5 Talks in Russian: TEDx’s first Russian playlist!

With over 6,000 events (in over 100 countries and over 1,000 cities) having taken place since the TEDx program’s start in 2009, the TEDx community is truly global. And with a community like this, we at the TEDx blog have decided to try something new — weekly language playlists!

Уважаемые дамы и господа, встречайте первый плейлист выступлений TEDx на русском!

Do you speak Russian? Want to speak Russian? Curious about the language? Then you might enjoy this — our very first playlist of TEDx Talks in Russian.

Below, 5 TEDx Talks in Russian, from TEDx events all over the world, which will teach you all about how to be a good Internet citizen, the intricacies of architecture in Kazakhstan, and what it’s like to be a journalist in Kyrgyzstan.

TEACHERS: Did you know it’s possible to create a virtual lesson from a TEDx Talk? At TED-Ed you can quickly flip any of these talks. Check out these questions we whipped up for Elena Parfentseva’s talk and find out more about how to make your own TED-Ed lessons.

Internet citizenship: stopping bad guys?: Boris Shusterman at TEDxKharkov
At TEDxKharkov, Boris Shusterman explores politics and asks, “Who really controls the Internet?”

На TEDxKharkov, Борис Шустерман изучает политику и спрашивает: «Кто на самом деле контролирует интернет?»

Parts and prosthetics: Elena Parfentseva at TEDxYouth@Skolkovo
In this short and sweet talk from TEDxYouth@Skolkovo, Elena Parfentseva discusses prosthetics, medical advances and the importance of smiles.

В этом кратком и милом выступлении на TEDxYouth@Skolkovo, Елена Парфенцева рассматривает протезирование, достижения медицины и важность улыбки.

Interactive Museums in the context of contemporary life: Lubov’ Evtihova at TEDxTurgenevLibrary 
At TEDxTurgenevLibrary, Lubov’ Evtihova explains how she looks at museums as living organisms.

На TEDxTurgenevLibrary, Любовь Евтихова объясняет, как она рассматривает музеи как живые организмы.

The urban revolution in Kazakhstan: Aigul Zabirova at TEDxAlmaty
At TEDxAlmaty, Aigul Zabirova takes us through the history of architecture in Almaty, explaining how urban revolutions have shaped the city over the years.

На TEDxAlmaty, Айгуль Забирова показывает нам историю архитектуры Алма-Аты, объясняя, как городские революции изменили город с течением времени.

Kyrgyzstan is a best place for study journalism: Bektur Iskender at TEDxBishkek 

At TEDxBishkek, Bektur Iskender talks about his experiences studying journalism in Kyrgyzstan.

На TEDxBishkek, Бектур Искендер рассказывает о своём опыте изучения журналистики в Киргизии.

“Asteroids are nature’s way of saying, ‘how’s that space program coming?’” - Dr. Ed Lu at TEDxMarin

It’s a humbling day to be an Earthling. Just sixteen hours before the highly-anticipated flyby of the asteroid 2012 DA14, the skies above the Chelyabinsk region of Russia were shattered by the explosion of an incoming meteor. Although fortunately nobody appears to have been killed by the blast, more than 1,000 people reported injuries, mostly from flying glass and debris.

We know that these objects are out there, but what are scientists doing to locate them? And how would we respond if one were found to be on a collision course with our planet?

At TEDxMarin, Dr. Ed Lu gave a fascinating talk highlighting the efforts that scientists like himself are making to detect and deflect near-Earth objects.

Fortunately, says Dr. Lu, “You don’t need oil miners and Bruce Willis” to push an asteroid off course. “Deflecting asteroids is not that hard. We have the technology to do something like this.”

The bad news? We can’t deflect an asteroid we don’t know is coming. And there are a lot of asteroids out there (check out the jaw-dropping graphics at about 6:00). That’s why Dr. Lu and his team are working on satellites to detect them from space — before it’s too late.

A Cosmic TEDxVorobyovy-Gory

In Russia, 2011 was deemed the “Year of Cosmonautics”, and it was also the 50th anniversary of the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin. 

On March 19, 2011, TEDxVorobyovy-Gory held its third event at the Memorial Museum of Astronautics in Moscow, Russia. 

The theme? Space, of course. 

The venue played an important part in the execution of the event — during breaks, attendees could learn more about the history of Russian space travel and observe exhibitions of spacesuits, rocket parts and the SUYUZ station module. 

Onstage, speakers — who inlcuded astronaut Alexander Luzutking, futurologist Sergey Pereslegi, and astrophysics professor, Anatoly Zasov — were backed by a landscape of Moscow, with an array of planets set in strings floating slightly above the skyline. 

Looking back on the event, Elena muses, “TEDxVorobyovy-Gory was made on the Earth with the ideas of cosmos.”