Turtles originated more than 200 million years ago but three-quarters of turtle species today are endangered. Jindřich Brejcha, a zoologist at the Faculty of Science, told us more about the fascinating reptile and efforts to help.  May 23 was World Turtle Day.

As a scientist Lukáš Petera is interested in whether the bombardment by asteroids and comets in the early days of the solar system led to the start of life on Earth. For his thesis on the subject he received the prestigious Werner von Siemens Award in March.

A new book provides a fascinating look at how restoration teams revived a unique rotunda from the 11th century (dedicated to St. Wenceslas). The book was edited by Jarmila Čiháková and Martin Müller and published by the National Heritage Institute.

Sunday, 28 March, was Teachers’ Day in the Czech Republic, held on the anniversary of the birth of the renowned Czech educational reformer and theologian Jan Amos Komenský (Comenius) in 1592. Do today's teachers still rely on principles laid down by the great educationalist? And how have they fared during the pandemic?

Speakers at a one-day conference at Charles University focusing on the pandemic more than a year on agreed: an outbreak  such as the one we have seen was a ticking time bomb. Despite how prepared we might be in terms of knowledge, virologist Ladislav Machala said globalisation had shown we have never been “more vulnerable.“

Even as a little girl she dreamed of being a doctor one day and later admired the organisation Doctors without Borders. Now, med student Markéta Malecová is a few months away from completing her studies and becoming a doctor herself. She has already made an impact, helping children at a very special hospital in Uganda.

It was apparent that the complete but darkened skeleton of a small whale at the Museum of Human and Comparative Anatomy would eventually fall apart. But restorers achieved something remarkable: returning the skeleton – one of only two in the Czech Republic – to its former glory, while also preserving soft tissue. The team was headed by anthropologist and anatomist Andrej Shbat.

TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite has been searching the sky for exoplanets outside our solar system since 2018. Charles University’s Petr Zasche was part of the international team that made a new sensational find: an eclipsing six-star system.

He has degrees from three universities, worked for a couple of years for the Office of the Government and lectures at CU’s Faculty of Law. His next ambition, though, is decidedly non-academic: he wants to fight in mixed martial arts (MMA). Meet Petr Agha.

This week Charles University hosted a webinar as part of its continuing public debate series Česko a jak dál. The topic was disinformation and fake news in connection with Covid-19. Disinformation has been part of the mix from the very beginning of the pandemic.

Even in the midst of the continuing pandemic Charles University has honoured Jan Palach, the student who in an act of protest in January 1969 doused himself in petrol and set himself alight. The drastic act, sacrificing his life, was aimed at shaking his fellow citizens out of lethargy to protest the Soviet-led invasion.

Even though vaccination for Covid-19 has begun in the Czech Republic, there are still many people who remain sceptical and have expressed fear or doubts. Anyone among the broader public wanting to view a serious debate on the matter should look up a discussion that was live this week organised by the Neuron Endowment Fund.

It has been more than three years since scientists used the LIGO system or Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory for the first time in history directly observe gravitational waves. The stunning discovery confirmed predictions Albert Einstein made with his theory of general relativity almost a hundred years earlier.

We are here outside the famous Carolinum – the heart and soul of Charles University in Prague. This year the university has been marking 100 years since the founding of Czechoslovakia and recently opened an exhibition entitled “Czechoslovakia in 100 objects”.

Prague’s Charles University is proud to have hosted its first Cleveringa lecture at the Patriotic Hall this week, commemorating a famous courageous protest speech by Professor Rudolph Pabus Cleveringa on November 26, 1940 at Leiden University against the dismissal of Jewish colleagues. The speech led to a student strike and closure of the university by the Nazis.