens the
possibility of slowing it down with drugs.

talks__tags
aging, biotech, genetics, medicine, science, technology, molecular biology, synthetic biology,
innovation, medical research, DNA

url__webpage
[Link]

url__audio
[Link]

The coming neurological epidemic

talk__description
Biochemist Gregory Petsko makes a convincing argument that, in the next 50 years, we'll
see an epidemic of neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer's, as the world population ages.
His solution: more research into the brain and its functions.

speaker__who_he_is
Gregory Petsko is a biochemist who studies the proteins of the body and their biochemical
function. Working with Dagmar Ringe, he's doing pioneering work in the way we look at
proteins and what they do.

speaker__why_listen
Gregory Petsko's own biography, on his Brandeis faculty homepage, might seem
intimidatingly abstruse to the non-biochemist -- he studies "the structural basis for efficient
enzymic catalysis of proton and hydride transfer; the role of the metal ions in bridged
bimetalloenzyme active sites; direct visualization of proteins in action by time-resolved
protein crystallography; the evolution of new enzyme activities from old ones; and the
biology of the quiescent state in eukaryotic cells."But for someone so deeply in touch with
the minutest parts of our bodies, Petsko is also a wide-ranging mind, concerned about
larger health policy issues. The effect of mass population shifts -- such as our current trend
toward a senior-citizen society -- maps onto his world of tiny proteins to create a compeling
new worldview.

speaker__what_others_say
nan

talks__tags
aging, brain, business, health, public health, science, social change, technology, "Alzheimers"

url__webpage
[Link]

url__audio
[Link]

The secret to living longer may be your social life

talk__description
The Italian island of Sardinia has more than six times as many centenarians as the mainland
and ten times as many as North America. Why? According to psychologist Susan Pinker, it's
not a sunny disposition or a low-fat, gluten-free diet that keeps the islanders healthy -- it's
their emphasis on close personal relationships and face-to-face interactions. Learn more
about super longevity as Pinker explains what it takes to live to 100 and beyond.

speaker__who_he_is
Susan Pinker reveals how in-person social interactions are not only necessary for human
happiness but also could be a key to health and longevity.

speaker__why_listen
In her award-winning book The Sexual Paradox, psychologist Susan Pinker argued that
biological differences could play an unexpectedly large role in creating classroom, lifespan
and workplace gender gaps. With The Village Effect, she tracks another current: how social,
face-to-face interactions are critical not only for our happiness but also for our survival, and
how technology can isolate us from these life-saving bonds. As she writes: "Neglecting to
keep in close contact with people who are important to you is at least as dangerous to your
health as a pack-Âa-Âday cigarette habit, hypertension or obesity."In addition to her books,
Pinker writes a column for the Wall Street Journal, "Mind and Matter," which illuminates
surprising advances in human behavior research. Pinker’s numerous writings (including
her weekly columns "Problem Solving" and "The Business Brain") have appeared in the
Guardian, the New York Times and Financial Times, among many others.Â
speaker__what_others_say
Drawing on scores of psychological and sociological studies, Pinker suggests that living
steeped in face-to-face contact and physical proximity is the key to health, while loneliness
is less an exalted existential state than a public health risk. Smart readers will take this book
out to a park to enjoy in the company of others._x000D_

talks__tags
aging, brain, community, family, friendship, society, health, psychology

url__webpage
[Link]
susan_pinker_the_secret_to_living_longer_may_be_your_social_life

url__audio
[Link]

You can grow new brain cells. Here's how

talk__description
Can we, as adults, grow new neurons? Neuroscientist Sandrine Thuret says that we can, and
she offers research and practical advice on how we can help our brains better perform
neurogenesis—improving mood, increasing memory formation and preventing the decline
associated with aging along the way.

speaker__who_he_is
Sandrine Thuret studies the way adult brains create new nerve cells in the hippocampus -- a
brain area involved in memory and mood.

speaker__why_listen
In her lab at King's College London, Sandrine Thuret studies adult neurogenesis -- the
process by which adult brains create new nerve cells. (Until the 1990s, we didn't even know
they did this!) Thuret's work focuses on the hippocampus, the area of the brain that is
related to memory, and her work asks two big questions: How can we help our healthy
brains create new nerve cells throughout our lives, through diet and behavior changes? And
how can we study the effects of diseases such as depression and Alzheimer's on our brains'
ability to grow?

speaker__what_others_say
nan
talks__tags
aging, brain, health, medical research, memory, mental health, mind, neuroscience, science,
biology

url__webpage
[Link]

url__audio
[Link]

