TED2010: Ten fascinating people you've never heard of

Including:

Philip Howard, the anti-lawyer lawyer

A partner in the New York-based law firm Covington & Burling, Philip Howard is a crusader against the excesses of his own profession. Howard, author of "Life Without Lawyers: Liberating Americans from Too Much Law," gave a blistering talk at TED about how "the land of the free has become a legal minefield."

He cited the Florida school district that banned running at recess as an example of how "people no longer feel free to act on their best judgment" for fear of getting sued. "People are acting like idiots," he said. "For law to be a platform for freedom, people have to trust it."

Howard pushes for policy changes in health care, education and other fields through an organization he founded, Common Good, which describes itself as "a non-profit, non-partisan legal reform coalition dedicated to restoring common sense to America."

========================

Nathan Myhrvold, inventor

In Nathan Myhrvold's world, mosquito repellent is so old-fashioned.

The inventor, former Microsoft Corp. executive and CEO of Intellectual Ventures is developing a prototype device that would create walls of lasers that are impenetrable by malaria-causing mosquitoes.

Myhrvold demonstrated the technology at the TED Conference and said laser fortresses could surround health clinics in the developing world.

==================

Mark Roth, reanimation specialist

We tend to think of life as an either/or proposition: We are either dead or alive.

But, in fact, there are dormant stages in life -- bacterial spores that can last for millions of years; eggs in human ovaries that can survive for up to 50 years; and the familiar sea monkey, a kind of shrimp sold as a toy that goes into suspended animation and comes to life when put into water.

Mark Roth, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, is delving into the mysteries of life by putting animals into suspended animation through lowering the oxygen level of their environment. He's used hydrogen sulfide gas to put mice into a hibernating state and has put frogs and zebra fish into suspended animation for up to 24 hours without harm.

Roth's team is learning whether these tools could apply one day to human beings in medical crises.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/02/16/ted.people/

TED2010: Ten fascinating people you've never heard of

TED2010: Ten fascinating people you've never heard of

Anarcho-Capitalist Non-Miscellaneous

AnCaps With FreeStyle Miscellaneous