The work of a research team led by Professor Jaroslav Doležel at the Institute of Experimental Botany AS CR has contributed to an article in the journal Science. The International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium published a draft sequence of the bread wheat genome in the journal. The genetic blueprint of the wheat genome was obtained using the chromosome-based strategy developed by Professor Doležel’s team. The chromosome-based draft provides new insight into the structure, organization, and evolution of the large, complex genome of the world’s most widely grown cereal crop. The genetic blueprint is an invaluable resource to plant science researchers and breeders. For the first time, they have at their disposal a set of tools enabling them to rapidly locate specific genes on individual wheat chromosomes throughout the genome. and Jaroslav Doležel.
Alternative futures oriented to contemporary global problems solutions and risk management are related to citizens´ability to learn how to become global (cosmopolitan) citizens. Important conditions for that should be analyzed within the processes and conditions shaped by globalization of media and communication. This learning has not been institutionalize so far (as in the education), and it is a result of rather indirect social interaciton. Individuals are embedded into complex network of the global information flows and, at the same time, they are members of their national and local communities. Cosmopolitan individual is a virtual member of a global community. Social analysis with ethical reflection should study with more attention global media as one of the key globalizing actors shaping the public space of communication with the power to farm and deform cosmopolitan participation. and Oleg Suša.
The article argues that the development of genetic technologies has to be critically evaluated from a socio-political economy perspective to establish if, on balance, the benefits of such technologies outweigh their costs and risks. The article illustrates how the current governance of these technoloiges can be seen as "undemocratic" because corporate interests dominate the direcitions in which the technologies are going. When aligned with the underlying socioeconomic power structures globally, these technologies create a situation where the development of science and technology fail to be about the common good. The article begins with a brief overview of neo-liberal globalization. It examines key global institutional arrangements including the World Bank, the Intermnational Monetary Fund, itnernational patenting laws and fee trade agreements. It is argued that in their convergence with the biosciences, these are antithetical to democracy, instead entrensching the interests of corporations, rich elites and rich countries. Finally, some suggestions for reforming the global political economy are presented. and Del Weston.
Featured in this issue is an interview with Dr. Marek Hrubec, director of the Center of Global Studies, a joint workplace of the Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and the Faculty of Philosophy of the Charles University in Prague. Within the frame of his critical research of social misreco- gnition, Dr. Hrubec focuses mainly on current global injustice, global inequalities and global capitalism. His field of study is primarily political and social theory and philosophy. The interview was held on the occasion of the international conference Philosophy and Social Sciences, which took place on May 9-13, 2012 at Villa Lanna in Prague. and Martin Brabec.
The Second Argentine - Czech Biennale Workshop E-Golem took place in Buenos Aires on September 24-26, 2007. It was organized by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Secretariat for Science, Technology and Productive Innovation of the Argentine Republic, with suppport from the Czech Embassy in Argentine and the Argentine Embassy in the Czech Republic. Its general subject was Society of information and Communication - Emerging technologies and their applications in society and the arts. The aim of this event was to discuss this issue in detail such topics as, artificial intelligence, image processing, web-technologies, nano-technologies for life sciences, eco-technologies and so forth. More information on this project can be found in an interview in this issue with the Ambassador of the Argentine Republic in the Czech Republic, Ambassador Juan Eduardo Fleming. and Marina Hužvárová.
Zoetrop, optická hračka 19. století předvádějící iluzi pohybu, oživla v různých podobách ve 20. a 21. století. Dnes ji nalezneme ve výtvarném umění či reklamě a to často v mnohem větším měřítku než ve století předcházejícím. Moderní zoetropy uchvacují své diváky primárně díky tomuto zvětšení měřítka. Věnuji se řadě jejich příkladů z umění, zábavního průmyslu a reklamy a sleduji různé technické úpravy vedoucí k jejich zvětšení. Tyto nové aparáty proměňují vztah mezi přístrojem a publikem, přehodnocují tradiční pojetí jejich uživatele, který s ním zacházel dotykem, a předpokládají naopak diváka, který má nad iluzí méně kontroly a je často publikem, zajatým a obklopeným touto animací. Současné zoetropy jako vizuální a vědecké spektákly dokáží vzbuzovat údiv primárně díky změně svého měřítka., The zoetrope, a nineteenthcentury optical toy that showcases illusions of motion, has enjoyed an active “afterlife” in the 20th and 21st centuries. Today, zoetropic devices are found in fine art and advertising, and are often much larger than their 19th-century counterparts. Modern-day zoetropes still captivate viewers primarily because of their adjustment in scale. Exploring a range of examples in art, entertainment, and advertising, this article discusses various technical adjustments made to successfully “scale up” the zoetrope, arguing that these new apparatus reconfigure the relationship between audience and device. Large-scale zoetropes revise the traditional conception of the user, who tactilely manipulates and interacts with the apparatus, instead positing a viewer who has less control over the illusion and is often a captive audience surrounded by the animation. It is primarily through their adaptation of scale that contemporary zoetropes successfully elicit wonder as visual and scientific spectacles from their audiences today., and Meredith A. Bak.