“If you have the opportunity to fly to Mars, you should think about it”: an interview with science journalist Ilya Kabanov

Ilya Kabanov writes articles about artificial intelligence and global warming, lectures and participates in popularization projects - for example, it was he who helped launch the science train in Mosmetro. Lifehacker talked with him about the profession, education and how science sees the future.

What is a Science Journalist

What does a science journalist do?

— A science journalist is a translator from the language of science into human language. His task is to follow what scientists are doing, read their studies, go to scientific conferences, and then retell the essence of it all so that even grandmothers, schoolchildren and housewives would understandably.

— And why should they retell, conditionally, string theory?

- The reasons are very different. Someone has a healthy curiosity, someone wants to understand how researchers spend public money, and someone is interested in where we are moving, what will happen next, and how scientists imagine the contours of the future.

Science today is technology tomorrow and consumer devices the day after tomorrow.

If you follow science, then many things in the future will not surprise you. For example, now we are seeing climate change, but scientists started talking about it fifty years ago. climatic models, which were developed back in the USSR, turned out to be true.

— And why did you decide to become a science journalist, and not a scientist, for example?

“Science has always been interesting to me. As a child, I read a lot of books, popular science magazines, almanacs. But at the same time, I understood that my mindset and character were not adapted for scientific work. I lack perseverance, I hate routine, and this seems to be a necessary part of the work of a researcher. You need to conduct a thousand experiments in order to get some kind of result, perhaps in the thousand and first.

It doesn't suit me. I want to do something quickly and see the result immediately. That's why I chose journalism. Today - you write the text, tomorrow it is already out, and the day after tomorrow in the comments they note that you have mixed everything up. This is the planning horizon I'm used to.

— You said that perseverance is important for scientists. And what qualities are important for a science journalist?

— It seems to me that the most important qualities are a broad outlook and a willingness to learn quickly. All journalists are professional amateurs. And for science journalists, this is especially true, because science is complex and diverse. All scientists are engaged only in their own, very narrow topics and sometimes have no idea what is happening in other areas.

But a science journalist most often has to write about all scientific disciplines. Therefore, we follow the news at the same time in astronomy, archeology, quantum physics, the field of artificial intelligence and others. We will never become experts in them. But the more we read, the more we will understand what is happening there, we will learn to ask the right questions and understand what scientists are answering us.

— Is it important in this case to have some kind of scientific background?

- If it is, it is always a plus. And we admire journalists who come from science. But my example shows that although this is a desirable feature, it is not required.

I compensate for the lack of scientific education with self-development and self-education: I take online courses, read useful literature, watch thematic videos.

Where do they train science journalists?

— Some faculties have such courses. There is also a separate master's program in science journalism - for example, at ITMO. People who graduate from there receive a good education.

But in fact, I don't think we need departments or even departments of science journalism in all universities in the country. It's still a very narrow niche. A hundred people are now engaged in science journalism in Russia. And more than that, she can hardly contain herself.

- In one of your last lectures, you said that a science journalist is a profession that makes you constantly expand your horizons, keeps you in good shape. Don't you get tired of it?

“I think this is a problem for a lot of people. When they get tired, they go to PR, art, programming - anywhere. But I never once felt that I was tired of studying, expanding my horizons, learning something new or writing. This hasn't happened since I started doing this - about 15 years ago.

Perhaps this is my personal feature. It seems to me that science is so diverse that it cannot be boring. If you are tired of writing about physics, go talk about the social sciences and humanities. Everything is different there and you have to learn a lot from scratch. So it seems to me that the problem professional burnout should not be peculiar to science journalists. You need to keep a childish curiosity in yourself and look at the world with wide eyes.

— And how do you relax? Do you ever get stuck on TikTok or watch YouTube videos?

— When I’m not writing texts, I’m not hosting events, I’m not giving lectures and I’m not talking to scientists, I’m reading books. While I worked in the office and went there every day by public transport, I read more - 100 books a year. And then for some reason I got a smartphone. It was a big mistake. There are a lot of distracting things, and I began to read less than twice. But now I am gradually returning to the previous level: in 2021 I read 80 books!

I also watch series, cook and travel. I, like all people, have a problem with social networks - they take a lot of time. And this is probably one of the few addictions that I have left.

I'm trying to fight it. For example, recently deleted Instagram. This is probably one of the wisest decisions: after I stopped endlessly scrolling the feed, more time appeared.

Where and how science journalists work

— What scientific topics would you designate for yourself as a priority?

— When I introduce myself, I say that I am writing about the past, present and future of science and technology. This is a very large umbrella, and anything can fit here. But from a professional point of view, two topics are of particular interest to me: climate change and artificial intelligence.

- Where do you work?

— I am engaged in scientific communications at Yandex — I help to talk about research in the field artificial intelligence and machine learning, I write about computer vision, natural language. Sometimes it's hard, because I'm not a mathematician or a developer, but my colleagues are very patient with me. Everything is explained, chewed like a child - and not the smartest.

