On 1 May, the gates of the world EXPO 2015 with the motto “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life” opened in Milan. The raising of the exposition’s flags was accompanied by the tones of Antonín Dvořák’s New World Symphony and precisely the Czech pavilion was selected by the Italian media as one of five to be recommended for a visit. Their last discoveries are then presented also by two institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry (IOCB) in the Laboratory of Life presents research aimed at seeking new human medications for lifestyle diseases. A human cell as a miniature chemical plant in which thousands of events take place necessary for the healthy functioning of the organism was rendered for the Laboratory of Life and the IOCB by the artist Jakub Nepraš.
The Institute of Experimental Botany (IEB) of the CAS in an exposition prepared in cooperation with the artist Frederik Díaz provides insight into the structure of the DNA of cultivated crops. It was precisely the team of employees of the IEB CAS who significantly contributed to unravelling the genetic code of wheat and other agriculturally important crops. The Czech pavilion was visited also by President of the CAS prof. Jiří Drahoš, who appreciated the balanced form combining science and art: “The energy-efficient laboratory from the IOCB is interesting as well as the Laboratory of Life, which combines reliefs by Frederik Díaz with scenes of the structure of the cell and the narration of prof. Jaroslav Doležel on research in the IEB. Another interesting item is the temporary exhibition of the South Bohemian landscape with the first electron microscope from the Institute of Scientific Instruments of the CAS right next to the polargraph of Jaroslav Heyrovský from 1929,” prof. Drahoš commented the participation of the CAS’s institutes.
President of the CAS prof. Jiří Drahoš on a tour of the Czech pavilion
Visitors to the exhibition will certainly be interested also in the Laboratory of Silence,
which presents a biotope of a Czech forest and which according to its authors reacts to the human
need to be present in nature. The result is a complex image of a forest, in which live nature
combines with multimedia technology and thus offers those arriving in addition to knowledge and
rest a unique emotional and aesthetic experience.
28 May 2015
