The next outbreak? We’re not ready … yet

July 25, 2017

The next outbreak? We’re not ready … yet

In 2014, the world avoided a global outbreak of Ebola, thanks to thousands of selfless health workers — plus, frankly, some very good luck. In hindsight, we know what we should have done better. So, now’s the time, Bill Gates suggests, to put all our good ideas into practice, from scenario planning to vaccine research to health worker training. As he says, “There’s no need to panic … but we need to get going.”

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Daniel Kish is blind, but he’s learned how to see using echolocation — making a simple clicking sound to construct an understanding of the space around him. In a rousing talk, Kish shows us how this works … and asks us to let go of our own fears of the “dark unknown.” Watch »
Photographer Boniface Mwangi wanted to protest against corruption in his home country of Kenya. So he made a plan: He and some friends would stand up and heckle during a public mass meeting. But when the moment came … he stood alone. What happened next, he says, showed him who he truly was. As he says, “There are two most powerful days in your life. The day you are born, and the day you discover why.” Watch »
The former prime minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd is also a longtime student of China, with a unique vantage point to watch its power rise in the past few decades. He asks whether the growing ambition of China will inevitably lead to conflict with other major powers — and suggests another narrative. Watch »
In this short, provocative talk, architect Alison Killing looks at buildings where death and dying happen — cemeteries, hospitals, homes. The way we die is changing, and the way we build for dying … well, maybe that should too. It’s a surprisingly fascinating look at a hidden aspect of our cities, and our lives. Watch »
Quote of the Week

April 4, 2015 The problem wasn’t that the system didn’t work well, the problem was that we didn’t have a system at all. Now, in the movies it’s quite different. There’s a group of handsome epidemiologists ready to go, they move in, they save the day … but that’s just pure Hollywood. ”