Foamed plastics are frequently used for packaging. They are mostly made of polystyrene, polyethylene or polyurethane - and are thus ultimately based on petroleum. The production process is clearly not sustainable, and the situation is often no better at the product's end of life: After a single use, they are usually discarded - even if done correctly, foamed materials are rarely recycled today. Instead, they end up in thermal recycling.

Only recently, traceless launched the biomaterial they had developed with a pilot product in the form of a sock holder. Just under three years after its founding, the young bioeconomy start-up is now going into large-scale production. The team led by traceless founders Johanna Baare and Anne Lamp has just received a grant of 5 million euros from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment.

In agriculture, large quantities of fertilizers are often used to increase yields per unit area. However, this practice has long been controversial because it damages soils, the environment and the climate alike. In addition, heat and drought are putting increasing pressure on soils and crops, leading to crop failures. How can we prevent soils from drying out while increasing yields to ensure food security in the future? A study led by the Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) provides promising results.

They are young and they have innovative ideas in store: kids and young people aged up to 21 who put their talents to the test in the STEM competition Jugend forscht. This year's winners were announced in Bremen on May 21 in the presence of the Federal Minister of Education and Research, Bettina Stark-Watzinger. A total of 173 young STEM talents qualified for this year's national finals in seven subject areas with 108 innovative research projects.

A problem with many former mines is that their floodwater is usually contaminated with heavy metals, in the case of uranium mines, for example, with uranium. Environmental biotechnology has long been developing approaches to filter out these heavy metals with the help of microorganisms. Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have now discovered a promising bacterium for this purpose.

Agricultural and food systems are under increasing pressure due to climate change. Both the management of fields and the production of food must therefore be adapted to the new challenges in order to ensure food security and protect the environment. The cultivation of legumes has great potential: Legumes such as lentils and peas are not only rich in protein, but at the same time act as natural soil conditioners, which can save on the use of fertilizers.

Arthropods are irreplaceable for the preservation of the forest ecosystem by providing numerous services: they act as pollinators, remove dead plant parts and recycle these substances so that new, fertile soil can form. They are also the food base for numerous animals such as birds, bats or hedgehogs. But biodiversity in forests is under threat.

From bakery snacks to prepared frozen vegetables, many foods are so-called multicomponent systems and consist of a dry layer and a moist or creamy layer. One challenge in the production and storage of such foods is to prevent the dry layer from becoming moist. Researchers at the University of Hohenheim have now developed a biobased barrier layer made of oleogels for this purpose. The oleogel consists of vegetable oils and ethyl cellulose and can thus be used in the food sector.