Daniel Tammet‘s TED talk A Different Way of Knowing is a fascinating look at how humans perceive language and meaning.

Perceptions are at the heart of how we acquire knowledge. Esthetic judgements rather than abstract reasoning guide and shape the process by which we all come to know what we know.

We don't need sweeter carrots and sharper sticks, Dan says. We need a whole new approach, an approach that puts more stock in intrinsic motivation. Dan identifies three elements that comprise a new way of thinking about management: Autonomy: The urge to direct our own lives. Mastery: The desire to get better at something that matters. Purpose: The yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves. Dan_pink Traditional ideas about management are great, Dan says, "if you want compliance; but for engagement, self-direction works best."

Kamal Meattle reported the results of his efforts to fill an office building with plants, in an effort to reduce headache, asthma, and other productivity-sapping aliments in thickly polluted India. After researching NASA documents, he concluded that a set of three particular common, waist-high houseplants—areca palm, Mother-in-Law’s Tongue, and Money Plant—could be combined to scrub the air of carbon dioxide, formaldehyde and other pollutants. At about four plants per occupant (1200 plants in all), the building’s air freshened considerably, and the health and productivity results were staggering. Eye irritation dropped by 52 percent, lower respiratory symptoms by 34 percent, headaches by 24 percent and asthma by 9 percent. There were fewer sick days, employee productivity increased, and energy costs dropped by 15 percent.

Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses -- and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius. It's a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.

Anand Agarawala presents BumpTop, a user interface that takes the usual desktop metaphor to a glorious, 3-D extreme, transforming file navigation into a freewheeling playground of crumpled documents and clipping-covered "walls."

Dan Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness, challenges the idea that we’ll be miserable if we don’t get what we want. Our "psychological immune system" lets us feel truly happy even when things don’t go as planned.

"In this off-the-cuff talk, Charles Leadbeater weaves a tight argument that innovation isn't just for professionals anymore. From open-source software to mountain biking to astronomy, passionate non-professionals are harnassing digital technologies to col