By: Maria Popova
Solid sand, the art of curation, why doing nothing matters, and how to get 700 of the world’s smartest people singing.
The final day of TEDGlobal in images and soundbites — the closing of a truly phenomenal experience.
For full blow-by-blow coverage, skim our live Twitter feed from the event.
Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, who has the highest ration of architecture awards to age in the world, showcases some of his stride-stopping work.
Magnus Larsson proposes a visionary project to stop desertification -- using bacteria to solidify sand dunes into stone and build a 6000km-long desert-break stretching across Africa.
The Sahara desert expands by nearly one meter per day, literally driving people out of their homes. ~ Magnus Larsson
Dan Pink says extrinsic incentives, a.k.a. 'carrots and sticks,' dull creativity. The key to economic success is in intrinsic motivations -- autonomy, mastery and purpose.
Science confirms what we know in our hearts. ~ Dan Pink
Maestro Itay Talgam on the intricate role of the conductor in creating not only the process of performance, but also the conditions in which this process occurs.
Interpretation is the real story of the performance. ~ Itay Talgam
Daniel Birnbaum on the art of curating -- something we can really relate to here -- as an unseen force that shapes the art experience beyond the individual objects.
It’s the gallery itself, the institution, that becomes the frame. ~ Daniel Birnbaum
German friar Brother Paulus Terwitte contests we've become primitive hunters and gatherers, preoccupied with collecting information, instead of taking in less and deepening our life. He advocates the 'organized doing of nothing' -- meditation, prayer, contemplation -- as a way to find 'the inner voices of things.'
The most important question is, ‘Where are you in your thoughts?’ ~ Brother Paulus Terwitte
Chris Anderson forewarns about the dreaded TED crash following the end of the 4-day idea binge, when sleep deprivation kicks in and dopamine plummets. We can already feel it.
The wonderful Tom Reilly's (in)famous satire of the conference. Here, impersonating TED Europe's charmingly stern director, Bruno Giussani.
Parodying the Lifesaver filtration bottle, Tom mock(?)-relieves in a glass, runs it through the Lifesaver bottle, and hands it to Chris to drink. Upon chugging it, Chris proclaims: 'Trust.'
The phenomenal Imogen Heap takes the stage for one last surprise performance after the fantastic audience response to her scheduled act. She plays the hang, a mysterious gong-like instrument, and asks us to be her live looping device, dividing the audience into a 3-part chorus. The collective experience is utterly magnetic, and you can just see the music running through her entire body as she performs. Magic, personified.
On a personal note, the TED experience has been every bit as invigorating, inspiring and incredible as expected, and then some. Exhausting as it may have been, reporting is has been a modest effort to help extend TED’s fundamental mission — “ideas worth spreading.”
And before we return to our regular “programming” next week, a big “THANK YOU” for following and sharing in this utterly lifechanging experience.
Millennials may be experts at a lot of things, but poetry isn’t one of them. To pique the MTV generation’s interest in the classic art of verse, the BBC commissioned London-based filmmaker Corin Hardy to translate Lord Byron’s 1817 poem So We’ll Go No More A-Roving into a familiar visual narrative, delivered by punk-rockers The King Blues. 