How young blood might help reverse aging. Yes, really

talk__description
Tony Wyss-Coray studies the impact of aging on the human body and brain. In this eye-
opening talk, he shares new research from his Stanford lab and other teams which shows
that a solution for some of the less great aspects of old age might actually lie within us all.

speaker__who_he_is
At his lab at Stanford School of Medicine, Tony Wyss-Coray studies aging -- and potential
cures for it.

speaker__why_listen
Professor of neurology at Stanford, Tony Wyss-Coray oversees an eponymous lab which
studies immune and injury responses in aging and neurodegeneration. Wyss-Coray initially
studied at the Institute of Clinical Immunology at the University of Bern in Switzerland, but
he now lives and works in California. At Stanford since 2002, he's also a health scientist at
the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System. Deeply interested in figuring out ways to
combat diseases such as Alzheimer's, he serves on the scientific advisory board for the
Alzheimer Research Consortium and on the international advisory board for Advances in
Clinical and Experimental Medicine. In 2013, he was given a Transformative Research
Award by the director of the National Institutes of Health.

speaker__what_others_say
In October 2014, Tony Wyss-Coray launched the first human trial of young blood. At
Stanford School of Medicine, infusions of blood plasma from young people are being given
to older people with Alzheimer’s disease... It is the greatest test yet for the medical
potential of young blood.

talks__tags
aging, brain, medical research, neuroscience, science, bioethics, youth, medicine, molecular
biology, biology, memory, innovation, disease
url__webpage
[Link]
tony_wyss_coray_how_young_blood_might_help_reverse_aging_yes_really

url__audio
[Link]

How Benjamin Button got his face

talk__description
Ed Ulbrich, the digital-effects guru from Digital Domain, explains the Oscar-winning
technology that allowed his team to digitally create the older versions of Brad Pitt's face for
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."

speaker__who_he_is
Ed Ulbrich works at the leading edge of computer-generated visuals. On a recent project,
filmmakers, artists, and technologists have been working at a breakthrough point where
reality and digitally created worlds collide.

speaker__why_listen
Ed Ulbrich spoke at TED2009 representing a team of filmmakers, artists and technologists
who've been working on a significant breakthrough in visual storytelling -- a startling
blurring of the line between digital creation and actor.  Ulbrich was the long time
executive VP of production at Digital Domain, for whom he executive-produced Academy
Award-winning visual effects for Titanic, What Dreams May Come, Fight Club, Zodiac,
Adaptation and other features, as well as music videos and more than 500 commercials. He
has recently exited this position but has entered into a creative consultant arrangement
with the company. In 2007, he was named to the Creativity 50 -- top innovators in
advertising and design.

speaker__what_others_say
The difference offered by [this] technology is in the detail. Standard motion-capture
systems are generally limited in resolution to several hundred points on a human face,
while this system can recreate facial images at a resolution of 200,000 pixels. The digital
video images produced by the system are startlingly realistic.

talks__tags
aging, business, entertainment, film, technology, animation

url__webpage
[Link]
url__audio
nan

How I made friends with reality

talk__description
With her signature wit and wisdom, Emily Levine meets her ultimate challenge as a
comedian/philosopher: she makes dying funny. In this personal talk, she takes us on her
journey to make friends with reality -- and peace with death. Life is an enormous gift, Levine
says: "You enrich it as best you can, and then you give it back."

speaker__who_he_is
Humorist, writer and trickster Emily Levine riffs on science and the human condition.

speaker__why_listen
Humorist Emily Levine works a heady vein of humor, cerebral and thoughtful as well as
hilarious. Oh, she's got plenty of jokes. But her work, at its core, makes serious connections
-- between hard science and pop culture, between what we say and what we secretly
assume ... She plumbs the hidden oppositions, the untouchable not-quite-truths of the
modern [Link]'s background in improv theater, with its requirement to always say
"yes" to the other actor's reality, has helped shape her worldview. Always suspicious of
sharp either/or distinctions, she proposes "the quantum logic of and/and" -- a thoroughly
postmodern, scientifically informed take on life that allows for complicated states of being.
Like the one we're in right [Link] more on Levine's thoughts about life and death, read her
blog, "The Yoy of Dying," at [Link], along with updates on "Emily @ the Edge
of Chaos" and pronouncements from Oracle Em.

