Archive: Science and technology | Science Science
Research institute developing "menopause" beer
Czechs drink an average 161 litres of beer annually, about thirty percent
more than their German neighbours. But surveys suggest that the number of
women partaking of "liquid bread" is slowly decreasing. That's
because they aren't aware that beer is actually good for them, says the
Czech Research Institute for Brewing and Malting.
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"Science in the Streets" - persuading young people to study science
The streets and squares of Prague were turned into temporary laboratories
and research centres this weekend for a project called "Science in
the Streets." Organised for the second year running by the Czech
scientific body Ceska Hlava, or Czech Brain, it's an attempt to attract
more young people to scientific careers.
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Hunting dinosaurs in Mongolia
In less than a month's time, a team of Czech scientists will leave for the
Mongolian desert of Gobi to spend a month at a rich fossil location
looking for the remains of dinosaurs. The team of Expedition Gobi 2006 are
now making the final preparations and also bracing themselves for the rough
weather conditions of the Mongolian desert. By the end of the project in
2009, they are hoping to excavate and bring back to the Czech Republic a
complete dinosaur skeleton to be displayed in Prague.
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Czech scientists a step closer to success in the fight against Type 1 diabetes
The Czech Republic has an impressive record in innovative medical research.
For the last six years, laboratories around the world have successfully
been offering a new form of treatment of diabetes that could lead to a
life without the daily injections of insulin. In the experimental
procedure called islet transplantation, healthy islets from the pancreas
of deceased donors are transferred into diabetic patients. But it was not
until a Czech team of scientists recently proposed to put small particles
of iron into the islets that these could be monitored.
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New Antarctic station puts Czech polar research on the map
In February 2004, a group of Czech scientists set out for the freezing
temperatures of James Ross Island in Antarctica with a view to
establishing the first Czech Antarctic research centre there. 2 years on,
and the unprecedented project has finally been completed, giving Czech
scientists a chance to study the Antarctic climate and its effects on
global weather systems from their own state of the art polar station. More
Doctors in eastern Bohemia invent vaccine against middle ear infection
Otitis media, or middle ear infection, is an inflammation of the ear
chambers that is very common among infants. It often follows a cold and is
treated with antibiotics. But doctors at the University of Defence in
Hradec Kralove, eastern Bohemia, have now developed a vaccine that helps
to significantly reduce the disease. Dr. Roman Prymula heads the
epidemiology department at the military faculty and told Dita Asiedu more
about the invention:
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Professor Vaclav Paces on Czech achievements in genomics research
Genomics, or the study of the genomes of organisms and the use of the
genes, has among other things the potential of offering new therapeutic
methods for the treatment of some diseases, as well as new diagnostic
methods. On the achievements of Czech scientists in this field, Radio
Prague talks to the President of the Czech Academy of Sciences, former
director of the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of
Sciences and genomics expert, Professor Vaclav Paces.
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Scientists uncover secrets of red wine
Have you ever wondered where the ruby colour of red wine comes from? And
did you know that some wine producers enhance the colour of wine even
though they shouldn't? These questions arose during research conducted by
scientists from the eastern town of Olomouc, which focuses on natural dyes
called anthocyanins.
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Ivan Havel - science, hippies and growing up with Vaclav
This week Rob Cameron's guest is Ivan Havel, younger brother of the Czech
Republic's former president Vaclav. While no means as famous as his older
sibling, Ivan Havel is an important figure in the Czech academic
community, as well as the editor-in-chief of the prestigious science
magazine Vesmir. During communism Ivan invited dissidents and academics to
his apartment overlooking the River Vltava, meetings at which Vaclav Havel
was often present. But Ivan shied away from politics after 1989, choosing
instead to stay in the world of science and academia.
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The tree of knowledge: a tribute to Otto Wichterle /1913 -1998/
Millions of people around the world could not imagine their life without
modern contact lenses. But few of them know that the man who invented them
was professor Otto Wichterle, an outstanding Czech chemist who had many
notable achievements to his name, and died in 1998. This week academics
and scientists from around the Czech Republic gathered outside the Prague
Institute of Macro-Molecular Chemistry for the unveiling of a monument to
one of the great minds of the last century.
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