Alexander Tsiaras: Conception to birth - visualized

Image-maker Alexander Tsiaras shares a powerful medical visualization, showing human development from conception to birth and beyond.

Gary Vaynerchuk: Do what you love (no excuses!)

At the Web 2.0 Expo, entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk gives a shot in the arm to dreamers and up-and-comers who face self-doubt. The Internet has made the formula for success simpler than ever, he argues. So there's now no excuse not to do what makes you happy.

Gary Vaynerchuk's Wine Library TV combines an irreverent approach to wine and a shrewd social media strategy. It won him web fame and the cachet to spin off book deals, new businesses and his own… Full bio and more links

Milton Glaser on using design to make ideas new

http://www.ted.com/talks/milton_glaser_on_using_design_to_make_ideas_new.html

From the TED archives: The legendary graphic designer Milton Glaser dives deep into a new painting inspired by Piero della Francesca. From here, he muses on what makes a convincing poster, by breaking down an idea and making it new.

If his career began and ended with "I [heart] N Y," Milton Glaser would still be a legend. But over his multi-decade career, his body of work is sprinkled with similarly iconic images and logos. Full bio and more links

Jason Fried: Why work doesn't happen at work

http://www.ted.com/talks/jason_fried_why_work_doesn_t_happen_at_work.html

Jason Fried has a radical theory of working: that the office isn't a good place to do it. At TEDxMidwest, he lays out the main problems (call them the M&Ms) and offers three suggestions to make work work.

Jason Fried thinks deeply about collaboration, productivity and the nature of work. He's the co-founder of 37signals, makers of Basecamp and other web-based collaboration tools, and co-author of… Full bio and more links

Raghava KK: Five lives of an artist

Raghava KK: Five lives of an artist | Video on TED.com

With endearing honesty and vulnerability, Raghava KK tells the colorful tale of how art has taken his life to new places, and how life experiences in turn have driven his multiple reincarnations as an artist -- from cartoonist to painter, media darling to social outcast, and son to father.

Raghava KK's paintings and drawings use cartoonish shapes and colors to examine the body, society, our world. Full bio and more links

Naif Al-Mutawa: Superheroes inspired by Islam

Naif Al-Mutawa: Superheroes inspired by Islam | Video on TED.com

In "THE 99," Naif Al-Mutawa's new generation of comic book heroes fight more than crime -- they smash stereotypes and battle extremism. Named after the 99 attributes of Allah, his characters reinforce positive messages of Islam and cross cultures to create a new moral framework for confronting evil, even teaming up with the Justice League of America.

 Naif Al-Mutawa has created a group of comic superheroes based on Islamic culture and religion. They derive their superpowers from the 99 attributes of Allah. Full bio and more links

James Cameron: Before Avatar ... a curious boy

James Cameron: Before Avatar ... a curious boy | Video on TED.com

James Cameron's big-budget (and even bigger-grossing) films create unreal worlds all their own. In this personal talk, he reveals his childhood fascination with the fantastic -- from reading science fiction to deep-sea diving -- and how it ultimately drove the success of his blockbuster hits "Aliens," "The Terminator," "Titanic" and "Avatar."

James Cameron is the director of Avatar, Titanic, Terminator, The Abyss and many other blockbusters. While his outsize films push the bounds of technology, they're always anchored in human stories… Full bio and more links

Denis Dutton: A Darwinian Theory of Beauty

Denis Dutton: A Darwinian theory of beauty | Video on TED.com

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.

Denis Dutton is a philosophy professor and the editor of Arts & Letters Daily. In his book The Art Instinct, he suggests that humans are hard-wired to seek beauty. Full bio and more links