On February 8, Russia celebrates the Day of Russian Science. "Komsomolskaya Pravda" together with the popular science portal "Cherdak", created by the TASS agency in conjunction with the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, spoke about the notable scientific developments, experiments and discoveries of Russian scientists in 2017.
Russian scientists come closer to solving the genetic disease of Huntington
Biologists from Novosibirsk State University and the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences have created a cell line that models the currently incurable Huntington's disease. This hereditary disease of the nervous system manifests itself in patients aged 35-45 years with motor and mental disorders and within 15-20 years leads to personality decay and death. To find a method of treatment, Russian scientists, using modern technology, "edited" the CRISPR / Cas9 genome and obtained a cellular model that will allow studying the molecular mechanisms of the disease.
The Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the SB RAS in Novosibirsk develops genetically engineered drugs based on human proteins. Photo by ITAR-TASS / Vladimir Zinin.
Transgenic mouse milk containing human protein is obtained in the laboratory of the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the SB RAS. Employees of the institute are developing a technology for the production of medicines based on the milk of transgenic animals, containing medicinal human proteins.
Tomsk scientists have created a reconnaissance robot to explore dangerous areas
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Scientists at Tomsk State University (TSU) have created a robot to explore dangerous areas. With the help of a gas analyzer, he can carry out an express analysis of the air, determining the composition of the air, including the presence of explosives. Also, the robot can conduct video filming, take samples of soil, snow and water. The mechanism is capable of working in difficult conditions for humans, for example, in the Arctic.
Tomsk. The main building of Tomsk State University. Photo by ITAR-TASS / Evgeny Kurskov.
MSU scientists created "Noah's Ark"
Moscow State University Lomonosov Moscow State University launched an electronic depository of living systems - an information system created within the framework of the Noah's Ark project. It contains data on samples from the biological collections of the university and project partners - what kind of organism it is, by whom, where and when it was collected, why it is remarkable and what it can be used for. There are no analogues of such an information system containing data on various biological samples in the world.
Sculpture of M. V. Lomonosov at the main building of the Moscow State University. MV Lomonosov on the Lenin Hills. Photo by Anton Novoderezhkin / TASS.
Researchers from Russia for the first time in the world solved the problem of imitating the complex structure of bone tissue
Russian scientists from NUST MISIS, the Blokhin Russian Cancer Center and the State Plant of Medicines have created bone implants based on ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene. The implants have a porous structure and completely mimic the spongy structure of bone tissue. The new material makes it possible to replace bone defects resulting from various diseases, injuries and surgical interventions, initiate bone regeneration processes and maintain the functionality of the limbs. As a result of the operations performed, 100% of the implanted samples took root.
The building of the Russian Cancer Research Center named after N. N. Blokhin. PHOTO Mikhail Pochuev / TASS.
Russian and Chinese scientists have developed a new way to extract gold from microelectronics
NUST MISIS scientists, together with employees of the Chinese corporation ZijinMiningGroup, have developed a new technology for processing gold-cuprous ores, which is faster and more efficient than the existing ones. This technology is needed to extract gold from rocks containing copper, and can also be used to recover gold from electronic scrap and computer hardware. The new processing method allows to reduce the production cost by 30-40%.
custom of gold at the Berezovsky gold mine in the Sverdlovsk region. PHOTO Donat Sorokin / TASS.
A worker in the Severnaya mine of the Berezovsky gold mine, where gold-silver-bearing sulfide ores are mined and enriched. At the end of 2015, the region ranked 10th among the gold mining regions of Russia. A total of 7.9 thousand kg of gold and 290 kg of platinum were mined.
Russian scientists have developed a method for determining the biological age of a person
Specialists from the Institute of Molecular Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian Gerontological Research and Clinical Center, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and other research centers have developed a method for determining the biological age of a person using ultrasound of the human carotid artery and tonometry. The new method determines age with an accuracy of 6-7 years. There are methods that work more accurately, but their application is more complex and expensive. According to scientists, the determination of biological age will play an important role in the development of anti-aging techniques.
Human endometrial cells in the laboratory of the Institute of Developmental Biology. N. K. Koltsov RAS. Image through a microscope / Archive of the IBR RAS / TASS.
The first quantum network in Russia was launched in Kazan
Scientists from the Kazan Quantum Center of KNRTU-KAI and ITMO University have successfully implemented the first quantum network in Russia and the CIS based on the existing urban telecommunications infrastructure. Quantum communication channels have united four points located in different districts of Kazan. Quantum communications guarantee the invulnerability of communication lines to hacker attacks, but so far they remain experimental developments: apart from Kazan, they are being studied in St. Petersburg, Moscow and the Moscow region.
and the opening of the laboratory complex of the Russian Quantum Center in the Skolkovo Technopark. Photo by ITAR-TASS / Denis Vyshinsky.
For the first time in the history of Russian astronomy, a planet outside the solar system was discovered
Astronomers of the Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University (KFU) and their colleagues from Turkey and Japan have discovered a planet outside our solar system - an exoplanet located near a red giant star. The star HD208897 is located 210 light-years from the Sun. The discovered planet is close in mass to Jupiter, which is interesting: about a dozen exoplanets of this mass are known today, although there are already several thousand known planets outside the solar system as a whole. Note that the detection of an exoplanet by the spectroscopic method is the first in the history of Russian astronomy.
Photo of the galaxy M101 with Supernova SN2011fe, taken with the Russian-Turkish 1.5-meter optical telescope RTT-150 at the Turkish State Observatory TUBITAK. PHOTO Irek Khamitov / TUBITAK State Observatory / TASS.
RTT-150 is an international project with the participation of the Kazan Federal University (KFU), the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Turkish State Observatory TUBITAK. The telescope was manufactured in 1995 by order of Kazan University at the Leningrad Optical and Mechanical Association (LOMO). With the help of the RTT-150, Russian and Turkish astronomers carry out studies of celestial objects located in various regions of near and deep space.
Liquid breathing technology can be used to save people
Researchers at the Research Institute of Medicine and Labor, whose employees, together with the Advanced Technologies Foundation, have developed a liquid breathing system and have successfully demonstrated it on a dachshund. With liquid breathing, oxygen enters the lungs not from the air, but from a special liquid. The method can be used to rescue divers, treat severe bronchopulmonary diseases in newborns, as well as during operations.
Dachshund participating in a liquid breathing technology project of the Advanced Research Foundation. PHOTO Mikhail TERESHCHENKO / TASS.
Dinosaur remains found in Bolshoi Ilek section
Scientists from Tomsk State University (TSU) discovered in the Achinsk district of Krasnoyarsk Territory in the Bolshoi Ilek section the previously unknown location of dinosaur and mammoth fauna: the bones of mammoths, rhinos and predators, and below them the remains of herbivorous and carnivorous dinosaurs.
The main task of the expedition was not the search for fossil organisms, but a detailed stratigraphic description of the entire thickness of the section. However, in the process of geological research, scientists were able to find the remains of large herbivores (presumably sauropods and stegosaurs) and carnivorous dinosaurs.
On the territory of Taimyr, its inhabitants often find the remains of animals that died out millions of years ago. The most common remains of mammoths are found in the permafrost. The mammoth tusk is used for applied purposes in the bone-carving workshops of the Taimyr Folk Art Center.
Viktor Yarotsky with a 12 kg mammoth tusk found in the collapsed bank of the Yara-Tanama River. Photo by Denis Kozhevnikov (ITAR-TASS).