Translated material
02/27/2024 – Trinity option – Science
TrV No. 4 (398) for 2024: Molecular view of the diversity of life
02/27/2024 / No. 398 / Production editors: Alexey Ognev, Maxim Borisov / Archive / no commentsNew NASA telescope, “star butterfly” and other astronomy news. How the “Soviet guy Gamow” heated up the Universe. The doll's teaching about truth. Diffusion of time. The incredible adventures of a Soviet physicist in the world of American startups. There is silence there, the VAK is dense there... Tokay: not wine, but a university. TrV-Nauka No. 398 dated February 27, 2024 in PDF Materials of the issue in HTML
A molecular view of the diversity of life
02/27/2024 / No. 398 / p. 1–3/ Nadezhda Markina; Alexander Tsetlin, Anna Zhadan, Mikhail Kalyakin / Everything alive / no commentsAt the time when my peers and I entered the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University, each applicant had to decide what he wanted: to wander through forests, mountains and deserts and plow the seas observing living nature, or to sit in a laboratory, dripping from a pipette into test tubes, in search of the essence of this living nature at the molecular level. It was necessary to choose where to enter—the first, physiological-biochemical, or the second, “field” department. Then the departments were merged. I remember well how, back in the 1990s, many biologists, accustomed to the classical taxonomy of animals, resisted innovation: “Well, there was such a harmonious system, molecular geneticists came and ruined everything!”
“Here’s an example: the Soviet guy Gamow”
02/27/2024 / No. 398 / p. 6–8/ Gennady Gorelik / History of Science / no commentsThe historian of science finds himself in a difficult position when he undertakes to talk about the man who advanced science. On the one hand, the historian faces an inferiority complex: the scale of scientific discoveries is seen more clearly not on the pages of textbooks and encyclopedias, where everything is already written in black and white, but against the backdrop of the real circumstances of the time, in the darkness of ignorance and the fog of misunderstanding. On the other hand, the historian is threatened with delusions of grandeur when he undertakes to explain exactly how the great discoverer took his step into the unknown: the discoverer himself usually does not really know how the happy thought came to his mind. Both of these threats recede, however, when you look at the science and life of George Gamow, involuntarily becoming infected with the frivolity that distinguished this Soviet-American theoretical physicist. For the same reason, fate probably had no mercy...
Terracotta girls: ancient imitation and truth
02/27/2024 / No. 398 / p. 9 / Alexander Markov, Oksana Stein (Bratina) / Deus Ex Machina / no commentsThe ancient concepts of imitation are not simply an apprenticeship to nature. This is a complex and inventive game involving people, dolls and characters. Culturologist Alexander Markov and Oksana Stein connect the origins of ancient theater, Platonism and Roman holidays. Everywhere the puppet's body becomes alive, and life conquers death in a way unknown to science.
Border. Fantastic story by Pavel Amnuel
02/27/2024 / No. 398 / p. 10–11/ Pavel Amnuel / Science Fiction / no comments"Next!" A man of about twenty-five, tall and thin, slightly bald, with an aristocratic mustache, approached the counter. As expected, he handed over his passport and visa. Bertrand took the documents, felt the tourist’s fingers tremble subtly, barely perceptibly, and said reassuringly: “First time?” For the first time, everyone is worried. This cup bypasses no one, neither Greek nor Jew. Bertrand didn’t remember where this phrase stuck in his mind, but he mentally repeated it thirty times per shift - exactly as many times as he let tourists through to the other side...