speaker__what_others_say
I love to laugh and love a good mental workout. Rarely, if ever, have I had the two together.
You have the rare gift of bringing philosophy to life AND of relating it to the major and
mundane in our existence. AND of doing so with a wild and wonderful sense of humor.

talks__tags
aging, cancer, comedy, death, creativity, funny, happiness, humanity, humor, life, illness

url__webpage
[Link]

url__audio
[Link]
What we can do to die well

talk__description
The healthcare industry in America is so focused on pathology, surgery and pharmacology --
on what doctors "do" to patients -- that it often overlooks the values of the human beings it's
supposed to care for. Palliative care physician Timothy Ihrig explains the benefits of a
different approach, one that fosters a patient's overall quality of life and navigates serious
illness from diagnosis to death with dignity and compassion.

speaker__who_he_is
Timothy Ihrig advocates for an approach to healthcare that prioritizes a patient's personal
values.

speaker__why_listen
Dr. Timothy Ihrig, MD practices palliative medicine, caring for the most vulnerable and
sickest people, and helps other providers improve the quality and value of the care they
provide to this population. His work has shown how patient-centered care improves quality
and length of life, and that it has significant economic benefits to patients, healthcare
systems and the [Link] is nationally recognized for his expertise in continuum
population health and community-based palliative care. He holds appointments as content
expert to the Accountable Care Learning Collaborative, an industry-leading healthcare
innovation collaborative co-chaired by former Health and Human Services Secretary and
Utah Governor Mike Leavitt and former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr.
Mark McClellan. Ihrig is a member of the Advisory Council of the Iowa Healthcare
Collaborative, a think-tank for strategies in health care quality, safety and value for the state
of Iowa. He also serves as an Iowa Alternate-Delegate to the American Medical
[Link] has been an expert source for palliative care development for the
Brookings Institution, and he was the sole practicing physician assisting the Iowa General
Assembly in raising minimum standard requirements for Iowa physicians with respect to
end-of-life care and oversight of prescriptive narcotics. He also acted as an expert clinician
in support of Iowa Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment bill. He holds
appointments as Clinical Adjunct Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University
of Iowa Carver School of Medicine and acts as Palliative Care clinical instructor. He is on the
board of the Hospice and Palliative Care Association of Iowa, is the former chair of the
Advocacy Committee and sits on the Palliative Care Advisory [Link]'s other
interests include sexuality at the end of life and global health. He served as the Medical
Chair of the Health Services Committee for Empower Tanzania Incorporated, whose mission
is the development of sustainable healthcare solutions in sub-Saharan Africa for individuals
suffering with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-limited illnesses.

speaker__what_others_say
Tim brings calm and indispensable insight to the role of a new medical specialty -- palliative
care -- an added layer of crucial support for improving the quality of life of people with
serious illness and for those who love and care for them. His pioneering vision and
leadership helped establish the importance of attention to the patient's inner life and
experience both during and after treatment. The outcomes of palliative care- a happier and
longer life despite illness- is a too-well-kept secret. Learn about what's in it for you, when to
demand it, and how to find it, from the master.

talks__tags
aging, cancer, communication, compassion, death, choice, health, economics, health care,
medicine, humanity, pharmaceuticals, self, identity, TEDx

url__webpage
[Link]

url__audio
[Link]

Say your truths and seek them in others

talk__description
In a lyrical, unexpectedly funny talk about heavy topics such as frayed relationships and the
death of a loved one, Elizabeth Lesser describes the healing process of putting aside pride
and defensiveness to make way for soul-baring and truth-telling. "You don't have to wait for
a life-or-death situation to clean up the relationships that matter to you," she says. "Be like a
new kind of first responder ... the one to take the first courageous step toward the other."

speaker__who_he_is
Elizabeth Lesser helps her readers and students transform their lives after brushes with
pain, adversity and life's myriad problems.

