The year 2026 marks the tenth anniversary of Havana Syndrome — a mysterious psychophysiological disorder caused divide among scientists. While Trump speaks of a secret “Discombobulator,” and intelligence agencies quietly purchase devices allegedly capable of mimicking Havana Syndrome, new theories about its origin are emerging. T-invariant examined why the microwave hypothesis has hit a dead end, how the laser version could help resolve it, and what the consequences will be if this does not happen.

Recruitment of students into the Unmanned Aerial Systems Forces (UASF) of the Russian Army is turning into a new wave of mobilization. Four years after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense, with the assistance of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, is replenishing troop numbers by drawing on students from colleges and universities. T-invariant examines how the mechanisms for recruiting contract soldiers have changed in recent months: first it was students from technical universities, then those facing expulsion, and now it has reached all students.

Doctor of Medical Sciences Alexey Dudarev spent 25 years as the lead author of regular monitoring reports on pollution in the Arctic originating from Russia. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, official participation by Russian scientists in the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) working group of the international Arctic Council was paused, but contacts resumed in 2025 — something Maria Zakharova of the Russian Foreign Ministry announced enthusiastically. The joy was short-lived: less than a year later, the FSB arrested Dudarev, and the new five-year Arctic pollution monitoring report will likely be released without up-to-date Russian data — for the first time since 1991.

Science at Risk has released its latest monitoring reports on the state of academic freedom in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. These reports are based on incident monitoring, interviews with scholars, and analysis of open sources. T-invariant compares these reports with one another and with the global Free to Think (FTT) 2025 report on academic freedom, an analytical overview of which we published last year. The new SAR documents provide a more detailed account of the processes unfolding in the three countries affected by war and authoritarianism, allowing us to trace the mechanisms of academic freedom’s degradation.

The Russian American Science Association (RASA) expresses its strong support for its member, the renowned scholar in the field of American studies, Ivan Kurilla, in response to the decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation to include him in the registry of “foreign agents.” We consider this decision politically motivated and discriminatory.

Following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Western coalition introduced an unprecedented wave of sanctions against Russia. By the end of 2025, nearly 24,000 Russian legal entities and individuals are under restrictions — three times more than in Iran and five times more than in Syria or North Korea. Yet, despite the impact on Russian universities and research institutes, many of them remain unaffected by sanctions.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, countries in NATO and the EU (as well as Japan, Switzerland, and several others) imposed economic sanctions on Russia that included either a complete trade ban or significant restrictions on commerce. This severely impacted sectors of the economy critically dependent on imports of high-tech products. One such sector is experimental scientific research. Nevertheless, many university and academic laboratories continue to operate. Alexander Chizhov, PhD in chemistry and author of more than 200 publications in organic chemistry and structural chemistry of natural compounds, tells T-invariant how this remains possible.

22-year-old mathematician Leonid Katz, a graduate of the “Intellectual” school for gifted children and holder of a bachelor’s degree from the Higher School of Economics, has been arrested on treason charges. For the previous two months he was subjected to so-called carousel arrests. Katz is accused of making donations to a charitable fund that assists Ukrainian children. After his detention, he was tortured — T-invariant learned this from two sources.

The DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) policy and Trump’s actions to eliminate such initiatives are sparking heated debates among scholars. Some see DEI principles as the politicization of science, a form of censorship, and a violation of meritocracy. Others strongly disagree. T-invariant spoke with sociologist and historian Dmitry Dubrovsky about how DEI mechanisms worked in the United States, why they face so much criticism from the academic community, and what Trump’s policy on inclusion and diversity will lead to.

For the first time in Russian history, a court is about to issue a sentence typically given to real terrorists and serial killers, solely for allegedly intending to commit a crime. State prosecutor Madina Dolgieva has requested 34-year-old physicist Artem Khoroshilov be sentenced to 25 years in prison on charges of treason, DDoS attack, and preparation of sabotage. To date, this is the record term requested for a member of the scientific community. “The system is turning feral — especially in cases related to the ‘SVO’. And the claim that the defendant’s high intellect is an aggravating circumstance has left us all reeling,” say scientists interviewed by T-invariant. (‘SVO’ is the official euphemism for the invasion of Ukraine. — T-invariant)

In several European countries simultaneously, Russian students have been banned from studying IT-related specialties. Cases have also emerged of restrictions on admission (for example, to the politically sensitive program “Arctic Shipping”). Previously, export-control procedures applied only to university and research-center employees, visiting researchers, and collaboration participants; now the same checks are being applied to students. For instance, the University of Bonn has blocked 65 students from Russia from accessing IT courses. Similar measures have been taken against students from China and Iran. Human-rights advocates call this outright discrimination on the basis of nationality: education has never fallen under EU sanctions. T-invariant spoke with students affected by the restrictions and examined how export control works in German universities in both theory and practice.