It all begins with an idea.
Great ideas, work, and stories, delivered memorably, are acts of generosity that can have immense impact on our communities, cities, and the world.
Filter by Tags
- Chicago 40
- Minneapolis 16
- Science 16
- Innovation 15
- Technology 13
- Community 12
- Equality 12
- Health 12
- Life 11
- Relationships 11
- Design 10
- Social Justice 9
- Youth 9
- Climate Change 8
- Mental Health 8
- Community Organizing 7
- Global Issues 7
- Psychology 7
- Sustainability 7
- The Arts 7
- Energy 6
- Personal Growth 6
- Urban Design 6
- Work 6
- Biotech 5
- Healing 5
- Transformation Stories 5
- Women 5
- AI 4
- Architecture 4
- Cities 4
- Communication 4
- Social Impact 4
- Violence Intervention 4
- WTTW 4
- Activism 3
- Brain 3
- Computing 3
- Humor 3
- Nanotechnology 3
- Quantum Physics 3
- Travel 3
- Accessibility 2
- Civic Design 2
- Climate Action 2
- Education 2
- Family 2
- Food 2
- Government 2
- Joy 2
What if we could hear disease?
In this emotional and forward-thinking talk, Dr. Hossein Zargartalebi shares his deeply personal journey from a hospital room to a scientific breakthrough. His innovation—a molecular sensor that detects proteins in real time—may unlock a new era in healthcare, one where disease can be caught long before symptoms appear. By turning biology’s quietest signals into a clear voice, this technology gives us something medicine has never truly had before: the ability to act early, save lives, and give people back the most precious thing of all—time.
Is the cure for cancer already inside us?
Dr. Shana Kelley leads a team of human cell hunters, and they developed a unique and highly sensitive cell processor that can pull incredibly rare, disease-fighting cells out of blood. Recently, they used the device to search for immune cells that can fight cancer, and uncovered surprising and exciting results that may have immense impact on the future of cancer. Join Dr. Shana Kelley as she brings you on a journey through discovery, learn a little bit about immunotherapy, and get excited about what the next era of cancer treatments may look like. A talk to find hope from, and to share and view with those in your life affected by cancer.
Make anything, anywhere with just-add-water biotechnology
Michael Jewett is a bioengineer who wonders if we can create equitable and distributed biotechnologies for the good. In this thought-provoking and insightful talk, he lays out a vision to re-think how biotechnologies are created and shared, made possible by biology without cells. Can just-add-water biotechnology turn us all into biomakers? Listen and learn how engineered biological systems are opening access to medicines, diagnostics, and more.
How Deep Brain Devices Open New Research into Brain Diseases
How do we find out what's going on in the brain, so that we can help people with brain disorders? Adding brain-sensing circuitry into deep-brain stimulation devices enables new scientific research into chronic brain diseases and allows prototyping of advanced approaches to manage patients' symptoms. This talk will describe a new investigational device developed to probe more deeply into the day-to-day function of the brain in patients suffering from debilitating brain diseases. This technology may allow clinicians and scientists to discover new paradigms for managing these diseases and their symptoms.
3D Printed Prosthetic Hands for the World
By 2050, there will be 50 million limb amputations all over the world! The present cost of a prosthetic hand with limited functionality is around $50,000. Desineni Subbaram Naidu has a vision to create an open source, affordable, and 3-D printed prosthetic hand with most functionality using surface based electromyography (s-EMG) to give hope and happiness to those millions of amputees.