speaker__why_listen
Elizabeth Lesser is a bestselling author and the cofounder of Omega Institute, the renowned
conference and retreat center located in Rhinebeck, New York. Lesser's first book, The
Seeker's Guide, chronicles her years at Omega and distills lessons learned into a potent
guide for growth and healing. Her New York Times bestselling book, Broken Open: How
Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow (Random House), has sold more than 300,000 copies
and has been translated into 20 languages. Her latest book, Marrow: A Love
Story (Harper Collins/September 2016), is a memoir about Elizabeth and her younger
sister, Maggie, and the process they went through when Elizabeth was the donor for
Maggie’s bone marrow [Link] cofounded Omega Institute in 1977 -- a time
when a variety of fresh ideas were sprouting in American culture. Since then, the institute
has been at the forefront of holistic education, offering workshops and trainings in:
integrative medicine, prevention, nutrition, and the mind/body connection; meditation and
yoga; cross-cultural arts and creativity; ecumenical spirituality; and social change
movements like women's empowerment and environmental sustainability. Lesser is also
the cofounder of Omega's Women's Leadership Center, which grew out of the popular
Women & Power conference series featuring women leaders, activists, authors and artists
from around the world. Each year more than 30,000 people participate in Omega's
programs on its campus in Rhinebeck, New York and at urban and travel sites, and more
than a million people visit its website for online learning.A student of the Sufi master, Pir
Vilayat Inayat Khan, for many years, Lesser has also studied with spiritual teachers, healers,
psychologists and philosophers from other traditions. In 2008 she helped Oprah Winfrey
produce a ten-week online seminar based on Eckhart Tolle's book, A New Earth. The
webinar was viewed by more than 8 million people worldwide. She was a frequent host on
Oprah's "Soul Series," a weekly radio show on Sirius/XM, and a guest on Oprah's "Super
Soul Sunday." In 2011, she gave a TED Talk, "Take 'the Other' to lunch ," in which she called
for civility and understanding as we negotiate our differences as human [Link]
attended Barnard College, where she studied literature, and San Francisco State University,
where she received a teaching degree. In 2011 she received an honorary doctorate from the
Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, in Palo Alto, California. Early in her career she was a
midwife and birth educator. Today, besides writing and her work at Omega Institute, she
lends her time to social and environmental causes and is an avid walker, cook and
gardener. She lives with her family in New York's Hudson River Valley.

speaker__what_others_say
Broken Open is a beautifully written blend of other people’s moving stories, practical
guidance and her own personal memoir.

talks__tags
aging, communication, compassion, empathy, family, humanity, health, life, death,
vulnerability, relationships

url__webpage
[Link]

url__audio
[Link]

A rite of passage for late life

talk__description
We use rituals to mark the early stages of our lives, like birthdays and graduations -- but
what about our later years? In this meditative talk about looking both backward and
forward, Bob Stein proposes a new tradition of giving away your things (and sharing the
stories behind them) as you get older, to reflect on your life so far and open the door to
whatever comes next.
speaker__who_he_is
Bob Stein has long been in the vanguard: immersed in radical politics as a young man, he
grew into one of the founding fathers of new media. He’s wondering what sorts of new
rituals and traditions might emerge as society expands to include increasing numbers of
people in their eighties and nineties.

speaker__why_listen
Until his early 30's, Bob Stein was a full-time radical activist. In 1981, he spent a year
researching and writing a paper for Encyclopedia Britannica -- "EB and the Intellectual
Tools of the Future" -- and he has been involved in electronic publishing ever since. In 1984
he founded The Criterion Collection, a critically acclaimed series of definitive films, which
included the first supplementary sections and director commentaries and introduced the
letterbox format. He also founded The Voyager Company, which in 1989 published one of
the first commercial CD-ROMs, "The CD Companion to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony." In
1992 Voyager published the first electronic books, including Douglas Adams's Hitchhikers
Guide to the Galaxy and Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park. In 2004 The MacArthur
Foundation provided a generous grant with which Stein founded the Institute for the Future
of the Book, a small think and do tank aimed at exploring and influencing the evolution of
new forms of intellectual expression. In 2005, the Institute published the first "networked
books," which an important milestone in the shift to social reading and writing as discourse
moves from pages to screens. After waiting 25 years, since he saw the first public demo of
VR, Stein is currently working on a platform to present music and art performance in a
shared social space.

speaker__what_others_say
nan

talks__tags
aging, communication, culture, future, life, personal growth, society, TED Residency

url__webpage
[Link]

url__audio
[Link]

Why we should embrace aging as an adventure

talk__description
We need to feel better about aging in order to age better, says writer and activist Carl
Honoré. How? In this spirited talk, Honoré offers a set of simple solutions to combat
ageism -- as well as a host of trailblazers and changemakers who came into their own later
in life, from artists and musicians to physicists and business leaders.
speaker__who_he_is
Carl Honoré loves words: the way they appear on the page, the music they make when
spoken and their power to change the world.

