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Fire has returned to Bohemian Switzerland National Park, just years after the devastating wildfire in 2022. Although last week’s flames have now been safely extinguished, they have reignited urgent calls for action to reduce the growing risk of wildfires in the coming years. Europe’s academic community has laid out key findings and demands for policymakers. The real question isn’t how quickly a blaze can be put out, but how we can prepare our landscapes so they don’t ignite so easily in the first place.

Cameras at the ready! Photogenic Science returns with its 13th edition of the popular photo contest for which CAS staff can capture remarkable moments from their research. In addition to the main category, entries can also be submitted to a secondary category – this year’s theme is Scientists in Action – until 15 June 2026.

The Strategy AV21 supports research that positively impacts people’s lives. To this end, it has connected institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences, universities, industrial partners, and the state and public sectors for over a decade. Its new research programs The Power of Objects: Materiality Between the Past and the Future, Global Biodiversity Crisis: Risks and Opportunities for Human Society, and Infectious Diseases: New Targets and Strategies were introduced at a meeting of coordinators on 9 April 2026.

The Czech Academy of Sciences aims to fulfill its mission of conducting top research and producing results that benefit society even more consistently, defining thirteen strategic priorities to support this effort. The Academy Assembly of the CAS adopted them at its 67th session on 14 April 2026, held at the National House Vinohrady in Prague, which traditionally hosted representatives of both science and politics. Among other topics, participants also addressed the funding of science and research.

The development of drugs for cancer treatment, research into thermonuclear fusion, and global issues in sociocultural anthropology represent vastly different fields. But they share one thing in common. All are being tackled by researchers from the Czech Academy of Sciences. On 1 April 2026, the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, took a closer look at their work, accepting an invitation to visit three CAS institutes. His first stop was the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the CAS, followed by the Institute of Ethnology of the CAS, and he concluded his tour at the Institute of Plasma Physics of the CAS.

What are the CAS institutes currently working on, and how are their employees faring? These are just some of the questions being explored firsthand by the CAS President, Radomír Pánek. At the end of January, he launched a series of visits during which he’s been meeting with CAS institute leadership as well as other colleagues, with whom he’s been discussing his vision of closer cooperation and strengthening the unity of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

The icy moon recently stunned the world by meeting key conditions for extraterrestrial life. A new international study, involving researchers from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the CAS, has brought further findings. It shows that this tiny celestial body also exerts an unexpectedly strong influence on the entire magnetic field of the giant planet Saturn.

Wastewater contains large amounts of antibiotics. Researchers from the J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry of the CAS have now come up with a new idea for removing them more effectively by harnessing the power of light – photocatalysis. They shared their findings in the A / Magazine, published by the Czech Academy of Sciences.

The Czech Academy of Sciences is the country’s leading research institution and a powerhouse of basic research. Increasingly, however, it is also working to translate research results into real-world practice. In recent years, a number of spin-off companies and start-ups have emerged from its institutes. Promising instances of knowledge and technology transfer were presented at the conference Top Research in Practice, held on 25 February 2026 at the CAS headquarters in Prague.

The CAS is establishing a joint-stock company designed to bring scientists and investors together and accelerate the path from lab to marketplace, making it easier to translate research results into real-world applications. Eight CAS institutes are among the first shareholders, with additional partners expected to join from across the Academy’s total of 54 institutes. The new subsidiary company plans to introduce transparent procedures for founding tech companies and to define clear rules for bringing external capital into CAS projects. The initiative was presented to the media on 25 February 2026 by CAS President Radomír Pánek and Vice President Ilona Müllerová.