Drought and heat put many plants under stress and often cause their water reserves to be depleted. A research team at the Centre for Organismal Studies (COS) at Heidelberg University has now discovered a previously unknown molecular mechanism that helps plants conserve water.

Traditionally produced leather is associated with significant environmental impacts, including deforestation, high emissions and pollution. Conventional synthetic leather is also criticised: it often contains plastics or is tanned using harmful chemicals, which can have negative effects on the environment and health. As a result, demand for leather alternatives is steadily increasing. In the FABULOSE project, eleven European partners are developing new scalable and bio-based production routes for animal-free leather alternatives.

Plastics are an integral part of everyday life – from packaging to technical components. Until now, however, they could only be produced using petroleum, which is not only a finite resource but also causes considerable environmental pollution during extraction and processing. As part of his doctoral thesis at Ruhr University Bochum, which was funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation, Daniel Eggerichs therefore developed a process that enables genetically modified bacteria to produce plastic precursors from waste from the paper industry.

Heat, drought and pests are putting increasing pressure on forests. Mountain forests, such as those in the Allgäu region, are particularly affected. Planting new, climate-resilient tree species is therefore a promising option for mitigating the effects of climate change and preserving the ecosystem for future generations. Researchers from the Institute for Applied AI and Robotics (IKR) at Kempten University of Applied Sciences now want to make reforestation more efficient and accelerate it with the help of drones and artificial intelligence (AI).

Whether in smartphones or computers, printed circuit boards are found in almost all electronic devices. They are made from non-renewable raw materials such as glass fibres and epoxy resin and are difficult to recycle. The figures speak for themselves: around 60% of the 62 million tonnes of electronic waste generated each year is circuit boards. 

Corn has been the dominant energy crop in Germany to date. However, its cultivation is problematic and is associated with soil erosion, nutrient leaching and, in particular, nitrate contamination of groundwater. An alternative could be the cultivation of the cup plant. Researchers at the University of Bayreuth have conducted a study showing the advantages of cultivating this plant for both energy production and the environment.

Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is considered the fourth most important cereal crop worldwide. In Germany, it is even the second most cultivated crop after wheat. However, in view of climate change, agriculture faces the challenge of securing yields even under changing environmental conditions. In order to strengthen barley's adaptability to these changes, the focus is shifting to genetic traits that control the plant's growth and flowering time.