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They have been found in the snow on the peak of Mount Everest and in the depths of the Mariana Trench. We drink them in our water, and they rain down on us. And because they essentially don’t decompose, they accumulate in the environment. In other words: every milligram of “forever chemicals” ever created on Earth is still circulating somewhere in the ecosystem, with more added every single day. While the chemicals known as PFAS are human-made, many animals also produce remarkable cocktails of toxic substances. Common bees are a case in point. What happens when one stings us, and what toxins unleash a cascade of pain, burning, and itching?
Poisons take center stage in the latest issue of A / Magazine.   

How do social divisions shape political parties and political systems in the post-Ottoman space? How different are the social and political cleavages in the Middle East and North Africa region from those in Europe, and how were they influenced by history? The international, interdisciplinary CLOSER project aims to take a deeper look at a region that is often not fully understood by European elites and the public alike. Supported by a European Research Council Synergy Grant, the project started in June 2026 and will run until 2032. On Friday, 16 October 2026, the Czech Academy of Sciences hosted the kick-off meeting for the project’s principal investigators, leadership from participating institutions, researchers, and students.

Czech, German, Austrian or Italian? Preacher, philosopher, or mathematician? Prague's Bernard Bolzano, born exactly 245 years ago, was all these things. Now, all his works are to become available online, thanks to Mexican researcher Elías Fuentes Guillén, who has been based at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences since 2018, making the immensely rich legacy of this versatile National Revival intellectual accessible to the public. In the latest issue of A / Magazín, he explains why Bolzano became a crucial figure for subsequent generations of researchers and why he was a thorn in the side of some of his contemporaries.

Two thirds of Czech hospitals are already using artificial intelligence tools – most frequently for diagnostics and evaluating imaging methods. The role of AI has grown exponentially in recent years, and understandably so. The ability to "delegate" routine tasks to computers saves doctors time, accelerates care, and can even help make decision-making more precise. However, it also brings pitfalls. Leading European experts from EASAC and FEAM are drawing attention to these risks and issuing key recommendations to policymakers.  

The Academy Council of the Czech Academy of Sciences strongly condemns yesterday’s barbaric attack by the Russian Federation on the building of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv and joins the statement issued by All European Academies. The Council expresses its solidarity with colleagues in Ukraine and the families of the victims. 

Three of the six ERC Starting Grants awarded to the Czech Republic this year went to researchers at the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS). Two of them prepared their applications with support from the ERC Incubator (ERC-in), which the institution launched in January. How many applicants are currently “warming up” in the incubator to be better prepared for the competition for further European Research Council grants?

Cellular memory, modern OLED displays, and Chinese medicine – these are the topics studied by the researchers from the Czech Academy of Sciences who have received this year's ERC Starting Grants. The successful projects are led by Hana Polášek-Sedláčková from the Institute of Biophysics of the CAS, Ondřej Mrózek from the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry of the CAS, and Hedwig Waters from the Institute of Ethnology of the CAS. Each of them will receive 1.5 million EUR (approximately 36 million CZK) for their research over a period of five years.

Sometimes it is enough just to listen to someone and offer advice. At other times, however, she must investigate the case and propose measures. Dana Plavcová has been the Ombudswoman of the Czech Academy of Sciences for almost a year and in that time, she has received 31 complaints. What has she managed to change? Why is she expecting the number of cases to potentially rise further? And what can each of us do to foster a more respectful environment?  

The Otto Wichterle Award, bestowed since 2002, comes with a stipend of CZK 330,000 spread over three years. The accolade, recognizing outstanding researchers under the age of 35, has already been granted to 565 laureates. On 24 June 2026, another twenty-three joined their ranks. This year’s recipients include experts in exoplanets, photovoltaic materials, concrete, and plasma, as well as diabetes, drought, social psychology, and literature in exile.

Over the past few decades, the golden jackal has been pushing into parts of Europe where it had never been recorded before. An international study, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, outlines the reasons why. According to our researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the CAS, who contributed to the study, the expansion is driven by a combination of climate change, landscape modification, and the long-term decline of large predators, especially wolves.