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One of the many things that took the Czech Republic after the fall of communism was the arrival of plastic bottles. Although there had already been a very efficient system of recycling glass bottles, plastic bottles swamped the country in no time. It took around a decade for recycling bins to appear in the streets. But often those who go to the trouble of finding the right bin, find it overflowing. Now two inventors from the city of Ostrava have decided to solve the perennial problem once and for all.

Last Friday's successful touchdown of the Huygens probe on Saturn's moon Titan made world headlines. The European-built probe was to explore conditions on Titan which are believed to be similar to those on the Earth some 4.5 billion years ago. The Huygens mission is seen as a landmark for the European Space Agency but it is also a personal triumph for many of the scientists who have spent years and sometimes decades working on the US-European Cassini-Huygens mission. Among them is the Czech astronomer Jiri Svestka who co-designed one of the measuring

In one previous edition of Czech Science we reported on a talking computer image developed by the SpeechLab at the Technical University in Liberec. As promised, we now bring you more news from the SpeechLab. The team recently developed a computer programme that can automatically transcribe news programmes on TV or radio.

"Gin", meaning "Genie" in Czech, is the name of a Czech-made multipurpose pocket-size electronic organiser specially designed to serve people with visual impairment. Its memory is large enough to contain a whole bookcase, it knows when to wake its master up and remind him of important things on his schedule.

Science can make our lives easier, it can even save our lives but it can also make us look better. Yes, there are years and years of serious research even behind cosmetic surgery and new methods are emerging by the day. Do you want to get rid of wrinkles? Forget about silicon and collagen, scientists say now. Your own cells can do the trick! In today's Czech Science we get a glimpse of a fascinating field called cell therapy and tissue engineering that has many applications and a great potential in all areas of medicine.

For the eighth year running, the Eurobot contest has been trying to combine science with fun. Small robots designed by national teams compete in performing certain given tasks, for example playing beach rugby. Czech teams have been taking part in this international amateur robotics contest since 2001 and this year the Czechs took two prizes. At the moment, the robots are busy training again for next year's national qualification and the May international final in Switzerland. Pavla Horakova went to the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics to talk

Computer generated human-like images that can talk are nothing extraordinary these days, but you would struggle to find one that can pronounce Czech words. Czech scientists have recently developed a synthetic human face that can pull off all the tongue-twisters of the Czech language and move his face accordingly. In today's Czech Science we meet "Chatter", as the image has been christened, and find out about the uses of such a device.

With Christmas just around the corner, it may be good that the carp Czechs are so fond of usually don't come from rivers. Scientists and environmentalists have been examining whether pollutants in the country's rivers are affecting the fish that make their way onto Czech tables. Although the findings in two recent studies are not alarming, they may give fish-eaters food for thought.

The "Czech Brain" prizes have been awarded in Prague to outstanding Czech scientists and researchers. The awards were founded three years ago with the goal of drawing the public's attention to research and development and to try and raise the prestige of scientific work in society.

For thousands of years, humans and animals have been communicating in various ways but it wasn't until much more recently that interspecies communication became a focus of scientific research. The team at the Laboratory of Interspecies Communication in Prague are trying to prove that parrots don't always talk parrot fashion.