Nearly nine years ago, in 2010, breast implants made of cheap industrial silicone caused a scandal in medical technology. The case occupied the courts for many years and also focused on the issue of biocompatibility for biomedical materials. These materials are used for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes in or on a patient's body. Therefore, high demands are placed on their safety - but standardized, comprehensive and rapid evaluation methods are still lacking.
Time and again, oil spills happen on the world's oceans and even rivers. Oil spills are an extreme environmental pollution that can destroy entire ecosystems and the living organisms within them, from microorganisms to sea birds. Previous approaches to contain or absorb oil spills have not been very efficient. Until now, the most promising ones are chemical agents that bind the oil and then sink it to the ground. However, in that case, the pollution has only disappeared from our view, not from the ecosystem.
There is a huge and seemingly ever-growing market for cosmetics. Men and women of all ages are using countless products to improve or protect their skin and to style their hair. However, the ingredients of many of these products are still fossil-based petrochemicals.
117 kilograms of lettuce, 67 kilograms of cucumbers, 46 kilograms of tomatoes, 19 kilograms of kohlrabi, 15 kilograms of herbs and 8 kilograms of radishes - these are the preliminary results after one year of vegetable farming in perpetual ice.
Wood is one of the most important raw materials in our industry. It is used for energy production, as a sustainable building material, for the production of paper and even bioplastics. But how exactly does wood grow? This is what researchers from Heidelberg have been investigating.
Deep below the ground is our most important water reserve: groundwater. The underground pool is the largest freshwater reservoir on earth and at the same time a precious source of drinking water. Almost two billion people around the globe draw their drinking water from it. Like the soil and the sea, this ecosystem is threatened by climate change, overexploitation and the growing world population.
No matter if car, wind turbine or airplane: In order for a machine to run smoothly, it usually needs one or more lubricants. Today, the chemical industry has a wide range of specialized and widely optimized lubricants and bonded coatings. However, their components and additives are traditionally based on fossil raw materials.
Organic agriculture stands for sustainable agriculture, species diversity and above all the consistent elimination of synthetic chemical pesticides. With a share of 7.5% of the total agricultural area, organic farming is still marginal in Germany. However, current data from the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) show a clear trend towards the sustainable cultivation of fields and meadows.
Anyone who wants to walk along the ceiling as a human probably needs Konrad's super glue from the story "Pippi Longstocking" or another technical trick. However, some animals naturally have the ability to defy gravity and can crawl along walls or ceilings. Using the hunting spider as an example, German researchers have investigated which molecular structures enable the animals to permanently withstand the enormous mechanical stresses that act on their tiny adhesive hairs.
There ia war raging in nature: to gain advantages, microorganisms permanently use chemical molecules to fight against other microorganisms. Researchers at the University of Tübingen have now identified a molecule that could be used as a potent herbicide and that is harmless to humans.