Science Slam Planet

Date

Schedule

15:00–17:00

Place

Garage Screen summer cinema
Go to event
Public program for The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030–2100

DESCRIPTION

Part of the public program for The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030–2100, Science Slam Planetwill bring together six experts in various ecology-related disciplines to discuss the current state of the planet and look into what awaits us in the future.

Participants will speak about the current developments in the Earth’s global ecosystems: air, water, soil, the animal word, space, and the human population. Why are antibiotics becoming less potent and what challenges could that entail? How should water and soil be cleaned and what pollutes them? What future do space technologies promise to us? Why does our survival depend on the variety of species that we can preserve?

Presenting a number of different perspectives on ecology, the slam will help listeners understand the consequences of our current activities for the Earth, which our own survival depends on, since “we have no planet B.”

Science slamis a stand-up battle between scientists. Young experts will present some of the key scientific theories of today and speak about their own research in an informal setting. Each speaker has ten minutes to present their ideas in the most accessible, interesting, and funny way, and the audience chooses the best slammer by clapping.

This event has been organized with the support of SIBUR.

ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS

 

Aleksandr Khokhlov is a spacecraft instruments design engineer at the Russian State Scientific Center for Robotics and Technical Cybernetics, member of the North-West Organisation of the Federation of Cosmonautics of Russia. Active in the field of popular science, Khokhlov is the chairman of the Youth Section at theNorth-West Organisation of the Federation of Cosmonautics of Russia and a member of Tsiolkovsky Russian Academy of Cosmonautics. He studied at Penza Institute of Technology and from 2002 to 2006 worked as an engineering technologist at the Experimental Engineering Factory of Energia Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation. From 2006 to 2010 he was the life support systems operator in the group developing technical instruments for extravehicular activity at the International Space Station and worked on the service support of its Russian Orbital Segment. In 2009, he spent three months working in the Russian Regional Group at the Mission Control Centre in Houston.

 

Aleksey Sivukhin is an ecologist, senior lecturer at Ivanovo State University. He graduated in Biology from Ivanovo State University in 2013 and got a Doctoral Candidate degree in Ecology in 2016. He has been teaching in the Department of Biology and Physiology of Ivanovo State University since 2011. He is the chairman of the university’sYoung Scientists’ Board and Deputy Head of its Science and Research administration.

 

 

Ilya Serezhkin is a Doctoral Candidate in Biology at Moscow State University and a researcher at the university’s laboratory of microbial biotechnology. He is a two-time winner of ScienceSlam events organized byThe Polytechnic Museum in collaboration with the Government of Moscow. In 2015, he graduated in Microbiology from Moscow State University. His research interests include ecological and food microbiology. He is currently writing a thesis on the use of microorganisms in the clean-up of oil spills in the ocean.

 

 

Artur Ishteev is an engineer at the Laboratory of Emerging Solar Energy, a Doctoral Candidate in Materials Science at the National University of Science and Technology (MISiS). He graduated from Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University in 2013 and got an MA from MISiS in 2015. In 2018, he received the Presidential Scholarship for studying abroad and spent a year doing research in the University of Texas at Dallas. His professional interests include the development of perovskite solar elements and LEDs.

 

 

Ekaterina Umnyakova is the author of How Immunity Works(2019), active in the field of popular science. In 2014, she received an MA in Biology from Saint Petersburg State University and in 2018, a Doctoral Candidate degree in Pathological Physiology and Biochemistry from the Institute of Experimental Medicine. She is a senior researcher at the Department of General Pathology and Pathological Physiology at the Institute of Experimental Medicine, where she works in a research group studying antimicrobial proteins and peptides.

 

 

Irina Timofeeva is an ecologist and lecturer at ITMO University in Saint Petersburg. In 2009, she took part in Toxicology and Environmental Health Summer School at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. She graduated in Biodiversity and Environmental Protection from Saint Petersburg State University in 2011 and received an MA in Information Systems and Measuring Technology in Environmental Protection and Technological and Ecological Safety from ITMO University in 2013. She has been a Doctoral Candidate in Geoecology at ITMO University since 2013 and a lecturer since 2016.

