Lucianne Walkowicz: Look Up For a Change
Lucianne Walkowicz, a 2011 TEDGlobal Fellow, studies the inscrutable faces of the stars for clues to the inner workings of their hearts. She got her taste for astronomy as an undergrad at Johns Hopkins, testing detectors for the Hubble Space Telescope's new camera (installed in 2002). She also learned to love the dark stellar denizens of our galaxy, the red dwarfs, which became the topic of her PhD dissertation at University of Washington.
In her TEDxPhoenix 11.11.11 TEDxTalk, Lucianne 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."
Other Videos That May Interest You:
A Beautiful Relationship - Savannah Cat MAGIC and Andreas Stucki
This is a short video about the world's tallest domestic cat, MAGIC (and probably the biggest - yet to be confirmed at 27-9-09) and Andreas Stucki the charming son of Martin and Kathrin Stucki. MAGIC is a F1 Savannah cat bred and raised at A1 Savannahs and now owned by Bella Gattini Cattery owned and run by Lee and Kim Draper.
Carl Honore: In Praise of Slowness
MIT professor Neil Gershenfeld talks about his Fab Lab -- a low-cost lab that lets people build things they need using digital and analog tools. It's a simple idea with powerful results.
The True Cost of Oil: Garth Lenz
What does environmental devastation actually look like? At TEDxVictoria, photographer Garth Lenz shares shocking photos of the Alberta Tar Sands mining project -- and the beautiful (and vital) ecosystems under threat.
Ron Gutman: The Hidden Power of Smiling
Ron Gutman reviews a raft of studies about smiling, and reveals some surprising results. Did you know your smile can be a predictor of how long you'll live -- and that a simple smile has a measurable effect on your overall well-being? Prepare to flex a few facial muscles as you learn more about this evolutionarily contagious behavior.
Candy Chang: Before I Die I Want To...
In her New Orleans neighborhood, artist Candy Chang turned an abandoned house into a giant chalkboard asking a fill-in-the-blank question: Before I die I want to ___.