Senior TED fellow and science historian Laurel Braitman delivered one of the most engaging talks at TED’s 2014 conference. Her topic? Animal psychology and the emotional spectrum of pets. Braitman has studied the history of science for years—most recently as a PhD student at MIT—and through that lens, atop years of research with domestic animals, she uncovers insight into their emotions, how they affect our …
Corinne Maier—a French psychoanalyst with a background in economics and international relations from the prestigious Sciences-Po in Paris—also happens to be a best-selling author. Out of the 15 or so already under her belt, her two most controversial books encouraged readers not to have children (“No Kids“) and to unobtrusively slack off at their corporate job (“Hello Laziness“). Maier’s newest nonfiction book, however, won’t be …
by Stefano Caggiano Everyday objects shape our lives into cognitive patterns. Often, however, these objects are ill-designed. Design thinking is then called in to untangle the not-always-coherent running of our object-related routines. However important, this design thinking—or making user-experience more seamless—cannot solve all problems. The greater meaning of an object experience has at least as much importance as the function in the perceived quality of …
