In the 1600s, an expansive autonomous settlement called Palmares reached its height in Brazil. It was founded and led by people escaping from slavery, also called maroons. It was one of the world's largest maroon communities, its population reaching beyond 10,000— and its citizens were at constant war with colonial forces. Marc Adam Hertzman &am...

Biologist Juliana Machado Ferreira, a TED Senior Fellow, talks about her work helping to save birds and other animals stolen from the wild in Brazil. Once these animals are seized from smugglers, she asks, then what?

Twenty years after the death of her father, famed Brazilian architect Roger Zmekhol, filmmaker Denise Zmekhol returned to her home country to learn more about how he brought mid-century modern design to Brazil and to see his celebrated "Pele de Vidro" (Skin of Glass) building. She tells the story of the building's complicated history and its fate.

Creativity and innovation are flowing in South America, while countries across the continent still face unique challenges. As we plan for TEDGlobal 2014—happening in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in October—this playlist will get you in the spirit.

Jaime Lerner reinvented urban space in his native Curitiba, Brazil. Along the way, he changed the way city planners worldwide see what's possible in the metropolitan landscape.

Mundano's bold, colorful street art isn't just eye candy. His projects call attention to social, environmental and political issues, while raising chuckles from passersby.

Cynthia Breazeal wonders: Why can we use robots on Mars, but not in our living rooms? The key, she says, is in training robots to interact with people. Now she dreams up and builds robots that teach, learn -- and play. Watch for amazing demo footage of a new interactive game for kids.

The human brain is puzzling -- it is curiously large given the size of our bodies, uses a tremendous amount of energy for its weight and has a bizarrely dense cerebral cortex. But: why? Neuroscientist Suzana Herculano-Houzel puts on her detective's cap and leads us through this mystery. By making "brain soup," she arrives at a startling conclusion.

Ilona Szabó de Carvalho designs solutions for some of the world's biggest challenges -- from reducing violence and reforming drug laws to renewing democracy and fighting polarization.

Throughout her career in banking Ilona Szabó de Carvalho never imagined she'd someday start a social movement. But living in her native Brazil, which leads the world in homicidal violence, she realized she couldn't just stand by and watch drugs and guns tear her country apart. Szabó de Carvalho reveals four crucial lessons she learned when she l...

Although the tapir is one of the world's largest land mammals, the lives of these solitary, nocturnal creatures have remained a mystery. Known as "the living fossil," the very same tapir that roams the forests and grasslands of South America today arrived on the evolutionary scene more than 5 million years ago. But threats from poachers, defores...

In Brazil, "catadores" collect junk and recyclables. But while they provide a vital service that benefits all, they are nearly invisible as they roam the streets. Enter graffiti artist Mundano, a TED Fellow. In a spirited talk, he describes his project "Pimp My Carroça," which has transformed these heroic workers' carts into things of beauty and...

Patrícia Medici leads the longest running conservation project to protect the threatened lowland tapir.

"Save the rainforest" is an environmental slogan as old as time — but Tasso Azevedo catches us up on how the fight is actually going these days. Spurred by the jaw-dropping losses of the 1990s, new laws (and transparent data) are helping slow the rate of deforestation in Brazil. Is it enough? Not yet. He has five ideas about what we should do ne...

TEDGlobal is a conference that celebrates human ingenuity by exploring ideas, innovation and creativity from all around the world. Already registered for a conference? See your conference dashboard Recent past TEDGlobal conferences TEDGlobal 2017 Builders. Truth-tellers. Catalysts. August 27 - 30, 2017 Arusha, Tanzania Learn more See all talk...

Tashka and Laura Yawanawá lead the Yawanawá people in Acre, Brazil -- a tribe that stewards almost 500,000 acres of Amazon rainforest. As footage of the Amazon burning shocks the world's consciousness, Tashka and Laura call for us to transform this moment into an opportunity to support indigenous people who have the experience, knowledge and to...

Economics PhD Sebastião Salgado only took up photography in his 30s, but the discipline became an obsession. His years-long projects beautifully capture the human side of a global story that all too often involves death, destruction or decay. Here, he tells a deeply personal story of the craft that nearly killed him, and shows breathtaking image...

Anjali Kumar went looking for God and ended up finding something else entirely. In an uplifting, funny talk about our shared humanity, she takes us on a spiritual pilgrimage to meet witches in New York, a shaman in Peru, an infamous "healer" in Brazil and others, sharing an important lesson: what binds us together is far stronger than what separ...

At MIT, Cynthia Breazeal and her team are building robots with social intelligence that communicate and learn the same way people do.

By cataloging every conceivable human skin tone, Angélica Dass illustrates that skin color and race are more complex than they might appear at first glance.

Vik Muniz makes art from pretty much anything, be it shredded paper, wire, clouds or diamonds. Here he describes the thinking behind his work and takes us on a tour of his incredible images.

In 2013, an Ebola outbreak began in Guinea. The country had no formal response system and the outbreak became the largest Ebola epidemic in recorded history. Guinea then completely overhauled their response system, and were able to successfully combat another outbreak in 2021. So what does an effective epidemic response look like? George Zaidan ...

What does it take to start something as big as a bank from scratch? Social entrepreneur Cristina Junqueira did just that when she cofounded Nubank in her native Brazil, identifying the challenges people faced at traditional banks (like long lines and wait times) as an opportunity to take a different approach. It's a lesson on how listening to "c...

Ludmila Rattis researches how climate and deforestation impact natural ecosystems and agricultural production in the Amazon rainforest and Brazil's Cerrado region.

These women are trailblazers inspiring a new generation of girls to follow their lead and change the ratio in STEM (science, math, engineering and tech).

Steven Sharp Nelson is a classically trained cellist and member of the musical group The Piano Guys.

Bel Pesce left Brazil to study at MIT. But after a successful stint in Silicon Valley, she returned to inspire others with great ideas in her country to make them a reality.

Eduardo Paes is the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, a sprawling, complicated, beautiful city of 6.5 million. He shares four big ideas about leading Rio -- and all cities -- into the future, including bold (and do-able) infrastructure upgrades and how to make a city "smarter."

LADAMA is an ensemble of women musicians from across the Americas, singing original compositions in Spanish, Portuguese and English and combining disparate, traditional roots music with pop.

Journalist and photographer Bruno Torturra is the face of Media Ninja, a Brazilian digital collective making headlines for its ability to cover big news as it happens.