Ideas change everything

To solve old problems, study new species

1,416,154 plays|

Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado |

TEDxKC

• August 2016

Nature is wonderfully abundant, diverse and mysterious -- but biological research today tends to focus on only seven species, including rats, chickens, fruit flies and us. We're studying an astonishingly narrow sliver of life, says biologist Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, and hoping it'll be enough to solve the oldest, most challenging problems in science, like cancer. In this visually captivating talk, Alvarado calls on us to interrogate the unknown and shows us the remarkable discoveries that surface when we do.

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Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

Nature is wonderfully abundant, diverse and mysterious -- but biological research today tends to focus on only seven species, including rats, chickens, fruit flies and us. We're studying an astonishingly narrow sliver of life, says biologist Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, and hoping it'll be enough to solve the oldest, most challenging problems in science, like cancer. In this visually captivating talk, Alvarado calls on us to interrogate the unknown and shows us the remarkable discoveries that surface when we do.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxKC, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

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Donate what you can to the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and expand our knowledge of life.

Call your Senators and Representatives to make them aware of the importance of basic, discovery biological research.

About the speaker

Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado

Developmental and regeneration biologist

See speaker profile

Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado wants to understand the how and why of tissue regeneration.

About TEDx

TEDx was created in the spirit of TED's mission, "ideas worth spreading." It supports independent organizers who want to create a TED-like event in their own community.

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This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxKC, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Read more about TEDx.

Donate what you can to the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and expand our knowledge of life.

Call your Senators and Representatives to make them aware of the importance of basic, discovery biological research.