BTW, what is Zhizn? I've never heard of it, and I worked in Russian media for several years. Maybe I just missed something. The word means "Life" and that doesn't sound like much of a newspaper to me (more like some kind of fly-by-night magazine - there are plenty). It's not on this list with dozens of prominent Russian papers.
And, why wouldn't such a major discovery be reported in a renown medical or science journal, or at least in one of Moscow's major papers (Gazeta, Izvestia, Pravda, Kommersant, Trud)? The only reference I can find to a Zhizn is some long-defunct Bolshevik newsrag.
You got me. I was a bit surprised to see it myself. I know when I was a kid and dropped a piece of food on the floor my mother used to say "kiss it up to God" and I would say "no way" and either wash the piece of food off or throw it out.
If this works, I would like them to come to NJ and clean up some of our rivers, which are in the top 10 of the most polluted.