Prof. Daniel Wójcik from the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology explains the principles of brain modelling

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) – a kind of optical counterpart of ultrasound imaging – is continually being improved as image contrast boosting techniques are developed.

Prof. Przemysław Perlikowski, a mechanical engineer, and his wife Asst. Prof. Renata Perlikowska, who studies opioid peptides used in medicine, discuss the challenges of research work and life.

Weather forecasting requires knowledge of the laws of atmospheric movement. Apart from classic fluid mechanics, we must consider the rotational motion of our planet, the differential heating of its surface through the absorption of solar radiation, as well as water evaporation and condensation processes.

Simulation-based models standing in for the real world are unfettered by any biological, emotional, historical, logical, or practical limitations.

The Medical Simulation Center at the Medical University of Białystok was created as part of a broader project. Throughout Poland there are 12 such centers, and each with a somewhat different concept. The common denominator is that they help medical, nursing, and obstetrics students test their knowledge and skills in practice. The Medical Simulation Center in Białystok boasts a sizeable set of simulation facilities, including an operating room, ambulance, emergency ward, labor ward, and nurse’s station. The technicians devise scenarios for students to enable them to practice reacting to specific cases. All the facilities are equipped with state-of-the-art audio-video equipment to record lessons for later review and analysis.

Polish-Belgian relations are not just about economics or joint membership in European institutions. Rather, they are a story of centuries-old friendship between two nations that cherish freedom. This was the leitmotif of a conference held on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The conference took place at the headquarters of the Belgian Ambassador in Poland on 11 April 2019, with Polish Senator Anna Maria Anders in attendance.

They are unfairly regarded as junk protein, but the truth is they have not been properly studied due to a lack of suitable tools. So how much do we really know about non-globular proteins?

New oil and natural gas deposits can be recognized using X-ray computed tomography (CT) technology, and their potential value can be evaluated using increasingly advanced computational methods.

We all face a wide array of different choices every day of our lives. Asst. Prof. Miłosz Kadziński explains how artificial intelligence could be used to help us make decisions.

Dr. Takao Ishikawa from the University of Warsaw talks about why perhaps not all scientists should aim to become professors, and explains what we can learn from yeast proteins.

We talk to Prof. Stanisław Filipowicz, Vice-President of the Polish Academy of Sciences, about the significance of truth, the role of fiction, the consequences of living in a culture of excess, and the crisis of democracy.

Hydrological modelling uses modern computational methods to simulate local and regional water circulation systems. How does this work, and what benefits does it bring?

In the Middle Ages, nature influenced human settlements, which in turn affected the surrounding landscape. Experts have turned to an early medieval village in Santok to learn more about this intricate relationship.

The Bulletin of the Polish Academy of Sciences: Technical Sciences (Bull.Pol. Ac.: Tech.) is published bimonthly by the Division IV Engineering Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, since the beginning of the existence of the PAS in 1952. The journal is peer‐reviewed and is published both in printed and electronic form. It is established for the publication of original high quality papers from multidisciplinary Engineering sciences with the following topics preferred: Artificial and Computational Intelligence, Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology, Civil Engineering, Control, Informatics and Robotics, Electronics, Telecommunication and Optoelectronics, Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, Thermodynamics, Material Science and Nanotechnology, Power Systems and Power Electronics.

Journal Metrics: JCR Impact Factor 2018: 1.361, 5 Year Impact Factor: 1.323, SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) 2017: 0.319, Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) 2017: 1.005, CiteScore 2017: 1.27, The Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education 2017: 25 points.

Abbreviations/Acronym: Journal citation: Bull. Pol. Ac.: Tech., ISO: Bull. Pol. Acad. Sci.-Tech. Sci., JCR Abbrev: B POL ACAD SCI-TECH Acronym in the Editorial System: BPASTS.

Antarctica is a land of surprises. How low are the lowest temperatures ever recorded there? Is there life at –50°C? Is there anywhere on the continent tourists can actually enjoy swimming?

