Cultivating tomatoes in space — it all sounds rather alien! Yet that extra-terrestrial mission is central to a project currently being developed by the researchers from the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). Preparations for the mission: Eu:Cropis (Euglena and Combined Regenerative Organic Food Production in Space) are in full swing. Scientists hope to send a satellite carrying tomato seeds into space before the end of the year.
However, land ecosystems have changed. Forests are being felled for agricultural purposes or existing arable land is being cultivated in new ways.
These ‘designer organelles’ are hoped to lay the groundwork for a universal production organism. The project has won the 43-year-old the Next Generation of Biotechnological Procedures award from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The millions-strong endowment will fund Schiller’s six-person team over the coming five years. Today, he is setting up his own real-sized reaction chambers at the Center for Biological Systems Analysis (ZBSA) of the University of Freiburg.
Fifteen years after the first edition of the Sustainability Strategy was released, the Federal Government has unveiled a new version in the form of the "German Sustainability Strategy" (DNS).
According to research consultancy HFFA Research, the European Commission decision of 2013 to largely restrict the use of neonicotinoids has clearly had negative environmental impact and resulted in severe economic losses for the European oilseed sector.
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.