Prof. Ewa Słaby, director of the PAS Institute of Geological Sciences, has been appointed the new President of the European Mineralogical Union (EMU). Professor Słaby is the first Polish scientist to hold this office. She has replaced Prof. Michael Carpenter from Cambridge University.
Polish researchers has discovered and described the remains of the world’s oldest mammaliaform from Greenland. During an expedition, organized by Dr. Tomasz Sulej from the PAS Institute of Paleobiology, a fragment of the lower jaw with two double-rooted teeth was found in rocks dating from 215 million years ago. This groundbreaking discovery, which sheds new light on the origin of the mammals, has been published in the latest issue of PNAS journal.
What is life like in remote polar research station? A foretaste of it one can get watching “A year in the Arctic” 3D mapping on the Wilanów Palace façade. The first illumination will take place on Saturday, October 17.
Researchers from thePAS Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry in Poznańhave developed a new rapidtest for SARS-CoV-2. It is the fourth generationof fast coronavirus test developed by PAS researchers. Thanks to the improvements, many laboratories will soon have the capacity to run much more tests per day than ever before. The test is already in production.
A team of scientists from the Institute of Chemical Engineering of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Gliwice has developed a new method of methane recovery from the coal mine ventilation air. The TFRR technology – Thermal Flow Reversal Reactor – does not cause the formation of toxic gases such as nitrogen oxides or carbon monoxide.
Prof. Janusz Kacprzyk from the Systems Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences has been elected a member of the European Academy of Sciences (EURASC). EURASC, based in Brussels, is one of the largest and most prestigious pan-European academies of sciences.
In the latest issue of Nature Geoscience, an international team of scientists shows that the current land management, promoting monocultures in forestry and agriculture, has a negative impact on water resources and hinders climate change adaptation. Their conclusions have been based on the analysis of ecohydrological processes. Prof. Maciej Zalewski, from the European Regional Center for Ecohydrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, co-authored the article.
The Polish Academy of Sciences and the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen (Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna) invite scientists of the humanities and social sciences to an online workshop, which will take place on December 4-5, 2020. The meetings are addressed to researchers, who intend to apply for Starting or Consolidator ERC grants in the years 2021-2023.
Today, the 2020 Nobel Prize in physics has been awarded to the British mathematical physicist Sir Roger Penrose and two astronomers: Prof. Reinhard Genzel from Germany and Prof. Andrei M. Ghez from the US. Penrose, together with the famous British cosmologist Stephen Hawking, who died in 2018, have proven the famous black hole theorem. Prof. Penrose has been a foreign member of the Polish Academy of Sciences since 1994.
Prof. Bartosz Grzybowski from the PAS Institute of Organic Chemistry and the UNIST University in South Korea together with his team have proven that one rotating reactor can replace complex laboratory devices. With the help of centrifugal force, liquids of different densities placed in the reactor are separated, due to changes in rotational speed, and undergo a series of chemical reactions. Photograph of this innovative solution have been published on the cover of the latest issue of Nature journal.
A report delivered by a team of scientists, working under the supervision of Prof. Jerzy Duszyński, president of the Academy, presents the current state of knowledge about SARS-CoV-2 virus, COVID-19 disease and its medical, psychological, economic and social impacts. In an accessible manner, this document provides forecasts of the COVID-19 epidemic for the upcoming winter season and recommendations for citizens and institutions.
Scientists from the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences have developed an algorithm showing how a network of simple chemical reactions could have contributed to the emergence of life on Earth billions of years ago. Their discovery – “chemical tree of the origins of life” – have been recently published in the prestigious Science journal.
The Polish Academy of Sciences announces the implementation of a new program addressed to young researchers from Belarus. Thanks to this decision, scientists interested in research on climate change, including research on Earth and environment, nature conservation, biodiversity, water management as well as social transformation, will have the opportunity to take up studies at PAS doctoral schools.
Is the higher frequency of tropical cyclones, droughts and flash floods the result of changes in the circulation of water in nature? In the latest issue of Academia magazine entitled „Water” Dr. Aleksandra Kardaś, atmospheric physicist and science popularizer, writes about how water and its various physical states affect the climate.
The PAS Institute of Experimental Biology together with the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education plans to test medical students for the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in early October. Scientists will use a novel method developed within the SONAR Anti-CoronaVirus project. Thanks to screening tests they will determine how widespread the virus is in a given population.
Glaciers covering approximately 60% of the Svalbard archipelago have been systematically melting since the 1980s. "If the current warming rate continues, it would be extremely difficult to avoid further mass loss of Svalbard glaciers in the future," commented the researchers in a paper recently published in Nature Communications. Among the authors of the article is Bartłomiej Luks, PhD from the PAS Institute of Geophysics.
COVID-19 vaccines must be safe, efficacious and accessible to everyone, urge members of the international organization InterAcademy Partnership (IAP). IAP, of which the Polish Academy of Sciences is a member, has published a position on the ongoing research for COVID-19 vaccine and vaccine distribution.
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