About a year ago, we posted 5 Must Watch TED Talks. But, of course, people are continuously learning and sharing their knowledge with the world. We’ve updated that list with some new TED talks, and a couple of Bioneers talks.

Janine Benyus: Biomimicry’s Surprising Lessons from Nature’s Engineers

Why: Biomimicry is a component of urban ecological design. Janine Benyus, a biologist and author, discusses how we might use nature to solve some of the most pressing ecological problems facing the world today by integrating information from the world into our engineering practices. She has said biomimicry relies on the “conscious emulation of 3.8 billion years of time-tested wisdom,” and that it’s a revolution for human’s relationship to the natural world.

“We live in a complicated universe, and we are part of it.” – Janine Benyus

Andy Lipkis: Restoring Los Angeles: The Healing Nature of Our Cities

Why: This talk makes urban ecological design practical. Andy Lipkis reminds us how small we all are when we face a disaster. He addresses how we can combine the efforts of urban planning and resource management to create changes in the infrastructure of cities – including changes in systems of education and community revitalization.

Kristen Marhaver – How We’re Growing Baby Corals to Rebuild Reefs

Why: In this talk, Kristen Marhaver discusses the things we’re learning about corals, and how we can begin to grow them in an effort to rebuild reefs. This type of work can also inform ecological design and the design of products, such as oil rigs and sea walls that go under water.

Paul Stamets – How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World

Why: Paul Stamets, a mycologist, discusses how we can incorporate fungi into more aspects of our lives – ranging from shipping boxes to ethanol – and the ways in which fungi can prove regenerative to soil.

Check back soon for a blog discussing Stamet’s research on bees and mushrooms!

Graham Morehead – Save the Urchin Fishery with this Once Weird Trick!

Why: Graham Morehead talks about complexities science and complex systems and how learning to look for patterns in these complex systems, combined with using population models, might be used to avoid the demise of fisheries.

Jaap de Roode – How Butterflies Self-Medicate

Why: Understanding how monarch butterflies selectively lay their eggs can – with enough crucial information about growing conditions and reducing the spread of a parasite plaguing these butterflies — inform our choices in designing pollinator gardens.

Check back soon for a blog discussing monarchs and the protozoan parasite!