July 1 - 7, 2018, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities - University of Rome "La Sapienza" (Rome, Italy) hosts the Marcel Grossman Meeting (MG15), International Conference on Recent Developments in Theoretical and Experimental General Relativity, Astrophysics and Relativistic Field Theories, the largest world platform, uniting scientists every three years in different cities of the world. In 2018, more than 900 specialists in theoretical physics take part in the conference, including Nobel laureates - Gerard 't Hooft and Steven Weinberg.
The program of the event included more than 40 plenary reports and 72 thematic sections - the whole spectrum of fundamental and experimental research in the fields of gravity, cosmology, astrophysics and field theory. Experts of RUDN Center for Gravitation, Cosmology, Astrophysics and Space Systems delivered reports: “Dynamic wormholes from nonlinear electrodynamics in GR” (K.Bronnikov), “Stabilization Of Extra Dimensions In Nonlinear Multidimensional Gravity With Multiple Factor Spaces” (S.Bolokhov) and “Can a Kerr black hole be a supercollider?” (M.Skvortsova).
A chemist from RUDN University has developed a catalyst for the production of eugenol acetate, a substance that destroys the larvae of mosquitoes transmitting dangerous diseases, being a safe chemical for human health.
RUDN soil scientists have revealed a direct correlation between the rate of soil formation of carbon dioxide, called CO2 emissions, and the content of microbial biomass in it. It is known that CO2 emission from soil is mainly conditioned by respiration of soil microorganisms and plant roots. The more CO2 soil emits, the more microbial biomass it usually contains. It was shown that CO2 emission by chernozem of different ecosystems (or different types of land use) correlates with the content of microbial biomass, and most closely with the rate of its microbial respiration. And the soil with good microbial properties has the “best quality”, is more fertile, provides the highest yield of crops and other plant biomass.
A RUDN chemist has synthesized a catalyst for the production of gamma-valerolactone — an energy-intensive “green” biofuel. The catalyst based on zirconium dioxide and zeolite has shown high efficiency in converting the waste of wood plant materials — methyl levulinate — to gamma-valerolactone.