News archive

In the coming years, the Czech energy sector will be defined by the global geopolitical situation and the related search for alternatives to natural gas as well as the development of nuclear resources. A consensus was reached for the most part by representatives of the scientific community and other sectors at a seminar entitled "The Current Tendencies of the Czech Energy Sector", organised by the CAS Energy Research Committee and the Environmental Committee.

The subject of thrift at a time of war in Ukraine, rising commodity prices, and climate uncertainty resonates in the public sphere. But behind this seemingly simple and universally valid idea lies a world of paradoxes. In the new publication Thrift & Its Paradoxes: From Domestic to Political Economy, an international team of experts presents the diversity of perceptions and practices of thrift in various parts of the world.

In the years to come, one of the priorities of the Czech Republic is to become a European leader in science and research. This is also why the Czech Academy of Sciences will play an active role in the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The proposed objectives and more were presented by the 59th session of the Academy Assembly, which took place at the National House Vinohrady in Prague on 20 April 2022 in the presence of Prime Minister Petr Fiala and Minister for Science, Research and Innovation Helena Langšádlová.

Astronomers from the Ondřejov Observatory of the Astronomical Institute of the CAS have modernised and assumed responsibility of the ESO 1.52-metre telescope of the European Southern Observatory La Silla in Chile. Operated remotely from the Czech Republic, it will be used to search the universe for new exoplanets and a planet similar to our Earth. The Czech researchers plan to participate with their observations on space missions of the European Space Agency.

Dozens of new books on contemporary Japan have been gifted to the General Library of the Oriental Institute of the CAS. The books were donated by the Nippon Foundation and presented by His Excellency Hideo Suzuki, the Ambassador of Japan to the Czech Republic, on 7 April 2022. The General Library of the Oriental Institute of the CAS is open not only to researchers, but also to the public interested in Asian Studies.

The forms of agriculture used today have negative impacts on the environment on a global scale. Our methods of food production need to change, and the alternative may be so-called regenerative agriculture. A report on its potential was published by EASAC, an association of the National Academies of Science of the EU Member States, Norway, Switzerland, and the UK. Czech involvement was by way of researchers from the Institute of Botany of the CAS contributing to the report.

Following the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation on 24 February 2022, the Czech Academy of Sciences soon came out with an offer of support in the form of fellowships for (post)doctoral researchers who are fleeing the war-ridden country. “The Academy wants to support at least 50 Ukrainian researchers by the end of 2023,” David Honys, member of the Academy Council, said in his interview for the AB / Academic Bulletin e-magazine in March. The first 22 fellowship applications were approved by the Academy Council on 12 April 2022.

She has been returning to Tibet regularly for twenty years now, watching the region transform almost beyond recognition. Grasslands with grazing herds of yaks are giving way to housing developments, and Tibetans are becoming Chinese citizens. Many of the relocated herdsmen are frustrated, out of work, and succumbing to alcoholism. “They have become a plaything in the hands of the government, which they completely depend on,” explains Jarmila Ptáčková of the Oriental Institute of the CAS, which is celebrating its centenary this year.

Like with humans, some newts are capable of “burning” what they consume more quickly than others. Individual variations in metabolic rate have now been confirmed by researchers at the Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the CAS, who found that those newts which burn calories faster are more active and more likely to find food and a mate. However, this advantage only holds true for environments that have enough resources. Moreover, it comes with certain downsides – for instance, a greater risk of detection by predators. The new research findings were published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.

Silicon can be found in cellphones, computers, and other electronic devices. It is the basic material used to make the semiconductors from which electronics components are made. But this element, which has been used for decades, has now reached its limits. Researchers at the J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry of the CAS have described the properties of chromium triiodide; a 2D material that could partially replace the function of silicon. The important study was published by the scientific journal Physical Review B.