The UN General Assembly has declared 2015 the International Year of Soils to raise awareness of the vital importance of soil, which is essential not only for food security and for cultivating plants for feed, fibre, fuel and medicinal products, but also for maintaining biodiversity as it hosts countless organisms. It plays a key role in storing and filtering water, in carbon and other nutrients cycling and performs other irreplaceable ecosystem functions. The Institute of Soil Biology of the CAS Biology Centre carries out biological research into many of those functions of soil in both natural and human–affected environments, including studies of the soil microstructure, soil organism communities and their dynamics and interactions and so on. Researchers at the Institute of Soil Biology focus, among other things, on the contribution of soil fungi to nitrous oxide emissions and on the production of methane. The latter is a potent greenhouse gas and a substantial part of atmospheric methane is produced by anaerobic microorganisms called Archaea found in the soil and in animal digestive tracts, while soil is also a significant methane sink. Research is also being concentrated on the characterization and risk assessment of antibiotic resistance-reservoirs in soil, which is connected with the massive use of antibiotics in the past five decades. Scientists examine ways of preventing the antibiotic resistance spreading in the environment through food chains as well as and on the role played by the soil microflora in those processes, as Doctor Dana Elhottová explains in the corresponding article. and Jana Olivová.
The first implementation phase of the ELI Beamlines project was concluded and the laser facility in Dolní Břežany was inaugurated on October 19, 2015 in the presence of many distinguished guests from the world of science and politics. The initial greetings were given by Czech and foreign guests, including the President of the Czech Academy of Sciences Jiří Drahoš, Director of the Institute of Physics Jan Řídký, the President of the Senate of the Czech Republic Milan Štěch, Archbishop of Prague Dominik cardinal Duka, Director General of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) Francesco Sette, Director General of the ELI-DC International Association Wolfgang Sandner, Chairman of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructure John Womersley, French physicist and founder of the ELI project Gérard Mourou, Deputy director for science and technology in the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California Patricia Falcone. Guests were invited to see laser and experimental technologies directly in one of the laser halls. and Marina Hužvárová a Jana Olivová.
Pražské Letňany přilákaly ve dnech 19. až 21. května 2016 na 14 000 lidí, zvědavých, co pro ně připravilo 30 pracovišť Akademie věd i další popularizátoři na letošním „Veletrhu vědy“. Bohatý program s bezpočtem interaktivních exponátů z přírodovědných, technických a letos poprvé i humanitních oblastí oslovil návštěvníky všeho věku, od předškolních dětí až po seniory - Akademický bulletin nevyjímaje. and Gabriela Adámková a Jana Olivová.
Dr. Petr Jehlička, Snr Lecturer in Environmental Geography at the Open University in Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, points out that some twenty-five years after the end of socialism, between one and two thirds of the East European middle classes still continue to grow some of the food consumed in their households - mostly not for economic reasons but primarily as their hobby. Nevertheless, social sciences in the West and a considerable part of scientific literature on home gardening in the global North continue to view this informal food production in Eastern Europe as an activity of mainly disadvantaged segments of society. He argues, moreover, that concepts generated in the Western context, where this activity is only marginal, are considered as universal knowledge, while data gathered in Eastern Europe, where household food production is dominant, are viewed as marginal and less interesting. He also describes ways in which Eastern Europe can contribute to broad international debates about this issue and various other topics in social sciences. and Jana Olivová.
Obecně už je známo, že v naší republice vzniká mezinárodní centrum s nejmodernějšími laserovými systémy: unikátní laserová infrastruktura pro špičkový výzkum v řadě oblastí i pro mezioborové aplikace ELI Beamlines je jedním ze tří pilířů ambiciózního evropského vědeckého projektu ELI (Extreme Light Infrastructure). Pro Českou republiku to však zdaleka nebude začátek od nuly: čeští, respektive českoslovenští badatelé se zapojili do laserového výzkumu od samého začátku. and Jana Olivová.
The Laboratory of Cell Regeneration and Plasticity and the PIGMOD Centre of the Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics of the CAS in Liběchov have been using their unique biomedical models - miniature pigs - to study fundamental causes of serious diseases, identify new biomarkers and search for new therapeutic methods /including those based on cell therapy and genetic therapy) to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, traumatic spinal cord injury and human melanoma. Special transgenic minipigs carrying human mutated huntingtin allow researchers to investigate in detail the fatal neurodegenerative disorder called Huntington's disease. and Jana Olivová.
Epilepsie je složité neurologické onemocnění s mnoha projevy, jímž v České republice trpí na 80 tisíc lidí; v celosvětovém měřítku se toto číslo pohybuje kolem neuvěřitelných 50 milionů. V řadě případů je příčina neznámá. Pacienty však netrápí jen sama choroba a její příznaky - což nemusí být pouze záchvaty, ale také další projevy včetně úzkostí, deprese, poruch paměti, pozornosti, chování atd. Život jim ztěžuje též určitá stigmatizace, jelikož společnost stále ještě vnímá toto onemocnění značně nepříznivě. and Jana Olivová.
Noc ze čtvrtka 16. na pátek 17. června 2016 byla v hlavním městě ČR naprosto výjimečná: byla totiž svědkem první „Noci filozofie/Nuit de la philosophie“ v Praze a ve střední Evropě., From June 16 to 17, 2016, the Night of Philosophy presented a wide audience with a round-the-clock program of short and long lectures, debates, readings, art shows and performances, screenings and concerts gathering 55 leading international philosophers from the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia who focused on the topic Images, Sciences and Politics. This very first Night of Philosophy in Prague, organized by the CEFRES Platform with the support of the French Institute and under the patronage of the Czech ministers of Culture (MK), Education (MŠMT) and Foreign affairs (MZV), took place in two locations: the Trade Fair Palace of the National Gallery in Prague and the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague., and Jana Olivová.