Professor Pavel Zemanek and his colleagues at the Institute of Scientific Instruments (1St) of the ASCR built a laser that moves tiny spheres of polystyrene floating in water While in science fiction programs such as "Star Trek," tractor beams are used to move massive objects, the unique research published in Nature Photonics (2013, 7, 123-127) is limited to moving microscopic particles. Changing the way the light is polarized changes the direction the spheres move. The ISI scientists also found that at certain sizes, the spheres arrange themselves into neat rows as they move, bound by the light itself. The practical applications could be diverse. The tractor beam is very selective in the properties of the particles it acts upon, so one could pick up specific particles in a mixture. For example, this laser could be used to separate white blood cells. and Luděk Svoboda.
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.