Tetra Pak are aiming high: The Swiss-based packaging manufacturer, originally founded in Sweden, has set its sights on manufacturing products from 100% renewable materials that have been cultivated sustainably. "The introduction of the new Tetra Brik Aseptic 1000 Edge packaging with the bio-based LightCap 30 is a key step towards achieving our goal," says Charles Brand, Tetra Pak Executive Vice President.
Ants are diligent workers. These social insects form a super-organism that divides up roles in a clear fashion. They also cooperate with other living creatures that protect them from predators or provide them with nourishment. The idea of ants, like many other living creatures, living in symbiosis with other animals and plants is yesterday's news. Researchers from the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, however, have discovered an unusually close symbiotic relationship on the part of the insects.
Surgical suture material or drug-releasing stents are coated with substrates that release active agents or allow for better adhesion of biomolecules and cells. The film is applied using a special technique known as Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD), involving gas-phase coatings. In CVD polymerisation, the initial compounds are evaporated, activated at high temperature and deposited onto surfaces where they polymerise.
They have created a bio-supercapacitor: in the scientific journal "Angewandte Chemie", scientists from the Ruhr University in Bochum and Sweden's Malmö University have described a biofuel cell that not only generates energy, but can also store it. "That kind of technology may be suitable for miniaturised devices, for example, those meant to supply themselves with energy wirelessly.
The federal government published a draft amendment to the Genetic Engineering Act to allow for the cultivation of genetically modified agricultural crops to be prohibited in Germany. In particular, the amendment should lead to securing the 'opt-out' Regulation in law. However, amendments are also planned in regard to the research branch of synthetic biology.
Curt Beck has used an innovative process to overcome that limitation. The process engineer from Dresden has developed innovative winding technology for the manufacture of wooden tubes from fine veneer. As directors of LignoTUBE technologies GmbH & Co., Beck and his business partner, designer Robert Taranczewski, have been busy travelling around trying to bring these lightweight and stable veneer tubes to market since 2013.
Bioeconomy refers to the sustainable form of economic activity based on the efficient use of biological resources such as plants, animals and microorganisms. To make this possible, highly innovative approaches are necessary.The bioeconomy covers all industrial and economic sectors, which use renewable biological resources for producing products and providing services using innovative biological and technological knowledge and processes.
Researchers at the Max-Plank Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology (MPI-MP) have now found a way to produce the natural compounds found in soya beans and grapes en mass to be used in medicine. The scientists used the tomato as a natural medicine factory.
Now bio-engineers from Halle have found a way of manufacturing carnosic acid using biotechnology. As the team reports in the scientific journal 'Nature Communications', they do that by using reprogrammed yeast as a cell factory. With its powerful aroma, rosemary counts as one of the most popular kitchen herbs. The cause of the distinctive taste is the vegetable substance carnosic acid. It is also found in sage leaves.