Our weekly YouTube roundup is usually a reprieve from your mentally stimulating (yeah, right) work day. Not today, folks. Today, you must think, as this week’s theme is: TEDTalks.
The 2011 Technology Entertainment Design conference will be kicking off next week in Long Beach, California, bringing the leading minds of many fields together to talk about innovation, change and the future.
What we dig most about the TED conference are the talks that it yields, videos of which are all archived on the organization’s website.
Keep an eye on Mashable in the coming week for our TED coverage, but, in the meantime, get some learnin’ below.
Dan Ariely Asks: Are We in Control of Our Decisions?
Zachary Sniderman: Making absurdity both hilarious and brilliant.
Thomas Thwaites: How I Built a Toaster — From Scratch
Josh Catone: Thomas Thwaites’s attempt to build a toaster from scratch — including collecting and refining all the raw materials — is an interesting commentary on our globalized society.
Brian Cox: What Really Goes on at the Large Hadron Collider
Amy-Mae Elliott: Here Brian Cox explains what happens at the LHC (and more importantly why it’s such a fascinating experiment) in his typically accessible and engaging style.
Madeleine Albright: On Being a Woman and a Diplomat
Stacy Green: Because everything that Madam Secretary says is awesome and hilarious.
Amber Case: We Are All Cyborgs Now
Emily Banks: Amber Case provides a fascinating anthropological perspective on our modern tools and tech.
David Blaine: How I Held My Breath For 17 Minutes
Christina Warren’s pick
Jacek Utko: Can design Save the Newspaper?
Meghan Peters: Can it?
Jake Shimabukuro Plays “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Brenna Ehrlich: I dig the uke.
Alexis Ohanian: How To Make a Splash in Social Media
Matt Silverman: Funny + Social + Good Cause + Reddit = YEAH
It may be the end of an era for Twitter trends, as Justin Bieber is nowhere to be found on this week’s list. Instead, American Idol champions the chart as the show wrapped its ninth season and crowned some guy the winner of something.
Below that, international trends including Korean boy band Super Junior continue to dominate, while concerns over the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico mount.
Once again, our friends at What The Trend have provided the insightful list below. Because this is a topical list, hashtag memes and games have been omitted from the chart.
You can check past Twitter trends in our Top Twitter Topics section as well as read more about this past week’s trends on What The Trend.
Top Twitter Trends This Week: 5/22 – 5/28
Rank
Topic
Top Index This Week
Previous Peak Index
Description
#1
American Idol
1
1
Lee DeWyze was announced as the latest American Idol winner beating his runner up Crystal Bowersox.
#2
Uniqlo
1
-
Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo ran a promo for their 26th anniversary in which Japanese users who retweet a message have a chance to win special presents based on a drawn ticket number.
#3
Cnectd
2
4
People are tweeting about the new social networking which connects all phones through a new type of messenger.
#4
Lost (TV Show)
2
-
People tweeting about the series finale of LOST that aired May 23rd in the US.
#5
Soccer/Football
1
-
Tweets about the Champion’s League Fnal in Europe, and preparations for the FIFA World Cup.
#6
Super Junior
1
-
BONAMANA continued to be a very popular song for Super Junior, and their fans, also known as E.L.F.s, said goodbye to member Kangin, who is enlisting in the South Korean army.
#7
Gulf Oil Spill
2
6
People are still awaiting the news as to whether or not BP has succeeded in plugging the leak.
#8
Google
3
-
Google is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the popular game Pac Man, offering a playable version as it’s homepage doodle. If you press “Insert Coin” twice, a second player can play as Ms. Pac Man.
#9
Dream Concert
4
-
Dream Concert is an annual concert in Korea which features many Korean singers, boybands and girl groups. Fans are tweeting about their experience.
#10
Paul Gray
5
-
Slipknot bassist Paul Gray found dead, at age 38. His body was found in an Urbandale, Iowa, hotel room Monday morning, 5/24/10.
It may be the end of an era for 
