Press releases

Thanks to the PILATUS project, there will be three pilot lines built in Europe by 2025, covering the entire production cycle of innovative silicon solar panels. Special technologies with contacts on the bottom side will allow solar cells to convert energy with efficiency higher than 26%. In the production of this photovoltaic "Ferrari", the experts also want to minimize its CO₂ footprint. In the project, a team from the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences under the leadership of Martin Ledinský will be involved as well.

Thanks to scientists from the Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, what used to take days to weeks and computers with huge computing capacity will be faster and more reliable. They developed "diem", a method of genomes polarization, thanks to which experts around the world across disciplines can more easily analyze genomes. It will be appreciated, for example, by archaeologists when searching for Neanderthal genes in the genome of modern humans or biologists who can track advantageous chunks of genomes and further use them as biomarkers.

Different characteristics between northern and southern bank vole populations in Britain, due to differences in haemoglobin types, could affect their ability to adapt to a changing climate. Research by scientists at the Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences has shown that northern populations of these small rodents will “borrow” a more favourable haemoglobin variant, critical for adaptation, from populations adapted to living in the warmer conditions of southern England to survive climate warming. The ability to take advantage of the diversity of traits already present in populations and adapt to climate change through them will be critical to the survival of many plant and animal species, including humans.

Martin Pivokonský, a hydrochemist specializing in water quality and treatment, Lucie Bačáková, a leading Czech expert in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, and Viktor Černý, an anthropologist researching the earliest history of Africa and Arabia. Three outstanding scientists, who are among the world's leaders in their fields, received the Academic Award, Praemium Academiae, from the hands of the President of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Eva Zažímalová. The ceremony took place as part of the Week of the Academy of Sciences festival at the Library of the CAS.

The green world that we live in would not have been possible without hidden changes to the plant body over the last 400 million years. To grow beyond just centimetres tall outside of the wettest places on land, plants had to re-arrange their water-conducting tissues to keep them safe from drought. A new study by Martin Bouda of the Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Science and co-authors, published in the journal Science, shows how the solution to a hundred-year-old debate in botany reveals a key adaptation that allowed plants to colonise dry land.

Richard Stefl from CEITEC Masaryk University (MU) and Petr Svoboda from the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IMG CAS) and their colleagues have revealed the unique mechanism of action of mammalian Dicer. Dicer is an RNA-cutting enzyme that is essential for the regulation of gene activities in cells. The research team described how Dicer could be reactivated to serve as an antiviral enzyme. This discovery provides previously unexploited opportunities for the design of new defence mechanisms against RNA viruses in humans. The research results were published on 3 November 2022 in the prestigious scientific journal Molecular Cell.

The most prestigious scientific grant awarded by the European Research Council, the ERC Synergy Grant, goes to the team of Zdeněk Lánský from the Institute of Biotechnology of the CAS at the BIOCEV Centre. Together with French and American colleagues, he will investigate the function of a protein called tubulin, which is significantly involved in the transport of substances inside cells. The team is receiving CZK 270 million (EUR 11 million) over six years for the research, which may also shed light on the molecular processes of neurodegenerative diseases.

Autonomous vehicles are no longer the reality of a distant future. They are being promoted by car companies and some countries are even allowing self-driving cars to appear on the road. But with that comes the ethical issue of how these vehicles should be programmed in case of an accident. Should they decide their course of action based on the number of casualties? Or should they take into consideration the age of potential casualties as well? And how should the rules take into account a country's cultural practices?

Gene editing is like a GPS that gets us to our destination faster: to solving the question of how to feed a growing population in times of geopolitical crises and climate change. The new method makes crop breeding much more efficient, but it is not yet allowed in the European Union, unlike in Japan, the USA, or Australia. That is why leading experts, politicians, and farmers are coming to Prague for a two-day conference organized by the Czech Academy of Sciences as part of the Czech EU Presidency.

On Friday 30 September, the normally inaccessible scientific buildings and laboratories open to the public. The Czech Academy of Sciences traditionally gets involved in the all-European event called the Researches’ Night, with the subtitle " With All the Senses". Those interested will go on a research game into the heart of matter, visit an olfactory and tactile laboratory, and visit a yurt in the centre of Prague. The programme also offers topical lectures and theatre. The Researchers' Night is open to all age groups and is free of charge.