This week's comment round-up is a tribute to TED.com's spiffy new commenting system, that lets you rate others' statements up or down and have threaded conversations! Rather than using our own editorial tastes to select comments, today we've let you,...

Louise Fresco argues that a smart approach to large-scale, industrial farming and food production will feed our planet's incoming population of nine billion. Only foods like (the scorned) supermarket white bread, she says, will nourish on a global scale. (Recorded...

At TED2009, Al Gore presents updated slides from around the globe to make the case that worrying climate trends are even worse than scientists predicted, and to make clear his stance on "clean coal". (Recorded at TED2009, February 2009, in...

I'm a huge fan of sculptor & painter Tom Shannon, a gentle genius who turns science into art and art into science. We just posted today his 2003 TED talk showing his gorgeous science-inspired sculptures and his vision for the...

Tom Shannon shows off his gravity-defying, otherworldly sculpture -- made of simple, earthly materials -- that floats and spins like planets on magnets and suspension wire. (Recorded at TED2003, February 2003, in Monterey, California. Duration: 11:55.) Watch Tom Shannon's talk...

Three months ago, the visionary Venezuelan musician Dr. José Antonio Abreu made his TED Prize wish -- to create and document a special training program for at least 50 gifted young musicians, passionate for their art and for social...

In his 2009 TEDTalk, techno-blogger Erik Hersman breaks down the framework of and uses for Ushahidi, a crisis reporting platform that emerged to help Kenyans avoid violence during riots after the 2008 elections. During this follow-up interview with the...

This was an especially lively week on the TED commenting front, as our community tackled debates on swine flu, race and politics, and globalization. These amazing discussions can get a little heated -- so we appreciate that there always seems...

Yesterday, CERN announced that the Large Hadron Collider (which spectacularly failed last September) could be turned on again as soon as this August. In this short talk from TED U 2009, physicist Brian Cox shares what's new with CERN's supercollider....

Some familiar TED faces appear in the new Time 100 list, listing the world's most influential people. As always with this great list, look for short, punchy profiles by some well-matched writers and subjects: Bill James on Nate Silver; Bill...

TED took 20 minutes with Laurie Garrett this afternoon to follow up on her TEDTalk from 2007, posted today, about pandemic flu. Garrett is the author of The Coming Plague, and a fellow on the Council for Foreign Relations...

It's the final day to vote for TED.com and Pangea Day in the Webby People's Voice Awards. TED has been nominated in 3 categories for 2009. TED.com is in the running for Best Use of Video or Moving Image and...

In 2007, as the world worried about a possible avian flu epidemic, Laurie Garrett, author of The Coming Plague, gave this powerful talk to a small TED University audience. Her insights from past pandemics are suddenly more relevant than ever....

In his TEDTalk, blogger and statistics whiz Nate Silver explained how race may have affected the 2008 election. In this interview with the TEDBlog he further explores the relationships between urban spaces, race and President Obama. Here's an excerpt:...

If you're as addicted to reddit as we are here -- visit the brand-new reddit.TV to channel-surf through reddit's Best of the Web video, or browse by category: Music, Geek, Sports ... And you'll see a nice red button...

In this hilariously lively performance, actress Sarah Jones channels an opinionated elderly Jewish woman, a fast-talking Dominican college student and more, giving TED2009 just a sample of her spectacular character range. (Recorded at TED2009, February 2009, in Long Beach, California....

We love the free, open-source Miro player. If you do too, consider supporting the player by adopting a line of Miro code. Visit the Miro Adoption Center to make a small donation and support the team's constant efforts to improve...

Swine flu has made this a busy week for virus hunter Nathan Wolfe, who spoke at TED2009 about preventing the next pandemic. His groundbreaking Global Viral Forecasting Initiative (supported by grants from Google.org, the Skoll Foundation and others) monitors...

Neuroscientist Michael Merzenich looks at one of the secrets of the brain's incredible power: its ability to re-wire itself. He's researching ways to harness this plasticity to enhance our skills and recover lost function. (Recorded at TED2004, February 2004, in...

Alex Tabarrok is co-author of hit economics blog Marginal Revolution. At TED2009, he talked about how a lesson from 1929 teaches us that ideas trump economic crises. The TED Blog interviewed Tabarrok over the phone to find out what...