Popular sciences

ACADEMIA. The magazine of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Description

The „Academia” magazine was founded on the initiative of Professor Andrzej B. Legocki, a President of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 2003 – 2006. In the beginning it was published only in English as a reply to the growing demand for a current information on the Polish Academy of Sciences` activities, expressed by foreign scientists and Poles living abroad and interested in Polish science.

Since 2005 the magazine is published both in Polish and English.

The „Academia” is an exceptional - on the Polish market - scientific magazine for the general public, propagating achievements of Polish scientists here and abroad. Authors of articles in „Academia” explain their subject in a way that is accessible not only for all sorts of academics but also for students, pupils and all other readers interested in scientific topics for the general public.

ISSN

1731-7401

Publishers

Polish Academy of Sciences

Editorial Staff

Jolanta Iwańczuk (Editor-in-Chief, Earth Sciences)

Daniel Sax (Editor, English-Language Version)

Marcin Pietras (Biological & Agricultural Sciences)

Justyna Orłowska (Journalist)

Andrzej Figatowski (Graphic Designer)

Anna Bielec (Project Coordinator)

Scientific Council

Marek Konarzewski, President of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Chairman)

Dariusz Jemielniak (Deputy Chairman)

Andrzej Buko

Katarzyna Czarnecka

Patrycja Dołowy

Paweł Golik

Janusz Jurczak

Tomasz Kapitaniak

Marek Krawczyk

Krzysztof Nowak

Anna Zawadzka

Publisher:

Polish Academy of Sciences

Communication and Science Information Department

Defilad sq. 1,

00-901 Warsaw, Poland

e-mail: academia@pan.pl

Volumes

Select number

Content

ACADEMIA. The magazine of the Polish Academy of Sciences | 2009 | Nr 1 (21) 2009 Opposites

1 Contents

ACADEMIA. The magazine of the Polish Academy of Sciences | 2009 | Nr 1 (21) 2009 Opposites

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2 Editorial

ACADEMIA. The magazine of the Polish Academy of Sciences | 2009 | Nr 1 (21) 2009 Opposites | 3

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3 Genius and Lunacy

Janusz Rybakowski

ACADEMIA. The magazine of the Polish Academy of Sciences | 2009 | Nr 1 (21) 2009 Opposites | 4-7

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Abstract

Mood disorders, psychotic symptoms, suicidal behavior, and tendencies to abuse alcohol and other psychoactive substances all occur particularly frequently among artists. History's greatest geniuses have shown predispositions for schizophrenia. Is there a link between creative activity and psychopathology?

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Authors and Affiliations

Janusz Rybakowski

4 Toxic Fats

Agnieszka Dobrzyń

ACADEMIA. The magazine of the Polish Academy of Sciences | 2009 | Nr 1 (21) 2009 Opposites | 8-11

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Abstract

The metabolic diseases that pose a major problem for obese individuals are actually not caused by overdeveloped fat tissue. In fact, the culprits turn out to be lipids stored in other tissues, ill adapted to accumulating fat.

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Authors and Affiliations

Agnieszka Dobrzyń

5 Dying Languages

Nicole Dołowy-Rybińska , Jadwiga Zieniuk

ACADEMIA. The magazine of the Polish Academy of Sciences | 2009 | Nr 1 (21) 2009 Opposites | 12-15

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Abstract

Despite active policies to protect minority languages and a resurgence of interest in them in many countries of Europe, the generation that spoke them as their mother tongue is now passing away - taking with them the tradition of their use in everyday life.

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Authors and Affiliations

Nicole Dołowy-Rybińska

Jadwiga Zieniuk

6 Coal Has a Future

Lidia Gawlik , Zbigniew Grudziński

ACADEMIA. The magazine of the Polish Academy of Sciences | 2009 | Nr 1 (21) 2009 Opposites | 16-19

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Abstract

As one Polish saying goes, "coal keeps Poland on its feet:' The country is indeed particularly rich in lignite deposits - a domestic fuel of relatively low production cost, ensuring relatively inexpensive power production. Should such an energy source be abandoned?

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Authors and Affiliations

Lidia Gawlik

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Zbigniew Grudziński

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7 The World in Equations

Ryszard Rudnicki , Radosław Wieczorek

ACADEMIA. The magazine of the Polish Academy of Sciences | 2009 | Nr 1 (21) 2009 Opposites | 20-23

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Abstract

Observing nature since time immemorial, mankind has always noticed the surprising regularities evidenced by many biological phenomena. Mathematical modeling is now helping explain them.

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Authors and Affiliations

Ryszard Rudnicki

Radosław Wieczorek

8 Two in One

Anita Kaliszewicz

ACADEMIA. The magazine of the Polish Academy of Sciences | 2009 | Nr 1 (21) 2009 Opposites | 24-27

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Abstract

Why is the sexual mode of reproduction so common in nature? What are the advantages of hermaphroditism? Studying water hydra, capable of both sexual and asexual reproduction, may help us better understand the evolution of different reproductive strategies.

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Authors and Affiliations

Anita Kaliszewicz

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9 A Vanishing Class

Maria Halamska

ACADEMIA. The magazine of the Polish Academy of Sciences | 2009 | Nr 1 (21) 2009 Opposites | 28-30

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Abstract

The economic transformation in Poland has led to the emergence of two extremely different types of farms: strong, entrepreneurial farms yielding 80% of all agricultural output in terms of value, and small farms supplying the just farmers' own needs, very numerous yet insignificant from the standpoint of the market economy.

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Authors and Affiliations

Maria Halamska

10 Polymers for Sustainability

Stanisław Słomkowski

ACADEMIA. The magazine of the Polish Academy of Sciences | 2009 | Nr 1 (21) 2009 Opposites | 31-33

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Abstract

Mankind must begin making efforts to curb the pace of coal and petroleum consumption, while at the same time accelerating processes that bring the circulation of carbon compounds "full circle".

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Authors and Affiliations

Stanisław Słomkowski

11 Pottery from Aegina

Bartłomiej Lis

ACADEMIA. The magazine of the Polish Academy of Sciences | 2009 | Nr 1 (21) 2009 Opposites | 34-35

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Abstract

Five years of excavation at Mitrou in central Greece have toppled the existing view that only luxury pottery was traded in ancient Greece, demonstrating instead that much "ordinary" or everyday-use pottery moved from place to place as well.

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Authors and Affiliations

Bartłomiej Lis

12 Good Ozone, Bad Ozone

Janusz Jarosławski

ACADEMIA. The magazine of the Polish Academy of Sciences | 2009 | Nr 1 (21) 2009 Opposites | 36-37

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Abstract

The trouble with ozone is that there is too little of it where it should be, yet too much where we do not want it.

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Authors and Affiliations

Janusz Jarosławski

13 Epsilon vs. Zeta

Urszula Zielenkiewicz , Michał Dmowski

ACADEMIA. The magazine of the Polish Academy of Sciences | 2009 | Nr 1 (21) 2009 Opposites | 38-39

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Abstract

Some plasmids present inside bacteria cells encode toxic proteins designed to kill off their host cells. Paradoxically, through a delicate toxin/ antitoxin balance, such mechanisms actually help plasmids to survive within bacteria populations.

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Authors and Affiliations

Urszula Zielenkiewicz

Michał Dmowski

14 The Myth of Ethnology

Tomasz Szerszeń

ACADEMIA. The magazine of the Polish Academy of Sciences | 2009 | Nr 1 (21) 2009 Opposites | 40-41

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Abstract

The fields of scientific research and art became particularly intertwined in the 1930s, when ethnologists and artists jointly succumbed to a fascination with the culture of Africa.

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