HOW TO TAKE PART

Free admission with registration.

The event will be held in Russian and English with simultaneous translation.

The event is accessible for deaf and hard of hearing visitors and will be interpreted into Russian Sign Language.

REGISTRATION

Schedule

Introduction

Date
Saturday, August 17
Time
15:00–15:05
Place
Garage Screen summer cinema

Aleksandr Khokhlov. “Will Humanity Become an Interplanetary Species?”

With the first human spaceflights in the twentieth century came projects to send manned spaceships to the Moon and Mars and later create bases on both. These projects were abandoned or stalled due to political instability and the lack of funding and long-term planning on the part of state agencies and ministries. A new wave of interest in the colonization of the Moon has been brought on by the increasing tension between the USA and China, and the emergence of new players such as SpaceX, on the space market. Spacecraft instruments design engineerAleksandr Khokhlov will explain what humans need to do to populate other planets in the twenty-first century.

Date
Saturday, August 17
Time
15:05–15:20
Place
Garage Screen summer cinema

Ilya Serezhkin. “Small Spills that Lead to Big Problems and The Role of Bacteria”

We often hear about the pollution of oceans through plastic waste that forms entire islands, and oil spills resulting from tanker and oil rig incidents. Researcher at the Moscow State University’s laboratory of microbial biotechnology Ilya Serezhkin will explain why small regular spills from routine ship refuels cause more damage than major disasters. He will also speak about microplastics that circulate in the ocean and can be found even in visibly clear waters. Both oil spills and microplastics pose global threats and both can be tackled using biotechnology, since microorganisms are able to recycle most types of pollution. How do we find bacteria that can help us cope with pollution and why do they sometimes still fail to purify water?

Date
Saturday, August 17
Time
15:20–15:35
Place
Garage Screen summer cinema

Aleksey Sivukhin. “The Soil that Poisons Us”

The soil that we walk on is contaminated with heavy metals that threaten our lives. Lead causes damage to our nervous systems, while cadmium leads to lung diseases. We breathe heavy metals in, and we consume them with the food that is grown in contaminated soil, accumulating them in our bodies. Ecologist and senior lecturer at Ivanovo State UniversityAleksey Sivukhin will speak about the history of the issue and the soil purification methods that are already in use today.

Date
Saturday, August 17
Time
15:35–15:50
Place
Garage Screen summer cinema

Irina Timofeeva. “What Does the Loss of Animal Species Tell Us About the Future of Humanity?”

According to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, the loss of biodiversity will lead to the extinction of many insect species and therefore to the rise in prices on agricultural produce. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals list combating hunger among humanity’s key priorities, and insects are not only important pollinators of plants, but also a great source of protein. Ecologist Irina Timofeeva will speak of how the market of protein-rich foods can affect our eating habits in the future, explain why we need biodiversity and show how it affects economies and ecology. She will also discuss the effectiveness of nature reserves and try to predict what animal species will still be with us in several decades. 

Date
Saturday, August 17
Time
15:50–16:05
Place
Garage Screen summer cinema

Artur Ishteev. “Why Alternative Energy Will Not Save Polar Bears”

Today, people are putting a lot of hope in alternative energy and in particular solar panels. Engineer Artur Ishteev will introduce the audience to the science of photovoltaics, explain why people believe that solar energy will allow us to stop burning oil and reduce pollution, and speak about the areas where alternative energy is required more than elsewhere.

Date
Saturday, August 17
Time
16:05–16:20
Place
Garage Screen summer cinema

Ekaterina Umnyakova. “Why the Era of Antibiotics Is Coming to an End”

When penicillin was discovered, scientists believed that humanity had conquered all diseases. Unfortunately, they were wrong: today we are still engaged in a desperate fight against microorganisms, some of which have become immune to the strongest antibiotics. Biologist and immunologist Ekaterina Umnyakova will speak of humanity’s chances of winning this race.

Date
Saturday, August 17
Time
16:20–16:35
Place
Garage Screen summer cinema
Go to event
Public program for The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030–2100

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