News

The World Development Report 2014, titled Risk and Opportunity: Managing Risk for Development, examines how improving risk management can lead to large gains in development and poverty reduction. As part of launching the report, the World Bank is taking a “road show” to select locations in Europe and Asia to disseminate the key findings and continue the discussion. This will include a special presentation in Prague hosted by CERGE-EI on October 21st at 4.30 PM.

The National Award of the Government of the CR Česká hlava (Czech Intelligence) was won this year by Prof. František Šmahel from the Centre of Medieval Studies – a joint workplace of the Academy of Sciences of the CR and Charles University at the Institute of Philosophy of the ASCR. The preeminent Czech medievalist has acquired this prestigious prize for his lifelong work and also for his civic and scientific positions. The Council for Research, Development and Innovation proposed Prof. František Šmahel for the National Award of the Government of the CR Česká hlava. Through its selection, it wanted to award the researcher’s outstanding results in the Czech Republic and abroad. The handover of the award Česká hlava will take place at a ceremonial gala evening on 17 November 2013.

For results achieved in the area of computational complexity, prof. RNDr. Pavel Pudlák, DrSc. from the Institute of Mathematics of the ASCR has been awarded by the European Research Council (ERC). As the only Czech representative this year, he has won financial support within the prestigious competition “ERC Advanced Grants”, announced for experiences research employees. He succeeded with the project “Feasibility, logic and randomness in computational complexity” and is the fifth laureate of the advanced grant in the Czech Republic after Eduard Feireisl (2012), Josef Michl (2008), Detlef Schröder (2008) and Tomáš Jungwirth (2011).

A new concept of a direct measurement of the lateral forces (of friction) on the atomic level using a modified atomic force microscope was presented by the researchers from the Institute of Physics of the ASCR in cooperation with colleagues from the university in Regensburg. In the past few days, their work has been published in the journal Physical Review Letters (see the abstract). This advance opens entirely new possibilities in the study of friction. The importance of the work is proved by the fact that the article was selected by the editors of the journal for inclusion in the section Editors' Suggestion and Physics Viewpoint (see here). The article was also referred to in the pages of the journal Physics Today (see here). For more information, see the press release.

The Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in close cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports hosted on September 20 – 24, 2013 a prestigious science contest for talented young students – European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS). A prestigious projects show of young talented scientists which was held in Prague for the first time, has announced its winners. The exhibition took place at the Exhibition Grounds in Prague- Holešovice where 124 participants from 37 countries arrived and the European Schools.

A research centre with the latest equipment at the top European level – CZ-OPENSCREEN: National Infrastructure for Chemical Biology –was ceremonially opened today at the complex of the Academy of Sciences of the CR in Krč in Prague with Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Dalibor Štys in attendance. The unique scientific workplace was created within the framework of the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the ASCR and is focused on basic research in the area of chemical biology and genetics. Researchers will seek new chemical compounds that will be used as the basis for the development of new medications or as an instrument for more detailed understanding of cellular processes. For more information, see the press release.

At the beginning of a lecture tour by NASA’s preeminent expert on Mars research Dr. James Rice, a press conference took place on Tuesday, 17 September 2013 at the headquarters of the Academy of Sciences of the CR in Prague. Other than the American scientist, also the Ambassador of the USA in Prague Norman L. Eisen and Vice-President of the ASCR RNDr. Jan Šafanda, CSc. appeared. “Through this event, the ASCR is trying to show the public that space research in which a number of academic institutes are involved and which costs a great deal of money returns bounteously to society – both through expanding our knowledge of the solar system and also a number of practical applications and technological innovations,” said J. Šafanda.

A new function of the HOPX gene, which places it among the not very numerous group of genes responsible for the change of the cell of the primary tumour into a metastatic cell, was described by a scientific team at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the ASCR led by Dr. Jiří Hejnar. Their discovery was published in August this year in the international journal Molecular Cancer Research (see abstract). It is a generally known fact that in tumour illnesses the main cause of death in patients are precisely metastases, the secondary centres of the tumour scattered in distant organs and tissues, which resist surgery, radiation and are not very sensitive to chemotherapy.

The killifish of the genus of Nothobranchius – small annual fishes from the savannahs of East Africa– are real record-breakers. Their extremely short life is connected with the fastest sexual maturation of all vertebrates. This significant discovery by scientists from the Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the ASCR in Brno has now been published in the international journal EvoDevo as a component of its articles on life in extreme conditions (see the abstract). The investigation of killifishes living in savannah pools created during the seasonal monsoon rains.

The prestigious American journal Microscopy and Microanalysis has published a study (see the abstract) by Brno scientists Ing. Eva Tihlaříková and Ing. Vilém Neděla, Ph.D., from the Institute of Scientific Instruments of the ASCR. Thanks to their new method, it is possible to observe living organisms in a special environmental scanning electron microscope, without it costing their lives. The method moves the frontiers of electron microscopy towards a more considerate way of studying living nature and can be beneficial in biology and pharmacy as well as for instance in food processing. For more details, see the press release.