Carmel Majidi: Soft robots

“We really need to reexamine the types of materials that we use in robotics.” Carmel Majidi discusses how the robots of the future will be pliable and soft to accommodate the characteristics of the human body.

Scott Barry Kaufman: Creative Brains

“Depending on what you are creating — the stimulus, the content — and what stage of the creative process you are in, different brain areas are recruited to help solve the task.” Cognitive psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman unravels some of creativity’s mysterious origins with the help of brain scanning equipment.

Anab Jain: Designing the future

“This sort of speculative work explores the remarkable potential of technology and its new experiential aesthetics.” Anab Jain talks about design in a future world of insect cyborgs, mass surveillance, DNA monetization and guerilla infrastructure.

Miriah Meyer: Seeing Data

“In data visualization, what we really need to do is move beyond thinking that visualization is just about pretty pictures.” Miriah Meyer explains how data visualization can be more concise, practical and scientifically useful, and still be aesthetically pleasing.

David Robertson: Creative constraint

illustration by Peter Durand

“By putting focus and direction around innovation, that is how you turn sparks of brilliance into profitable innovation.” David Robertson uses LEGO’s tumultuous business history to describe the delicate balance between creativity and constraints.

Nick Martin: Learn Online

“In the field of international development, so many people need new skills.” Listen to Nick Martin describe his unique, interactive model for online training for social change.  techchange.org

Eric Klinenberg: Living single

illustration by Peter Durand

“Is there anything more innovative than changing the entire way in which we organize ourselves and our households?” Sociologist Eric Klinenberg discusses how a dramatic increase in living single is the biggest unnamed modern social trend and he deconstructs old myths about what that might mean.

Emily Jacobi: Digitizing Democracy

“What are the possibilities of new technology to transform situations for some of the world’s most marginalized groups?” Emily Jacobi describes how her group, Digital Democracy, is using technology to improve local social and environmental projects, like assisting local efforts to document oil spills in Peru. www.digital-democracy.org

Erik Hersman: BRCK breakthrough

illustration by Peter Durand

“The great challenge of our time is to connect people and information.” Erik Hersmanshows off the BRCK, a way to connect to the Internet that is physically robust, able to connect to multiple networks, a hub for all local devices and has enough backup power to survive a blackout.  www.brck.com

Reichert and Robertson: First in flight

illustration by Peter Durand

“Impossible is nothing.” Todd Reichert and Cameron Robertson show how they designed and built a sprawling flying machine that was the first human-powered helicopter to fly an award-winning 3 meters high for 60 seconds. poptech.org/people/cameron_robertson_and_todd_reichart

Duygu Kuzum: Brain Computing

illustration by Peter Durand

“My transition from electronics to the brain has not been an easy one.” Duygu Kuzumshows how she is using her skills as an electrical engineer to make computers operate more like the human brain.  www.stanford.edu/~duygu/Duygu_Kuzum/

Helen Marriage: Art interventions

“These life-changing moments, the joy that you see on the faces of these audiences, that is not a frivolity.” Helen Marriage shows how to create breathtaking, city-wide art installations in places like downtown London.  www.artichoke.uk.com

illustration by Peter Durand

Ellen Langer: Mindfulness over matter

illustration by Peter Durand

“We have many, many studies that suggest that the limits we assume are real are artificial, and that we don’t have to accept them at all.” Harvard psychology professor Ellen Langer discusses the surprising power of being present during everyday activities. www.ellenlanger.com

Jason Hong: Smarter phones

illustration by Peter Durand

“In the near future, our smart phones will know everything about us.” Jason Hong shares his work on the leading edge of the balance between the next wave of mobile phone technologies and privacy concerns.  www.cs.cmu.edu/~jasonh/

Nathaniel Raymond: Data rights

illustration by Peter Durand

“Our technical innovation has superseded our moral and ethical innovation.” Watch Nathaniel Raymond argue passionately that information during a disaster should be protected under international law and human rights standards just like food, water, medicine and shelter. hhi.harvard.edu

Lisa Aziz-Zadeh: Brain and body

illustration by Peter Durand

“Our bodies are the frames that our brain uses to understand other people.” Lisa Aziz-Zadeh explores the complex relationship between emotions, physical movement and brain activity.

Alex Hornstein: Power for people

illustration by Peter Durand

“What I’m interested in is how to reach people.” Alex Hornstein says that simple systems that use mostly existing infrastructure can power rural homes that lack electricity.

Anushka Ratnayake: Farm Savings

illustration by Peter Durand

“We create agricultural layaway plans to help farmers use their money efficiently.” Learn how Anushka Ratnayake is using mobile technology to help poor farmers easily save money for seed and fertilizer. www.myagro.org

Adam Magyar: Photos of time

illustration by Peter Durand

“Transformation of reality by the camera.” Adam Magyar talks about using industrial cameras and computers to photograph and process urban images that capture a moment of time and then visually expand it. More at: www.magyaradam.com

Kevin Slavin: Debunking Luck

“That’s amazing, the idea that anything that seems to be built out of chance or instinct or luck can yield to a computational assault.” Pioneering gamer Kevin Slavin takes the PopTech audience on a colorful tour of the history of luck in America, games of chance, gambling and mathematical formulas.