speaker__why_listen
Carl Honoré's life is shaped by his curiosity, his love of language, and his desire to make
the world better. After graduating university, he worked with children living on the street in
Brazil, and then spent a decade as a journalist covering South America and Europe before
switching to writing books. His first three (In Praise of Slowness, Under
Pressure and The Slow Fix) took on our modern cult of speed. His newest, Bolder, takes
on the cult of youth.  Along the way, Honoré has given hundreds of talks, made radio
and TV shows and become the voice of the "Slow Movement," which has inspired readers
around the world to downshift into a more relaxed, contemplative and richly savored
lifestyle. His books have been translated into over 35 languages.

speaker__what_others_say
nan

talks__tags
aging, creativity, society, personal growth

url__webpage
[Link]

url__audio
nan

Prepare for a good end of life

talk__description
Thinking about death is frightening, but planning ahead is practical and leaves more room
for peace of mind in our final days. In a solemn, thoughtful talk, Judy MacDonald Johnston
shares 5 practices for planning for a good end of life.

speaker__who_he_is
By day, Judy MacDonald Johnston develops children's reading programs. By night, she helps
others maintain their quality of life as they near death.

speaker__why_listen
Judy MacDonald Johnston is the Publisher and Cofounder of Blue Lake Children's
Publishing, which develops educational reading tools for preschoolers through a program
called the Tessy and Tab Reading Club. Johnston's credo, "love words early," and her focus
on the earliest years of life, is an interesting foil for her other passion: Planning for end of
life. Johnston's side project, Good [End of] Life, deals not with happy babies decoding
symbols, but with a much more morbid topic: Death. Good [End of] Life is a set of online
worksheets and practices that aim to help deal with difficult questions -- like who should
speak for you if you cannot speak, and whether to fill out a do-not-resuscitate form -- before
it's too [Link] the past 15 years alone Johnston has founded two other companies in
addition to Blue Lake Children's Publishing: PrintPaks, a children's software company, and
Kibu, a social networking site for teenage girls. Previously Johnston was a Worldwide
Project Marketing Manager at Hewlett Packard.

speaker__what_others_say
[Johnston]’s leveraged every single advantage she’s been given into creating a
hundred times that for others, never holding tight to wisdom or resources, but investing
them where they’ll do the most good next.

talks__tags
aging, culture, death, humanity, life

url__webpage
[Link]

url__audio
[Link]

Never, ever give up

talk__description
In the pitch-black night, stung by jellyfish, choking on salt water, singing to herself,
hallucinating … Diana Nyad just kept on swimming. And that's how she finally achieved
her lifetime goal as an athlete: an extreme 100-mile swim from Cuba to Florida -- at age 64.
Hear her story.

speaker__who_he_is
A record-setting long-distance swimmer, Diana Nyad writes and thinks deeply about
motivation.

speaker__why_listen
For ten years (1969-1979), Diana Nyad was known as the greatest long-distance swimmer
in the world. In 1979, she stroked the then-longest swim in history, making the 102.5-mile
journey from the island of Bimini (Bahamas) to Florida. She also broke numerous world
records, including what had been a 50-year mark for circling Manhattan Island, setting the
new time of 7 hrs 57 min. She is a member of the National Women’s Hall of Fame and
the International Swimming Hall of [Link] age 60, having not swum a stroke in decades,
she began planning for her white whale of distance swims: the 110-mile ocean crossing
between Cuba and Florida. She'd tried it once, in her 20s, and severe jellyfish attacks had
defeated her then. But now, with a strong team and a new commitment to her vision, she
stepped back into the salt. She spoke about this second attempt at TEDMED 2011. And at
TEDWomen 2013, in December, she talks about how it feels to have finally done [Link]
appears as part of a weekly five-minute radio piece on sports for KCRW called "The Score"
(heard during KCRW's broadcast of NPR's All Things Considered), as well as for the
Marketplace radio program.

speaker__what_others_say
nan

talks__tags
aging, culture, extreme sports, goal-setting

url__webpage
[Link]

url__audio
[Link]

Why 30 is not the new 20

talk__description
Clinical psychologist Meg Jay has a bold message for twentysomethings: Contrary to popular
belief, your 20s are not a throwaway decade. In this provocative talk, Jay says that just
because marriage, work and kids are happening later in life, doesn’t mean you can’t
start planning now. She gives 3 pieces of advice for how twentysomethings can re-claim
adulthood in the defining decade of their lives.

speaker__who_he_is
In her book "The Defining Decade," Meg Jay suggests that many twentysomethings feel
trivialized during what is actually the most transformative — and defining — period of
our adult lives.

