[1][2] The prerequisite for the emergence in the structure of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) of a separate body focused on countering the spread of pseudoscientific theories was their widespread distribution in Russia in the 1990s.
[3] Publications about the living dead, torsion fields and other pseudoscientific theories were published in major Russian media outlets, and even in the government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta (RG).
The future Nobel laureate Vitaly Ginzburg in 1998 proposed to the President of the RAS Yury Osipov to create a special commission on pseudoscience.
[5] Despite wide support in the RAS, the commission did not receive funding and any instruments of influence, except for the opportunity to officially criticize unscientific inventions and theories on behalf of the scientific community.
[7][8] The commission on behalf of the RAS publicly criticized pseudoscientific theories, opposed astrology, ufology, alternative medicine, religion in science and education.
So, in schools, hospitals and kindergartens it was planned to introduce water filters, and the competition for their development was won by the self-proclaimed scientist and author of "sensational" discoveries Viktor Petrik.
The incident caused a wide public outcry, and the head of the commission, academician Eduard Kruglyakov, led the fight against Petrik filters.
[3][4][11] The commission has repeatedly opposed the projects of reactionless drive, which were proposed by various Russian inventors, including the state corporation for space activities – Roscosmos.
In May 2008, as part of an experiment, a reactionless drive was installed on the Yubileiny educational satellite, which was co-authored by the deputy director of the Khrunichev State Scientific and Practical Center, General Valery Menshikov.
The device, the principles of which contradicted the laws of physics, showed zero result during tests in space, receiving the nickname "gravitsapa" (Russian: гравицапа) in reference to a Soviet comedy film Kin-dza-dza!, and the commission managed to stop funding the project.
Advisor to the General Director of Energia corporation Oleg Baklanov, member of the expert council of the State Duma Committee on Defense Mikhail Sautin and honoured tester of space technology Alexander Kubasov took part in testing of this "invention".
[14] In 2016, the Commission first tested the format of a memorandum, in which it expressed the opinion of the scientific community on the popular dermatoglyphics – the practice of studying patterns on the skin of the palms and feet and using them to determine, for example, personality traits and predispositions.
[17][18] Its authors noted that, despite its 200-year history, the practice of "treatment with ultra-low doses" has no scientific basis and evidence of effectiveness, and its fundamental principles are contrary to the laws of chemistry, physics and biology.
At first, the Ministry of Health promised to form a working group to discuss homeopathy and the requirements of evidence-based medicine, but in the end, the department did not fulfill any of the recommendations of the memorandum, even issued an order to simplify the rules for registering homeopathic remedies.
In the text, under which the commission members Alexandrov, Alferov, Ginzburg, Kruglyakov and others left their signatures, for the first time the topic of the growing influence of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) on the life of society was raised.
In 2012, the subject "Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics" was included in the school curriculum, and in January 2015, the Higher Attestation Commission approved theology as a new specialty.