The largest underground thermal lake in the world
More about the expeditionAbout the expeditions
We have searched for a lost Maya city, studied glaciers in the tropics, discovered the mythical Imperial snipe bird, located the forgotten Congo crocodile and measured the length of the world's deepest abyss. Our grant programme Neuron Expedition assists scientists in the field research through which they leave an international legacy.
The expeditions carry on the famous era of the travellers Zikmund and Hanzelka, exploring the world in all its diversity. From its patrons’ gifts the Neuron Foundation has so far supported:
LIDAR laser scans showed that an important city of the Maya civilisation lies hidden in northern Guatemala.
Do you have a bold field research project? Get it ready and wait for the next Neuron Expedition call to open in spring 2027.
In 2022 scientists discovered what is probably the world's largest underground thermal lake on the border of Albania and Greece. Their equipment was not good enough to prove the discovery, though. Marek Audy's party later returned to the site to confirm it thanks to the Neuron Expedition, and announced it publicly in February 2025.
LIDAR laser scans show that a city of the Maya civilisation lies hidden in northern Guatemala. How old is it? What will it tell us about the society, the culture and the way the people there lived? The answers were found by the Neuron Expedition For the Lost Mayan City. The team of Ladislav Šilhán, an expert in the 3D visualisation of Mayan centres, was supported by Neuron with more than a million crowns.
Is the basilisk Laemanctus julioi asexual in the wild? What is the origin of the asexual lineage kept in Europe? Is the asexual lineage an interspecific hybrid, as other asexual reptiles are? And how many genetic clones make up any wild asexual populations? These are the questions the Neuron Expedition 2022 set out to answer when it headed for Honduras.
The target of the expedition was the Greenland shark, which has so far remained outside the interest of world science — its DNA probably contains a molecular-genetic trick that lets it escape the processes of ageing and prevent tumour growth. The research team therefore set out for the sharks' refuge in the waters between Iceland and Greenland, to contribute to our understanding of the molecular-genetic basis of its longevity.
We mapped the wildlife corridors between national parks, discovered salt licks and unknown places in the rainforest, and broke up poaching gangs. We began working with international conservation organisations and left a distinct mark on the protection of African nature.
How do the glaciers at the North Pole differ from the glaciers at the equator? Are they part of the same ecosystem, or do they host unique, isolated communities? In 2018 we studied glaciers in the northernmost part of Svalbard; in May 2022 our scientists set out for the Rwenzori Mountains in Uganda to take samples for further analysis.
The imperial snipe, a mysterious wader species, was considered extinct for more than a century. The aim of the ornithologist Vojtěch Kubelka's expedition was to explore the presumed territory of the imperial snipe (Gallinago imperialis) in the Peruvian Andes, to verify the records that exist and, where possible, to map new sites where it occurs.
On his journey to Venezuela in 1800, Alexander von Humboldt discovered a short-tailed primate that was never encountered again. The Neuron Expedition was the culmination of several years of research north of the Neblina massif and on the right bank of the Brazo Casiquiare river, where von Humboldt's holotype is said to have come from. The team obtained DNA samples and, for the first time, proved and documented the species Cacajao melanocephalus beyond doubt.
The social anthropologist Radan Haluzík studies the megalomaniac villas of the “rich poor” as a global phenomenon in a time of worldwide change and globalisation. He has mapped the Balkans and the Caucasus, the Middle East and Sri Lanka; as part of the Neuron Expedition he set out for Africa and Central America to confirm the thesis that people are the architects of their dreams.
The aim of the expedition to Congo was to prove that the crocodile the team came across in its research is not the slender-snouted crocodile but an entirely new species. It differs both genetically and morphologically, yet its existence is not generally accepted so far. The expedition set out to gather field data that would support the validity of this overlooked crocodile species.
Antidepressants work for only some patients with depression, so new forms of treatment need to be found. A very fast and strong antidepressant effect has newly been found in some psychedelics. The aim of the expedition to Peru, led by Dr Tomáš Páleníček, was to answer the question of whether the ritual use of the psychedelic ayahuasca has antidepressant potential from a clinical and a neurobiological point of view, and can therefore be used in further research into the treatment of depression.
The Neuron Expedition was led by the hydrogeologist Helena Vysoká, who first wanted to take water samples from a depth of 384 metres and, with a team of cave divers, explore the last blank space on the map of Czechia. Along the way the team also found that the Hranice Abyss is 404 metres deep, making it the deepest flooded cave in the world.
Egyptologist, archaeologist and senator
Scientist, polar ecologist
Traveller, documentary filmmaker and chair of the Expedition Council
Head of programming at Prima ZOOM
Journalist and editor-in-chief of the National Geographic and Koktejl magazines
Biologist and tropical ecologist
“Science is not done in the laboratory alone, but in the field as well. Supporting Expeditions and sending scientific teams out into the world is one of the Neuron Foundation’s key activities.”
Monika Vondráková co-founder and director of the Neuron Foundation 
Discoveries lie waiting all around, do not let them slip by! Every month we will send you a fresh batch of information about the world of science and Neuron.
