Light vehicles that consume little and are therefore less environmentally problematical – that is how the car of the future should be. The foundation for next-generation-but-one vehicle technology has just been laid in the car manufacturing city of Wolfsburg. In the presence of Federal Minister of Research Johanna Wanka, the LeichtbauCampus Open Hybrid Lab Factory was inaugurated at a location not far from the headquarters of VW.

They have names like field bindweed, ragweed or couch grass – but poppies and corncockle count amongst them as well. For farmers, all these plants are weeds. Nature conservationists, on the other hand, speak of wild herbs or 'arable flora'. Many weeds are becoming increasingly resistant to herbicides, hindering the growth of actual crops in the process. The consequences can already be measured in terms of lower harvests.

Researchers from Karlsruhe have now uncovered how clover and fungi 'make friends' with each other. The thread-like fungal hyphae of the mycorrhiza permeate the soil and lead to increased root growth, as the team reports in the scientific journal Current Biology (2016, online publication). Fungi such as downy mildew or grey mould are a plague for both hobby gardeners as well as farmers.

Berlin-based Organobalance specializes in developing natural microbial solutions for customers and partners across a number of industries.

This acquisition is the biggest of its kind by a German firm. Bayer's acquisition of Monsanto for 66 billion US dollars is now set to go ahead. The regulators have yet to approve the deal, however. According to the German chemical corporation, it is willing to pay 128 dollars per share, valuing Monsanto at 66 billion dollars. That works out at about 58.8 billion euros. Data from financial news agency Bloomberg indicate that this is the second-largest cash acquisition in world history.

Deforestation and climate change are putting more and more pressure on the forest ecosystem. Not only are the habitats of many animals under threat, the capacity of forests to absorb CO₂ and emit oxygen is diminishing as well. A comprehensive international study now reveals the positive influence of biodiversity on global forest productivity.

The researchers' report on their discovery in the 'PNAS' specialist journal. In addition to carbon dioxide, methane is a climate killer that presents a long-term threat to life on earth. However, for many terrestrial and marine microorganisms this greenhouse gas is the elixir of life. The microbes oxidize the carbon dioxide and extract energy from the process.

BASF and Avantium have formed a joint venture for the production and marketing of the green building block furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and the drop-in bioplastic polyethylene furanoate (PEF) made from FDCA. Synvina will be headquartered in Amsterdam and will invest several hundred millions euros to build a plant producing 50,000 metric tons annually at BASF’s Verbund site in Antwerp, Belgium, to demonstrate feasibility of manufacture at industrial scale and to license production.

According to Gilles Laroche, Head of Unit F1 – Bioeconomy Strategy– at DG Research and Innovation, “the review won’t be finalised before mid-2017 and the results will be available only in autumn 2017”. Prior plans foresaw the announcement of the results at the end of 2016.

The Bioeconomy Council of the German Government had invited delegates from all over the world to Berlin to attend this first Global Bioeconomy Summit from 24 - 26 November. At the end, the participants agreed on a final communiqé, highlighting five priorities. Summing up with regard to the Sustainable Development Summit in New York and the upcoming climate negotiations in Paris, Christine Lang, Co-Chair of the Bioeconomy Council, said, "Sustainability is one of the top issues on the political agenda. 2015 is the year of major international negotiations.