Electric cars or a fully regenerative power supply: Both areas of energy system transformation, which are so important for climate protection, require efficient power storage systems. So far, however, batteries have often been ecologically and socially problematic because they require certain metals that can only be mined to the detriment of humans and the environment.

Moss has no roots. Unlike other plants, moss does not need them to absorb nutrients from the soil, as moss feeds from the air. When moss arose 400 million years ago, there was a lot of ash in the air due to numerous volcanic eruptions. Even today, mosses remove fine dust and carbon dioxide from the air to supply themselves with nutrients. Many urban areas therefore form an optimal natural habitat for these evergreen land plants.

DNA is not only the carrier of genetic information. For some biotechnologists, the molecule is also a material with fascinating properties - for example, for bioengineers working with DNA origami. Biomechanics at the TU Munich have now created a promising application for pharmaceutical development.

SUVs have large bodies and electric cars have rechargeable batteries: modern vehicles weigh far more than models one to two decades ago. But the weight costs range, increases fuel consumption and increases CO2 emissions. Manufacturers are therefore increasingly focusing on lightweight components, but these usually have ecological or economic drawbacks. Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research have developed a promising alternative, which Porsche is now bringing into low-volume production.

Out of carbon dioxide and solar energy, land plants produce biomass, which contains valuable building blocks for the bioeconomy. It is easy to forget that algae also remove enormous amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere - about as much as the entire land vegetation. Algae primarily produce multiple sugars, whose degradation products are important food sources for numerous marine organisms. One of these degradation processes has now been investigated by an international team of researchers.

Carbon dioxide forms the basis for many organisms to produce carbon compounds through their metabolism. Plants and certain bacteria use photosynthesis, other bacteria use chemosynthesis. However, animals do not possess this ability and have therefore formed symbioses with protozoa. The bacterium Kentron has also been regarded as a chemosynthetic symbiont of the ciliate Kentrophoros.

Proteins are an important component of animal feed. However, protein-rich crops such as lupins and peas are still niche products on European fields. The protein used in European cattle feed mainly comes from soya and fish meal imports.

In 2017, the German specialty chemicals group Evonik and the Dutch company DSM jointly founded Veramaris. Now the young joint venture has started industrial bioproduction and has commissioned what it says is the world's largest plant for the fermentative production of omega-3 fatty acids in Blair (USA).

The thale cress Arabidopsis thaliana serves plant researchers as a model organism because its genome is relatively simply structured. However, it is impractical if the model plant is not a good model for other plant species. Researchers have recently discovered that this may be the case with thale cress.