In addition, for the past four years I have been working as a scientific observer at Taiga. Info” — I write about renewable energy sources, the problem of recycling and other topics. A couple of years ago I was an intern at an American editionForget colonizing Mars. We can all move to Russia when the world heats up / Gristwhich specializes in climate change. These two weeks gave me professionally, probably even more than a few years in the Russian media.

Sometimes I write texts freelance for other publications, I give lectures, I go to popular science events. Last year, for example, I was in Vladivostok for the World Go Championship.

— What does the workflow look like in Yandex? Colleagues send you a research report?

- There is a tablet in which Yandex scientists add their scientific articles. And from them, my colleagues and I choose those that we would like to tell a wide audience about. Something not very narrow and niche - something that will be interesting and understandable outside the audience of researchers.

— You also participated in the launch of the science train in Mosmetro. Tell us a little about this project. What was your role?

— The British Council came to me with this project. It was then the year of education and science in Russia-Great Britain. And as part of it, a scientific train was launched in the Moscow Metro.

I think they turned to me not because I write texts with slightly fewer errors than others, but because I am up to date with the latest scientific news. And I can share my knowledge in this area.

The essence of the work of a science journalist is to rent out your expertise - to share an understanding of what is happening in different areas of science and technology.

Together we coordinated the concept: each car is a separate discipline. I prepared all the content for this train: I conducted research, chose topics, wrote notes, coordinated them with the British Council.

I like to joke that this is my most popular text: 3-4 million passengers have been on the train in six months. I hope, of course, that they all learned a lot of new things, broadened their horizons, and their lives were divided into before and after (laughs).

— You still have your own media. Why did you decide to organize it?

— Metkere.com It's more of a blog. When I created it, the media landscape was completely different. Now I would not do it, but then the niche was empty, and this platform was necessary.

For several years, the blog served its function - it was an important source of information for people from all over the world. They came, got inspired, shared links, learned something new. And then they wrote to me on social networks and thanked for the texts. It was funny to watch how Russian media figures mentioned my site in their interviews about ten years ago. To me, at that time living in Novosibirsk, it seemed something incredible.

Also, blogging was a natural evolution of my path. Before that, I wrote various articles - about design, business, technology. But then I decided what to do blog about one thing - about what I'm really interested in. This is how Metkere.com was born.

At first, I really enjoyed writing for him. Over time, of course, he got fed up and is now rarely updated. I used to say that this is my portfolio, but now it is a monument to how my idea of ​​the world changed. Reading old posts is strange, scary and I don’t want to.

Blitz of the future

What will happen to medicine in the future?

- Everything will be fine. Every year, biotechnologists surprise us with breakthroughs or hints of a breakthrough. I think that in the coming decades we will see progress in all areas at once: neural interfaces will appear, returning paralyzed people to a full life, new medicines that can be used to cure terrible diseases.

For example, one of the main scientific news of the past year is successful trialsWHO recommends groundbreaking malaria vaccine for children at risk / WHO vaccines against malaria. This infection kills thousands of people every year. And the main victims are children. But before that, there were practically no effective ways to deal with it. Now there is hope that the vaccine will protect us.

The main thing is that people do not refuse to be vaccinated. If our ancestors were told that there is a magical thing that saves lives, and the descendants deliberately deny it, they would think that the world was crazy. But I do not lose optimism.

— What will happen in the future with energy?

“Oh, if only I knew! We all understand that we have huge problems with energy, and they exist in all its areas. Firstly, this is a problem with energy generation in general. We need to come up with something that would not greatly pollute the environment and would not accelerate climate change.

Secondly, what is relevant specifically for Russia: the problem with the generation of thermal energy. In winter, we need a lot of heat, but so far it is not very clear how to replace the usual coal, oil and gas.

Thirdly, the problem of inefficient transmission lines around the world.

Fourth, the energy storage problem: we need new battery solutions. Now we use a huge amount of metals, which negatively affects the regions where their mining is organized.

Fifth, there is nuclear energy, which is obviously worse than the sun and wind, but definitely necessary for places like Russia. She evokes a big anxiety at the public. Although in fact, burning coal is much more dangerous. More people die in mines than in the history of nuclear power.

The fact that many countries are abandoning nuclear energy is a crime, the fruits of which our descendants will reap for a very long time to come.

At the same time, I understand that the construction of a nuclear power plant is insanely expensive and, perhaps, unsustainable. In addition, the problem of storing nuclear waste has not been solved yet. So far, there are only two ways to do this.

In the States they are buried in the desert. And in Russia and Europe, they are sent by rail to the Krasnoyarsk Territory and buried in a rock. Perhaps if we find solutions for the processing of this waste, the attitude towards nuclear energy will become a little more positive.

