News archive

A technology developed by a team of researchers, led by Hana Lísalová from the Department of Optical and Biophysical Systems of the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, should enable to detect SARS-COV-2 virus particles directly - in contrast to the demanding detection of antibodies in patients' bodies.

The overlooked marine single-celled protists, which have a major impact on life on the planet, has now received greater scientific attention. One hundred and thirteen scientists from 53 laboratories from 14 countries around the world have united forces to develop genetic methods to investigate these microscopic organisms, taking ocean research a step further. This extensive study was coordinated by molecular biologists Drahomíra Faktorová and Julius Lukeš from the Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre (BC), Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS), and it was published on 6^th April, 2020 in Nature Methods. The study was funded primarily by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, EMS Program of the Marine Microbiology Initiative.

Scientists from several institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences assist with testing of samples for the new type of the coronavirus and analyse materials for the production of breathing masks and respirators. The Czech Academy of Sciences has also offered a Cessna aeroplane for the use of the Czech government in distribution of necessary medical material. The coronavirus’ impact upon society is analysed by economists from the IDEA think tank. All news related to the CAS’s assistance in the struggle against the contagion can be found at the social media under the hashtag #Veda_proti_covidu (science against covid). The following article contains all the news sorted from the most recent to the oldest ones.

The European Academies of Science (EASAC) warn that current efforts to resolve the plastics crisis are ineffective and misleading. Policymakers and industry must address conflicts in the whole system, from production to end-of-life. “Reducing the leakage of millions of tons of plastic waste into the marine, terrestrial and freshwater environments is incompatible with banking on continued growth in the use of plastics”, says EASAC’s Prof. Michael Norton. EASAC’s latest report Packaging Plastics in a Circular Economy shows that fundamental and systemic reforms are required along the whole value chain, in order to slow and reverse damage to the environment, biodiversity and ultimately risks to human health.

A team of Czech scientists has demonstrated for the first time the controlled transfer of an electron within a single molecule. Published in the journal Nature Communications, the work presents important knowledge about one of the key processes in physics, chemistry, and biology and also provides inspiration for the construction of quantum computers based on molecular cellular automata and supercapacitors for storing energy in individual molecules.

ATTENTION

Due to the current hygienic and epidemiologic situation
pertaining to the occurrence of the new type of coronavirus
and due to active medical prevention,
with consent of the administration of the CAS,

the building of the Academy of Sciences at Národní 1009/3 is closed

both for professional and general public,
including the premises of the Library of the CAS,
Science and Art gallery, and Gastronomic Services Národní,
with effect from 4 March 2020 until further notice.

At the same time, all events for public, lectures, and conferences are cancelled.
Attendees of business meetings and work courses shall report at the reception where they will be informed about the rules regarding the entry into the building.

JUDr. Jiří Malý, deputy director of the Centre of Administration and Operations
of the CAS

On 3 February, the Human Brain Project (HBP) held its annual Open Day at Megaron International Conference Centre in Athens, Greece. The Open Day is the biggest annual outreach event of the HBP and presents the latest developments in neuroscience, computing, and related research infrastructures.

Czech scientists participated in the development of a new test confirming the presence of coronavirus 2019-nCoV in the body. The company TATAA Biocenter (Göteborg, Sweden) in cooperation with the laboratory of prof. M. Kubista from the Institute of Biotechnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Saint James Hospital Malta) has developed a new diagnostic kit. The Red Cross has expressed interest in its use in China.

Veterinary medicine, game keeping and hunting, and wild boars have a common intersection point in an international ethnographic research which has received one of the most prestigious research grants: an ERC Consolidator Grant in the amount of 2 million euros. The author of the research is Luděk Brož from the Institute of Ethnography of the Czech Academy of Sciences. In the next five years, he and his team will focus on conflicts caused by a substantial increase of the wild boar population in Europe and by their subsequent endangerment by the African swine fever virus.

Scientists from the Czech Academy of Sciences have discovered a completely new way of influencing the self-assembly of nanoscopic building blocks - proteins - into cytoskeleton structures, using very short and intense electrical pulses. Noteworthy about this discovery is that pulses can fundamentally affect the nanoscopic shape of the formed structure, either reversibly or irreversibly, depending on the pulse parameter settings.