In April, severe floods swept across Central Asia, particularly in Kazakhstan and Russia, the aggressor country. The flooding of the Ural, Tobol, and Ishim rivers is estimated to be the worst in the region in the last 80 years. In this article, Elzė Buslavičiūtė and Dr Laurynas Jukna, geographers at the Institute of Geosciences of Vilnius University, answer some questions on how satellites monitor these floods, their extent, and the potential causes.

Globally, as many as 10 per cent of couples cannot have children naturally. 33 per cent of assisted reproduction cycles are successful – a healthy baby is born. To help couples have children, KTU researchers and their partners are working on a diagnostic system to determine whether the uterus is ready to accept an embryo grown in a petri dish.

Students writing final theses on public finance topics are invited to participate in the competition of the Ministry of Finance. Such a competition is being organized for the second time, and the winners and their supervisors will be awarded cash prizes.

The gap between scientists and the public is decreasing - Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VILNIUS TECH) Citizen Science Centre is building bridges between the scientific community and citizens. When people engage in scientific processes, together explore and analyse data, the benefits of scientific research reach a much broader part of society.

On 25 April, at 5 p.m. in Franciszek Smuglewicz Hall, the Vilnius University (VU) Library will be opening an exhibition dedicated to the twentieth anniversary of Lithuania’s entry into the North Atlantic Treaty and the European Union. Documents from the 16th to the 20th century that are associated with the capitals of both the European Union (including candidate countries) and the NATO members (41 states) were selected in the book storages and put on display in an exhibition.

On April 18th, VILNIUS TECH will become a centre attracting science talents and leading modern businesses. In Saulėtekio central halls, future creators while setting the direction for their careers, will not only overcome the existing laws of the universe but also create vigorous and promising new ones.

In modern medicine, the study of ancient DNA has emerged as a revolutionary field, blending the mysteries of human history with cutting-edge advancements in genetics. The debate among scientists and medical professionals is focused on a pivotal question: does ancient DNA offer practical insights for contemporary health, or is it merely a window into our distant past? Dr. Horia Stanescu will answer this and other questions in the lecture “What ancient DNA can tell us about modern diseases?”.

The 67th Open Readings 2024 International Conference of Physics and Natural Sciences for students will take place from the 23rd to the 26th of April.

Celebrating the 445th anniversary of Vilnius University (VU), the “Scientific Sprint” science communication competition was held for the third time. The first place was won by the team “GiS” from the VU Faculty of Chemistry and Geosciences, represented by Prof. Giedrė Beconytė and Samanta Klusytė. Their presentation was on the topic “Spatial data for good governance - from vision to solution”. The winners were awarded a prize worth 1000 euros, sponsored by the competition partner “Thermo Fisher Scientific”.

Rapid technological progress allows us to launch more and better satellites into space every year. Most of them are for commercial telecommunications or navigation, many are military. But satellites are also greatly improving scientific research. Scientific satellites allow us to look deep into space, measure cosmic radiation, observe supernovae, or discover galaxies far away. We can also use them to look back down to Earth, for example, to monitor changes in the global environment, from tropical rainforests to Arctic ice sheets.