speaker__why_listen
Lately it feels as if 25 is just a bit too young to get serious. In her psychology practice, and
her book The Defining Decade, clinical psychologist Meg Jay suggests that many
twentysomethings have been caught in a swirl of hype and misinformation about what Time
magazine calls the "Me Me Me Generation." The rhetoric that "30 is the new 20," she
suggests, trivializes what is actually the most transformative period of our adult
lives. Drawing from more than ten years of work with hundreds of twentysomething
clients and students, Jay weaves science together with compelling, behind-closed-doors
stories. The result is a provocative, poignant read that shows us why, far from being an
irrelevant downtime, our twenties are a developmental sweetspot that comes only once.Â
Our twenties are a time when the things we do -- and the things we don’t do -- will have
an enormous effect across years and even generations to [Link] is a clinical psychologist
who specializes in adult development, and in twentysomethings in particular. She is an
assistant clinical professor at the University of Virginia and maintains a private practice in
Charlottesville, Virginia. She spent her own early twentysomething years as an Outward
Bound instructor.

speaker__what_others_say
A four-alarm call for the 50 million 20-somethings in America.

talks__tags
aging, culture, goal-setting, youth

url__webpage
[Link]

url__audio
[Link]

How societies can grow old better

talk__description
There's an irony behind the latest efforts to extend human life: It's no picnic to be an old
person in a youth-oriented society. Older people can become isolated, lacking meaningful
work and low on funds. In this intriguing talk, Jared Diamond looks at how many different
societies treat their elders -- some better, some worse -- and suggests we all take advantage
of experience.

speaker__who_he_is
Jared Diamond investigates why cultures prosper or decline -- and what we can learn by
taking a broad look across many kinds of societies.

speaker__why_listen
In his books Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse (and the popular PBS and National
Geographic documentaries they inspired), big-picture scholar Jared Diamond explores
civilizations and why they all seem to fall. Now in his latest book, The World Until
Yesterday, Diamond examines small, traditional, tribal societies -- and suggests that modern
civilization is only our latest solution to survival. Diamond’s background in
evolutionary biology, geography and physiology informs his integrated vision of human
history. He posits that success -- and failure -- depends on how well societies adapt to their
changing environment.
speaker__what_others_say
Diamond eschews the grand canvas to offer an empathetic portrait of human survival and
adaptability

talks__tags
aging, culture, social change

url__webpage
[Link]

url__audio
[Link]

4 powerful poems about Parkinson's and growing older

talk__description
When poet Robin Morgan found herself facing Parkinson’s disease, she distilled her
experiences into these four quietly powerful poems — meditating on age, loss, and the
simple power of noticing.

speaker__who_he_is
The former editor-in-chief of Ms., Robin Morgan published the classic "Sisterhood Is
Powerful" anthologies.

speaker__why_listen
Poet, author, editor and activist Robin Morgan has published more than 20 books, including
the Sisterhood Is Powerful anthologies, the best-selling The Demon Lover: The Roots of
Terrorism, and six books of poetry. The recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts
Prize (Poetry) and other honors, and the former editor-in-chief of Ms., she cofounded (with
Simone de Beauvoir) the Sisterhood Is Global Institute and cofounded (with Jane Fonda and
Gloria Steinem) the Women's Media Center. She hosts Women's Media Center Live with
Robin Morgan, a nationally syndicated radio program with a global audience on iTunes and
[Link]. Her just-finished book, Dark Matter: New Poems, is due out in 2016.

speaker__what_others_say
nan

talks__tags
aging, disease, health, personal growth, poetry

url__webpage
[Link]
robin_morgan_4_powerful_poems_about_parkinson_s_and_growing_older
url__audio
[Link]

How state budgets are breaking US schools

talk__description
America's school systems are funded by the 50 states. In this fiery talk, Bill Gates says that
state budgets are riddled with accounting tricks that disguise the true cost of health care
and pensions and weighted with worsening deficits -- with the financing of education at the
losing end.

speaker__who_he_is
A passionate techie, Bill Gates changed the world while leading Microsoft to dizzying
success. Now he's doing it again through his global philanthropic work that strives to
reduce inequity everywhere.

