Popularization at the FoS CU

The human body has been fighting off unwanted invaders for as long as we have existed — be they bacteria, viruses, or even our own cancer cells. Every intruder, however, has had to find a way to evade the immune system. How? By mimicking the sugar structures that the body uses to protect its own cells. A team led by RNDr. Ondřej Vaněk, Ph.D. from the Faculty of Science, Charles University, has now described in detail how the Siglec-7 receptor is subject to these tricks and thus uncovered new ways to counter such tricks of cancer cells and pathogens alike.

A Czech scientist has contributed to understanding the function of the thymus – the training center of the immune system. T lymphocytes, key defensive cells, learn in the thymus not to mistake the body’s own tissues for foreign enemies. A new study by Matouš Vobořil, published in the prestigious Journal of Experimental Medicine, reveals that a broad spectrum of dendritic cells and macrophages also participate in this “education.” The discovery offers crucial insights that could help prevent autoimmune diseases and open new directions for modern immunotherapy.

A research team led by Assoc. Prof. Linda Nedbalová from the Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, has prepared the experiment CryoAlgae in Space, which will study the behavior of microalgae from extreme environments under microgravity conditions. The project has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) as part of the scientific program for the upcoming Czech mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

A new study published in Communications Earth & Environment highlights the underestimated risks posed by small lakes in mountain regions, exemplified by  a destructive flood event in Nepal’s Limi Valley.

The third article by Günther Kletetschka of the Institute of Hydrogeology, Engineering Geology and Applied Geophysics at the Faculty of Science, Charles University, and the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, has just been published. In this paper, the author further develops his concept of three-dimensional time –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ the idea that time has three independent axes, and space has only one dimension, in contrast to the traditional view of three spatial dimensions and one temporal dimension. According to this concept, time is primary, while three-dimensional space as we perceive it evolves as a secondary projection.

The last Friday in September traditionally belonged to science! This year’s Researchers’ Night, with the theme “Wealth”, attracted thousands of visitors across the Czech Republic – and the Faculty of Science at Charles University was no exception. At Albertov and Viničná, 1,545 visitors of all ages enjoyed experiments and the program. A big thank you to everyone who attended – science wouldn’t be what it is without you!

The President of the Czech Science Foundation (GACR), Professor Milan Jirsa, has awarded the five best scientific projects this evening at the Liechtenstein Palace of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. The award-winning basic research contributed to a significant deepening of knowledge in the given disciplines and paved the way for their further practical application. Among the five laureates was herpetologist Jiří Šmíd from the Department of Zoology. Congratulations!

Which type of coloration offers prey the best protection from predators? An international team of scientists, including zoologists from the Faculty of Science, Charles University, used 15,000 artificial moths deployed in forests across six continents to determine whether conspicuous warning coloration or subtle camouflage is more effective. The results showed that no single strategy guarantees success - outcomes depend on environmental conditions, community composition, and predator behaviour.

A team of researchers led by Professor Petr Volf from the Department of Parasitology at the Faculty of Science, Charles University, has uncovered new molecular mechanisms that play a crucial role in the spread of the Leishmania parasite – the causative agent of leishmaniasis. Leishmaniasis is a serious disease that affects hundreds of thousands of people each year. The discovery by Czech scientists thus represents an important step toward developing methods that could reduce the transmission of this disease and protect the health of millions worldwide.