TOP SCIENCE. February Media Ten: Crab Zombie Feminists, Prehistoric Salamanders and Exaggerated Alcoholics

Good afternoon. In the comments on our material about the best achievements of Russian scientists in 2019, the Habrovsk citizens admitted that they were hearing about some discoveries for the first time. Then the idea came up to acquaint readers of Habr with the achievements of Russian university scientists. Since all experts refused to determine the importance of discoveries, we decided to talk about the most media discoveries; developments of Russian scientists who received the greatest resonance in the media. Since March is not over yet, today we will present you the TOP-10 of the most sensational scientific developments of February.

But first, about which we will not tell. We will not tell you that excess light at night brings old age closer , that there is a connection between knowledge of languages ​​and cognitive abilities , whichblood circulation regulators were found that will help with hypertension , which could cause heart problems in the mass death of seals on Lake Baikal , as well as that serial killer sexual killers were classified according to their “handwriting” .



All these developments, although they were close, were not included in the top ten. And who broke through?



10th place. In tenth place are scientists from the Perm National Research Polytechnic University (PNIPU) , who, together with Israeli researchers, created a mathematical model that explains how the structures of cancerous tumors appear . According to the representative of PNIPU Ivan Krasnyakov: “the doctors cannot yet figure out with the help of what mechanisms and under what conditions the structures of specific neoplasms appear. We explained these processes and determined the “behavior” of structures using a mathematical model . ” The results of the study are published in the international journal Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology .

45 reprints.



9th place.An article on the development, which took the ninth place, was published under the heading “Parasitic crustaceans were caught transforming crabs into“ zombie-feminists ” and I, in fact, have only one question - why not the first? The article describes a study by scientists from St. Petersburg State University (SPbU) who found that two types of root-headed crustaceans do not just parasitize crabs and other crustaceans, but grow into their nervous system and turn victims into “zombie feminists,” including the program gestation in the brain of males. The research article was published by the scientific journal Scientific Reports .

45 reprints.



8th place.Oh, again, again, many, many times! Happy women in the third marriage are waiting for us on the eighth step. A material entitled “ From the Third Time ” tells us that the scientists of the Higher School of Economics (NRU HSE) and the Moscow State Psychological and Pedagogical University (MGPPU) found that the psychological well-being of women in their third marriage is significantly higher than the indicators those who are married for the first or second time. According to experts, this is due to the fact that by the third marriage a woman reduces her requirements for a partner and seeks compromises in relations. Suddenly.

48 reprints.



7th place. From family clarification of relations, we pass to battles for the harvest. In seventh position -software complex "Electronic agronomist" , developed at Samara University . According to the creators, their brainchild will tell farmers what, where and when to plant, and also give a forecast for the crop and help the farmer with advice. The area of ​​simultaneously analyzed crops is from 100 to 1 million hectares. Work is being carried out jointly with Samara-Informsputnik JSC with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the Samara Region.

57 reprints.



6th place. In sixth position - a sensation from the Urals. Scientists there discovered an unknown form of carbon on Earth in fragments of a meteorite that fell in the Chelyabinsk region in 2013 and has been making life easier for seven years now to the press service of Chelyabinsk State University. As the associate professor of the Department of Theoretical Physics, Sergey Zamozdra, University Rector Sergei Taskaev, said, “while studying meteorite dust samples, I noticed something brilliant. At first he thought it was a diamond, because there are six faces. Later in Germany, this crystal was pulled out using micro-tweezers and X-rayed — it turned out to be not a diamond, but a carbon crystal . " According to the speaker, scientists are now preparing publications on this subject.

64 reprints.



5th place. At the equator of our hit parade scientists of the Lipetsk Pedagogical University (Leningrad State Pedagogical University) , who came to the conclusion that the idea of ​​mass alcoholism in a Russian village at the beginning of the 20th century is greatly exaggerated. In Russia now they drink a quarter more, and in the 1990s, alcohol consumption was doubled, said Ivan Shevchenko, assistant professor of domestic and general history at the Leningrad State Pedagogical University. According to the scientist, he came to such conclusions by analyzing documents of the Russian State Historical Archive in St. Petersburg. Now I. Shevchenko is studying the period of the Prohibition in Russia in 1914-1925.

67 reprints.



4th place. Researchers of the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University (IKBFU) , who, together with colleagues from Kemerovo State University, studied the effect of ultraviolet radiation on tomatoes and proposed a way to increase the beneficial properties of vegetables, stopped a pace from the pedestal .. According to scientists, ultraviolet light, acting on tomatoes, increases the amount of antioxidants in the fruit. The results are published in Heliyon magazine .

69 reprints.



3rd place. Paleontologists from Russia and Germany receive the “bronze” of our charts. They found on the territory of the Krasnoyarsk Territory the remains of one of the first salamanders of the Earth . Scientists named the fossil Egoria malashichevi - in honor of his colleague Yegor Malashichev, assistant professor of vertebrate zoology at St. Petersburg State University , who died in 2018. Description of fossils published by the scientific journal PLOS ONE. In the near future, Russian paleontologists plan to compare the remains they found with the bones of ancient salamanders, which were found in Britain in sediments of the same time occurring in the vicinity of Oxford.

81 reprints.



2nd place. The "silver" went to the scientists of the Korolev Samara National Research University , who are developing a non-surgical method for the destruction of cancerous tumors using magnetic pulses. “As far as we know, pulsed magnetic fields in medicine have never been used for medical purposes and their effects have not been investigated,” the words of the director of the Samara Tissue Bank, the chief research associate and the head of the biotechnology department of the IEMB, professor Larisa Volova, are quoted. The Samara method of exposure to living cells with magnetic pulses received a Russian patent.

84 reprints.



1st place. Well, who was the winner? Most of all, the Russian media was thrilled by the news about the study of Russian scientists from ITMO University , who, together with their American colleagues, conducted the first genetic study of the Moscow Metro microbiota . The research results are published inComputational and Structural Biotechnology Journal . Scientists compared the results obtained in Moscow with the results of American studies and found that the most common bacteria in the Moscow and New York metro are the same. Actually, there is nothing to be surprised: microbes in the Moscow metro - what today can be more relevant?

88 reprints.

About what Russian scientists did in March besides being quarantined and giving interviews about coronavirus, TOP-SCIENCE from NITU MISiS will tell you in early April.

Do not be ill!