On 3 April, the Laboratory of Radiation Biology at JINR hosted a radiation biology seminar entitled “Molecular basis of intelligence. Kinetics of chemical reactions in the human brain. Neuroengineering”, organized in collaboration with the Scientific Council on Radiobiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). The speaker was RAS Corresponding Member, Doctor of Chemistry, professor Sergey Varfolomeev. Among the attendees were representatives of all laboratories of the Joint Institute. The report devoted to the analysis of the physical and chemical basis of intelligence captured the attention of the audience.

“As I have always said, Dubna and JINR in particular are a gem of Soviet and Russian science. This hall and the very air here are phenomenal, and it is a great pleasure and a great privilege to give a talk here,” the professor noted before his report.

When discussing aspects of the molecular basis of intelligence, Sergey Varfolomeev devoted a significant part of the report to memory issues. He spoke about the molecular mechanisms of memory functioning and identified “chemical” methods of controlling the higher integrative functions of the central nervous system with the help of drugs that either block or stimulate biochemical processes. During the report and the subsequent active discussion, the issues of neuroengineering and the formation and functioning of the nervous system and intelligence were discussed.

More than 100 people took part in the seminar, including representatives of the JINR Directorate, employees of all JINR laboratories, leading specialists of the Medical Unit No.9, and members of the RAS Scientific Council on Radiobiology.