Czech Science | All stories

In last week's Czech Science we reported on 2005 being the International Year of Physics. It is sometimes also referred to as "Einstein Year" because 2005 marks the centenary of the extraordinary year when Albert Einstein published three of his seminal works. Before moving to the United States in 1932, the great scholar had lived and taught in many European cities, from Bern to Berlin. But it was Prague where Albert Einstein, according to his own writings, found the necessary composure to give the basic idea of the general theory of relativity

The year 2005 has been declared the International Year of Physics by the United Nations General Assembly, to mark the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein's "Miraculous Year" - in which he published his famous three papers: on Brownian motion, the photoelectric effect and special relativity. Around the world, including the Czech Republic, events are being held to raise public awareness of the importance of this branch of science.

Dear listeners, or shall I say karaj auskultantoj... In case you haven't recognised the language - it was Esperanto - the most widely spoken artificial language in the world. The number of active users of Esperanto is anything between 100,000 and 2 million - and there are quite of few of them in the Czech Republic. Esperantists here have a great chance to further their knowledge of the language and its history at a unique Esperanto library in East Bohemia.

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.