TEDxZurich

Journey to the ends of the world

Satyabrata Dam will give you all an out of the world experience with his extreme pictures and experience from around the world which would be a concoction of inspiration, extreme adventure and some of the remotest spots on Earth.

Satyabrata Dam, Adventurer, Alpinist
Satya is a leading mountaineer and polar explorer with nearly 35 years of climbing career. He is the only person in the world who has successfully led expeditions to the three poles – Mt Everest, North and South Poles. He has climbed the highest peaks in all the seven continents. He is a published author and a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society (UK) and of TED (USA). He was a Submarine Commander in the Indian Navy and had commanded two submarines. He took voluntary retirement in 2010 after 22 years of commissioned service to pursue a full time career in the field of adventure, environment advocacy, writing and photography.

Web: satyabratadam.com – Twitter: @satyabratadam

shorTED

There are over 1000 talks to watch on TED.com. Watching all of these ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’ would take several weeks, not to mention the damage to the economy. Inspired by none other than Ernest Hemingway and equipped with a budget of under $100, Sebastian Wernicke found a better way – or at least a shorter one…

Sebastian Wernicke, Management Consultant at Oliver Wyman
“Currently an Engagement Manager at Oliver Wyman, Sebastian Wernicke originally studied bioinformatics at Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena. During his time in academia, he devised an algorithm for analyzing biological networks that now aids researchers in dealing with their innate complexity. Before his career in statistics began, Wernicke worked stints as both a paramedic and successful short animated filmmaker. He’s also the author of the TEDPad app, an irreverent tool for creating an infinite number of “amazing and really bad and mostly completely meaningless talks.”

Web: TED speakers: Sebastian Wernicke

Bubble Trouble

When a stock market rises unsustainably, it can create a financial bubble that sooner or later will burst. Dr. Tobias Preis explains whether concepts from physics can be used to create a law describing exactly how such crashes occur.

Photo by Mirjam Graf

Tobias Preis, Physicist & Complex Systems Scientist
Dr. Tobias Preis is a scientist and founder of Artemis Capital Asset Management. He performed complex systems research at Boston University and ETH Zurich. He was awarded a Ph.D. in physics and is a member of the Gutenberg Academy. His current research focuses on quantifying and modeling financial market fluctuations. Recently, he headed a research team which provided evidence that search engine query data and stock market fluctuations are correlated.

Web: tobiaspreis.de – Twitter: @t_preis

How urban agriculture means healthier, wealthier and happier cities

Urban agriculture has been real for decades, starting with the industrialization of Western Europe in the 20th century. Urban agriculture has been also well practiced in poor economies such as Cuba, where it serves as an important way of self-reliance. Today, with conventional agriculture “Big Ag” being at a cross-road in terms of its ecological impact on the environment and the increased food demand of a population growing to 9bn people by 2050, urban agriculture may very well be one key of a solution for the 21st century. As Roman explains, urban agriculture offers the solution to grow potentially enough food in the city to feed its entire population. What’s more, it also creates healthier, wealthier and happier cities, offering consumers with fresh & quality food choices and access to better quality of life.

Roman Gaus, Founder of UrbanFarmers
Roman Gaus (32)- from corporate career to social entrepreneur & urban farmer. Roman’s story is both fascinating and inspiring. When Roman returned from the States to Switzerland, he left a short but steep career with companies such as Procter & Gamble, Novartis and Franke Group. Yet, he brought with him an emerging concept about inner-city farming, which he had seen take a grass roots approach in US cities. Back in Switzerland, Roman was surprised by the proven, Swiss-engineered technology know-how of Aquaponic; a combination of fish and vegetable farming, ideally suited to grow locally grown & organic food without soil in the city – the idea behind UrbanFarmers was born. Determined to drive economic, social and ecological impact, Roman is now founder & CEO of UrbanFarmers AG, a pioneering Spin-off from the University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) in Wädenswil that aims to bring sustainable urban agricultural practices into cities of the 21st century.

Web: urbanfarmers.ch – Twitter: @UrbanFarmersCH

Can pills change our morals?

Does your sense of fairness depend on what you ate for breakfast? Can Prozac influence your judgment of what is right or wrong? How can we encourage people to care about the welfare of others? Molly Crockett’s research addresses these questions. She believes that understanding the brain can enable us to design environments that promote cooperation instead of selfishness.

Molly Crockett, Neuroscientist
Molly Crockett studies the neurobiology of morality and altruism. Her research has taken her far from her native Southern California, where she studied psychology as an undergraduate at the University of California, Los Angeles. Molly’s curiosity about brain chemistry led her to the University of Cambridge, where she completed her PhD in neuroscience as a Gates Scholar. Now she collaborates with economists at the University of Zürich and neuroscientists at University College London.

Web: mollycrockett.com – Twitter: @mollycrockett

Sprawl rocks! Why the agglomeration is the future of Switzerland.

For nearly sixty years, Swiss intellectuals, urban planners and architects have been ranting and raving about the way the country’s landscape is developing. But each society gets the landscape it deserves. So why has Switzerland been landed with urban sprawl? Because that is the way we want to live: commuting gives stability to our complicated lives. Thus, instead of arguing against the supposedly immoral form of the suburban lifestyle, we should try to make it sustainable. Sprawl is our future – if we like it or not.

Matthias Daum, Journalist
Matthias Daum has a master degree in history from the University of Zurich. He works as a journalist for the Swiss bureau of the German weekly Die Zeit and is a regular contributor to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. His main interests lie in spatial and urban planning, migration, social politics, higher education, science – and China.

Web: matthiasdaum.ch – Twitter: @matthiasdaum