News & Events in Belarus

MINSK, 28 December (BelTA) - The National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB) has named Top 10 scientific achievements in fundamental and applied research in Belarus in 2018, BelTA learned from the press service of the National Academy of Sciences.

The Top 10 includes a scientific hypothesis and experimental confirmation of the presence of nuclear spins of 13C isotopic atoms in diamond with NV centers. This can be applied in quantum technology development, nano-metrology and bio-medicine. This hypothesis was proposed by a team of scientists from the NASB Stepanov Institute of Physics and the Institute of Physical Organic Chemistry.

The team of scientists of the NASB Stepanov Institute of Physics and the state-owned enterprise Academpharm made it to the Top 10 for identifying a mechanism of lethal effects of visible light on pathogens.

The awardees include scientists of the Biely Metal-Polymer Research Institute (for discovering the effect of abnormal increase in viscosity of a melt flow of polymer blends consisting of aliphatic polyamides and olefin polymers, which allows synthesizing principally new types of multi-functional polyamide materials, including super-shockproof ones) and a team of researchers from the Institute of Chemistry of New Materials (for developing new-generation nano-catalysts based on halloysite nanotubes to synthesize heterocyclic compounds having a high biological activity).

The team of the Institute for Nature Management will be awarded for developing a new approach to paleo-geodynamic evolution of the deep layers of the crust and the Upper Mantle of the Pripyat and Dnieper paleo-rift oil-and-gas basins, which allows increasing the efficiency of geological prospecting. The scientists from the Institute of Forest of the NASB will be awarded for establishing molecular-genetic mechanisms enabling wood plants to develop resistance to biotic and abiotic stress. These mechanisms are based on metagenomic analysis of microbial communities and sequencing of nuclear and cytoplasmic genomes of forests. This discovery is expected to help improve selection practices.

A team of the NASB Institute of Radiobiology discovered the influence of soil microorganisms on the biological mobility of radionuclides as the basis of new-generation technologies to level the transition of radioactive cesium to agricultural plants.

Scientists of the NASB Institute of History unearthed and studied the unique monuments and world-class artifacts using the underwater archeology methods. Among the discoveries is a site named Krivin-3 dating back to the Neolithic-Bronze Age; a dugout boat of the early 16th century raised from the bottom of the Neman River; the fortifications of Zhaber Castle of the 17th-18th centuries; the sites where Napoleon’s Grande Armee crossed the Berezina River in November 1812.

A team of the Institute of Horticulture will be honored for the development of a new hybrid apple variety of medium ripening time, high yield, high winter survival and disease resistance.

Ivan Sheiko, First Deputy Director General of the Scientific and Production Center of Cattle Breeding of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, will be awarded for the development of methods for the accelerated production of high-quality animal genotypes, which speeds up the selection process.

The awards ceremony will be timed to coincide with Belarusian Science Day in January 2019.