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11. 03. 2024

Not everyone is lucky enough to work on a discovery that is of a textbook-rewriting nature, altering the existing knowledge of human history. However, Vitaly Usyk, who co-authored a groundbreaking new study published in Nature, has succeeded. The experienced Ukrainian archaeologist is part of the international research team that has managed to securely date the stone tools found at an archaeological site near the town of Korolevo in Transcarpathia, Ukraine. Thanks to the Researchers at Risk Fellowship programme of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS), the scientist now works at the Institute of Archaeology of the CAS in Brno. How did he first become involved with the CAS and what other projects is he working on?

06. 03. 2024

When did members of the genus Homo first appear on the European continent after leaving Africa? Until now, the caves in Atapuerca, Spain, and Vallonnet, France, were regarded as the first inhabited locations in Europe (1.2–1.1 million years ago). However, new findings date the first human presence to 200–300 thousand years earlier in present-day western Ukraine. Evidence of the earliest hominin settlement comes in the form of stone tools found at the archaeological site of Korolevo. The groundbreaking results of the discovery, worked on by an international team led by Roman Garba from the Nuclear Physics Institute of the CAS and the Institute of Archaeology of the CAS in Prague, were published on 6 March 2024 in Nature.     

22. 02. 2024

Garry Kasparov, the world-renowned chess grandmaster and former world chess champion, Russian political activist in exile and opponent of Vladimir Putin’s regime, was received today at the Czech Academy of Sciences by its President, Eva Zažímalová, and Member of the Academy Council, David Honys. The Academy was one of the few places Kasparov visited during his three-day stay in Prague.

21. 02. 2024

War, persecution, and human rights violations threaten scientists not only in Ukraine, but in other parts of the world as well. That is why the Researchers at Risk Fellowship programme is now open to scientists from all countries where freedom of research is not guaranteed. The second call was launched by the Czech Academy of Sciences in January, and applicants can apply until 29 February 2024.

20. 02. 2024

While there are 2.1 million described animal species in the world, about one quarter of them face extinction. Which ecological communities will survive? Are those with a more diverse constitution more resilient? And how does nature actually maintain its diversity? The answers to these questions are being sought by entomologist Jan Hrček from the Biology Centre of the CAS, who was the only Czech to receive the prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant in 2023. The story (below) about his research was published in the quarterly A / Magazine of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

06. 02. 2024

Discussed topics included sustainable agriculture, biodiversity conservation in the age of climate change, and epigenetic therapy for cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and diseases of civilisation. Opening remarks were made by the President of the CAS Eva Zažímalová and David Honys from the Academy Council as well as Ian Wiggins from the Royal Society. The event was held on 31 January and 1 February 2024 at the headquarters of the Czech Academy of Sciences on Národní Street in Prague.

05. 02. 2024

More than 300,000 years ago, the anatomically modern human emerged in Africa. From there, Homo sapiens migrated to Asia and Europe. For more than 25 years, anthropologist Viktor Černý has been exploring the genetic traces of the modern human. The following story appeared in Czech in A / Magazine, published quarterly by the Czech Academy of Sciences.

29. 01. 2024

Over the next five years, three new Strategy AV21 programmes of the CAS will help decipher the unknown variables of our world: Identities in a World of Wars and Crises, Fungi – New Threats and Opportunities, and Space for Humankind, which builds on an eponymous completed project but asks new questions. How do the research programmes fulfil the motto of Strategy AV21, “Top research in the public interest”, and what will they specifically focus on?

17. 01. 2024

It may be Earth’s similarly sized neighbour, but not even the toughest organism on our planet could survive there. Venus is sometimes called Earth’s infernal twin. Its atmosphere is mostly made up of carbon dioxide and its average surface temperature is over 460 degrees Celsius. And yet, once upon a time, Venus apparently had oceans full of water. What happened? Why is present-day Venus a hellscape? Was there ever life on Venus, and can there still be? The ESA-led EnVision mission, scheduled to launch in 2031, may provide some clues. Researchers from the J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry of the CAS, the Institute of Geophysics of the CAS, and the Czech Geological Survey, as well as a number of Czech companies, are working on the preparation of the EnVision space probe.

10. 01. 2024

How did insects get their wings? A still unsolved mystery of evolution. Despite years of research, it is not entirely clear which body structure insect wings actually evolved from and what their original function was prior to being able to handle active flight. Scientists from the Biology Centre of the CAS offer a possible answer to this question, having found a clue in newly discovered prehistoric fossils of an ancient group of insects. The study is published in Communications Biology.

The Czech Academy of Sciences (the CAS)

The mission of the CAS

The primary mission of the CAS is to conduct research in a broad spectrum of natural, technical and social sciences as well as humanities. This research aims to advance progress of scientific knowledge at the international level, considering, however, the specific needs of the Czech society and the national culture.

President of the CAS

Prof. Eva Zažímalová has started her second term of office in May 2021. She is a respected scientist, and a Professor of Plant Anatomy and Physiology.

She is also a part of GCSA of the EU.