We were just lucky we weren't the first hit
The US-based immunologist Václav Větvička says there couldn’t have been more than five people on the plane when he recently traveled back to the Czech Republic. Because of Covid−19. As a scientist, Větvička has been outspoken about what we can – and should – be doing to stay safe. And really do we have any other choice before we get the vaccine?
What tattoos tell us about life behind bars
Cultural anthropologist Alena Lochmannová is a CU graduate and the author of Body behind Bars, a remarkable ethnological monograph examining tattoos and body modification in Czech prisons.
Hilský - Shakespeare's England: Portrait of an Age
Martin Hilský is one of the country’s most prominent translators of Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets into Czech. In 2011, his translations were published in a single volume The Complete Works (Dílo). Now, Academia has followed up with Shakespeare’s England: Portrait of an Age.
Scientist Jaroslav Flegr on the resurgence of Covid-19
Well-known evolutionary biologist and parasitologist Jaroslav Flegr, who teaches at CU’s Faculty of Science, anticipated in August that things weren’t going to go the way we hoped regarding the coronavirus. As of last week, cases jumped to record levels in the Czech Republic.
John M. Coggeshall – An American anthropologist in Prague
John M. Coggeshall is a professor of anthropology at Clemson University in South Carolina. As a cultural anthropologist, Coggeshall has spent his career researching American regional ethnic and social groups.
“What better time to spread our wings?”
Dean Jiří Zima’s studies and career at CU’s Faculty of Science spans some 40 years, going from student to scientific researcher to assistant and professor. As dean, he has overseen numerous successes at what is one of the university’s biggest and most popular faculties. This week, the faculty will celebrate 100 years since it was founded on 24 June 1920.
Home office with children: not easy and not a “vacation”
Within the few square metres, the members of this species now work, teach, learn, play, as well as yell, cry, and run the household, often at the same time or in quick succession.
How programmers in 1980s Czechoslovakia used games to mock the regime
PCs were almost impossible to get in 1980s Czechoslovakia but microcomputers proved a different matter. As so-called micros were slowly smuggled into the country and hobby programming quickly caught on, enthusiasts soon coded all manner of computer games. Under the radar of the authorities, some subtly - and others rather daringly – mocked the socialist regime.
Donate or borrow at the Library of Things
If you’re planning your first camping weekend in years but your tent isn’t as waterproof as it once was or - by contrast – you have a food processor doing virtually no slicing and dicing but just gathering dust at home, try saving both time and money by visiting Kampus Hybernská. Donate what you no longer need and borrow an item you do, at the Kampus’ very own Library of Things.
Charles University, together with the Ministry of Culture Czech Republic, the Czech Philharmonic and Prague City Hall, are officially supporting a donation drive organised by the National Technical Museum to help raise funds for the rebuilding of Paris’ Notre-Dame Cathedral.
Better conditions for medical specialists would help
“Better pay and promising careers leading to brain drain in health sector” or similar headlines have long been a staple in the Czech media and statistics indeed point to some 10 percent of graduates from medical faculties heading abroad upon completing their studies. In 2018, the Czech Medical Chamber registered the departure of 193 recent graduates.
More and more cities around the world are introducing a job at city hall known as the Night Mayor – an official tasked with cultivating nightlife while lessening negatives such as noise, vandalism, or generally rowdy behaviour disturbing residents’ lives and sleep.
Street Law's Michal Urban on the importance of legal literacy
Street Law is a program first introduced by Georgetown University in the United States in the early 1970s to boost professional development of its law students while passing on practical knowledge in high schools. Inspired by the project, The Faculty of Law’s Michal Urban founded a Street Law chapter at Charles University in 2009.
150th anniversary of Mendeleev’s Periodic Table
“You hear lots of good ideas over a lifetime but when an idea becomes reality, that’s truly exceptional,” is how Jiří Zima, dean of Charles University’s Faculty of Science, sums up the installation of an exceptional interactive Periodic Table at the Chemistry Institute found in Albertov in Prague.
If you are one of the two thousand or so people who attended the První republika festival organised by Charles University (and the First Faculty of Medicine) last weekend, you probably caught sight of a poster of T.G. Masaryk, as drawn by Jaz. He is the anonymous author of Opráski sčeskí historje – an irreverent comic strip that has achieved cult status through an unusual take on Czech history and the Czech language.
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FORUM EN9 2/2020
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Forum 52 4/2020
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