Immune greetings: the "soldiers" of the body's defenses and the mystery of Stonehenge

Russian scientists are making breakthroughs in a wide variety of fields, from medicine and ecology to aircraft engineering and archaeology. Researchers are uncovering the mechanisms of immunity at the molecular level, creating innovative tools for testing aviation materials and offering new ways to combat ocean pollution. At the same time, the humanities are also developing: new data are changing ideas about the origin of Stonehenge. And the large-scale interest in the National Prize in the Field of Future Technologies "Challenge" confirms the growing authority of Russian science in the international arena: in 2026, a record number of applications from 48 countries were submitted for the competition. For more information, see the Izvestia collection of the latest scientific achievements.

Blood proteins will help turn off inflammation in the body

Scientists have discovered that two blood proteins work like a gas pedal and a brake pedal. Fibrinogen makes neutrophils more flexible and accelerates them by almost one and a half times. Ceruloplasmin, on the contrary, stiffens the cells and slows them down, preventing them from leaving the vessels to the site of inflammation. In different diseases, the level of these proteins changes, which means that the behavior of neutrophils also changes.

Photo: NUST MISIS

This opens the way to a more accurate diagnosis: by measuring the concentration of fibrinogen and ceruloplasmin in the blood, the doctor will be able to predict how actively the immune cells will move to the focus, and better assess the stage of inflammation. In the future, these proteins can be targeted: to accelerate neutrophils in prolonged infections or, conversely, to slow them down in sepsis and cytokine storm, protecting organs from destruction.

The effect of therapy will become more predictable, because the doctor will be able to manage not the inflammation in general, but a specific link in the immune response.

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It will help in the development of spacecraft and ultra-precise navigation systems.

4D scanner will help to create lightweight aircraft and bolide structures

Scientists at the Moscow Aviation Institute have developed a miniature bursting machine for testing composite materials. It is placed in an industrial tomograph. The device stretches and compresses the samples while X-raying them. The research allows us to obtain a four—dimensional "picture" — changes in the structure of the material in space and time - and trace the origin of defects.

— We see the growth of a delamination or crack inside the sample in three—dimensional format over time - a 4D scan is obtained. It's like taking an X—ray of an athlete's bone right during a race," Konstantin Shramko, one of the developers and a leading engineer at the MAI Center for Composite Structures, explained to Izvestia.

Photo: MAI press service

He noted that a microscopic fragment of the material is sufficient for testing. For example, you can take a sample from an aircraft wing after thousands of hours of flight time and determine whether it is safe to extend its service life.

Satellites have been taught to "see" plastic hidden under water

Researchers at the A.V. Gaponov-Grekhov Institute of Applied Physics have proposed a new way to detect plastic debris in the ocean, which is located in the upper layers of the water.

The method is based on the fact that clusters of such objects change the structure of wind waves, and these changes can be detected from satellites. The development was tested in an experiment at the Gorky reservoir, where experts laid out plastic sheets the size of a basketball court on the water.

Photo: Getty Images

Based on the results of the research, scientists for the first time calculated the "plastic index", a computational tool that allows reliable determination of pollution in satellite images.

— A significant part of the plastic in the sea "floats" in the subsurface layer. The waves seem to "push" it into the upper layers of the water and hold it due to special hydrodynamic processes. As a result, huge amounts of garbage are hidden from view," Stanislav Ermakov, head of the Department of Radiophysical Methods in Hydrophysics at the IPF RAS, explained to Izvestia.

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The new work has changed the understanding of the origin of the stones of Stonehenge

We are talking about a five-meter boulder, which is located in the center of Stonehenge under two other stones. Back in 2024, an analysis showed that its chemical composition coincides with the rocks of the Orkney Basin in northeastern Scotland.

Photo: Global Look Press/Helmut Meyer zur Capellen

To test the hypothesis of glacial origin, experts reconstructed the directions of movement of ancient glaciers. It turned out that most of them were moving north, not towards the south of England.

Some glacial flows did reach the Dogger Banks area in the North Sea, but this land area went under water about 8 thousand years ago, three millennia before the construction of Stonehenge began, the authors said.

Scientists from 48 countries are applying for the Russian prize.

The results of the bid campaign for the National Prize in the Field of Future Technologies "Challenge" were announced at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. In 2026, 1,438 applications from 48 countries (including Russia) were submitted for the award. The number of applications has increased almost 2.5 times compared to last year.

— This season we have a record wide geography. There are many new names, for example, for the first time we have applications from Singapore and Japan. China is the leader in the number of applications," Vsevolod Belousov, Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the National Prize in the Field of Future Technologies "Challenge", Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, General Director of the Federal Center for Brain and Neurotechnology of the FMBA, told Izvestia.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Pavel Volkov

According to him, the scientific committee is just beginning to consider applications, but we can already say for sure that this season it will have a very interesting and very difficult job — to select the most worthy of a large number of strong scientists and engineers.