They bring water into the desert: large plantations can influence the microclimate to such an extent that more rain falls. They help reduce desertification and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Scientists at the University of Hohenheim have now analyzed the exact mechanisms behind rain formation and, with the help of a supercomputer, have simulated it down to the regional level, where new crops could make the greatest difference.

The aim of the "MartA (Smart Spraying)" project is to identify diseased plants immediately after infestation and treat them with pesticides at the ideal time. Together with the industry partners Bosch and Cubert, the researchers are developing sensors and algorithms that make this possible. The project has already been successful for the sugar beet disease cercospora, and promising progress has also been made against three wheat diseases.

So far, they have only been nominated, but this in itself is already a distinction: the three chemists Walter Leitner, Christoph Gürtler and Berit Stange have made it to the final of the German Future Prize 2019. Their research success is an important building block for a future carbon cycle economy: The three scientists have developed a process with which polyols can be produced from the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, which in turn are the starting material for the polyurethane plastics group. So far, polyols have been produced primarily from crude oil.

The bond between a fluorine atom and a carbon atom is the strongest single-bond in organic chemistry. Splitting it would be a reaction that occurs automatically over a period of years, but some enzymes shorten the reaction to a few seconds. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) in Hamburg, the University of Potsdam and the University of Toronto in Canada have now documented in a highly detailed time-lapse film what exactly happens during this reaction in the enzyme fluoroacetate dehalogenase.

The second generation of biofuels is produced from agricultural residues, such as grain straw or Chinese reed. The Swiss specialty chemicals group Clariant AG has developed sunliquid technology for this purpose, a biotechnological process in which cellulose-ethanol can be produced from plant residues. In Straubing, Bavaria, Clariant operates a demonstration plant for the lignocellulose biorefinery. This technology has now found a second licensee in PKN Orlen, a petroleum company that is particularly strong in Central Europe.

Ludwigshafen-based BASF, the world's largest chemical company, has acquired the Dutch company Isobionics, which specializes in the biotechnological production of fragrances and flavors. BASF also announced its cooperation with the US company Conagen, which produces biotechnological production strains used, among other things, for the production of vanillin.

Spider silk is - in relation to its weight - more tear-resistant and stretchable than synthetic fibers made of Kevlar or carbon. For a long time now, it has also been imitated industrially and used as a material, from aircraft construction or the textile industry to medicine. However, the secret behind the special properties of silk proteins was not yet fully understood.

The international research team with scientists from the Ruhr University Bochum and the University of New South Wales in Australia were able to produce end products such as ethanol and propanol from the starting material carbon dioxide. As they report in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the researchers exploited the mechanism of enzymes that have different active centers for cascade reactions. Each active center of the enzyme specializes in certain reaction steps.

After the Second World War, Germany was quickly reforested. As a result, the domestic forests today are poor in tree species diversity and accordingly susceptible to environmental influences: Bark beetles, heat, drought, storms and fires have all plagued Germany's forests, which are dominated by spruce and beech. Experts call this a new forest dieback.

The German life science company Bayer and the U.S. developer of biopharmaceuticals Arvinas are planning to adapt molecules of the cell's own system and use them to remove foreign or no longer needed proteins in order to protect agricultural plants from pathogens, insect pests and wild herbs. To this end, both companies have now announced the foundation of the joint venture Oerth Bio (pronounced "Earth").