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Articles by Ben Lillie
It’s time to regulate intoxicating hemp products
I want to share our family’s terrifying story around Delta-8 THC, the unregulated kind of THC that is sold in corner stores seemingly everywhere in Florida. Our son is a senior, dual-sport honor roll student who has always been an upbeat, happy kid even throughout his teen years. Then something changed. Unbeknownst to us, he had begun using a variety of Delta-8 products from a local shop here in Tallahassee.
Fighting the growing deserts, with livestock: Allan Savory at TED2013
Global Issues TED Conferences Photos: James Duncan Davidson The growing desert Allan Savory has dedicated his life to studying management of grasslands. And if that doesn’t sound exciting, just wait, because it touches on the deepest roots of climate change and the future of the planet. “The most massive, tsunami, perfect storm is bearing down on us,” is the grim beginning to Savory’s talk.
Rachel Fairbank: Scientist Or Subject? — The Story Collider
While being treated after an accident, Rachel Fairbank struggles with not being the researcher. Rachel Fairbank received her bachelor's in biology from Cornell University, did some graduate work in the developmental biology program at Baylor College of Medicine, and is currently working on an MFA in creative writing at the University of Houston, where she also works as a science writer. In her spare time, she likes to box.
The scariest thing you’ve ever done: Chris Hadfield at TED2014
Live from TED Chris Hadfield. Photo: James Duncan Davidson Or, asks retired colonel Chris Hadfield to the crowd at TED2014, “What’s the most dangerous? And, why did you do it?” For Hadfield, an astronaut with the Canadian Space Agency and a commander of the International Space Station for 3 months, it was to ride a rocket ship into orbit. Watch Chris Hadfield’s TED Talk >> In the early days of shuttle launches, the risk of catastrophic event — that is, death — was 1 in 9. Now it’s 1 in 38.
Deborah Blum: A taste of nature — The Story Collider
At age 7, Deborah Blum starts a mystery when she interrupts her parent's dinner party. So their guest, famed biologist E.O. Wilson, investigates. Deborah Blum, a Pulitzer prize-winning science journalist, author and blogger, is the Helen Firstbrook Franklin Professor of Journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Protests on a Hawaiian Volcano Show That Science Needs a New Ritual
We should take a few days a year to reflect on the dark parts of our history. Telescopes on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, February 2008. A massive debate has erupted about whether to build a giant new $1.5 billion telescope on the summit of Mauna Kea. Native Hawaiian protesters have blockaded the site, claiming that the 18-story–high structure is being built on one of their sacred spaces. The governor has temporarily halted construction.
Shayle Matsuda: My First Expedition As A Man
Marine biologist Shayle Matsuda adapts to his new identity as a transgender man while on assignment in the Philippines. Shayle Matsuda researches sea slugs as an MSc candidate at the California Academy of Sciences and San Francisco State University. When not in the lab, he hosts the interactive science happy hour series “Science, Neat” in San Francisco.
Aerin Jacob: Lessons From the Man With a Machine Gun
With her truck stuck in the mud in the Serengeti, Aerin Jacob learns three important lessons. Aerin Jacob is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Victoria and a Wilburforce Fellow in Conservation Science Fellow. Trained as an ecologist, she works to develop management strategies that incorporate local, Indigenous, and scientific knowledge to achieve conservation objectives while maintaining human well-being.
Titus Kaphar and Vijay Gupta named MacArthur Fellows, a musical tribute to #MeToo and other TED news
As usual, the TED community is busy with new projects and news — here are a few highlights. Meet two newly minted MacArthur “geniuses.” Visual artist Titus Kaphar and violinist Vijay Gupta have been named 2018 MacArthur Fellows! The fellowship, established in 1981, awards $625,000 over the course of five years to individuals of exemplary creative merit, to spend as they like.
Jon Ronson: Jon Ronson Vs Jon_Ronson — The Story Collider
When Jon Ronson discovers a twitter account pretending to be him, he sets off to find it's creators. Jon Ronson is a British nonfiction author, documentary maker and screenwriter. His books, Them: Adventures with Extremists, The Men Who Stare At Goats, The Psychopath Test, and Lost At Sea, have all been international bestsellers. He's a regular contributor to the PRI show This American Life, and has appeared at TED, and on The Daily Show.
