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Now more than ever, policymakers need good quality science advice to inform their decisions. Yet — as a new report by European academies highlights — the very policy issues for which scientific input is most needed are the ones where the science itself is often complex and uncertain.

Recently scientists all over the world have been examining components of ever smaller, virtually molecular dimensions. An international team from the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Tokyo Institute of Technology has developed a new method which will contribute to the miniaturization of electric circuits in electronics. They have published their discovery in the prestigious scientific journal Chemical Science.

On Friday, July 19, the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Learned Society of the Czech Republic sent a letter to the Hungarian President János Ánder in which they express their concern over the situation regarding management and financing of Hungarian science. As soon as September 1, a new law will come into effect meaning that organisation of research, financing of science, and establishing or abolishing of scientific institutes will now be in the competence of a 13-member political committee, taking these decisions out of hands of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS).

The world‘s leading physicists will take part in a discussion at a conference organized by the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences entitled “Frontiers of Quantum and Mesoscopic Thermodynamics” to take place at the Pyramida Hotel between July 15and July 20. The participants will also include five Nobel Prize winners: Theodor Hänsch, Gerard't Hooft, Wolfgang Ketterle, William Phillips and Rainer Weiss. Three of them will be giving, apart from their expert papers, popular lectures that are open to the public. The symposium will also be attended by Marlan Scully, a legendary pioneer in quantum and laser physics, to whom the conference has been dedicated.

The Czech Academy of Sciences has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Žilina, Slovakia. The Memorandum recognizes the importance of scientific and educational cooperation between the two countries.

A new and extensive study by 35 researchers from Europe, America and Russia sheds new light into the origin, genetic relations, and migrations of ancient Eskimos, Native Americans of the Na-Dene language family, and inhabitants of Kamchatka. The geneticists have used an arsenal of the newest genetics methods, they have obtained a large amount of genome data from human remains up to 2,000 years old, cooperated with archaeologists and a linguist, and created a new model of ancient settlement of this vast area. This unique study, led by Pavel Flegontov from the University of Ostrava and from the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, has now been published in the Nature journal.

New EASAC report “The imperative of climate action to protect human health in Europe” highlights an alarming range of health risks due to climate change and the benefits of rapid phase out of fossil fuels.

On Wednesday, May 29, the President of the Czech Academy of Sciences Eva Zažímalová visited one of the most significant scientific institutions in the world – CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Switzerland. The Czech expedition, attended also by the CAS Vice President Zdeněk Havlas and the CAS Academy Council Chair Antonín Fejfar, was guided by the CAS Vice President Jan Řídký, who had worked at CERN for three years.

An event called “An Open Day Not Only for Industrial Partners” was held on May 23, 2019 at the Institute of Physics of Materials (IPM) of the Czech Academy of Sciences. This successful meeting, supported by the Strategy AV21, was attended by representatives of industrial companies and research organisations from all over the Czech Republic.

Antonín Fejfar - who is the member of the Academic Council and the Deputy Director of the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences – spoke at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. He gave a presentation on the mission of the Academy of Sciences in Czech science and education as a whole at a two-day conference entitled “Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Development” (STI Forum) on the 14^th and 15^th of May.