speaker__why_listen
Bill Gates is cochair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In 1975, he founded Microsoft
with Paul Allen. A geek icon, tech visionary and business trailblazer, Gates led the company
to become the worldwide leader in business and personal software and services. In 2008,
Gates transitioned from his day-to-day role with Microsoft to focus full-time on his
foundation’s work to expand opportunity to the world’s most disadvantaged people.
Along with cochair Melinda Gates, he leads the foundation’s strategic development and
sets the overall direction of the organization. Holding that all lives have equal value no
matter where they're being lived, the foundation has donated staggering sums to HIV/AIDS
programs, libraries, agriculture research and disaster relief -- and offered vital guidance and
creative funding to programs in global health and [Link] with Warren Buffett,
the Gateses founded the Giving Pledge, an effort to encourage the wealthiest families and
individuals to publicly commit more than half their wealth to philanthropic causes and
charitable organizations either during their lifetime or in their will. In 2015, Gates created
the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, a group of individuals and entities committed to clean
energy innovation, followed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, an investor-led fund that
provides patient capital to support cutting-edge clean energy companies. Follow Gates's
ongoing thinking on his personal website, The Gates Notes, and read a collection of Bill
and Melinda Gates's annual letters, where they take stock of the Gates Foundation and the
world.

speaker__what_others_say
nan

talks__tags
aging, education, money, youth
url__webpage
[Link]

url__audio
nan

Your genes are not your fate

talk__description
Dean Ornish shares new research that shows how adopting healthy lifestyle habits can
affect a person at a genetic level. For instance, he says, when you live healthier, eat better,
exercise, and love more, your brain cells actually increase.

speaker__who_he_is
Dean Ornish is a clinical professor at UCSF and founder of the Preventive Medicine Research
Institute. He's a leading expert on fighting illness -- particularly heart disease with dietary
and lifestyle changes.

speaker__why_listen
Dr. Dean Ornish wants you to live longer, and have more fun while you're at it. He's one of
the leading voices in the medical community promoting a balanced, holistic approach to
health, and proving that it works. The author of Eat More, Weigh Less and several other
best-selling books, Ornish is best known for his lifestyle-based approach to fighting heart
disease. His research at the Preventive Medicine Research Institute (the nonprofit he
founded) clinically demonstrated that cardiovascular illnesses -- and, most recently
prostate cancer -- can be treated and even reversed through diet and exercise. These
findings (once thought to be physiologically implausible) have been widely chronicled in the
US media, including Newsweek, for which Ornish writes a column. The fifty-something
physician, who's received many honors and awards, was chosen by LIFE Magazine as one of
the most influential members of his generation. Among his many pursuits, Ornish is now
working with food corporations to help stop America's obesity pandemic from spreading
around the globe.

speaker__what_others_say
Instead of trying to motivate [patients] with the 'fear of dying,' Ornish reframes the issue.
He inspires a new vision of the 'joy of living' -- convincing them they can feel better, not just
live longer.

talks__tags
aging, genetics, health, health care, medicine, science

url__webpage
[Link]
url__audio
[Link]

Alzheimer's is not normal aging — and we can cure it

talk__description
More than 40 million people worldwide suffer from Alzheimer's disease, and that number is
expected to increase drastically in the coming years. But no real progress has been made in
the fight against the disease since its classification more than 100 years ago. Scientist
Samuel Cohen shares a new breakthrough in Alzheimer's research from his lab as well as a
message of hope. "Alzheimer's is a disease," Cohen says, "and we can cure it."

speaker__who_he_is
Samuel Cohen researches Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.

speaker__why_listen
Samuel Cohen is a Research Fellow in Biophysical Chemistry at St. John's College and the
Centre for Misfolding Diseases in the Department of Chemistry at the University of
Cambridge, from where he holds PhD, MSci, MA and BA degrees. Cohen has worked as a
consultant in the London office of Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he specialized in
the healthcare, technology and media sectors. His scientific research focuses on
neurodegenerative disorders. He is co-author of more than 20 scientific papers, book
chapters and patents, and was recently a lead author on a widely-reported study in which
researchers made a major breakthrough towards finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease.

speaker__what_others_say
nan

talks__tags
aging, health, medical research, medicine, neuroscience, "Alzheimers"

url__webpage
[Link]
samuel_cohen_alzheimer_s_is_not_normal_aging_and_we_can_cure_it

url__audio
[Link]
Let's end ageism

talk__description
It's not the passage of time that makes it so hard to get older. It's ageism, a prejudice that
pits us against our future selves -- and each other. Ashton Applewhite urges us to dismantle
the dread and mobilize against the last socially acceptable prejudice. "Aging is not a
problem to be fixed or a disease to be cured," she says. "It is a natural, powerful, lifelong
process that unites us all."

speaker__who_he_is
Ashton Applewhite asks us to look at ageism -- the assumption that older people are alike
and that aging impoverishes us.

