Phantoms of the wave genome

BULLETIN "IN DEFENSE OF SCIENCE" No. 4 (2008)The Big Breakthrough: a pseudoscientific article in a scientific journal

A.Y. Bakulina, P.P. Rafikov
(pp. 169-173)

Scientific publications are the main result and criterion for evaluating the scientific activity of a scientist. Publications are required when applying for academic degrees and certifications. Their list is indicated in grant applications. It is clear that not only the number of publications matters, but also their quality. The results of outstanding works are published in prestigious journals with high ratings, the results are simpler – in less ambitious publications. Publications also differ in their relevance to the scientific community – the citation index.

There are minimum requirements, without which the article simply cannot be considered scientific. All over the world, the so-called peer-review, anonymous independent peer review by experts, is used to determine the quality level of work, to prevent the publication of incorrectly obtained data, incorrect interpretations and subjective points of view. Experts are scientists working in the same field of science, as a rule, who have already published in the same or similar journal. In general, the system works well, weeding out weak, not relevant to the topic of the journal and simply unscientific articles.

Now Russian science is actively integrating into the world, adopting international criteria for evaluating the work of a scientist through the citation index, Russian journals also attract independent experts. The list of scientific journals of the Higher Attestation Commission of the Ministry of Education and Science is available on the website of the Higher Attestation Commission of the Ministry of Education and Science – a list of leading peer-reviewed scientific journals recommended for publishing the main scientific results of a dissertation for the degree of candidate or Doctor of Sciences. We draw your attention to the fact that the journals in this list are not just peer-reviewed and leading, but also, without any doubt, scientific.

An interesting article appeared in February 2007 in one of the peer–reviewed journals from the list of the Higher Attestation Commission - Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine (BEBiM). It is called "The effect of electromagnetic radiation modulated by biostructures on the course of alloxan diabetes mellitus in rats". Authors: P.P. Garyaev, A.A. Kokaya, I.V. Mukhina, E.A. Leonova-Garyaeva, N.G. Kokaya.

The introduction to this article states that "the aim of the study was to study the effect of broadband electromagnetic radiation modulated by the pancreas and spleen, generated by a helium-neon laser, on the course of experimental diabetes mellitus in rats caused by intraperitoneal administration of alloxan." The section "discussion of results" begins with the following sentence: "The results obtained address the problem of storing and transmitting controlling genetic information during embryonic and postembryonic development." The very fact of the publication of this article touches upon the fundamental problem of the quality of domestic journals, on which depends both the weight of academic degrees, and the value of research conducted in the country, and the reputation of our science at home and abroad.

The first author of this article, Pyotr Petrovich Garyaev, even before publication, launched a discussion of his ideas and works on the Internet, in particular on the site's forum molbiol.ru . The result of this discussion was a letter sent by regular forum participants to the editorial office of the journal. We would like to convey to you the results of the public discussion of the article authored by Pyotr Petrovich Garyaev and others. "The effect of electromagnetic radiation modulated by biostructures on the course of alloxan diabetes mellitus in rats", published in the latest issue of your journal (2007, vol. 143, No. 2, February).

Firstly, we clarify who exactly is interested in the fate of this article. We are professional biologists, molecular biologists, biophysicists, site visitors molbiol.ru , at whose forum Pyotr Garyaev has been initiating discussions of his theories of the "wave genome" for several years.

Secondly, I would like to explain why this particular article was the reason for contacting the editorial office of your journal. The fact is that this theory of the "wave genome", controversial from a physical and biological point of view, has long been used by charlatans (rikta.ru/rus /, deta7.ru /, biofon.ru/uro/concept.shtml , hippocrat.ru/quantmedica.html etc.) to profit from illiterate people, exhausted by various diseases. Prior to publication in your journal, Pyotr Garyaev did not have a single article on the "wave genome" in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Your journal has an excellent reputation in Russia, is included in the WAC list of leading peer-reviewed journals, is translated into English and cited in international search engines. The publication in your journal of an article supporting the ideas of the "wave genome", on the one hand, opens up new opportunities for hoaxers and charlatans, and on the other – can discredit your journal.

After Peter Garyaev kindly provided us with a draft of the original article, we were surprised how such a poorly written and experimentally illiterate article could be accepted for publication in your magazine. Since Pyotr Garyaev could not answer our questions about the article, we contacted co-author Anna Kokaya and asked her the same questions. Her answers fully convinced us of the need for this letter to the editor.

