One of my favorite TED Talks is, “How vultures can help solve crimes” by Lauren Pharr. She gave this Talk in 2018 at TEDxLSU to convince her audience that forensic science can be innovated by the consideration of vulture behavior in relation to crime scenes. Her speech is highly effective for many reasons.
Pharr’s TED talk revolves around her involvement in a kidnapping-homicide investigation and how she was able to provide the detectives with key information regarding vulture behavior in relation to crime scenes. Her experience in the field as well as her being both an avian ecologist and forensic anthropologist exemplify her ethos. By explaining this case Pharr proves exactly why studying scavenger behavior in relation to crime scenes can provide new clues regarding where a body is, what injury they obtained while alive, and how long they’ve been dead for. She was able to prove that forensic sciences can be innovated by the consideration of vulture’s behaviors. Despite the gruesome subject matter of her TED talk, Pharr manages to effectively communicate with her audience by appealing to their sense of humor and compassion appropriately. She keeps her speech light for the most part, but when she decides to stop with the jokes and focus on the reality of homicide investigation, it catches the audience’s attention and really focuses them on the argument. Pharr effectively conveys that Criminal investigations aren’t all action-packed, high-stakes adventures, they’re tragedies that result in the death of not only the victims but the souls of those around them. Innovation is clearly needed, and the vultures are the answer.
TED Talks and non-TED Talk speeches are not much different from each other, but I think that TED Talks allow for more creative freedom. With TED Talks, it’s acceptable to move around, to gesture, to be casual, and to incorporate props or visual aids into the speech. It’s expected for TED Talks to be entertaining to an extent while speeches are supposed to be more formal.
Feel free to watch: (600) How vultures can help solve crimes | Lauren Pharr – YouTube
That is an interesting TED Talk! I love the idea of modeling innovation after things in nature, connecting things that are new with things that have been in the world for a long time. This makes me wonder what other things or systems we currently have in place that could be improved with the study of nature. Great pick, I’ll definitely check it out
This is so interesting because I’ve never thought about the potential correlation between scavenger behavior and crime scenes. I do think I will go and watch this TED talk not only because it sparks my interest, but to see how she was able to have an effective tone and delivery. Thanks for your synopsis of this talk!