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Daria Alova jokes that she once aspired to be a criminal investigator but ended up becoming a scientific investigator instead. In this interview with the HSE Young Scientists project, she discusses models of legal reasoning, her fascination with Plato, and Ivan the Terrible's eschatological thoughts.

A study by researchers at the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences and the Institute of Education have found that the number of academic papers published by research universities in international journals has tripled in the past eight years. Additionally, universities have developed more distinct specialisations. Thus, sectoral universities specialising in medical, pedagogical, technical, and other fields are twice as likely to admit students to target places. The study has been published in Vocation, Technology & Education.

The HSE Foresight Centre has been featured in a report by the United Nations Secretary-General as a successful example of a centralised approach to technology foresight. The document was prepared for the twenty-eighth session of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development, which is the United Nations’ focal point for technology foresight and technology assessment.

A team of scientists from 17 countries, including physicists from HSE University, analysed early photometric and spectroscopic data of GRB 221009A, the brightest gamma-ray burst ever recorded. The data was obtained at the Sayan Observatory one hour and 15 minutes after the emission was registered. The researchers detected photons with an energy of 18 teraelectronvolts (TeV). Theoretically, such high-energy particles should not reach Earth, but data analysis has confirmed that they can. The results challenge the theory of gamma radiation absorption and may point to unknown physical processes. The study has been published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Chemists from HSE University and the Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds of the Russian Academy of Sciences (INEOS RAS) have developed a new method for synthesising amides, essential compounds in drug production. Using a ruthenium catalyst and carbon monoxide under precisely controlled reaction conditions, they successfully obtained the target product without by-products or complex purification steps. The method has already been tested for synthesising a key component of Vorinostat, a drug used to treat T-cell lymphoma. This approach could lower the cost of the drug by orders of magnitude. The paper has been published in the Journal of Catalysis. The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation.

An international team including scientists from HSE University has investigated the brain's ability to comprehend hidden meanings in spoken messages. Using fMRI, the researchers found that unambiguous meanings activate brain regions involved in decision-making, whereas processing complex and ambiguous utterances engages regions responsible for analysing context and the speaker's intentions. The more complex the task, the greater the interaction between these regions, enabling the brain to decipher the meaning. The study has been published in NeuroImage.