TEDxSKE

Two days ago, on the 20th of February was "World Day of Social Justice": https://www.un.org/en/observances/social-justice-day.

On this occasion, we watched the Former President of the World Bank Group Jim Yong Kim's TED talk during our weekly online salon, asking the question: "Aspirations are rising as never before across the world, thanks in large part to smartphones and the internet -- will they be met with opportunity or frustration?"

https://www.ted.com/talks/jim_yong_kim_doesn_t_everyone_deserve_a_chance_at_a_good_life

Doesn't everyone deserve a chance at a good life? Aspirations are rising as never before across the world, thanks in large part to smartphones and the internet -- will they be met with opportunity or frustration? Former President of the World Bank Group Jim Yong Kim shares how the institution is working to improve the health and financial futures o...

This past Thursday, 18th of Feb was DRINK WINE DAY.

To celebrate this day (as if we needed an excuse :)), we watched this 5-min TED-Ed talk during our weekly online salon.

Watch it for some interesting and fun info about alcohol.

https://www.ted.com/talks/rod_phillips_a_brief_history_of_alcohol?language=en

A brief history of alcohol Nobody knows exactly when humans began to create fermented beverages. The earliest known evidence comes from 7,000 BCE in China, where residue in clay pots has revealed that people were making an alcoholic beverage from fermented rice, millet, grapes, and honey. So how did alcohol come to fuel globa...

Yesterday, 11 February, we celebrated the "International Day of Women and Girls in Science" in our weekly salon.
(https://www.un.org/en/observances/women-and-girls-in-science-day/)

A shout out to all the women out there who are making it in fields who were once reserved just for men, despite all the gender bias they’re exposed to, especially in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

Talks and discussion points will be shared on daily basis.

We had an "astronomically" special salon this week :)

Our dear friend, Architect and Astrophysicist Charles Aouad was our guest speaker this week, and he took us on a voyage to the Exoplanets, in search for alien worlds.

Joined by our friends and dear TEDxSKEers from all over planet Earth (for now): Dubai, Bahrain, Aleppo, Lausanne, Toronto... and Lebanon of course!

DiD we find any alien worlds? Well, that's for you to guess...

Here are some pics for you to get the gist of how special it was.

We may not know ourselves as well as we think we do.

In this eye-opening TEDx talk from TEDxUppsalaUniversity watched at last week's online salon, experimental psychologist Petter Johansson researches choice blindness -- a phenomenon where we convince ourselves that we're getting what we want, even when we're not.

https://www.ted.com/talks/petter_johansson_do_you_really_know_why_you_do_what_you_do

Do you really know why you do what you do? Experimental psychologist Petter Johansson researches choice blindness -- a phenomenon where we convince ourselves that we're getting what we want, even when we're not. In an eye-opening talk, he shares experiments (designed in collaboration with magicians!) that aim to answer the question: Why do w...