How AI is unearthing hidden scientific knowledge | Sara Beery
Ecologist and AI researcher Sarah Beery explains how vast ecological databases like iNaturalist contain far more information than simple species sightings, including individual identification, species interactions, vegetation, and food webs. She describes how her team at MIT built an AI-powered system called Inquire that lets scientists search millions of images using natural language queries to rapidly extract research-ready datasets, dramatically accelerating ecological discovery. The talk closes with a call for widespread citizen participation in data collection to help build a more complete, actionable picture of life on Earth and support conservation in the face of the biodiversity crisis.
How to see (and stop) deforestation from space | Tasso Azevedo
Land reformer Tasso Azevedo describes how the MapBiomas Network turns decades of satellite imagery into detailed, legally robust land-use maps to expose and curb deforestation in Brazil and other tropical regions. By integrating high-resolution imagery, property registries, and protected area data, the project has dramatically increased enforcement against illegal deforestation, redirected finance away from destructive operations, and supported a wide range of environmental and social applications. The talk also highlights successful action against illegal gold mining and outlines plans to expand this collaborative mapping approach to cover most of the world's tropical forests.
These AI devices protect nature in real time | Juan M. Lavista Ferres
Host Elise Hugh introduces a TED talk by Juan M. Lavista Ferres about how a new AI-enabled device network called Sparrow can transform conservation work. Lavista Ferres explains how conservationists currently rely on slow, labor-intensive data collection and shows how Sparrow uses solar power, edge computing, and satellite connectivity to process images and sounds in real time. He describes how this system can automatically identify individual animals, analyze acoustic biodiversity, detect wildfires early, and drastically shorten the time between data collection and action, potentially making the difference between species survival and extinction.
3 tips to make your world beautifully wild | Isabella Tree
Host Elise Hu introduces environmentalist and conservationist Isabella Tree, who shares how rewilding-allowing nature and animals to restore ecosystems-can be done not only on large estates but also in ordinary gardens and urban spaces. Tree describes the transformation of her family's debt-ridden, intensively farmed land into a thriving, biodiverse rewilding project through free-roaming animals and habitat change. She then offers three practical tips for rewilding any green space and concludes with examples of urban rewilding and the mindset shift required to embrace messier, less controlled landscapes.
How to measure the planet's heartbeat | Yadvinder Malhi
Ecosystem ecologist Yadvinder Mali explains how he and colleagues measure and map the flows of energy, carbon, and nutrients that sustain ecosystems, from forests and soils to coral reefs. He introduces the idea of "vibrancy"-the complexity and spread of energy through many species-as a key determinant of ecosystem health and resilience. Using examples from English woodlands, savannas, and tropical atolls, he argues that valuing nature only for carbon undermines this vibrancy, and that working with the wild energies of the biosphere gives both ecosystems and human communities their best chance to adapt to climate change.
The hidden cost of buying gold | Claudia Vega
Rainforest toxicologist and TED Fellow Claudia Vega explains how artisanal gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon releases large amounts of mercury, causing severe environmental damage and public health risks locally and globally. She describes the mining process, mercury's toxic effects, and the massive deforestation in Madre de Dios, as well as her work establishing the first mercury lab in the Peruvian Amazon to generate local data for communities, policymakers, and international agreements. In conversation with TED Fellows Program Director Lily James Olds, she discusses working with indigenous communities, changing mining practices, the limits of "green" gold, the need for consumer awareness and traceability, and her fears about fake news and hope in small but real changes.
What separates us from chimpanzees? | Jane Goodall
Host Elise Hugh introduces a 2003 TED Talk by primatologist Jane Goodall, presented as a tribute after news of her death, highlighting her groundbreaking work with chimpanzees and its impact on how we understand humans and other animals. In the talk, Goodall describes chimpanzee cognition and culture, the environmental and social forces threatening great apes and human communities, and her youth program Roots and Shoots. She closes by arguing that hope lies in our individual and collective choices to live more lightly on the planet and act with compassion toward all life.
A Tribute To The Far Side
Hosts Josh and Chuck pay tribute to Gary Larson's single-panel comic The Far Side, tracing its origins from Larson's quirky family and love of biology through his break into syndication and eventual global success. They analyze what makes the humor work, walk through several iconic panels, and explore Larson's perfectionism, his choice to end the strip before it declined, and his deep connection with the scientific community and conservation. The episode closes with a listener correction about the relationship between dolphins, orcas, and whales.