Last month, an Anglo-Polish research team announced that they had performed a novel cell transplantation procedure on a paralysed 38-year-old man, and that the procedure had led to some recovery of function in the patient's legs.
Already, Poa annua, a species of European grass, has spread from the Polish research station on King George Island, the largest of the South Shetland islands.The Antarctic ecosystem is valued by scientists as a place largely free of human influence.
While young people are full of confidence, many Poles still have a deep fear of being marginalized, of falling behind, both as individuals and as a nation striving to join the rest of Europe as an equal, said Jacek Kucharczyk, deputy director of the Institute of Public Affairs, an independent Polish research organization.
Polish research into the effects of sub-zero conditions on the body showed that as the blood rushes from the extremities to help warm the internal organs, the accompanying release of endorphins results, perhaps unsurprisingly, in an analgesic or numbing effect that eases pain in people with injuries.
This method is based on the experience gained from worldwide pilot plants and from a Polish research project on the CO2 capture process.
Polish research departments that establish large international collaborations may now apply for funding sufficient to employ at least 10 Ph.D. students, pay for research expenses, and send the students to partner labs abroad for between 6 months and 2 years.
Dr Pawel Tabakow, consultant neurosurgeon at Wroclaw University Hospital, who led the Polish research team, said: "It's amazing to see how regeneration of the spinal cord, something that was thought impossible for many years, is becoming a reality".
A Polish research group found a similar but less clear result [ 12].
The first Polish research on family relations was conducted in the mid-70s.
Polish nuclear research reactor Maria is named after her.