Dr. Aleksandra Przegalinska explains why we find humanoid robots so creepy and considers whether watching machines play football is actually fun.

The Bulletin of the Polish Academy of Sciences: Technical Sciences (Bull.Pol. Ac.: Tech.) is published bimonthly by the Division IV Engineering Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, since the beginning of the existence of the PAS in 1952. The journal is peer‐reviewed and is published both in printed and electronic form. It is established for the publication of original high quality papers from multidisciplinary Engineering sciences with the following topics preferred: Artificial and Computational Intelligence, Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology, Civil Engineering, Control, Informatics and Robotics, Electronics, Telecommunication and Optoelectronics, Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, Thermodynamics, Material Science and Nanotechnology, Power Systems and Power Electronics.

Journal Metrics: JCR Impact Factor 2018: 1.361, 5 Year Impact Factor: 1.323, SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) 2017: 0.319, Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) 2017: 1.005, CiteScore 2017: 1.27, The Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education 2017: 25 points.

Abbreviations/Acronym: Journal citation: Bull. Pol. Ac.: Tech., ISO: Bull. Pol. Acad. Sci.-Tech. Sci., JCR Abbrev: B POL ACAD SCI-TECH Acronym in the Editorial System: BPASTS.

Palynological investigation of the Vrabchov dol locality (Western Bulgaria) which recently yielded fragmentary dinosaur bones attributed to the clade Titanosauria, reveals well-preserved sporomorph assemblages dominated by angiosperm pollen from the Normapolles group, spores and rare gymnosperms. The age assessment of the studied sequence is based on the diagnostic Normapolles species, such as Oculopollis orbicularis Góczán, 1964, Oculopollis zaklinskaiae Góczán, 1964, Krutzschipollis spatiosus Góczán in Góczán et al., 1967 and Krutzschipollis crassus (Góczán, 1964) Góczán in Góczán et al., 1967. The concurrent presence of these pollen species suggests a late Santonian–early Campanian age for the succession. The sporomorph association is encountered in a palynofacies dominated by continental elements, including translucent phytoclasts (tissues, wood remains and plant cuticles). The sedimentary succession shows no evidence of marine elements and a very low proportion of AOM that attests to deposition within a lagoonal to foreshore marine environment, with high continental input and short transportation. The vegetation in the studied area was primarily composed of a range of Normapolles-producing angiosperms and secondarily of pteridophyte spore-producing plants. Gymnosperms were rare. Such a vegetation pattern reflects a warm, seasonally dry climate during the late Santonian–earliest Campanian in the studied area. The dinosaurs inhabited a wet lowland area, probably rich in herbaceous plants.

A sample of late Viséan limestone from the Włodawa IG-4 borehole, east of Lublin, Poland, yielded a piece of a tooth and a few hundred well-preserved scales comparable to those of “Ctenacanthus” costellatus Traquair, 1884 from Glencartholm, Scotland, UK. Most of the scales are typical compound body scales of the ctenacanthid type. Their crowns are composed of several separate odontodes whose distal ends are turned backwards and bases are characterised by concave undersides. In the material, there are also sparse scales with similar crowns but with flat or convex bulbous bases, as well as ornamented plates and single, star-like denticles, probably from the head region. The taxonomic status of “Ctenacanthus” costellatus was analysed and a new generic name for that species, viz. Glencartius gen. nov., is proposed.

Jotunites (hypersthene monzodiorites/ferromonzodiorites) are rocks coeval with plutonic AMCG (anorthosite– mangerite–charnockite–rapakivi granite) suites, which are characteristic of the Proterozoic Eon. It has been experimentally shown that jotunite magma can be recognised as parental to anorthosites and related rocks: since then, research on these rocks has taken on a particular importance. Jotunites were recently described within the deeply buried c. 1.5 Ga Suwałki and Sejny anorthosite massifs in the crystalline basement of NE Poland. The major and trace element compositions of Polish jotunites show them to have a calc-alkalic to alkali-calcic and ferroan character, with a relatively wide range of SiO2 content (40.56 wt. % up to 47.46 wt. %) and high concentrations of Fe (up to 22.63 wt. % Fe2O3), Ti (up to 4.34 wt. % TiO2) and P (up to 1.46 wt. % P2O5). Slight differences in textural features, mineralogical compositions, and geochemistry of whole-rock jotunite samples from distinct massifs allow us to distinguish two kinds: a primitive one, present in the Sejny Intrusion, and a more evolved one, related to the Suwałki Massif.

