Meanwhile in Russia: Self-learning Robot Escapes for 45 Minutes

In the recent frenzy of questionable robotic motives, a Russian self-learning robot escaped a training compound before engineers were able to bring it back home.

Artificially intelligent (AI) robots have demonstrated some incredibly peculiar traits between Microsoft’s AI bot turning into a racist-human-hating robot in 24 hours and DARPA announcing their plan for a 132-foot “stalker” warship to hunt the seas for enemies. Whatever the case may be, the age of robotic automation has begun.

Russia wants to use these humanoid robots to replace humans on spacewalks

As incredible as it is to see human beings floating in the blackness of space, there's nothing easy about getting them there, and it's not entirely safe either. Spacewalks must be meticulously planned and carried out at slow speeds to ensure their success, which is why Russian scientists are building robots to carry out the job instead.

Since robots can operate in space without clunky breathing apparatuses and bulky suits, and of course are unerringly accurate when it comes to mechanical tasks - assuming they've been given the right instructions in the first place - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has announced plans to send robots up to the International Space Station (ISS) in the near future.

Antibiotic Resistance Research Ongoing at Kazan University

The workgroup is headed by Associate Professor Polina Galitskaya who recently received a RFBR grant for the project.

The research is dedicated to antibiotic resistance spread processes. The group tries to find out which antibiotics are prevalent in the environment, how many consumers of contaminated products actually acquire the resistance.

Linguistics and Rehabilitative Medicine Go Hand in Hand at Kazan University

Acting Chair of the Department of Russian Language and Applied Linguistics Yelena Gorobets speaks about the research.

The workgroup helps neurologists in their work with patients, specifically in creating questionnaires that research lexical patterns describing symptoms of different diseases. Another their important part of the work is creating questionnaires for alexithymic patients. Alexithymia is a personality construct describing inability to express emotions in the self. The questionnaires with prepared words and phrases help such individuals to search for the necessary phrasing in the list instead of trying to think of a des­cription. This kind of research is unique for Russia. Moreover, the interdisciplinary team now has its own research base at the Kazan University Clinic.

Towards a New Strategy of Science Development

During the latest meeting of the Council for Science and Education President of Russia Vladimir Putin said that it’s no use supporting ineffective science institutions because they consume funds that could better be allocated to someone more successful, “I would like to stress that the resources allocated to carry out research should go to strong research teams that are capable of creating breakthrough technology in areas especially important for the nation, and capable of competing with leading world centers. This is the logic we should proceed from in prioritizing funding for developing the country’s research. I would like the Government to develop efficient mechanisms, including those involving project financing”.