by Academician Nikolai KOLCHANOV, Director of the Institute of Cytology and Genetics, RAS Siberian Branch (Novosibirsk), Valentin SUSLOV, staff member of the Laboratory of Theoretical Genetics of the same institute In 2009 the Publishing House of the RAS Paleontological Institute issued a collection of articles "Problems of the Origin of Life" based on the materials of the colloquium of the same name held in Moscow a year before. The collection includes reports on different aspects of the origin and early evolution of the Earth biosphere and its relations with the world of organic molecules in the Universe. Scientific progress proves a necessity for specialization. But there is also a reverse side of the medal, i.e. narrowing of the range of interest, when accumulation of facts outstrips their comprehension and leads to stagnation. It is well known that the so-called "eternal" problems always existed in science. Their solution sometimes took centuries, they are often perceived as "abstract", but scientists of different generations revert to them again and again. However, the striving "to grasp the unbounded" is not the main problem here. The "eternal problems" are interdisciplinary, they require a wide range of interests and intensive exchange between very remote spheres of knowledge. In short, their importance in the structure of science is not limited only by the scope of a specific content. They com- стр. 42 Schemes of cell division (left) and disjunctive multiplication of viruses (grey background-recombinant viruses) (according to Agol, 2009, revised). Combinatorics of matrix processes during self-reproduction of viruses. The options on a grey background are predicted theoretically and then found (according to Agol, 2009). bine separate directions into encyclopedic knowledge there, where it cannot be achieved either by research in special aspects or borrowing of experimental methods. The origin of life is ... Читать далее