Announcement of the issue

“Nature cannot be fooled” (pp. 1-2)
Maxim Borisov
25 years since the Challenger accident... Among other things, this is also a reason to remember the phrase of Richard Feynman: “For the successful development of technology, reality must be placed above PR, because nature cannot be fooled.” This is exactly what you remember when thinking about the features of the new actively discussed Russian standard of education in high school. Is it worth introducing a new, untested “patriotic” subject at the expense of studying science? The authors of the standard believe so. But the public doesn't seem to agree with them.

Student Scholarships: Cannot Be Cancelled (pages 2-4)
The president's aide's careless phrase and its one-sided presentation in the media sparked a heated debate about student scholarships. Our newspaper turned to a number of scientists and university teachers with a request to express their opinion on what scholarships should be like in institutes and universities.
Prepared by Natalia Demina

Once again about the RSCI (page 5)
Nikolai Kalenov
We are publishing a letter from the director of the Natural Sciences Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in which he substantively criticizes some features of the Russian Science Citation Index.

One more person (page 6)
Mikhail Gelfand
The study of the genome of the “man from Denisova Cave” became a real sensation.
Denisovans are a very early branch of Neanderthals. However, not all so simple. There is a contradiction between the data from the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes. It is possible that Denisovans trace their maternal lineage back to yet another, earlier human lineage. To fully clarify the situation, new research and discoveries will be needed; it is only clear that another important element of a complex mosaic has been discovered, by putting it together, we will learn the history of our species.

How I became a theoretical physicist (p. 7)
Boris Ioffe
We publish the memoirs of a famous physicist. The basis for the article was the speech at the presentation of the prize to them. I. Ya. Pomeranchuk October 30, 2010

About modern biology textbooks (p. 8)
Alexey Vodovozov, Svetlana Vodovozova
The authors took part in testing textbooks for the course “Man and His Health.” It turned out that even a quick glance at textbooks reveals amazing gems. Unfortunately, some of them concern not only fundamental knowledge or definitions, but also practical recommendations for action in the event of injury. Alas, the authors of the textbooks did not proceed from the principle of “do no harm.”

Please love and favor (p. 9)
Boris Stern
The ordeal of scientists at the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics in Moscow (ITEP) continues.
At the beginning of December 2010, a meeting of the ITEP Scientific and Technical Council was held, dedicated to the meeting with
Deputy Director of Rosatom Pyotr Shchedrovitsky. Scientists were confronted with a number of unpleasant facts. Nobody asked the scientists’ own opinion about how to rationally build a management system for an institute and what topics could be most effectively developed in it.

The life of Tsvetaeva, told by Victoria Schweitzer (p. 10)
Rebekah Frumkina
A book dedicated to Marina Tsvetaeva was published in the ZhZL series.
The task that the author set for himself is very difficult, however, according to Rebekah Frumkina, the book turned out well.

On the threshold of science (page 10)
Lev Klein
Another review talks about the book “Ethics and the Psychology of Science.” Although, according to Lev Klein, the book is controversial, it is nevertheless worth reading. If, of course, you find it - the circulation is only 300 copies, and the book was published in Kursk.

How not to become a slave to gray matter (p. 11)
Igor Pavlov
Jonah Lehrer's book “How We Make Decisions” belongs to the genre of light popular science literature. Avoiding moralizing monologues or ready-made recipes, the author describes the mechanism of human decision-making. He does this, according to Igor Pavlov, somewhat one-sidedly and straightforwardly. Nevertheless, the book raises important questions and will be of interest to many.

About the “power minimizer” (page 12)
Alexey Anuchin
Discussion of “ideas” appearing on the website of the Zvorykin project has long become a popular hobby. Sometimes they catch an aura, sometimes they offer perpetual motion machines... But all these are flowers compared to the fact that
one of these projects, the “power minimizer,” received a bronze medal. And the diploma was signed not by anyone but Minister Fursenko. This article is dedicated to this device. These are the innovations...

The end of the Third Rome (page 13)
Igor Kon
An alarming dream about our possible future. Let's hope this is just a dystopia and not a true prediction.

Open letter to the rector of Moscow State University (page 14)
It's hot! The beginning of the year was marked by infrastructural changes for MSU, including the introduction of a new procurement system, which significantly complicates the work of scientific departments, and in some cases makes it almost impossible. University scientists began collecting signatures for a letter of protest to the rector.

AUTHOR'S COLUMNS:

I see you as if in reality (page 11)
Anastasia Kazantseva

Not TuDao (p. 12)
Iryna Yakutenko

Deputy (page 13)
Irina Levontina

Private and public (page 15)
Ivan Ekonomov