Fiction calendar: John Travolta, Pavel Amnuel, Erich Kästner, Evgeny Krylatov, Oleg Yankovsky
02/27/2024 / No. 398 / p. eleven / Vladimir Borisov / History of fiction / no comments70 years ago was born John Travolta (b. 1954), American actor, writer, film producer, dancer and singer, performer of roles in the films “Carrie” (Billy Nolan), “Puncture” (Jack Terry), “Pulp Fiction” (Vincent Vega ), “The White Man's Fate” (Louis Pinnock)… 80 years ago was born Pavel Amnuel (b. 1944), Russian-Israeli astrophysicist and writer, follower and ally of Heinrich Altov, author of the novels “People of Code”, “Triverse”, “The Road to Yourself”, “Revenge in Dominos”, “Your Name”, “Deja Vu”... 125 years ago Erich Kästner (Berthold Bürger, 1899–1974), German writer, poet, screenwriter was born and cabaretist, author of the fairy tale “The Matchbox Boy”, the book “Till Eulenspiegel”, short stories, fairy tales, parables, and the script for the film “Munchausen” (under the pseudonym Berthold Bürger). Evgeny Pavlovich Krylatov (1934–2019) was born 90 years ago...
In the world of American startups. From the stories of an experienced Fianov resident
02/27/2024 / No. 398 / p. 12–14/ Yuri Zakharenkov / Technologies / no commentsToday there are more than a thousand telecom startups in the world with a total capital of $13 billion. The term “startup” appeared in the USA in 1939. Then, near the city of San Francisco, in the Santa Clara Valley (California), almost all enterprises and firms involved in development in the field of high technology were concentrated. At that time, Stanford University students David Packard and William Hewlett, creating their small project here, called this business a startup (from the English start-up - to start, launch). Over time, this startup grew into the huge Hewlett-Packard corporation.
Filippov's evidence
02/27/2024 / No. 398 / p. 15 / Vasily Vlasov / Dissernet / One commentBecause doctors are not traditionally taught research methods in medical school, many do not learn to recognize benign findings until later in their professional lives. Naturally, you have to learn research designs, statistical data analysis, and understanding possible biases from scratch. This is a very exciting matter, and many doctors came to scientific research through the study of evidence-based medicine. And in general, the quality of medical research around the world has improved markedly over the past twenty years. Naturally, while participating in these fascinating processes, I remember about what persists here and there - about plagiarism, about falsification, and about the fact that many people need an academic degree with a complete lack of interest in scientific research.
The medal is not for everyone
02/27/2024 / No. 398 / p. 15 / Ivan Ekonomov / Author's column / no commentsI recently saw an old friend here. We sat with him, drank to celebrate, and then he shared his grief: he was not given the anniversary medal “300 years of the Russian Academy of Sciences.” I ask him, what kind of medal is this, what does it give, is it possible to obtain the status of “Veteran of Labor” with this medal. The friend replied that it did not give anything, but it was simply a shame that he, a man who had worked for forty years in the Academy of Sciences system, might not be given a commemorative medal. And here's what turned out...
About universities
02/27/2024 / No. 398 / p. 16 / Alexander Meshcheryakov / By the way / no commentsBy the way, in high school I wanted to be a writer or even a poet. Or, even better, both a writer and a poet. My mother advised me to enter the Institute of Military Translators, but I rejected her offer. By that time, my warlike fervor was forever wasted in games with soldiers. Nowhere were they taught to be writers or poets (the Literary Institute accepted people who were a little more respectable and had publications). In this regard, I chose the journalism department of Moscow State University...
Astronomy news: a new NASA telescope, a bright and fast-growing quasar, a “star butterfly”, a new neutron star and a supernova remnant in the Bode Galaxy
02/27/2024 / No. 398 / p. 4–5/ Alexey Kudrya / Space / 4 commentsA space telescope called UVEX is scheduled to launch in 2030 as NASA's next astrophysics research mission, which will provide more information about how galaxies and stars evolve. The European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) has discovered a bright object designated J0529–4351, one of the brightest quasars in the Universe today. The closest star forming region to us, IRAS 04302+2247, is located in the Taurus molecular cloud at a distance of only about 456 light-years from the Sun. Interestingly, the dense disk of gas and dust dividing the nebula in two appears as a dark stripe crossing the center of the image. Initially seeming quite ordinary, supernova SN 1993J puzzled scientists a lot when it turned out that its ejection was too...