Jodi Beggs: Kindergarten tycoon
Jodi Beggs's mother greatly underestimates how well her kindergartener understands economics. Jodi Beggs is an economist and writer whose focus is on making economics accessible and interesting to both students and a general audience. Jodi is currently a lecturer at Northeastern University, where she teaches economics to both economics and music industry students.
Thank You, Brain - A Stroke as a Gift
, the sustainable land-use expert and author (and friend of mine), just kicked off a Substack series on a stroke she suffered last month. Read and share please, then read my stroke story beow. Every time someone shares an experience like this, there’s a good chance it’ll lodge in other minds and help jog someone into action.
Thank You, Brain – Andy Revkin – Medium
Seven years ago, my brain hinted to me that I might be having a stroke. During a rare run in the woods on a hot Fourth of July weekend in 2011, my brain — which I hardly ever think about — gave me a strong hint something was seriously wrong with the inputs it was receiving from my eyes. My left eye was telling my brain the world was paisley.
All of our survival is tied to the survival of everyone: Bryan Stevenson at TED2012
Bryan Stevenson spends most of his time in jails and prisons and on death row. He’s a lawyer, and the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. So he’s found it very energizing at TED, and wanted to start by pointing out that there is a distinct identity here. Things said here have a power that maybe they don’t elsewhere. The point, he says, is that, “Identity is important.” He illustrates this with a story.
Andrew Revkin: My lucky stroke
Thank you to our listeners, storytellers, workshop participants, sponsors, donors, and funders. We couldn't do this without you! The Story Collider is supported by The Burroughs Wellcome Fund, The Tiffany & Co. Foundation which seeks to preserve the world’s most treasured landscapes and seascapes, and by Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation initiative dedicated to engaging everyone with the process of science.
Danielle N. Lee: Working twice as hard
As a woman of color working in science, Danielle N. Lee has always encountered challenges. But she doesn't expect the email she receives one morning, or the events it sets in motion. Dr. Danielle N. Lee is a biologist and outreach scientist. Her research areas include animal behavior, behavioral ecology, and mammalogy; She is currently examining individual behavioral differences and natural history of African Giant Pouched Rats, Cricetomys ansorgei.
Adam Rogers: Separating Cells
Adam Rogers gets an exciting opportunity to work in a marine biology lab, and see if he really wants to be a biologist. Adam Rogers is articles editor at WIRED, where he edits features about miscellaneous geekery and runs the science desk. His features for the print magazine have included stories about the astrophysics of the movie Interstellar, a fan cruise for apex nerds, and a mysterious fungus that lives on whisky fumes.
How to run a brainstorm for introverts (and extroverts too)
Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window) Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Cocktail party trivia: Brainstorming was invented in the 1930s as a practical idea-generation technique for regular use by “creatives” within the ad agency BBDO.
Finding ways to let the story tell itself: Jacky Myint at TED2013
Recently, the New York Times released Snow Fall, an extraordinary interactive experience that was heralded by many as a milestone in interactive narrative. The experience was enhanced by extra media, as had many projects before. But unlike previous projects the blending was seamless and the whole experience felt completely natural. TED invited the designer, Jacky Myint, to talk about her process. Myint never considered herself a storyteller, she avoided people’s attention.
Trust people to pay for music: Amanda Palmer at TED2013
Amanda Fucking Palmer wants us to re-think how we think about paying for music. She is known for her music, first as half of the Dresden Dolls, now as a solo artist. But for 5 years after graduating, Palmer made her living as a living statue called the Eight Foot Bride. (“Everyone always wanted to know, ‘Who are these people in real life?’ Hello!”) When a stranger gave her money, she gave them a flower and extreme eye contact.
