TED Radio Hour
Adaptation
Humans adapt to physical and creative challenges in remarkable ways. How do we do it, and what happens when we can't? TED speakers share inspiring stories about our capacity to adapt.
By Guy Raz • • 1 min readLong-time runner Christopher McDougall explores the mysteries of the human instinct to run: how did endurance help early humans survive — and what urges from our ancient ancestors spur us on today? Daniel Kish, who has been blind since he was 13 months old but has learned to "see" using a form of echolocation, explains how he uses sonar to navigate the world. As America becomes more multicultural, author Rich Benjamin noticed that some communities are actually becoming less diverse. So he out a map, found the whitest towns in the USA and moved in. He recounts his roadtrip through the whitest towns in America. Artist Janet Echelman found her true voice as an artist when her paints went missing — which forced her to look to an unorthodox new art material. Now she makes billowing, building-sized sculptures, made of natural and synthetic fibers.
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