Science in Poland

16/08/2026

A protein normally involved in the production of s***m and eggs can be hijacked by breast cancer cells to repair DNA damaged by chemotherapy, helping tumours survive treatment, an international team including Polish scientists has found.

The discovery suggests that blocking the protein, known as SYCP1, could make cancer cells more sensitive to treatment and potentially provide a new target for future therapies.

The study, involving researchers from the Institute of Medical Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Łódź and collaborators in France, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom, was published in Science Advances.

A protein normally involved in the production of s***m and eggs can be hijacked by breast cancer cells to repair DNA damaged by chemotherapy, helping tumours survive treatment, an international team including Polish scientists has found.

15/08/2026

Scientists have measured temperatures as low as 4.9 kelvins — about 268 degrees Celsius below zero — by tracking the motion of hydrogen molecules with light instead of using a conventional thermometer.

Physicists at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń used the technique to measure hydrogen between 4.9 and 7.8 kelvins.

Wydział Fizyki, Astronomii i Informatyki Stosowanej UMK
Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu

Scientists have measured temperatures as low as 4.9 kelvins — about 268 degrees Celsius below zero — by tracking the motion of hydrogen molecules with light instead of using a conventional thermometer.

14/08/2026

Polish-built ramps that will carry the Rosalind Franklin rover from its lander onto the surface of Mars have passed a series of extreme tests designed to ensure they can operate after the spacecraft reaches the Red Planet.

Astronika

The Science in Poland project is funded by the state budget allocated by the Minister of Science and Higher Education under the Social Responsibility of Science III Programme.

Polish-built ramps that will carry the Rosalind Franklin rover from its lander onto the surface of Mars have passed a series of extreme tests designed to ensure they can operate after the spacecraft reaches the Red Planet.

14/08/2026

Putting out every forest fire could paradoxically increase the risk of catastrophic wildfires by allowing combustible vegetation to build up, a Polish researcher has warned, arguing that controlled burning should be considered as part of fire protection as the climate becomes hotter and drier.

Instytut Badawczy Leśnictwa

Putting out every forest fire could paradoxically increase the risk of catastrophic wildfires by allowing combustible vegetation to build up, a Polish researcher has warned, arguing that controlled burning should be considered as part of fire protection as the climate becomes hotter and drier.

14/08/2026

Press a button, a few seconds of whirring, and your morning espresso is ready. But does more pressure always mean a faster flow? Polish physicists have found that, instead of simply speeding up the brew, higher pressure can compress the coffee grounds and act like a tighter cork.

For most of us, the espresso machine's work ends when the coffee starts flowing into the cup. If the drink is watery, bitter or simply different from the last one, we tend to blame the beans or the grind.

But the real explanation may lie in what happens inside the machine, where water is forced through a tightly packed layer of ground coffee.

The issue caught the attention of physicists after a student at the Warsaw Coffee Conference asked baristas what they most wanted to learn about espresso brewing.

They pointed to channelling — a process in which water fails to flow evenly through the coffee and instead finds easier paths through the grounds.

Wydział Fizyki Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Universität Potsdam

Press a button, a few seconds of whirring, and your morning espresso is ready. But does more pressure always mean a faster flow? Polish physicists have found that, instead of simply speeding up the brew, higher pressure can compress the coffee grounds and act like a tighter cork.

13/08/2026

Telling people they have a genetic risk of obesity does not necessarily help them lose weight or change their eating habits — and being told they have a low risk may actually encourage unhealthy behaviour, a Polish-Greek study has found.

Researchers found that information about genetic risk alone rarely produced lasting changes in weight, diet or physical activity. People at high genetic risk were more likely to become motivated to change their behaviour, but meaningful weight loss was seen mainly when genetic information was combined with intensive professional support.

The findings come from an analysis of 23 randomised controlled trials involving almost 8,000 people, conducted by researchers from SWPS University's CARE-BEH Center for Applied Research on Health Behavior and Health and Harokopio University in Greece.

Uniwersytet SWPS

The Science in Poland project is funded by the state budget allocated by the Minister of Science and Higher Education under the Social Responsibility of Science III Programme.

Telling people they have a genetic risk of obesity does not necessarily help them lose weight or change their eating habits — and being told they have a low risk may actually encourage unhealthy behaviour, a Polish-Greek study has found.

13/08/2026

Poland has committed €656 million to the European Union's IRIS² satellite constellation, securing a major role in the bloc's strategic satellite communications system.

10/08/2026

Carbon dioxide, the gas widely associated with climate change, has been given a surprising new role by scientists: a safer source of oxygen in chemical reactions used to make medicines, plastics and fragrances.

An international research team, including scientists from the Jagiellonian University and the SOLARIS National Synchrotron Radiation Centre, has developed a light-driven process that uses CO₂ instead of more hazardous oxidising agents, which can increase the risk of fires and explosions and produce toxic waste.

The findings, published in the journal Science, show that even a highly stable molecule such as carbon dioxide can be activated for useful chemical reactions. The method could eventually help make some industrial processes safer and reduce reliance on more dangerous reagents.
Wydział Chemii UJ
Synchrotron SOLARIS
Uni Bayreuth

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘌𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘐𝘐𝘐 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦.

Carbon dioxide, the gas widely associated with climate change, has been given a surprising new role by scientists: a safer source of oxygen in chemical reactions used to make medicines, plastics and fragrances.

10/08/2026

A Polish-German research team has used advanced imaging techniques to study how the brain develops in people who are born blind, finding that structural differences in the visual cortex are linked to reduced myelination rather than clear changes in the process of neural pruning.

The findings, published in the journal Science Advances, provide new insight into how the human brain adapts when it develops without visual input.

Instytut Psychologii UJ
Wydział Filozoficzny Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego

A Polish-German research team has used advanced imaging techniques to study how the brain develops in people who are born blind, finding that structural differences in the visual cortex are linked to reduced myelination rather than clear changes in the process of neural pruning.

10/08/2026

A team of Polish physicists and engineers is developing a portable device that could detect worsening heart failure at home before fluid buildup in the lungs leads to severe breathlessness and emergency hospitalisation.

Politechnika Warszawska
Uniwersytet Łódzki

The Science in Poland project is funded by the state budget allocated by the Minister of Science and Higher Education under the Social Responsibility of Science III Programme.

A team of Polish physicists and engineers is developing a portable device that could detect worsening heart failure at home before fluid buildup in the lungs leads to severe breathlessness and emergency hospitalisation.