The science of baking cookies

YouTube link.

From the producers of TED talks, via ">Neatorama.

An inspirational TED talk

YouTube link.

The content is hard to summarize; this more an "inspirational" talk rather than the "instructional" talk one usually expects at TED.  This from the "about":

Louie Schwartzberg is an award-winning cinematographer, director, and producer whose notable career spans more than three decades providing breathtaking imagery for feature films, television shows, documentaries and commercials.

This piece includes his short film on Gratitude and Happiness. Brother David Steindl-Rast's spoken words, Gary Malkin's musical compositions and Louie's cinematography make this a stunningly beautiful piece, reminding us of the precious gift of life, and the beauty all around us...

Louie is credited by many with pioneering the contemporary stock footage industry by founding Energy Film Library, a global company with a network of 12 foreign offices, which was acquired by Getty Images in 1997. Motion picture clients of his cinematic artistry include Sex in the City, The Bourne Ultimatum, Die Hard 4, Syriana, Crash, Men in Black and classics such as American Beauty, Koyaanisqatsi and E.T. among others.

A hat tip to cousin Kirsten for finding this.

Close-up card tricks

YouTube link.

It doesn't matter how many card tricks you've seen or how jaded you are; these will knock your socks off.  I find close-up magic to be so much more enjoyable and satisfying than the big-stage elaborate-equipment showpieces usually seen at casinos and TV shows.

This performance is by Lennart Green, world champion magician, at a TED conference in 2005. The resolution is good enough to enjoy full-screen viewing.

Reposted from 2008. 

Addendum:  A hat tip to reader wickershaw for noting that the young lady who assists in the video is Zoe, a daughter of Chris Anderson, TED's curator.  She died of carbon monoxide poisoning in 2010; here is a tribute to her.

p.s. - probably no more blogging for a day or two; we have ~6 inches of snow arriving tonight.

Plankton

Youtube link. 

Plankton longer than a blue whale, and animals that use body parts of their victims to build a home. But mostly awesome micro- and macrovideography.

Using technology to explore the acquisition of language

First, if you haven't seen my "Talking Babies" post at Neatorama, you might want to pop over and look at it - twin baby boys carry on an animated conversation using seemingly nonsensical sounds.

Then consider this TED talk featuring Deb Roy, a researcher at MIT who wired his new home with cameras and microphones in every relevant room so that every word and action could be viewed, saved, and analyzed.  90,000 hours of video, 140,000 of audio, capturing the life of his young son and the three caregivers (parents, nanny) to examine the influence of the social environment on language acquisition.

As a sample of what  immense computing power can do, he shows how the child's word for "water" morphs from "gaga" to "water."  And there is a "map" of every word (503) that the child learned by age 2.  For me, the "holy shit" moment begins at 8:00 when the 2D view is transformed to a 3D one, and the cameras allow a virtual walkthrough of the house.  I was also startled by the "wordscape" at 10:30.

The resolution of the video isn't great for fullscreen viewing, but the content, as is typical for TED talks, is awesome.  I think what's important is not how Dr. Roy's son learned to say "water," but rather how technology can be used to study the world.

And I suspect this also gives a hint of how the NSA analyzes every phone call and email sent in this country...

A "lightning calculator"

Mental calculators were in great demand in research centers such as CERN before the advent of modern electronic calculators and computers... The world's best mental calculators are invited every two years to compete for the Mental Calculation World Cup... These math prodigies achieve blood flow to parts of the brain responsible for mathematical operations at six to seven times the typical flow... In Frank Herbert's novel Dune, specially trained mental calculators known as Mentats have replaced mechanical computers completely...

More at Wikipedia, including a list of famous human calculators.

The "globe skimmer" dragonfly crosses oceans

This dragonfly has the longest migratory journey of any insect in the world (twice the distance covered by the runnerup Monarch butterfly).  Like all the TED talks, this one is quite interesting (though it could have been delivered in half the time).

TED talk about Mars

"Planetary scientist Joel Levine shows some intriguing -- and puzzling -- new discoveries about Mars: craters full of ice, traces of ancient oceans, and compelling hints at the presence, sometime in the past, of life. He makes the case for going back to Mars to find out more."

A lecture by Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

Neuroscientist Vilayanur S. Ramachandran discusses the Capgras Delusion, phantom limbs, and synesthesia (including the bouba/kiki effect).  This is a very technical TED talk, but excellent if you are interested in human biology.

The astrolabe - a 13th century computer

An explanation in nine minutes of how the astrolabe worked. The earliest devices date from about 200 BC, but by medieval times they became sophisticated mechanical computers.