What did you give your girlfriend on Valentine's Day?

Hi,

Do you guys remember how I usually start the topic on plant reproduction?

What is the usual gift do boys give to their girlfriends? Colourful, fragrant, large, showy and un-private sex organs - of plants of course!

Below is a good illustration of what I mean.




Happy New Year

C.K. Williams' poetry of youth and age

Hi,

Poet C.K. Williams reads his work at TED2001. As he colors scenes of childhood resentments, college loves, odd neighbors and the literal death of youth, he reminds us of the unique challenges of living.




Cheers

V S Ramachandran on The neurons that shaped civilization

Hi,

Fascinating world of neuroscience.

Neuroscientist Vilayanur Ramachandran outlines the fascinating functions of mirror neurons. Only recently discovered, these neurons allow us to learn complex social behaviours, some of which formed the foundations of human civilization as we know it.



We are all interconnected by our neuron-created consciousness says Dr Ramachandran.

Cheers

Don Norman on 3 ways good design makes you happy

Hi,
In this talk from 2003, design critic Don Norman turns his incisive eye toward beauty, fun, pleasure and emotion, as he looks at design that makes people happy. He names the three emotional cues that a well-designed product must hit to succeed.




Cheers

Denis Dutton: A Darwinian theory of beauty

Hi,

How do we feel beauty?
What is considered beautiful?

TED collaborates with animator Andrew Park to illustrate Denis Dutton's provocative theory on beauty -- that art, music and other beautiful things, far from being simply "in the eye of the beholder," are a core part of human nature with deep evolutionary origins.



Cheers

Baba Brinkman-Learn about human evolution through rap?

Hi,

Baba Brinkman is a Canadian actor and rap artist and former tree‑planter who has personally planted more than one million trees. Baba has received international acclaim for his rap comedy theatre shows, which cover topics as diverse as evolutionary psychology, the Canterbury Tales, democracy, and civil disobedience. Last year he won the Scotsman Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Fringe for his "Rap Guide to Evolution," which is transferring to New York in 2011. When he is not on tour, Baba resides in his hometown of Vancouver.



"Worst comes to worst" by Dilated People



"Survival of the fittest" by Mobb Deep


Cheers

A child is born

Hi,

Swedish photographer, Lennart Nilsson, spent 12 years of his life taking pictures of the foetus developing in the womb. These incredible photographs were taken with conventional cameras with macro lenses, an endoscope and scanning electron microscope. Nilsson used a magnification of hundreds of thousands and worked right in the womb. His first photo of the human foetus was taken in 1965.

6 months.
There are still 8-10 weeks ahead, so the little human is getting ready to leave the uterus. It turns upside down because it will be easier to be born this way

26 weeks

20 weeks: Approximately 20 cm. Woolly hair, known as lanugo, covers the entire head

19 weeks

8 weeks: Approximately 14 cm. The foetus can now perceive sounds from the outside world

The skeleton consists mainly of flexible cartilage.
A network of blood vessels is visible through the thin skin.

16 weeks.
The foetus uses its hands to explore its own body and its surroundings.

10 weeks.
The eyelids are semi-shut. They will close completely in a few days.

Eight weeks.
The rapidly-growing embryo is well protected in the foetal sac.

40 days.
Embryonic cells form the placenta. This organ connects the embryo to the uterine wall allowing nutrient uptake, waste elimination and gas exchange via the woman's blood supply.

5 weeks: Approximately 9 mm. You can now distinguish the face with holes for eyes, nostrils and mouth.

four and half weeks

four weeks

The brain starts to develop in the human embryo.

8 days.
The human embryo is attached to a wall of the uterus.

5-6 days.
The clump has developed into an embryo, containing many more cells,
and has entered the womb

The winning sperm

The fallopian tube

Will they have a date?

An egg

Sperm in the fallopian tube

The miracle of a baby!

Cheers