Forest trees emit scents when attacked by caterpillars and other herbivores. They use these to attract predatory insects and even birds, thus getting rid of their pests. This had only been demonstrated in laboratory or garden experiments so far. A team of researchers led by Martin Volf from the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, could now demonstrate this phenomenon for the first time in a natural habitat – in the 40-metre-high canopy of the Leipzig floodplain forest.
The international team, which also includes Czech researchers from České Budějovice and Třeboň, received the Newcomb Cleveland Prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for the best research article or report published in the scientific journal Science in 2021.
Have you ever been interested in what fish do at night, where they hide in winter, or where that bird that frequently visits your bird feeder flies? The current revolution in animal movement tracking technologies may soon provide you with answers to such questions. A review of the ongoing advances in understanding animal movement was recently published in the journal Science. with input from scientists from the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
Scientists from the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences in collaboration with their Korean colleagues successfully demonstrated an experiment to create and destroy solitons with non-integer charge. They achieved this by using electrical pulses from the tip of a scanning microscope. The new procedure is an important step in the development of quantum computers based on solitons. The result was published in the Nature Nanotechnology journal.
A major new study of ancient DNA has traced the movement of people into southern Britain during the Bronze Age. In the largest such analysis published to date, scientists examined the DNA of nearly 800 ancient individuals. Czech expert contributed with both samples and expertise.
Researchers from the Czech Academy of Sciences have patented an invention that might fix the problem with batteries catching on fire. The experimental high-voltage aqueous battery, built as a joint effort of the Institute of Physics and the J. Heyrovsky Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS), is based on dual-ion electrochemical reactions. The new battery provides a life-cycle of 500 discharge/charge cycles, and its capacity is comparable to that of the commercially available nickel-metal hydride batteries. But unlike them, the aqueous battery is made of extremely cheap materials.
Graphene has very unique properties and could improve many components and devices. A detailed understanding of the physicochemical properties of this 2D material - including the role of structural defects - is essential for its successful use in practice. Scientists at the J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences have found that by combining two different measurement methods, they can determine the role graphene defects play in transitions between electronic states and electrochemical reactions.
A team led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the Czech Academy of Sciences has uncovered a new piece of the puzzle of how gene expression is orchestrated. Published in the journal Science, the findings reveal a novel mechanism that coordinates the assembly of components inside cells that control gene expression. The mechanism not only is essential for normal cell function, but also has been implicated in cancer, neurodegeneration and HIV infection, and could suggest new ways to treat these conditions.
Until now, observing subatomic structures was beyond the resolution capabilities of direct imaging methods, and this seemed unlikely to change.
Researchers from the Nano-optics research team have developed a new technology that allows composing a three-dimensional image from a constantly moving sample using an optical microscope. The prestigious journal Nature Communications reported about the new patented method today.
An international research team headed by Michal Hocek of the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IOCB Prague) and Charles University and Ciara K. O’Sullivan of Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) in Spain have developed a novel method for labelling DNA, which in the future can be used for sequencing DNA by means of electrochemical detection. The researchers presented their results in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Using methods from conservation science, a new analysis suggests that the first case of COVID-19 arose between early October and mid-November, 2019 in China, with the most likely date of origin being November 17.
Oxygen levels in the world’s temperate freshwater lakes are declining rapidly —faster than in the oceans— a trend that is driven largely by climate change, which threatens freshwater biodiversity and drinking water quality.
A scientific study published in Scientific Reports suggests that new health challenges may be emerging as a result of conservationists’ success in pulling mountain gorillas back from the brink of extinction.
Horses were first domesticated in the Pontic-Caspian steppes, northern Caucasus, before conquering the rest of Eurasia within a few centuries. These are the results of a study led by paleogeneticist Ludovic Orlando, CNRS, who headed an international team including a scientist from the Institute of Archaeology of the CAS. Answering a decades-old enigma, the study is published in Nature on 20 October 2021.
A study reporting on the inclusion and participation of women in over 120 science organizations that are coordinated at a global level finds that women are still under-represented. It calls for a coalition for gender equality in global science to ensure a transformative action agenda.
A novel antibacterial material combining nonwoven nanotextile and unique compounds with antibacterial properties was developed. Called NANO-LPPO, the new material can fulfil a wide range of applications. For example, as a dressing for wounds, such as burn injuries, by preventing infection and thus facilitating treatment and healing.
The new record in multibeam laser nanostructuring, with respect to the number of laser beams simultaneously modifying the material surface, was reached due to the active scientific cooperation of HiLASE Centre of the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences with the Israeli company HOLO/OR Ltd.
Discoveries at a major new fossil site in Morocco suggest giant arthropods – relatives of modern-day creatures including shrimps, insects, and spiders – dominated oceans 470 million years ago. Early evidence from the site at Taichoute, once undersea but now a desert, records numerous large “free-swimming” arthropods. More research is needed to analyse these fragments, but based on previously described specimens, the giant arthropods could be up to two metres long. The new study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.
A female scientist from the Astronomical Institute of the CAS was part of the team that for the first time achieved a long-term observation of an extremely rare event: a stellar tidal rip. Astronomer Christina Thönea was involved through her observing programmes on telescopes located at the Calar Alto Observatory and in the Canary Islands. The Nature journal has now published a paper on the research, called “A very luminous jet from disruption of a star by a massive black hole”.