But, to be honest, I'm more of a pessimist when it comes to energy. It seems like time has passed and things are only going to get worse.

What will happen to the climate in the future?

- Is it possible to swear here? The climate will be complete pi ***. I think that in the next 20-30 years we will see even more extreme weather events: rainstorms, droughts, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes. They will occur more often, and even where they did not exist before.

These catastrophes will cause enormous damage. People will lose homes, jobs, lives. Because of this, a huge number of climate refugees will appear from regions that will become poorly adapted for life. We will spend even more electricity on air conditioning in order to somehow adapt to the heat. Which, in turn, will only exacerbate climate change.

We cannot reverse this. Can we slow it down? Big question. I would like to, but it seems that now politicians are doing some nonsense instead of solving real problems.

The next decades will certainly interesting for the observer. But I would not advise anyone to live inside them. If you have the opportunity to fly to Mars, you should think about it. It is also worth considering buying a house in places where the effects of climate change will be a little less obvious - for example, in Altai.

What will happen to transport in the future?

— In the near future we will see a lot of drones on the roads. Even an unmanned taxi will soon be operating in Moscow from Yandex. I think within 10-15 years it will become a very noticeable part of our lives.

I guess we'll also see the emergence of the flying taxi. There will be compact aircraft - microplanes, which, perhaps, will also be unmanned. This will partially solve the problem of traffic jams, but will create some others. Now aircraft manufacturers are developing such projects.

It is also certain that transport will switch to renewable energy sources. On the one hand, it will be electrified, on the other hand, it will run on biodiesel. Many years ago, I wrote, for example, that Brazil produced a truck that runs on coffee waste.

Unmanned, greener, perhaps flying - the future of transport for the coming decades.

What will happen to smartphones in the future?

— I am not the right person to predict anything in this area. Because in 2007, when the first iPhone came out, I wrote a scathing post on my blog that Jobs I was wrong, nobody needs these devices and in general this is a toy for the rich, which everyone will forget about after six months.

Since then, I have become a little more cautious in predicting the future of smartphones. So I'll be honest: I don't know. Probably, there will be more wearable devices - watches, glasses, smart headphones, and brick smartphones will become less noticeable.

— Top 3 major discoveries of 2021.

- It is impossible to choose the top, because all the discoveries are important and interesting. Every year I collect 15 to 30 scientific news. And even that is a tiny fraction of what is actually happening. But if you put me in such a narrow framework, then ...

1. Siberian scientists have identifiedLying 24 thousand years in the permafrost of Siberia, worms came to life / Taiga. Info bdelloid rotifers from permafrost. That is, in fact, they revived a microorganism that spent 24,000 years in the ice. And when that happened, do you know what those bdelloid rotifers started doing? Multiply. This inspires optimism.

2. Biotechnologists have developed2021 in review: AI firm DeepMind solves human protein structures / NewScientistAlphaFold tool. Its task is to predict the structure of proteins using machine learning. Until recently, scientists had only one way to do this - to manually review each specific option.

But AlphaFold has helped predict the structure of nearly every protein the human body makes. This means that we can now develop drugs not blindly, but with an understanding of how you can influence some kind of drug in order to get the desired result.

3. Found in IsraelCanaanite Inscription Found in Israel Is ‘Missing Link’ in Alphabet’s History / Haaretz fragment of a pot with ornaments and a few words in Proto-Canaanite.

Since I make a living writing texts, I am very interested in the history of language and alphabets. As a child, I learned about Champollion French orientalist, founder of Egyptology. Thanks to his deciphering of the text of the Rosetta Stone, it became possible to read Egyptian hieroglyphs. and deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs, and now every news about ancient writing awakens quivering feelings in me. This year there were a lot of similar archaeological finds, but it was this one that hooked me the most.

Surely everyone knows about the Phoenician alphabet, from which others evolved: Greek, Latin. Glagolitic came from Greek, and Cyrillic from Glagolitic. That is, all the letters that we use go back to the Phoenician alphabet. And he, in turn, developed, apparently, from early Canaanite, or Proto-Sinaitic writing.

Few traces of this language have survived. And each such inscription is a new word in linguistics, history of ancient languages ​​and archeology. So, a shard about 3.5 thousand years old (!), found this year in Israel, just uses the characters of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet.

Scientists were able to decipher two words from there. There are different interpretations of what they could mean. I like one of them. The first word is "slave". But the slave is not in the sense of "slave", but "the slave of God N". And the second word is honey. That is, someone 3.5 thousand years ago signed a pot of honey with his name so that no one would steal it and eat this honey! We are dealing practically with the ancient Winnie the Pooh!

This is a story about how nothing changes in people. Just as now we sign our yogurts in refrigerators so that our colleagues do not eat them, so 3.5 thousand years ago our ancestors marked their pots of honey. It seems to me that this is why science exists: it shows that, despite all our scientific and technological progress, we have remained the same beautiful ancient people.