TEDxNSU 2014: Gamechangers

This year’s theme focused on that moment. That moment when everything becomes different. That moment when there is no going back. That moment when that was THEN and this is NOW. That moment etched forever in the mind. Permanent. Indelible. Intensely personal and yet begging to be shared with others—to learn from, to feel, and to inspire. That game-changing moment. There are certain events and thoughts in one’s life that are game changers. They change the way a person acts or thinks or feels. We can all learn from others’ experiences. At TEDxNSU 2014, we brought stories of some incredible people who shared their game-changing events and ideas to inspire the game changer in all of us. This year’s lineup featured a series of edge-of-your-seat talks in which speakers and performers captured the hearts and minds of the audience with tales of their personal game-changing moments. During breaks in the action of our speakers, we reviewed videos of game-changing moments from past TED events. Halftime entertainment featured refreshments and a culinary experience that changed the way game-goers thought about food. Saturday, March 29, 2014 Noon–5:00 p.m. NSU's Main Campus | Davie, Florida

View photos from the event on Flickr.

This independent TEDx event is operated under license from TED. This TEDx event is independently organized

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Parasites Lost: The Journey from Woeful Worms to Helpful Monsters

Christopher Blanar

People generally view parasites with horror and disgust, as mere agents of suffering and disease—but recent discoveries are changing that. Biologists are finding that parasites maintain biodiversity and drive ecological processes. Doctors are discovering that a world without parasites can be surprisingly unhealthy. Perhaps it is time to give these much-maligned creatures an image makeover?
A Perimenopausal Blonde Walks Into a University...

Carol Dowd-Forte

Writers know that it’s not always about one big moment. It’s about a series of smaller moments linked together as a narrative, both dramatic and subtle plot points which form an arc and move a story forward, so when the reader reaches The End, she looks back and says, “Ah, now I get it.” We also know how momentous it is to find your “voice” and how important that voice is to a writer’s life and process. Author George Eliot said, “It’s never too late to be what you might have been,” so I guess you can call this a “coming of middle age” tale.
The Eastern Tropical Pacific: One of the World’s Game-Changing Locations

Joshua Feingold

The Eastern Tropical Pacific has inspired many artists, poets, and scientists. This selection of images from above and below the water’s surface was captured by Joshua Feingold during some of his many trips there to study coral ecology.
Recognize Your Habits, Change Your Destiny

Michael P. Kelly

We each have the potential within us to achieve our ideal destiny, whether that vision is defined by personal wealth or being part of something that changes the world. But, our life experiences often leave us with habits of perception and behavior that sabotage our efforts to positively impact our own lives and the world at large. The crucial first step in changing these habits is to identify and understand some of the long-standing, unconscious perceptions and behaviors that drive our daily lives. Recognizing our strengths, which can then be enhanced; our sources of stress, which can then be alleviated; and our blind spots, which can then be dealt with, allows us to make powerful changes in our habits—and ultimately in our own personal destiny.
The Ultimate Teammate: The High Five

Brooklyn Kohlheim

A true competitive advantage in today’s world seems to be few and far between. Everything is accessible, statistically analyzed, and posted for everyone to see with most businesses and sports teams examining the same things across the board. The women’s basketball program at NSU has stepped outside the box to gain a competitive advantage by empowering their student-athletes to communicate non-verbally and, unlike most teams, stat the interactions every single day. As you will see, the result and idea is worth spreading.
Breast Cancer, Premature Puberty, and the Environment

Jean Latimer

In the arena of cancer research, there is much talk about gene-environment interactions. While genetics is the aspect most commonly discussed, only about 15% of breast cancers (the 2nd most common cancer in American women) are due to familial inheritance of a mutation. Reportedly, the other 85% of breast cancer cases are affected by environmental factors including diet. In addition, the phenomenon of premature puberty in industrialized countries is on the rise and is related to an increased risk for breast cancer. This talk will underscore the importance of the environment in breast cancer prevention and introduce steps that can be taken to improve our own environmental factors.
The Gray Area

Natalie Negron

During a medical internship last summer, biology student Natalie Negron was observing a transplant surgery on a brain-dead patient. As the surgery progressed, she began to mentally place herself in the position of the patient on the operating table and reflected upon the life she’s led. She asked herself, Have I done enough? Does my life have meaning? Her answers were game-changing.
Darwin’s Descendants and the Evolution of an Idea

Glenn Scheyd

Life existed on our planet for billions of years before anyone tried to make sense of it. The discovery of the principles of natural selection represents the most game-changing shift humans have made in our ability to understand ourselves. Only in combination with an understanding of genetic inheritance, however, was the more sophisticated work of Darwinian science possible. It is tempting for us, as it must have been for Darwin’s contemporaries, to think we finally have things figured out. The history of science should teach us otherwise.
So There Is No Free Will. Now What?

Robert Speth

With the sequencing of the human genome and advances in neuroscience, along with discoveries in the fields of epigenetics and social sciences, we have opened a Pandora’s Box. An increasingly unavoidable conclusion from the progress of science is that humans do not possess free will. Revealing this knowledge about ourselves challenges every facet of our understanding of who we are. This presentation will describe some of the mounting evidence that precludes the existence of free will. Additionally, this talk will attempt to resolve the paradoxical absence and illusion of free will that is so essential to our humanness.