speaker__why_listen
Ashton Applewhite would like us to think differently about growing older. As she writes:
"Aging is a natural, lifelong, powerful process that unites us all. So how come so many of us
unthinkingly assume that depression, diapers, and dementia lie ahead? Because of ageism --
the last socially sanctioned prejudice."She's the author of This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto
Against Ageism and is the voice of the Yo, Is This Ageist? blog. She is also the author of
Cutting Loose: Why Women Who End Their Marriages Do So Well -- and was a clue on
Jeopardy! as the author of the mega bestseller series, Truly Tasteless Jokes. (Who is
Blanche Knott?)

speaker__what_others_say
nan

talks__tags
aging, humanity, inequality, identity, personal growth, social change, society

url__webpage
[Link]

url__audio
[Link]

Wisdom from great writers on every year of life

talk__description
As different as we humans are from one another, we all age along the same great sequence,
and the shared patterns of our lives pass into the pages of the books we love. In this moving
talk, journalist Joshua Prager explores the stages of life through quotations from Norman
Mailer, Joyce Carol Oates, William Trevor and other great writers, set to visualizations by
graphic designer Milton Glaser. "Books tell us who we've been, who we are, who we will be,
too," Prager says.

speaker__who_he_is
Joshua Prager’s journalism unravels historical secrets -- and his own.

speaker__why_listen
Joshua Prager writes for publications including Vanity Fair, The New York Times and The
Wall Street Journal, where he was a senior writer for eight years. George Will has described
his work as "exemplary journalistic sleuthing."His new book, 100 Years, is a list of literary
quotations on every age from birth to one hundred. Designed by Milton Glaser, the
legendary graphic designer who created the I ♥ NY logo, the book moves year by year
through the words of our most beloved authors, revealing the great sequence of [Link] first
book, The Echoing Green, was a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. The New York
Times Book Review called it “a revelation and a page turner, a group character study
unequaled in baseball writing since Roger Kahn’s Boys of Summer some three decades
ago.”His second book, Half-Life, describes his recovery from a bus crash that broke his
neck. Dr. Jerome Groopman, staff writer at the New Yorker magazine, called it “an
extraordinary memoir, told with nuance and brimming with [Link] was a Nieman
fellow at Harvard in 2011 and a Fulbright Distinguished Chair at Hebrew University in
2012. He was born in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, grew up in New Jersey, and lives in New
York. He is writing a book about Roe v. Wade.Â

speaker__what_others_say
nan

talks__tags
aging, humanity, journalism, books, identity, life, language, meditation, storytelling, writing

url__webpage
[Link]
joshua_prager_wisdom_from_great_writers_on_every_year_of_life

url__audio
[Link]

How to live passionately—no matter your age

talk__description
Author Isabel Allende is 71. Yes, she has a few wrinkles—but she has incredible
perspective too. In this candid talk, meant for viewers of all ages, she talks about her fears
as she gets older and shares how she plans to keep on living passionately.
speaker__who_he_is
Isabel Allende writes stories of passion. Her novels and memoirs, including <em>The House
of the Spirits</em> and <em>Eva Luna</em>, tell the stories of women and men who live
with passionate commitment -- to love, to their world, to an ideal.

speaker__why_listen
As a novelist and memoirist, Isabel Allende writes of passionate lives, including her own.
Born into a Chilean family with political ties, she went into exile in the United States in the
1970s—an event that, she believes, created her as a writer. Her voice blends sweeping
narrative with touches of magical realism; her stories are romantic, in the very best sense of
the word. Her novels include The House of the Spirits, Eva Luna and The Stories of Eva
Luna, and her latest, Maya's Notebook and Ripper. And don't forget her adventure
trilogy for young readers— City of the Beasts, Kingdom of the Golden
Dragon and Forest of the [Link] a memoirist, she has written about her vision of her
lost Chile, in My Invented Country, and movingly tells the story of her life to her own
daughter, in Paula. Her book Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses memorably linked two
sections of the bookstore that don't see much crossover: Erotica and Cookbooks. Just as
vital is her community work: The Isabel Allende Foundation works with nonprofits in the
San Francisco Bay Area and Chile to empower and protect women and
girls—understanding that empowering women is the only true route to social and
economic justice.

speaker__what_others_say
Allende can spin a funny, sensual yarn, but she can also use her narrative skills to remind us
that parallel to our placid and comfortable existence is another, invisible universe, one
where poverty, misery and torture are all too real.

talks__tags
aging, storytelling

url__webpage
[Link]

url__audio
[Link]