Susan Savage-Rumbaugh: Apes that write, start fires and play Pac-Man

About this talk

Savage-Rumbaugh’s work with bonobo apes, which can understand spoken language and learn tasks by watching, forces the audience to rethink how much of what a species can do is determined by biology — and how much by cultural exposure.
About Susan Savage-Rumbaugh

Susan Savage-Rumbaugh has made startling breakthroughs in her lifelong work with chimpanzees and bonobos, showing the animals to be adept in picking up language and other “intelligent” behaviors. Full bio and more links »

Freeman Dyson: Let’s look for life in the outer solar system

About this talk

Physicist Freeman Dyson suggests that we start looking for life on the moons of Jupiter and out past Neptune, in the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud. He talks about what such life would be like — and how we might find it.

About Freeman Dyson

With Freeman Dyson’s astonishing forecasts for the future, it’s hard to tell where science ends and science fiction begins. But far from being a wild-eyed visionary, Dyson is a clear and sober

Patricia Burchat: The search for dark energy and dark matter

About this talk

Physicist Patricia Burchat sheds light on two basic ingredients of our universe: dark matter and dark energy. Comprising 96% of the universe between them, they can’t be directly measured, but their influence is immense.

About Patricia Burchat

Patricia Burchat studies the structure and distribution of dark matter and dark energy. These mysterious ingredients can’t be measured in conventional ways, yet form a quarter of the mass of our.

George Dyson: Let’s take a nuclear-powered rocket to Saturn

About this talk

Author George Dyson spins the story of Project Orion, a massive, nuclear-powered spacecraft that could have taken us to Saturn in five years. His insider’s perspective and a secret cache of documents bring an Atomic Age dream to life.

About George Dyson

A historian and philosopher of science, George Dyson takes a clear-eyed and deeply researched view of our recent scientific past — while showing where it may lead us

Brian Cox: An inside tour of the world’s biggest supercollider

TED Conference