Vol 89, No 6 (2019)

This report presents some new methodological opportunities that biophysics can offer for solving the fundamental problem of planetary ecology—deciphering the mechanism that maintains the equilibrium state of the biosphere. The Institute of Biophysics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, where the author of this report works, is developing two complementary directions in ecological biophysics. The first is monitoring the vital activity of natural and constructed ecosystems by optical methods using the example of bioluminescence of the sea and closed ecosystems, and the second is studying the laws of parametric biosynthesis control and creating biotechnological control systems for these processes in order to construct noosphere-like ecosystems, in particular, for human life-support and survival systems in extreme conditions on the Earth and in space.

On June 18, 2019, a joint meeting of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus took place. The meeting discussed the results of joint work in 2018, promising draft programs of the Union State, and plans for cooperation between the RAS and the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for the near future. Particular attention was paid to the scientific support for the development of strategic directions of the spatial, territorial, and socio-economic development of Russia and Belarus for the long term, within the concept of the United Eurasia megaproject.

This paper presents a brief history and some of the characteristics of the collections of the oldest archives formed by the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg over almost 300 years of history. Attention is focused on the main problems of the archives that arose after the reform of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2013; prospects for their solution are outlined.

This article considers the most important aspects of the development of the oil and gas complex of Russia. The exhausted paradigm of development of the country’s raw material base should be changed to prevent a drop in oil production in Russia. The sedimentary basins in the shelves of the Russian part of the Arctic Ocean, poorly studied provinces on land, and unique unconventional oil deposits (Bazhenov, Domanik, Khadum, Kuonam, and other formations) should be primarily used to search for oil deposits in the twenty-first century. In addition, the focus should be on the small and smallest reserves of mature oil-and-gas provinces that should be developed by attracting small and medium-sized enterprises that can provide up to 20% of oil production in the country in the near future. Priority technological tasks to switch the Russian oil and gas complex from extensive to intensive development are formulated.

Three model scenarios of changes in road infrastructure sustainability under permafrost thawing and degradation due to global climate change in nine Russian Arctic regions are considered. Until the current mid-century, economic assessment of the aftermath of climate change in these regions was physicogeographically based on six model climate assessments of cryogenic conditions, reflecting the most negative (scenario RCP8.5) option of the IPCC global climate change forecasts, which best fits the conditions of the Russian Arctic. The data of Russia’s Transport Strategy until 2035, updated by the authors, serve as the basis for predicting road infrastructure development. An inertial (conservative) scenario of road infrastructure development in 2020–2050 shows that capital costs to maintain road infrastructure sustainability and reduce damage risks under permafrost thawing and degradation will average at least ₽14 bln a year and will exceed ₽21 bln and ₽28 bln, respectively, under the moderate and modernization scenarios. The maximum indicators will be relevant for the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Magadan oblast, and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The implementation of the modernization scenario will require revision of the existing standards, technologies, and entire economy of the road infrastructure and capital construction favoring the development of innovative standards and construction technologies, as well as the improvement of the proposed methodology and methods of cost estimation for these purposes.

This article analyzes the history of the development and dynamics of the structure and species composition of the principal target species of the national commercial fisheries in the Black Sea from the time of the demise of the Crimean Khanate in 1783 to the present day, as well as the structure of the Black Sea exploitable bioresources that had evolved throughout the geological history of the development of the Ponto–Caspian basin (over 30 million years). This study involves the geography and composition of catches, as well as the scales and techniques of fish harvesting in the 20th–21st centuries. There have been stages identified of intensification and decline in fish harvesting success and reasons for these variations (natural dynamics of population size, predaceous species pressure, construction of hydraulic structures, sea pollution, overfishing, and poaching). The author demonstrates that at the end of the 20th century the fishing industry of Russia entered a depressive state, while the total average annual landing of other Black Sea states increased. At the same time, the ecological situation improved considerably and the population size of many previously exploited fish began to recover in the territorial waters of Russia due to reduced pressure from the predacious comb jelly Mnemiopsis and a decreased level of petroleum and chemical pollution in the coastal and shelf waters in the northern part of the Black Sea.

The status and dynamics of religiosity in modern Russia are considered. The distinctive features of religious consciousness and behavior have been fixed proceeding from the system of indexes and empirical indicators developed. In the course of comparative representative studies, which have been accomplished in the metropolitan area over the last three decades on the basis of a single methodology, it has been fixed that, at the level of self-identification, approximately half of the population define themselves as believers, this value decreasing over time. The use of the complex typology of religiosity shows that the share of church believers proper, who observe the canons at the level of both consciousness and behavior, is substantially smaller: in the last five years, it has been within 6–8%. The motives to participate in religious rites are predominantly of a general cultural character, determined by family, relational, and national traditions.

The ergot alkaloid 2-bromo-alpha-ergocryptine and its effect on lactation in rats were first described by E. Flückiger and H.R. Wagner in the journal Experientia (1968, no. 24). At first, this work did not attract much attention, but after isolating pure prolactin and establishing its physiological role, the high effectiveness of bromocriptine in the treatment of hyperprolactinemia soon became clear. Bromocriptine was actively studied not only by Western scientists but also in the Soviet Union beginning in 1975. The drug was used against persistent lactorrhea and amenorrhea, as well as acromegaly syndrome, and was also experimentally prescribed for Itsenko–Cushing’s disease. It was in Russia that unique data were collected on children of mothers with hyperprolactinemia who received bromocriptine therapy. Bromocriptine made an enormous contribution to the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, for which it has been used since the 1960s. In 2009, low-dose bromocriptine was approved for the treatment of type-2 diabetes. Currently, studies are continuing on the effect of this drug on various metabolic pathways (for example, gluconeogenesis, lipogenesis, etc.). Even 50 years after the discovery of bromocriptine, not all of its effects have been well studied, and researchers and doctors are facing new questions.

This article relates the life and scientific achievements of Sergei Alekseevich Chaplygin (1869–1942), a mathematician and mechanic, one of the founders of aerodynamics, an organizer of science and higher education, a talented teacher, the creator of the largest scientific school in the field of aerohydromechanics, one of the organizers of the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI), who contributed to its transformation into a leading world-class scientific center, and an ally of and successor to his outstanding predecessor, “the Father of Russian Aviation” N.E. Zhukovskii.

This paper is devoted to the life and professional activities of Academician A.A. Blagonravov (1894−1975) as an outstanding Soviet scientist and great promoter of science. He made an invaluable contribution to the development of the national school of automatic small arms and artillery weapons, the design of all-purpose industrial machines and mechanisms, advancement of machine science, and the study and exploration of space.

On September 10, 2019, a meeting of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences was held, at which the issue of scientific support for the advanced development of the Angara–Yenisei macroregion, including Krasnoyarsk krai, Irkutsk oblast, Tyva, and Khakassia, was discussed.