How do we fix medicine? Atul Gawande at TED2012
How do we get good at anything? Doctor Atul Gawande opens his talk at TED2012 by asking that question. He writes as well as practices medicine, and constantly has to confront that question about everything in his life. But there’s a new crisis, the incredible cost of healthcare. The fight is framed as: Is government the problem, or are the insurance companies? “The answer is yes. And no.” It’s more subtle than that.
Justin Cameron: A Dangerous Trick — The Story Collider
Sword swallower Justin Cameron gets an unexpected lesson in anatomy and medicine. Justin is a product manager and mobile app designer who works on search engines and secure email products. Before that, he was an itinerant technical writer, hacker, and, very briefly, a sideshow performer. He lives in Brooklyn.
Renee Hlozek: Who Looks Like A Scientist?
An offhand sexist comment enrages Renee Hlozek, and leads her to dig into how her colleagues really view people who aren't the stereotypical scientist. Dr. Renee Hlozek is the Lyman Spitzer Jr. Postdoctoral Fellow in Theoretical Astrophysics in at Princeton University; the Spitzer-Cotsen Fellow in the Princeton Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts and is currently a Senior TED Fellow.
Amy Cuddy: Passing As Myself — The Story Collider
After a terrible head injury, Amy Cuddy wakes up in the hospital to find she's a different person. Amy Cuddy is a social psychologist and Harvard Business School Associate Professor who studies how snap judgments and nonverbal behavior affect people from the classroom to the boardroom.
Playlist: The perfect back-to-school talks, from a TED intern
I’m an anthropology major gearing up for my senior year and all that comes with it — job applications, extracurricular responsibilities and my senior honors thesis. After a semester abroad, I’m looking forward to returning to the familiarity and challenges that my college, the University of Pennsylvania, presents while incorporating the new perspectives I gained in Argentina.
“Could threat data be anonymized?”: Comment of the week, Feb. 1, 2017
You’ve just watched a TED Talk, and now you have some thoughts — about the subject, about the speaker, about life. In the world of TED ideas, those reflections and reactions are some of our most important resources. Yet, for every 1,000 views on TED.com, only 1 viewer writes a comment in the space below […] What is your reputation? “If someone asked you for the three words that would sum up your reputation, what would you say?” Rachel Botsman asks us.
4 TED Talks that make the case for open science in health care
Sometimes it seems as if the Internet has created a bold new era of openness. But if there is one place where openness appears to be lagging, it would be scientific research. The scientific community is full of intricate (and often little-known) systems that regulate and control it, sometimes to great purpose, but sometimes to its own detriment. Scarce funding has created a competitive environment obsessed with the publication of successful positive studies.
My Lucky Stroke, Revisited
This is a reboot of a tale that still needs telling: Five years ago, I interrupted my nonstop journalistic pursuit of paths toward sustainable human progress to focus on sustaining myself. The hiatus was not by choice, but was mandated by a stroke — the out-of-the-blue variant, the rare kind of “brain attack” (the term preferred by some neurologists) that is most often seen in otherwise healthy, youngish middle-aged people. The white spots are areas of the author’s brain damaged by a stroke.
Science For Princesses
I have always known that I loved science, that delicious alliance of imagination and methodical testing that could help you figure out something about how a piece of the world worked. However, being born at the tail-end of the 1960s, I grew up in a culture that wanted me to know that girls were not supposed to like science. In fact, between toy commercials and TV shows, teachers and peers, I got the message pretty quickly that science is not something for girls.
Teaching with Shakespeare
Are you sure you want to delete your account? You'll lose everything, forever! Of course not!
Be color brave, not color blind: Mellody Hobson speaks at TED2014
In 2006, Harold Ford called his friend Mellody Hobson, to tell her that he was running for US Senate in Tennessee and that he needed some national press. Hobson, an investor, in turn called a friend at a major media organization and organized a lunch. But when Hobson and Ford arrived at the lunch, they were taken to a back room.
Kelly & Zach Weinersmith: Two nerds fall in love — The Story Collider
Biologist Kelly Smith and comic artist Zach Weiner were having trouble dating, until they met online and realized what they each needed was another nerd.
