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A fifteen-member team of Czech scientists has recently returned from what was already their 10th expedition to the James Ross Island in the Antarctica. The scientists from Masaryk University in Brno have been involved in polar research since 1980’s and since 2006 they have their own base on the island. I talked to one of the polar team members, Professor Miloš Barták, about this year’s expedition but I first asked him how Czechs ended up on James Ross Island in the first place:

Stanice Pavlov, a recognised animal rescue station in the Czech-Moravian highlands, succeeded after several years of set-backs in successfully breeding a litter of European mink. The European mink, an endangered animal, has disappeared from most of continental Europe as its natural habitat – wetlands – became more and more rare. And that’s not the only detrimental factor.

March is national reading month in the Czech Republic, with special events taking place all around the country. There has always been a strong reading culture in the country, but with all the new technologies available do Czechs still have time to read? What kind of books do they prefer and how much time do they devote to reading?

In Czech Life, we talk to 25-year-old Lucie Ferstová, the only Czech applicant remaining in a field of one hundred (the list was originally 200,000 names) hoping to be picked for the Mars One project – a private effort to land humans on the Red Planet in a mere ten years’ time.

After centuries, wild horses may return to the Czech landscape. Fourteen Exmoor ponies from Great Britain were shipped to the Czech Republic last week to be released in a former military area in Milovice, in Central Bohemia. The project, initiated by the organisation Česká Krajina or Czech landscape, along with the Academy of Sciences, aims to gradually introduce the horses into the Czech landscape. I spoke to Miroslav Jirků of the Czech Academy of Sciences, and I first asked him what made the Exmoor pony the ideal horse for the project:

Public broadcaster Czech Radio has backed in initiative for a Vickers Wellington bomber undergoing restoration work in Great Britain to feature the markings of the Czechoslovak 311th squadron which flew with that type of RAF bomber in World War II. Czech Radio’s correspondent in London, Jiří Hošek, first learned of the reconstruction project last autumn, and came forward with the idea. What are the chances the plane could feature the colours of the 311th? And what is the aircraft’s place in Czechoslovak military history? Find out in today’s

One of Prague’s most recent new museums is dedicated to the art of cooking through the ages, with a particular look at the Czech contribution to cuisine. The museum features special themed tours and cooking workshops, which have been a big hit with visitors.

More than one third of Czechs still live in panelaks, the communist-era prefabricated houses, which were built across the country from the 1950s to the 1980s. Nowadays, many of them are in urgent need of repair. A conference called Housing Estate, What’s Next, was recently held at the Faculty of Architecture in Prague to address the future of these housing estates. Michal Kohout is one of the architects behind the project:

Michael Žantovský is the author of a newly published book on the former Czech president simply entitled [:i:]Havel[:/i:] available in both Czech and English. He is one of a few members of the former Civic Forum movement still active in public life, currently serving as the Czech Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Back in 1990, he became a press spokesperson for the new president Václav Havel. From 1992-97, he served as ambassador to the United States. He has also served as Czech Ambassador to Israel, been elected to the Czech Senate, and worked as

Hello and welcome to a special programme looking at the upcoming Signal Prague Light Festival, which is taking place from 16-19th October. It is the second year that the festival is reaching Prague, bringing light art works to various locations across the city.