Our Work

The emergence of life is not a matter of simple equivalent exchange. Environmental structure alters the pathways through which exchange itself occurs. What matters may therefore be not only which comp…

The emergence of life is not a matter of simple equivalent exchange. Environmental structure alters the pathways through which exchange itself occurs. What matters may therefore be not only which components and environments are present, but also the sequence, duration, mechanical or energetic processing, and recurrence through which matter experiences them. Through this transformation, life-like phenomena endowed with active functions arise from otherwise passive matter. In this sense, the emergence of life can be understood as a phase transition. Life is itself part of environmental structure. By sensing and responding to its surroundings, a living system reconstructs aspects of external environmental structure as an internal model. In this process, we may discern the beginnings of consciousness. Over time, however, internal models became increasingly capable of reshaping and dominating external environmental structures, ultimately leading to the Anthropocene. In the present age, we must recognize anew that environmental structure preceded life and remains the foundation upon which life depends. Perhaps humanity will fully grasp this truth only when it succeeds in bringing life-like phenomena into being with its own hands. A life-like phase transition is a threshold transition at which a chemically reactive system begins to preserve information about its environmental history and uses that internal state to selectively reorganize its subsequent exchanges with the environment.

¿Eres docente y te gustaría que la información de tu clase que no está en Internet pueda ser respondida por un bot? En este manula se muestra paso a paso: cómo crear…

¿Eres docente y te gustaría que la información de tu clase que no está en Internet pueda ser respondida por un bot? En este manula se muestra paso a paso: cómo crear un bot asistente educativo para atender al claustro y las familias en Telegram. Imagina preguntas reptitivas como:  Una familia pregunta en el chat de Telegram: ¿mañana hay que llevar chándal ?, ¿Qué desayuno saludable toca? o ¿Qué material debo comprar?... Si almacenas toda la información en documentos de texto en una carpeta, te puedes ahorrar tiempo en preguntas rutinarias.

As human spaceflight becomes increasingly relevant, understanding how microgravity affects the human brain is an important but largely unexplored question, particularly in the context of neuronal func…

As human spaceflight becomes increasingly relevant, understanding how microgravity affects the human brain is an important but largely unexplored question, particularly in the context of neuronal function and vulnerability to neurodegeneration. Direct investigation of these processes in humans is not feasible, necessitating the use of physiologically relevant in vitro model systems. Three-dimensional human brain organoids recapitulate key aspects of brain development and organization and provide an experimentally accessible platform to study neuronal responses under controlled conditions. Here, within the framework of the student competition “Überflieger 2”, we investigated the effects of long-term microgravity on human midbrain organoids cultured for 40 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Midbrain organoids reproduce essential features of dopaminergic neuron development and are widely used to model Parkinson’s disease and related neurodegenerative processes. To enable spaceflight experiments, we developed and implemented an autonomous culture system adapted to the constraints of the ISS environment. During the mission, a hardware malfunction impaired scheduled medium exchange, introducing an additional metabolic stress condition. Despite these limitations, ISS-cultured organoids remained viable and showed robust neurite outgrowth. Molecular and imaging analyses revealed that exposure to microgravity in combination with nutrient limitation induced a coordinated response involving cytoskeletal remodeling, neuronal plasticity, and selective vulnerability of dopaminergic neurons. These findings demonstrate that human midbrain organoids can maintain key structural and functional properties under prolonged spaceflight-associated stress while activating microgravity-induced adaptive responses. This work highlights the potential of organoid-based systems to investigate neurobiological effects of microgravity and provides a foundation for future studies addressing mechanisms relevant to neurodegenerative disease.

The widespread adoption of genetic testing, driven by technological advancements and reduced costs, offers tremendous potential for advancing personalized healthcare. However, because genomic data act…

The widespread adoption of genetic testing, driven by technological advancements and reduced costs, offers tremendous potential for advancing personalized healthcare. However, because genomic data acts as a permanent, unique biometric identifier with an inherently familial nature, its sharing raises severe privacy concerns. Key risks include the re-identification of individuals or blood relatives from anonymized data, unauthorized inference of disease predispositions, and potential data misuse by third parties, e. g. health insurance companies. Consequently, under Article 9 of the GDPR, genetic data is classified as a "special category," strictly prohibiting processing by default unless explicit, separate consent is obtained. For institutional Data Stewards, these strict legal and ethical boundaries present a challenge in aligning GDPR compliance with the principles of data shareability and reusability. To bridge this gap, we will present a stewardship framework that implements a "Restricted Access" model. While genomic datasets undergo anonymization or pseudonymization and access remains tightly controlled, non-sensitive, structured metadata is published openly. This approach satisfies the "Findable" aspect of FAIR data, demonstrating that genomic research can achieve full compliance with the highest standards of privacy while remaining structurally valuable to the scientific community. Supported by MH CZ - DRO („Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion – IHBT, 00023736“).

This preprint presents an optical free-space extreme learning machine for the implementation and simulation of emergent complex systems based on cellular automata. The proposed system uses a spatial l…

This preprint presents an optical free-space extreme learning machine for the implementation and simulation of emergent complex systems based on cellular automata. The proposed system uses a spatial light modulator to encode the evolution rules, while coherent wave propagation performs the corresponding computations. The work demonstrates a programmable, cost- and power-efficient optical platform for implementing complex computational systems such as elementary cellular automata, Conway’s Game of Life and two-dimensional Turing machines.

Numero 01 della rassegna periodica sulla salute di prossimità: copre il periodo dal 23 settembre al 4 ottobre 2026. Raccoglie 72 voci costruite su 87 fonti (atti di Regioni, comuni e ambiti sociali, d…

Numero 01 della rassegna periodica sulla salute di prossimità: copre il periodo dal 23 settembre al 4 ottobre 2026. Raccoglie 72 voci costruite su 87 fonti (atti di Regioni, comuni e ambiti sociali, documenti del terzo settore, stampa locale e specializzata, fonti di altri paesi, studi scientifici) e 15 appuntamenti dei prossimi mesi, su ciò che avviene nel quartiere, nel paese e nell'ambito sociale perché le persone trovino vicino a casa relazioni, sostegni e punti di riferimento: programmi locali di prossimità, presidi e figure di prossimità (case di quartiere, portinerie di comunità, portierati sociali), terzo settore e amministrazione condivisa, esperienze di altri paesi. In fondo, in forma ridotta, i temi collegati della solitudine e della prescrizione sociale.Il deposito contiene due file in formato Word: la raccolta completa (36 pagine) e la sintesi in sette temi chiave (5 pagine, con copertina), che si può leggere da sola.È un esperimento di ragionamento aumentato: il sistema di intelligenza artificiale (Claude, di Anthropic) ha cercato, letto e sintetizzato le fonti, sotto la guida del curatore, che ha definito visione, temi, regole e criteri di valutazione. La rassegna non pretende di essere esaustiva e il contenuto non è stato validato: ogni affermazione porta un indicatore di affidabilità e le notizie devono essere verificate sulle fonti prima di essere citate altrove.Segnalazioni di fonti mancanti, errori e commenti sono graditi: angelo.rossimori@cnr.it. Tutti i numeri della rassegna sono depositati come versioni di questo stesso record; il numero 00 (estate 2026) è la versione precedente.