The five-day-long Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) Conference in southern California was a seemingly endless stream of revelations aimed at provoking new looks at the planet's ills as well as its wonders.

The economic crisis, climate change, and ravaging of nature on land and at sea were among the dire challenges explored by TED's famously well-stocked brain trust.

"What do you do when you feel overwhelmed?" Bennington College president Liz Coleman asked rhetorically.

"You have a mind and you have other people; start with those and change the world."

Barbie dolls and prison inmates are among the surprise allies that tree researcher Nalini Nadkarni enlists in her battle to protect forests and their biologically rich canopies.

She debuted an International Canopy Network website and a Tree Top Barbie project that transforms the classic blonde dolls into forest action figures with hand-sewn outfits.

"We've taken this pop icon and tweaked her into an ambassador to spread word that being a forest researcher can be a really cool thing," Nadkarni said.

She also trains inmates to cultivate mosses as part of a plan to give the floral industry alternatives to stripping the essential plant life from old growth forests to decorate bouquets.

"The inmates are better at identifying mosses than most of my graduate students," Nadkarni quipped.

The project works so well she is working on having inmates raise bees and breed an endangered species of frogs.

"They will raise them in captivity, of course," she said with a smile.

Willie Smits was among presenters whose cleverly-crafted solutions to daunting problems brought Tedsters to their feet applauding.

Smits teams with villagers in Indonesia to restore rain forests to lands that were torched, farmed until barren, and then abandoned.

"I'm actually quite optimistic," economist Alex Tabarrok said as TED came to a close.

Tabarrok argues that as barriers between countries fall in an increasingly global economy millions of minds around the world will focus on solving problems facing humanity.

"If you think of the world as a giant parallel computer, the great tragedy is that millions of our processors have been offline," Tabarrok said of the untapped brain power in developing parts of the globe.

"The good news is China is coming online, India is coming online, Africa is coming online...There is a greater demand for ideas and a greater supply of ideas for the world."

Microsoft founder turned philanthropist Bill Gates was among TED optimists, saying he believes "any tough problem can be solved."

TED is celebrating its 25th year, having been created in 1984 by architect Richard Wurman as an ultimate fantasy dinner party.

TED was taken over by nonprofit Sapling Foundation in 2001 and its virtual doors opened to the world nearly three years ago with the creation of a ted.com website where conference talks can be viewed free.

"Two and a half years ago this was a closed gathering," said TED curator Chris Anderson.

"What happened at TED stayed at TED. These talks are now watched by men and women in every corner of the world and used to start ideas and spread ideas."

Videos of TED talks will have been watched online more than 100 million times by the end of February.

The website was updated this week to feature subtitles translating talks into more than two dozen languages.

"I've been to a lot of TEDS," said jazz musician Herbie Hancock. "I was at Number One. Now, look where we are."

Approximately 1,300 people attended this year's gathering, which took place for the first time in the coastal city of Long Beach near Los Angeles.

Musicians, actors, scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs enjoyed espresso drinks, healthful snacks, and conversation in a Google cafe set up under a tent outside the theater.

Chats ran the gamut, touching on whether octopuses are smart, whether bacteria can talk, making electric cars mainstream, and saving life in on the planet while finding it in space.

"This doesn't stop the conversation," Anderson said as TED ended. "This hope continues all year."

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