TED Talk #15: Want to change the world? Start with your toys!

Hi Everyone, 

Our talk today comes from a girl who is right about your age.

McKenna Pope's younger brother loved to cook, but he worried about using an Easy-Bake Oven

— because it was a toy for girls. So at age 13, Pope started an online petition for the American toy company Hasbro (based right here in Rhode Island!) to change the pink-and-purple color scheme on the classic toy and incorporate boys into its TV marketing.

 In a heartening talk, Pope makes the case for gender-neutral toys and gives a rousing call to action to all kids who feel powerless.

I hope her talk will motivate and inspire you all.

TED Talk #14 A Call To Invention

Hi Everyone,

Do you love handmade things?  Is working with your hands something you enjoy doing?   Have you always wondered just what you can do with a potato chip?

If you think it's fun to make stuff, then, this is the TED Talk for you!  Check out William Gurstelle's talk where he shows you how to make speakers from objects you may already have around your house! 

TED Talk #12: The magic ingredient that brings Pixar movies to life

Anyone interested in art, technology, storytelling, digital graphics, or even Finding Nemo is going to love this chat!!

See how animators create the realistic digital worlds and characters that we've come to love! 

Danielle Feinberg, Pixar's director of photography, creates stories with soul and wonder using math, science, and coding. Go behind the scenes of Finding Nemo, Toy Story, Brave, WALL-E and more, and discover how Pixar interweaves art and science to create fantastic worlds where the things you imagine can become real. This talk comes from the PBS special "TED Talks: Science & Wonder."

Click here to view the Danielle's Talk 

TED Talk #10 What Adults Can Learn From Kids

When was the last time someone said you were childish?

Where you doing something silly?  Something fun?  Something imaginative?

Is it always a bad thing to be like a child? Think about it, what are some things that kids can actually teach adults?  To take risks, to bounce back, to be creative, get excited, to ask questions, to leap, to let it go.

Our Ted Talk speaker today is our youngest speaker yet.  Adora Svitak gave this talk when she was only 12-years-old.  Once you see it, I think you will all agree that we can learn a lot from children.

Child prodigy Adora Svitak says the world needs "childish" thinking: bold ideas, wild creativity and especially optimism. Kids' big dreams deserve high expectations, she says, starting with grownups' willingness to learn from children as much as to teach.

Check out the talk here. 

TED Talk #8: The secrets of nature's grossest creatures, channeled into robots

There has been a lot of talk of engineering on 8 White lately.  Recruitment of architects, builders, designers.  When scientists, engineers, and designers are looking for inspiration, where do they look? Sometimes inspiration is right in front of you.
So tiny.
So common.
It may go unnoticed.

Inspiration can be found in nature.
As simple as
the cockroach.



I know what you're thinking. Gross.  Just looking at that picture makes me shiver.  But cockroaches are one of the longest living creatures ever.  There must be a reason for their success. 

Maybe that success can be attributed to design.

Biologist Robert Full explains in his interesting (and slightly yucky) TED talk about the aspects of a cockroach's body that helps them adapt to their environment, stay safe, and live a long life grossing us out.  Robotic engineers have been studying the cockroach to see what they can learn and then use in their designs. 

How can robots learn to stabilize on rough terrain, walk upside down, do gymnastic maneuvers in the air and run into walls without harming themselves? Robert Full takes a look at the incredible body of the cockroach to show what it can teach robotics engineers.

Check out his talk here.  

So, the next time you're building a structure, designing a game, or creating at all, look to nature and you may see inspiration crawling across the floor. Try not to squish it.