http://radio.cz/en Latest articles on 'Nature' - issues for nature lovers en Mon, 14 May 2012 15:45:17 +0200 Mon, 14 May 2012 15:45:17 +0200 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Radio Prague CMS 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Radio Broadcasting cr@radio.cz (Cesky Rozhlas) webmaster@radio.cz (CRo Webmaster) http://radio.cz/en/section/one-on-one/mycologist-jan-borovicka-on-mushrooms-and-where-to-find-them-1 With mushroom season in full swing, our guest in this edition of One on One is Jan Borovička, a leading member of the Czech Mycological Society, who combines a very Czech hobby of mushroom picking with his profession of geochemist at the Czech Academy of Sciences. How has the internet changed mushroom picking? Why are mushrooms safe to eat even after Chernobyl and Fukushima? And, most importantly, where are the best spots to find them? These are some of issues we discussed with Jan Borovička, who says this year’s mushroom-picking season did not start out that great. Mon, 14 May 2012 15:45:17 +0200 urn:uuid:bf98405c-651a-564a-a822-03eacf6c3679 http://radio.cz/en/section/panorama/ufos-over-czech-skies-do-battle-with-sceptics-1 Last weekend there were reports from around the country of strange lights in the sky, flying about, flaring up, flaring out, chasing each other. It’s true, unidentified flying objects do not just swerve by the Czech Republic on their way to the States, they are here too; and if you thought the Czechs too sceptical to notice, you were as wrong as I was. And last weekend wasn’t the first time. Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:49:22 +0200 urn:uuid:b9484879-f917-59d3-8acd-ca1e2c5bafee http://radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/radioactive-waste-depository-authority-launches-multi-million-crown-incentive-to-win-over-municipalities-for-possible-nuclear-waste-sites While the Czech Republic relies on nuclear power for some 30 percent of its total energy supply, the Radioactive Waste Depository Authority is facing difficulties in finding new locations for depositing nuclear waste. As an incentive for municipalities to agree to geological research on their territory, the state-run authority is now offering mayors millions of crowns. Sarah Borufka has the details. Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:17:53 +0100 urn:uuid:5bfe5ea9-bcdb-5a4c-b590-2570451f6ef8 http://radio.cz/en/section/science-journal/science-journal-2012-02-18 Presbytis hosei canicrus – let’s call him Miller's Grizzled Langur, is one of the rarest primates in the world, with hardly any pictures in existence and very few people having ever seen one. In fact it was believed that the long-tailed monkey was extinct, until scientists observing two natural springs in the Kutai National Park in Borneo came across one grizzled patron after another. Sat, 18 Feb 2012 02:01:00 +0100 urn:uuid:e53de0e1-2830-5aba-bfd3-88dbd19cec99 http://radio.cz/en/section/one-on-one/fish-warrior-jakub-vagner-on-big-fish-small-ponds-and-following-your-dreams It is rare to catch world-record holding extreme angler Jakub Vágner in the Czech Republic. After all, he spends most of his time on fishing expeditions to remote destinations like the Amazon, in search of what he calls freshwater giants. In his home country, the 30-year-old fisherman has become a star in his own right, and is currently on billboards all over the city as the face of a new advertising campaign for a well-known Czech bank. He also has his own TV show on National Geographic, Fish Warrior, and last year, he appeared on the famous American Tonight Show with Jay Leno. I spoke to Jakub Vágner about fish, the importance of going after your dreams and how he first discovered his love for angling. Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:10:12 +0100 urn:uuid:7f1af913-41b2-5542-812e-cf05ca062a25 http://radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/fat-from-christmas-table-clogs-up-sewage-systems-in-cities It is a well-known fact that the traditional Czech heavy Christmas menu is a burden on the digestive system. Fewer people know, though, that fat is not only bad for the gall-bladder and arteries but can also cause problems to the sewage system. Especially in densely populated areas the sewer pipes and sewage treatment plants experience something of a fat overdose at Christmas time. The problem is faced by all cities and some have already taken measures against it. Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:56:25 +0100 urn:uuid:69c0fb9c-d7cb-55de-adde-651f08e0911c http://radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/first-gorilla-born-and-raised-in-prague-zoo-relocated-to-spain Just two weeks after a newborn gorilla was transported from Prague to Stuttgart following repeated failed attempts to reunite it with its mother, Prague zoo has bid farewell to another gorilla, Moja, the first low-land gorilla born and raised in captivity in the Czech Republic. The animal has reached sexual maturity and her minders decided to move her away to prevent in-breeding in the pack. Her new home is the Cabárceno National Park in northern Spain where Moja was transported on Tuesday. Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:40:51 +0100 urn:uuid:8bffe6a6-7979-5c93-a31e-906dcd5a345a http://radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/the-secret-of-a-spiders-disguise Scientists at universities in the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany not long ago revealed fascinating new information concerning mimicry and a type of spider known as micaria sociabilis. Their research suggests that imperfect mimicry, widespread in the animal kingdom and used by this spider, is an advantage when it comes to survival because it offers the best of both worlds. In the spider’s case, it can hide in plain sight pretending to be an ant. But if discovered it can also escape, like a spider, at unexpected speeds. Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:43:01 +0200 urn:uuid:4a9e953e-b56d-516f-bf36-a4f550921299 http://radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/bison-return-to-czech-forests-after-200-year-absence Half a dozen European bison have been returned to the wild at the Ralsko nature reserve, a former Red Army military training ground about an hour’s drive from Prague. It’s the latest chapter in what is a remarkable reversal of fortunes for Europe’s largest mammal. Hunted virtually to the point of extinction, in recent years they’ve made something of a comeback. Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:37:12 +0200 urn:uuid:669a0fb4-d0f3-5e61-9f24-83df5dba8776 http://radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/future-of-massive-clean-up-tender-uncertain The future of the Czech Republic’s largest public tender is uncertain after the Finance Ministry revealed that three firms had bid between 57 and 65 billion crowns to remove environmental damage inherited from the communist regime. Prime Minster Petr Nečas, as well as several other cabinet ministers are increasingly receptive to arguments by the project’s critics who warned the tender might become the country’s “largest single corrupt deal”. Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:34:41 +0200 urn:uuid:cb2c7d00-03f4-5879-96f7-bc5ca2a2760b http://radio.cz/en/section/science-journal/science-journal-2011-08-20 We’ve heard the politicians and the eco-activists’ views on the Šumava – but what do the scientists say? And by the way, how do cells read DNA? That’s what we’ll be trying to get our heads around this month on Science Journal. Sat, 20 Aug 2011 02:01:00 +0200 urn:uuid:633362b4-0087-5ff2-9a41-df27fee64b41 http://radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/politicians-wade-into-bark-beetle-fray A continuing standoff between ecological activists and loggers in the Šumava National Park is continuing to heat up. For more than a fortnight now activists have been chaining themselves to trees slated for felling – stressing that logging commissioned by the park in protected areas is illegal. Under existing regulations, they have argued, trees in the nature reserve must be allowed to decay naturally. The park management has countered by saying that only felling will prevent further locations from being devastated by the bark-beetle. The dispute has now divided senior politicians, some of whom are calling for immediate talks to try and resolve the dispute. Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:20:36 +0200 urn:uuid:81a5a3f3-dc25-52b1-bbe3-42da944d6d57 http://radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/environmental-activists-losing-ground-at-sumava-national-park The number of environmental activists holding a blockade in the Modrava region of Šumava National Park to prevent felling of bark-beetle infested trees swelled on Tuesday morning in reaction to Monday’s forced evacuation by police. However logging continues and the protesters have been losing ground, both literally and legally as a regional court and the Czech Environment Inspection Office found nothing amiss with the management’s policy. Tue, 26 Jul 2011 14:56:57 +0200 urn:uuid:78a07dad-553f-5ab0-adaf-acdf34497b4e http://radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/sumava-activists-stay-put-as-park-warns-of-fines-and-damages Environmental activists are into their fifth day blocking loggers’ access to planned cutting in the Šumava National Park. While there has been no altercation as yet between the environmentalists from Hnutí Duha and the park management, the latter is firm on cutting right now to stem the local bark beetle infestation. The director of the park says that for every tree it cuts it may be saving eight others, and that another 30,000 trees are otherwise in danger. As far as the environmentalists are concerned though, the management has no permit to cut in the primary protected zone, where they have positioned themselves, and are in direct breach of the law. As police and the environmental inspection investigate who is in the right, the number of protesters in the forest is swelling, as I was told by Mojmír Vlašín of Hnutí Duha, one of the half-dozen activists who started the protest last Friday. Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:28:20 +0200 urn:uuid:02bf3dab-09cd-5825-b3bc-bcf6177e3502 http://radio.cz/en/section/one-on-one/mycologist-jan-borovicka-on-mushrooms-and-where-to-find-them With mushroom season in full swing, our guest in this edition of One on One is Jan Borovička, a leading member of the Czech Mycological Society, who combines a very Czech hobby of mushroom picking with his profession of geochemist at the Czech Academy of Sciences. How has the internet changed mushroom picking? Why are mushrooms safe to eat even after Chernobyl and Fukushima? And, most importantly, where are the best spots to find them? These are some of issues we discussed with Jan Borovička, who says this year’s mushroom-picking season did not start out that great. Mon, 27 Jun 2011 14:38:44 +0200 urn:uuid:e5b02009-7434-5dc8-b649-9a4ac2f7e30e http://radio.cz/en/section/panorama/bringing-the-mongolian-wild-horse-back-from-extinction Prague Zoo this week announced an important step in its effort to help reintroduce the critically endangered Mongolian wild horse to its natural habitat. Four specimens – one stallion and three mares – born and bred in the Czech Republic are to be transported to the Mongolian steppes to enrich the gene pool of a small protected herd that is to help the endangered breed survive. I met up with the zoo’s spokeswoman Jana Ptacinska Jiratova to find out more about the project and how Prague Zoo came to be involved in it. Thu, 02 Jun 2011 17:10:57 +0200 urn:uuid:4e04aef6-fc20-58ab-822e-ed0798118d5c http://radio.cz/en/section/spotlight/the-university-botanical-gardens-a-lush-oasis-in-the-centre-of-prague In a lovely corner of Prague just south of the busy square Karlovo Náměstí is one of the city centre’s special secrets. The Charles University Botanical Gardens are not the biggest in the city but they have the distinction of a perfect location: crammed into a normal city block between the old town and the hill of Vyšehrad are the enormous greenhouses that with the surrounding eight acres host some 5,000 types of plants from all over the world and provide a peaceful oasis for Prague denizens. Wed, 01 Jun 2011 16:43:33 +0200 urn:uuid:07223a47-4d7e-5f8a-8483-32301d10d88d http://radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/environment-minister-scales-back-controversial-plans-in-battle-against-bark-beetle The Environment Minister Tomáš Chalupa has changed plans by the head of Šumava National Park on how to battle the bark beetle, issuing a decision on Thursday that will still allow the manual felling of trees in the park’s most environmentally-sensitive and protected areas but will ban the use of heavy machinery or chemicals. Proposed intervention to fight devastation by the bark beetle in the national park had been at the forefront of a highly public battle between the park’s director, Jan Stráský, and former colleagues, scientists and specialists who formed a shadow council to express opposing views. Thu, 21 Apr 2011 16:52:47 +0200 urn:uuid:a44dab2f-08c1-5776-88ad-e6a66257ab23 http://radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/environmentalists-up-in-arms-over-plans-for-sumava-national-park The Šumava National Park – a protected nature reserve in southern Bohemia –is at the centre of a row between scientists, environmental activists and the park’s new management. The park’s new director, former prime minister Jan Stráský, is proposing a radical remedy for the parks bark-beetle infestation problem –a combination of logging and effective insecticides. Critics are up in arms saying the proposed strategy would do irreversible harm to the valuable ecosystems and biotopes in the nature reserve and lower the non-intervention areas in the park from the present 33 to 22 percent, which goes against the general principles of nature reserve protection. Environment activist Vojtěch Kotecký says the new management is about to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:09:24 +0200 urn:uuid:7b5ec2ee-c046-543c-b956-ee48f2618dfa http://radio.cz/en/section/panorama/meet-eberhardt-von-leipziger-hauptbahnhof-prague-zoo-presents-its-celebrities Prague’s Troya zoo is rated as one of the best zoological gardens in Europe with huge open spaces for animals and exciting trails for visitors. The zoo celebrated its 80th birthday last weekend – opening its doors to thousands of visitors and launching a campaign that filled the streets of the Czech capital with exotic animals. Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0200 urn:uuid:b3eeb479-dc0c-503e-9e9a-64a30f65f278