I have a crush on a statistician...

No offense to Jonathon Blake, but usually women of my age don't get wild about statisticians. That said, I have a massive intellectual crush on a fellow named Hans Rosling. Rosling is a Swedish professor of international health. His clinical work on disease in Africa is fascinating, but his data work is magnetic! I came into contact with his thinking and speaking because he is the founder of the Gapminder Foundation. His institute takes nearly impossible data--the most complicated of data--and makes it both understandable and relevant.

I have embedded Rosling's talk to the State Department here. (If this fails, visit the TED location and see it there.) This talk is part of the TED series, and is a fascinating look at the past and future of global health trends. You will probably be surprised to see some of your assumptions turned upside down. It may look a little long, but Rosling is very engaging and determined to make "[his] dataset change your mindset." Enjoy!