Press releases

The most prestigious scientific grant awarded by the European Research Council, the ERC Synergy Grant, goes to the team of Zdeněk Lánský from the Institute of Biotechnology of the CAS at the BIOCEV Centre. Together with French and American colleagues, he will investigate the function of a protein called tubulin, which is significantly involved in the transport of substances inside cells. The team is receiving CZK 270 million (EUR 11 million) over six years for the research, which may also shed light on the molecular processes of neurodegenerative diseases.

Autonomous vehicles are no longer the reality of a distant future. They are being promoted by car companies and some countries are even allowing self-driving cars to appear on the road. But with that comes the ethical issue of how these vehicles should be programmed in case of an accident. Should they decide their course of action based on the number of casualties? Or should they take into consideration the age of potential casualties as well? And how should the rules take into account a country's cultural practices?

Gene editing is like a GPS that gets us to our destination faster: to solving the question of how to feed a growing population in times of geopolitical crises and climate change. The new method makes crop breeding much more efficient, but it is not yet allowed in the European Union, unlike in Japan, the USA, or Australia. That is why leading experts, politicians, and farmers are coming to Prague for a two-day conference organized by the Czech Academy of Sciences as part of the Czech EU Presidency.

On Friday 30 September, the normally inaccessible scientific buildings and laboratories open to the public. The Czech Academy of Sciences traditionally gets involved in the all-European event called the Researches’ Night, with the subtitle " With All the Senses". Those interested will go on a research game into the heart of matter, visit an olfactory and tactile laboratory, and visit a yurt in the centre of Prague. The programme also offers topical lectures and theatre. The Researchers' Night is open to all age groups and is free of charge.

Prehistory literally in front of our eyes. A monumental Stone Age building, the so-called roundel, has been researched by scientists in Prague-Vinoř since July. Research into the nearly seven thousand-year-old circular architecture has so far revealed exceptionally well-preserved remains and an unusual floor plan with three entrances. The extent of the fieldwork is also unique: archaeologists are gradually going to uncover the structure almost in its entirety.

Today (September 27, 2022) at 1:14 AM CEST NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft successfully conducted the world’s first full-scale planetary defense test by impacting asteroid moonlet Dimorphos (Greek for “two forms”), which orbits a larger asteroid named Didymos (Greek for “twin”). The kinetic impact demonstrated one possible method of asteroid deflection technology. As a part of an international planetary defense strategy, the DART mission proved that a spacecraft can autonomously navigate to a target asteroid and intentionally collide with it to alter its orbit. DART is accompanied by a small Italian sub-spacecraft called LICIACube, which observed the impact from a distance.

A new protein that plays a key role during sperm-egg adhesion and fusion has been discovered by an international team led by Kateřina Komrsková from the Institute of Biotechnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences at the BIOCEV Centre and the Faculty of Science of Charles University in Prague. The researchers also developed special cell cultures for the “production” of human oocyte proteins. In the future, these new findings may help in the diagnosis and treatment of infertility and could also lead to better contraceptives.

A research centre of excellence focused on the molecular life of plants will be established at the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Thanks to a European grant in the ERA Chair program, the Biology Centre will establish two new research groups in plant molecular biology, strengthen plant research and appoint a six-member International advisory board led by the renowned plant biologist Jiří Friml. The project called MOLIPEC will start in January 2023, but the centre is already calling for candidates for research group leaders.

Even though the largest Czech telescope with a mirror lens diameter of two metres and a total weight of over 80 tonnes is already 55 years old, it is still in excellent technical condition. It has produced plenty of results and is taking part in the largest number of observing programmes in its history. The Perek Telescope has been operated by the Astronomical Institute of the CAS in Ondřejov since August 1967.

Travel guides were known and used even by people in ancient times, most often by sailors and merchants, for whom a new genre of travel guides was created: the periplus. It contained not only practical information about sailing, but sometimes also interesting facts collected from different countries. Ancient Greece also produced guidebooks that can still be used as sightseeing guides to this day. Vladislav Knoll from the Institute of Slavonic Studies of the CAS describes ancient monuments and records preserved mainly in medieval (Byzantine) manuscripts.