Refuge in Science

It may well be that the Russian economy is in decline, independent media is under pressure, and protest rallies are all but extinguished, but there is a flourishing field that defies the current sour public mood and is attracting ever increasing crowds of young people: education.

Over the past few years there has been an explosion in open-source education and popular science projects. Russians are gathering by the hundreds in trendy new lecture halls to hear speakers talk on everything from British theater to the last Ice Age. And new websites are offering online courses, jumping on the edutainment and online learning bandwagon initiated by TED and Coursera, but with a Russian twist.

Here are some projects to explore (if you speak Russian).