This paper attempts to allocate a segment of the Paleozoic Ocean situated in what is now Southeastern Europe (SEE) into a regional geological and paleotectonic synthesis connecting the sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous records associated with the ocean’s cycle. The Supragetic basement (external section of the Carpatho-Balkan arch) represents a tectonically reworked basement vestige of the Neoproterozoic–Lower Paleozoic oceanic floor system recrystallized under regional low temperature greenschist-facies conditions. The regional geological constraints associated with this low-grade basement are integrated with information from the overlying Silurian, Devonian and Lower Carboniferous cap-rocks of the “Kučaj Unit” to demonstrate the presence of a major Paleozoic ocean crossing this segment of SEE. In connection with the Lower Paleozoic north Gondwanan Pan- African processes, the low-grade Supragetic basement (including its Devonian cover) is in a complex relationship with the occasionally anchimetamorphic Silurian, Devonian, and Lower Carboniferous deep-water record of the polymetamorphic “Kučaj Unit”. The Upper Devonian–Lower Carboniferous flysch and molasse of the “Kučaj Unit” are interposed with the Neoproterozic–Lower Paleozoic oceanic vestige or with the Supragetic basement with the corresponding Devonian Balkan-Carpathian back-arc ophiolite-bearing lithosphere and its carrier (Danubian Unit). This regional-scale synthesis demonstrates that a segment of the Rheic Ocean referred to as the Saxo-Thuringian seaway and its suture lay to the east, underneath the Permian red-bed overstepping sequence and to the west of the Danubian aggregation. Unlike many of the high-pressure rocks characterizing the segment of the Rheic suture in the Central European Variscides, the SEE zone described here has only a mild overprint.

In this study the formation of the polygenetic High Tatra granitoid magma is discussed. Felsic and mafic magma mixing and mingling processes occurred in all magma batches composing the pluton and are documented by the typical textural assemblages, which include: mafic microgranular enclaves (MME), mafic clots, felsic clots, quartz-plagioclase-titanite ocelli, biotite-quartz ocelli, poikilitic plagioclase crystals, chemically zoned K-feldspar phenocrysts with inclusion zones and calcic spikes in zoned plagioclase. Geochemical modelling indicates the predominance of the felsic component in subsequent magma batches, however, the mantle origin of the admixed magma input is suggested on the basis of geochemical and Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd and Pb isotopic data. Magma mixing is considered to be a first-order magmatic process, causing the magma diversification. The cumulate formation and the squeezing of remnant melt by filter pressing points to fractional crystallization acting as a second-order magmatic process.

A new Subfamily Dirimiinae of the Family Kumpanophyllidae Fomichev, 1953 is introduced on the basis of Dirimia gen. nov., which is represented by six new named species and three species left in open nomenclature. The new species are Dirimia multiplexa, D. similis, D. recessia, D. composita, D. extrema, D. nana, Dirimia sp. 1, Dirimia sp. 2 and Dirimia sp. 3. The progressing atrophy of the columnotheca, leading to its total reduction in extreme species, and the occurrence of an axial structure instead of a compact pseudocolumella established in these species are accepted as differences exceeding the genus level. All specimens assigned to this subfamily were derived from the same Limestone F1 of the Donets Basin, and mostly from the same locality. The reasons for their split into a relatively large number of species are: 1) an increased radiation typical for faunal turnover times; 2) a delay in the appearance of differentiated skeletal characters relative to the appearance of genetic differences large enough to characterise different species; 3) a bias in preservation of fossil remnants by comparison to living populations, amplified by biases in the collections available for study by comparison to the total number of specimens fossilised.