TED Talk Analysis: "Meet the Future of Cancer Research"

Screenshot taken from TED.com

The TED Talk I chose to watch was of a 19-year-old girl named Eva Vertes who is a cancer researcher and has already made some major discoveries in the science field. This Talk she gave was in February of 2005 (so she is currently thirty years old) in Monterey, California. The purpose of her presenting this speech was to discuss her findings so far in the field of cancer from reading others' work and to present her hypotheses she plans to research in the near future. I chose to analyze this Talk because my topic for my argument essay was childhood cancer. At Sweet Blessings, many of the children that we make birthday cakes for are suffering from life-threatening diseases such as cancer. Although Vertes does not specifically speak about cancer in children, she speaks of a way in which she believes cancer can be cured and maybe even prevented. 

Screenshot taken from TED.com

I don't know specifically, but I assume many of the audience members in this TED Talk were researchers themselves. These audience members more than likely knew quite a bit about the current cancer research that has been done in the past and currently. These researchers probably came to this TED Talk expecting to broaden their minds on the possibilities of future research in this field, and perhaps to even spark some ideas in their own minds. However, I also suspect there were some audience members who may not have known as much about this topic. When I clicked on this TED Talk, I didn't expect Vertes to present a cure for cancer (seeing that this was 2005 and there is no cure today), but rather I expected to learn new ways in which researchers have tried or are trying to defeat cancer.

Screenshot taken from TED.com

One thing I believe Vertes did well in her speech was providing adequate explanations. Every time she would talk about a process in the body, she would be sure to describe what it was and how it worked. This was very beneficial to audience members like me who are unfamiliar with many of these. For example, she talked about metastases, which I personally had never heard of. But after she explained that it is when a piece of a cancer tumor breaks off and travels through the blood stream to a different part of the body, it was easy to understand the rest of the Talk. Another thing that I thought Vertes did well was to use her hands to make gestures as she spoke. Although this may be distracting to some people, I personally think it was helpful to keep the audience focused and to not drift off. Also, it showed that she really understood and was passionate about what she was saying.

Vertes' hypothesis was that somehow cancer cells could be used to treat cancer if they were manipulated in the right way. Of course she likely didn't know how exactly at the time, but I think it would have been interesting to hear her thoughts of how it should be manipulated so that it can heal itself. Also, although I likely would have been the same way, Vertes stuttered often during her Talk. If she could have slowed her speech just a little, I believe she could have avoided this. Overall Eva Vertes gave a very compelling speech. It was very inspiring to see such a young woman who had already done so much in her lifetime. Below you can find the link for her TED Talk. 

"Meet the Future of Cancer Research" by Eva Vertes