Firstly, the level of work itself raises great doubts about the reliability of the results. The title of the article and its goals described in the introduction do not correspond at all to the chosen experimental model, since the rats of the control group did not die from diabetes, but, according to Anna Kokaya, from toxic damage to vital organs. It is impossible to compare blood sugar levels of different groups, the data are given only for the experimental group. The text is full of errors, the presentation of experimental data is sloppy, at such a low level, which is unacceptable for scientific journals. The full list of the noticed shortcomings is available on the forum at the address below.

Secondly, the description of the technique is incomplete and does not allow reproducing these experiments in other laboratories. Pyotr Garyaev confirmed that any experiments using the described method are possible only with his direct participation.

Considering the above, the result described in the article is more likely to be caused by errors in the experiment than by the effect of laser irradiation, which contradicts modern physical and biological theories. Without rejecting a priori the fundamental possibility of discovering a new phenomenon, we believe that the hypothesis of the transfer of genetic information using a laser beam requires much more weighty confirmations than an unreproducible experiment of dubious quality.

We kindly ask you not to ignore our criticism of the article by Pyotr Garyaev. We would like the article to be sent for additional review to specialists directly involved in the alloxan diabetes model and to physicists in the field of biological application of laser radiation.

Sincerely, the undersigned (15 signatures in total, 12 of them candidates of sciences).

Discussion of the article can be found on the website molbiol.ru .

The response of the editorial board of the journal was as follows: the letter was discussed at the editorial board, the claims were found to be unfounded, since the article was double-reviewed. In addition, the journal has no practice of revoking printed articles.

Those who follow modern quasi-scientific trends are probably familiar with the name of Pyotr Petrovich Garyaev, the author of the theory of the "wave genome". Others can get acquainted with its activities, for example, at: scorcher.ru/mist/gariaev/gariaev.php

We will not dwell here in detail on the analysis of his "achievements". It is quite possible that the basis of the "wave theory" is not falsified data, but artifacts and methodological errors, as well as a sincere belief in the idea that he is on the verge of a great discovery. Garyaev's experimental works and his scientific theoretical constructions were repeatedly analyzed at the forum molbiol.ru , and on other scientific forums and websites. They are of undoubted interest to specialists in the field of psychology and philosophy of science. For biologists, they simply do not meet the minimum criteria for scientific work.

Possessing an impressive list of "works" in pseudoscientific collections, Garyaev for the first time made his way with his theories that contradict modern physics, chemistry and biology to the journal, which is indexed in the international database of medical and biological publications PubMed. The very fact of the journal's presence in this database already indicates that it has passed a certain selection and met the international criteria of a scientific journal.

How could such a publication appear in this magazine? Without doubting the competence and decency of the editorial board, one can imagine the following scenario: the authors of the article were asked for a list of suitable reviewers and received a list of "specialists" in the field of "alternative" science. Not having sufficiently strict criteria for the selection of reviewers, the editors trusted the opinion of the developers of pseudo-medical "miracle devices" or adherents of "torsion fields". After all, such people at first glance have all the attributes of scientists: titles and degrees, a list of publications, an appropriate place of work. That's just their regalia were obtained in self-proclaimed "academies", articles are published in unscientific journals, and they work in one-day firms with science-like names. Now there is freedom of speech in our country, and anyone has the right to write anything that does not contradict the law. But does a scientific journal included in the list of the Higher Attestation Commission have the right to print non-scientific materials under the guise of a scientific article? Is there any responsibility of editors for publications?

The future of Russian science depends on the answer to these questions, no matter how pathetic it sounds. If the value of publications in Russian scientific journals falls below the level of trust of the world community of scientists, then Russian academic degrees will also be devalued. Any research work done in Russia will have a dubious reputation.

Currently, Russian science has many problems: insufficient funding, lack of qualified personnel. The reform of science is not easy, some even believe that the current transformations are destructive. There is a lot of talk that science should be protected from the arbitrariness of officials, from ignorant "green" extremists, from pseudoscience. But, apparently, the main problem facing the scientific community now is the creation of a mechanism to ensure the quality of scientific publications, at least in "leading" journals. Otherwise, one day we will find that there is simply nothing to protect.

Phantoms of the wave genome
P.M. Borodin
(pp. 174-176)

P.P. Garyaev has been promoting his ideas about the wave nature of the genome in the media and on the Internet for many years. This saves us from having to retell them here in detail. Yes, this is impossible, because when retelling, all the unique charm of the author's style is lost.

