These are Bill Gates’ 13 favourite TED talks

If there are 13 TED talks you should invest your time in, it’s Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ favourites.

“When we asked Bill Gates to curate a list of his favourite talks, his first response was, ‘There are too many to pick, really,’” TED’s website stated.

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From stats, history and science denial to birth control and polio, here are Gates’ favourites:

The best stats you’ve ever seen

Global health expert and ‘stats guru’ Hans Rosling debunks everything you thought about the developing world.

The danger of science denial

Staff writer for the New Yorker, Michael Spencer, warns Vaccine-autism claims, the herbal cure craze and ‘Frankenfood’ bans are denying science, and inhibiting human progress.

The history of our world in 18 minutes

Historian David Christian discusses a complete history of the universe, from the Big Bang to the internet.

Let’s put birth control back on the agenda

Gates’ wife and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda Gates, talks about contraception and how many of the world’s social change issues depend on ensuring women are able to control their rate of having kids.

How we’ll stop polio for good

Assistant director-general of the World Health Organisation’s Polio and Emergencies Cluster, Bruce Aylward, says while polio is almost eradicated, almost isn’t good enough - and he lays out a plan to continue the science that ended polio in most of the world.

How do we heal medicine?

Surgeon and public health professor, Atul Gawande, says doctors are losing their core focus, and discusses how to see a profession with ‘fewer cowboys and more pit crews’.

The surprising decline in violence

Steven Pinker is a professor in cognitive science, and he believes we’re living in the most peaceful time in our species’ existence.

Could this laser zap malaria?

Nathan Myhrvold is ex-Microsoft, ex-world barbecue champion, ex-wildlife photographer, ex-chef and more, and his latest invention could zap malaria-bearing mosquitos.

Let’s use video to reinvent education

Hedge fund analyst Sal Kahn talks about his own Khan Academy, and the power of interactive exercises in the classroom.

How PhotoSynth can connect the world’s images

Blaise Aguera y Arcas works on machine learning at Google, and discusses a new demo of Photosynth that could transform the way we look at digital images.

How I held my breath for 17 minutes

Illusionist David Blaine talks about what it took to hold his breath underwater for 17 minutes.

The power of introverts

‘Quiet revolutionary’ Susan Cain talks about how introverts have extraordinary talents and abilities that should be encouraged.

Robots that fly...and cooperate

Roboticist Vijay Kumar builds small agile robots that swarm, sense each other and form teams - and he shares what they can do.

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