Press releases

One of the world's most prestigious scientific journals, Nature, recently published the research findings of a team of Czech researchers. Their empirical research shows that a large part of the public has misconceptions about doctors' views on the COVID-19 vaccination. Although the vast majority of physicians trust and support the vaccination, there is a common belief among the public that doctors' opinions are split roughly 50–50. Informing the public of the broad consensus of the doctors' opinions has persistently increased vaccination rates and has played an important role in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. 

They are always there, dwelling in the water, where they play a key role in food webs, in cycling of nutrients, matter and energy, and water purification. However, as happens with organisms that tend to be inconspicuous and often invisible to the naked eye, society mostly neglects them, and forgets their huge importance in providing support and stability of aquatic ecosystems. What is even more problematic, we also forget that they are exposed to a wide range of threats from human activities. Without proper conservation measures, their populations can decline and go extinct just like all of the other, more conspicuous aquatic organisms, with unforeseen consequences for marine and freshwater ecosystems. This was the object of a study by an international team led by researchers from the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, as well as from the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) in Germany, and the University of Coimbra in Portugal.

Bird species whose males perform aerial displaying inhabit open rather than closed (forest) environments and are more likely to have multiple mates. They usually have more elongated wings, which is related to the fact that they migrate longer distances, and breed at higher latitudes, i.e. further from the equator. In addition, the aerial displaying seems to be relatively common in generally small passerine species with brightly coloured plumage. All of this suggests that the evolution of aerial displays in passerine is the result of both sexual and natural selection, as scientists from the Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Faculty of Science of Charles University have found in a recent comprehensive analysis. The results of the research have been published in the prestigious Proceedings of the Royal Society B journal.

Fair complexion, brown hair and brown, widely spaced eyes, a prominent chin, a petite figure, adorned with bronze and gold jewellery and a magnificent amber necklace: this is how the woman buried with luxurious equipment in Mikulovice near Pardubice looked like. An accurate and scientifically based reconstruction of her appearance was completed by anthropologist Eva Vaníčková and sculptor Ondřej Bílek from the Laboratory of Anthropological Reconstruction of the Moravian Museum, in cooperation with archaeologist Michal Ernée from the Institute of Archaeology of the CAS, Prague.

More than three and a half million crowns for a year and a half of high-quality research on their own terms – this is the amount that 55 scientists will receive from the European Union budget. The winners of the newly announced ERC Proof of Concept grants were announced on the 24th of May by the European Research Council (ERC). Two of the grants will also go to the Czech Republic, both of them to the workplaces of the Czech Academy of Sciences, being awarded to Milan Vrábel and Tomáš Čižmár.

Today we commonly encounter contactless RFID chips in a number of products, but can similar technology be implemented at the molecular level? The answer is yes. The principle of molecular encoding conceived by Miloslav Polášek and his team at IOCB Prague represents a novel method on the frontier of chemistry and modern technologies. Their paper on paramagnetic encoding of molecules was recently published in the journal Nature Communications.

One of the most challenging editorial projects after 1989 has concluded. In cooperation of the Masaryk Institute and Archives of the CAS and the T. G. Masaryk Institute, a complete Czech edition of the works of the first Czechoslovak president has been completed. The comprehensive critical edition, which will be presented for the first time as a whole by the researchers at the Book World Fair on Friday 10 June, also includes many texts of Masaryk's that have been almost forgotten - for example, texts on literature, articles from the foreign press and various political speeches. The complete writings will enable a relevant interpretation of TGM's work: without pathos and myths.

Brain4Industry, a consortium led by the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, has been selected from among the representatives of the Czech Republic to become a member of the European Digital Innovation Hub (EDIH). The hub aims to help small and medium enterprises and state administrations to implement the digital transformation process leading to a comprehensive economic modernization. The acquisition of the EDIH brand by B4I will help the consortium extend its service offerings and make it more affordable to customers.

Physicists and chemists from the Czech Academy of Sciences are part of a European team developing instruments to study the composition of celestial bodies. At a meeting in Berlin in June, they worked together on constructing an instrument to analyse the ions produced by a laboratory apparatus that mimics the water geysers of Saturn's moon Enceladus and also agreed on a future collaboration. The unique apparatus is expected to significantly improve the future analyses of particles from meteorites, comets, and planets with their moons, making this a key moment for plans to turn mineral extraction in space into reality.

Molecular biologist Alena Zíková from the Institute of Parasitology, Biology Center of the CAS has received a prestigious European grant – ERC Consolidator. At the beginning of June, the European Research Council (ERC) proposed her scientific project MitoSignal to be funded with 2 million euros for five years. Alena Zíková will study the mechanisms that enable communication within the cell, a fundamental cellular process. The new findings will have implications for many areas of biology, including human medicine as they may unravel the nature of various pathophysiological processes such as aging, neurodegenerative diseases or cancer. ERC grants are among the most prestigious in Europe; in recent years, three other scientists from the Biology Center of the CAS have received such grants.