P.P. Garyaev himself formulates the essence of his discovery as follows: "The existence of a geno-semiotic sector of the chromosomal continuum is postulated, in which the dualistic splitting of the semantic series of DNA into levels of matter (replicas of RNA and proteins, iconic chromosome topologies) and fields (iconic acoustics [the author's grammar is preserved. – P.B.] and electromagnetic radiation genome)".

Let's explain this renix for people who are not familiar with the lexicon of pseudoscience. P.P. Garyaev discovered that information recorded in DNA can be transmitted over distances by a wave path and cause morphogenetic and physiological effects. This opens up a lot of practical applications. It turns out that if you pass an acoustic or electromagnetic wave through a healthy cell, and then direct this wave to a sick cell, the wave will pick up the correct information from its "chromosomal continuum" (no one except P.P. Garyaev knows what it is) and transmit it to the sick cell, and that this information he will assimilate (having previously split dualistically) and immediately recover.

Moreover, DNA itself is very sensitive to human speech. "We came to the conclusion," says P.P. Garyaev, "that the real word affects DNA. DNA wave "ears" are specially adapted to the perception of speech vibrations... Some messages heal her, others traumatize her. For example, the curse destroys programs that ensure the normal functioning of the body." P.P. Garyaev and his associates showed that if profanity is used in the presence of plants, they begin to get sick and may even die. (Apparently, this explains the extremely low efficiency of Russian agriculture ...). And vice versa, according to P.P. Garyaev, "prayer awakens the reserve capabilities of the genetic apparatus." He is convinced that "the words of prayer, which our pious ancestors daily confirmed [the author's grammar is preserved. – P.B.], were gradually integrated into the wave genome of each person and the gene pool of the entire nation. These words were automatically passed down from generation to generation as hereditary programs."

When you read all this, there is a suspicion that P.P. Garyaev is joking like that. A person with a higher biological education cannot seriously believe in this nonsense. It's probably just a prank. But the point is not what P.P. Garyaev believes in. The fact is that our simple-minded public believes him. The media are vying to interview him. Television shows films about him. The Internet is full of rumors about the miraculous waves of P.P. Garyaev's life.

Why is he so popular among the people? Because people want a miracle. Now, cheap and preferably in scientific packaging. And P.P. Garyaev gives the people a miracle now and cheaply, in a package from the "geno-semiotic sector of the work of the chromosomal continuum, in which the dualistic splitting of the semantic series of DNA occurs."

All this is sad, although not surprising. The long-term fooling of the Russian reader and viewer is bearing fruit. He already obediently swallows both living water, and psychotronic weapons, and torsion fields.

Something else is sad and surprising. The fact that Garyaev's "dualistic splitting of semantic series" penetrates the scientific press, acquires a vulture – approved by official science. The one that P.P. Garyaev, along with other authors of great discoveries, does not get tired of blaspheming for inertia, corporatism, mafia, venality and other mortal sins. But I really want to break into it.

Not so long ago, the Commission on Combating Pseudoscience received a letter from a physicist who deals not with physics, but with the regulation of sex in humans. Without a single experiment, he proved that the chromosomal mechanism for determining sex in mammals is nothing but a false, albeit legalized position in official genetics. On this occasion, he wrote and published a book and a number of articles in newspapers and Internet publications. But that's not enough for him. He needs official publications. Therefore, he turned to the Commission with such an interesting proposal.

"In order to even out the odds at least a little, I propose to give me and others like me the opportunity to publish correct articles in academic periodicals under the responsibility of the author (for example, in DAN, "Ontogenesis", "Genetics", etc.) – The name of the heading does not play a special role (pseudoscience, curiosities, news from non-scientists, developments beyond, etc.)".

That is, exactly as in that old joke, "even with a carcass, even with a stuffed animal." The name of the category does not play a special role. It doesn't matter that academic journals have negligible circulations. Much less than books, even those published at their own expense. And, of course, it is many orders of magnitude lower than that of the main printing organ of Russian and world pseudoscience – the newspaper Argumenty i Fakty. There are hardly a thousand readers of academic journals in the whole country. Potential sponsors and investors do not read them at all.

It doesn't matter. It is important to get an official publication. Not many of the numerous tribe of false scientists succeed. P.P. Garyaev succeeded. The article by P.P. Garyaev and co-authors was published by the Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine (Editor-in-chief V.N. Yarygin, MD, Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Professor). This is not the most prestigious of scientific journals, with a microscopic impact factor, but still official. So official that it is even included in the list of the Higher Attestation Commission.

Well, it remains for us to congratulate P.P. Garyaev on joining the ranks of "official scientists". And we can advise real scientists to think ten times before sending articles to the Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine. It is a small honor to be published together with P.P. Garyaev.