Children's toys, food boxes or shopping bags: many products already consist of bio-based feedstocks and are therefore considered sustainable. In order to be classified as sustainable, however, the organic content of the material must account for at least 35%. Fraunhofer researchers have been working for years to increase the biogenic content of materials such as plastics.

Ten thousand years ago, the modern bread wheat Triticum aestivum was created, which today provides one fifth of the calories and proteins consumed by people worldwide. Through selection and breeding, countless varieties have been created which are adapted to regional environmental and climatic conditions and have a higher performance. However, wheat yields have been stagnating for some years now. Climate change and the increasing demand for more sustainable forms of agriculture present breeders with new challenges.

Plants once created the oxygen atmosphere of our planet and still do so today through photosynthesis: An average tree releases around 120 kilograms of oxygen into the air every year. However, the plant cells themselves must also be supplied with oxygen. However, there are areas where the opposite is true, as an international team of plant researchers has now discovered.

The demand for macroalgae is growing worldwide: aquatic plants are cultivated as food and animal feed, but are also used for the production of cosmetics, dietary supplements or as additives in animal feed because of their bioactive ingredients. Algae breeding is particularly widespread in China, where the alga Laminaria is of particular importance.

Parsley is one of the most popular culinary herbs. It is rich in essential oils and vitamin C and is ideally suited for refining salads and savoury dishes. But the herbaceous plant is currently causing gardeners problems: it will not grow. Plant virologists from the Leibniz Institute DSMZ - German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH in Braunschweig - have now found the cause.

Nano-carriers that are loaded with active substances and release these straight to the diseased cells are already in use in cancer medicine. Now this "magic bullet" could soon also cure plant diseases. A team led by Frederik Wurm from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI) has been working for several years on establishing this treatment method for diseased vines.

"Here in Heidelberg it has become very clear: We can do this. We have gained new insights and partners and forged new alliances.

In recent years, CRISPR-Cas9 technology and genome editing have opened up the possibility of modifying genetic material with unprecedented accuracy. Although the specificity of the interventions does not appear to be as high as originally hoped, research is continuously improving them. The Max Planck Society has now published its position on its use in humans, particularly in the germ line, but also in plant breeding research.

Chemical herbicides have long been the panacea against unloved plants in the field. However, the use of pesticides such as glyphosate has long been controversial and the consequences for the environment - especially biodiversity - are alarming. In addition to new resistant plant varieties, researchers are therefore working on new technologies to counteract the trend with environmentally friendly methods.

The varroa mite is the greatest threat to the western bee (Apis mellifera). The tiny parasite Varroa destructor feeds on its body fluid and attacks larvae in the hive, damaging its offspring and causing entire hives to die. "After about 18 months after the first infection, a hive is dead if nothing is done about it," says Dr. Stanislav Balouchev of the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research. Together with Katharina Landfester, the researcher hopes to use smart technology to protect bees from this scourge.