Chris Hadfield

With the sun at Long Island and Pluto on the Santa Monica pier, the journey is "kind of startling and extremely memorable."
"Am I that small? Is there really so much more out there, beyond my life, my world?" These are liberating thoughts for kids who largely believe the world revolves around them. Particularly this tech-saturated generation, where the world they know best fits in the palm of their hand -- aka their smartphones.
You may have never heard of a Canadian person of facial hair named Chris Hadfield. But he is a hero to people of Mustached American heritage, the weaker Canadian species, and people of Delaware.
2013-01-18-TEDplayvideo.jpgAt what I thought was a routine appointment in 2004, I met my little white blob face-to-face for the first time: A golf ball-sized brain tumor had lodged itself behind my right inner ear, intertwined with the delicate, wet-tissue-paper strands of my hearing, balance and facial nerves for what the doctors guessed was five years before it was found.
2013-01-18-TEDplayvideo.jpgWe often mistake the artificial chemical and psychological thrill of fake edges for the real. In fact we often seek them out as a substitute for the reality of change, growth and exploration. Our minds and bodies help us in this, as they react much the same to this simulations as to the real world. Thus we scream in horror movies or amusement park rides and get a rush from blowing up the bad guys in video games.