David Gelles: Have fun, be safe... in an ocean — The Story Collider
Thank you to our listeners, storytellers, workshop participants, sponsors, donors, and funders. We couldn't do this without you! The Story Collider is made possible by Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation initiative dedicated to engaging everyone with the process of science, as well as support from The Kavli Foundation.
Paula Croxson: When your grandmother forgets who you are — The Story Collider
Shows About Us When Paula Croxson began to study memory as a neuroscientist, she also learned a new way of thinking about her grandmother's failing memory.
John Rennie: Aggression — The Story Collider
Shows About A college course forces John Rennie to confront a furious rat, and himself.
Lou Serico: Researching the funniest virus — The Story Collider
Shows About Us Lou Serico’s childhood dream of being a scientist is tested by working in a herpes lab for his PhD.
Robin Dessel: Sex and the nursing home — The Story Collider
When two residents of her nursing home fell in love, sexual rights advocate Robin Dessel had to decide how the staff would handle their rendezvous. Robin has over 25 years of experience at the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, and oversees vision care, memory care and sexual rights and expression.
Karen James: I Could Be an Astronaut — The Story Collider
A surprise email leads a biologist to NASA. Dr Karen James (@kejames on Twitter) is a biologist at the MDI Biological Laboratory, where she combines DNA-based species identification ('DNA barcoding'), with public participation in scientific research ('citizen science') to meet environmental research, conservation, and management needs.
Susan Cain on why it's OK to eat alone
In her blockbuster TED Talk, Susan Cain has a call to action: Take introverts seriously, and understand what they can do in the right environment. Ben Lillie called her up for an extended conversation about the terrors of public speaking, how her issue is one of civil rights, and the neuroscience behind personalities. What was it like giving a TED Talk, as opposed to some of the other talks you've given? It was a lot scarier, for one thing. So how did you get through that?
Why pleasure is important
Psychologist Paul Bloom studies the nature of pleasure. In this conversation with Ben Lillie, he discusses how knowing the history of an object can profoundly affect our enjoyment of it. Why is the origin of things so deeply important to us? We have a biological adaptation called “essentialism,” which is a particularly clever and important adaptation that drives us to focus on the deeper aspect of things.
Scientists need to reflect on history and culture.
Among astronomers, there is a great deal of confusion about how this conflict could have come about. There is confusion about why the mountain matters so much to people. There is confusion about why people could be so mad at science, which is after all for the benefit of humanity.
What Wikipedia Taught Me About My Grandfather
On June 6, 1989, my grandfather looked at me and lifted his spoon. Between us was a bowl of lightly sugared fruit. He took a breath, stared down the 9-year-old across from him and said, “Go!” Less than a minute later spoons were down and very likely he had won. I don’t know why he challenged me to see who could eat dessert faster. I doubt he knew. Challenges were fun and he liked fun.
We Never Looked at the Stars
The one thing my high school astronomy club almost never did was astronomy. We joined the club for all the normal reasons — to have a place we belonged, to flirt, to figure out what we wanted to do with our lives. Being high school kids, we were terrible at all of them. We were also terrible at astronomy. The only one of us who even knew the constellations was John.
6 TED Talks about problems with patents
The Wright Brothers’ flying machine took off from Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903. Credited as the first to successfully fly an airplane, the Wright Brothers were one of several in the early aviation game who were filing patents for their innovations and suing competitors who stepped on their turf. However, the US government eventually said ‘no’ to this patent warring.
Some stats on the devastating impact of mental illness worldwide, followed by some reasons for hope
Getting treatment for a mental illness when you live in the developing world is hardly as easy as making an appointment with a therapist or psychiatrist. Mental illness is often not treated with the same sense of urgency as physical illness, and resources to provide care are simply not available in many areas.
The invention of the scientist: Laura Snyder at TEDGlobal 2012
A new word for a new profession Laura Snyder begins with a scene from June 24, 1833. It’s a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and an elderly man stands up to make a comment. It’s Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He stands up and demands, “You must stop calling yourselves Natural Philosophers.” He believed that true philosophers, like him, spent their time thinking about the Universe, not mucking around in pits and mud.
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