How sustainable are German companies? How seriously do they take ecological and social issues and how openly do they deal with them?

The plastic mountains from old packaging need to be reduced - on this, consumers and companies agree. But in addition to product protection, plastic packaging also offers other advantages such as low weight. That is why most manufacturers do not want to eliminate the use of plastics, but rather to develop a clever packaging design that allows as much recycling as possible.

The demand for living space in Germany is expected to increase by seven percent by 2030. And even today, politicians are struggling to find solutions that will reduce housing costs. One such measure could be the construction of new buildings. These could also help promote the transformation of the housing sector towards greater sustainability. Several institutions of the Zuse Research Association have developed new technologies precisely for this purpose.

The Food Accelerator Network is entering the next round: once again, start-ups from the agricultural and food industries have the opportunity to receive not only practical assistance but also financial injections. The target group are young companies whose business ideas are aimed at strengthening confidence in the food industry, addressing people's health or improving the sustainability of the sector.

Trees are a natural source of CO2 and make an important contribution to climate protection. However, species diversity varies greatly from region to region and has changed dramatically over the years. In the humid tropics, for example, there are considerably more plants to be found per square metre than in Germany. But why is this so, and what factors influence the diversity of tree species? In order to find answers to these questions, the forested areas of the world would have to be thoroughly explored - truly a Sisyphean task.

New technologies such as field robots are already making agriculture more efficient and sustainable. New habitats for insects and other animals are being created with flower strips or mixed cultivation of crops. This contributes to the protection of biological diversity. But can all these measures halt the global loss of biodiversity? Apparently not.

Jellyfish is a delicacy. At least in Western Europe, this thought will cause some bewilderment. But in Asian cuisine, the wobbly sea animals have been on the menu for centuries and are considered exclusive delicacies. One reason for this is certainly the time-consuming preparation, which takes several weeks. Chemists from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz and the University of Southern Denmark have now investigated what happens chemically to jellyfish tissue during this process and developed an alternative to the slow variant.

Too sweet, too salty, too fatty: Many foods contain ingredients that are unhealthy when consumed in excess. The food industry has long been under pressure to find alternatives: The cost of treating diet-related diseases such as heart, circulatory and metabolic diseases is around 17 billion euros a year.

Some authors are able to craft stories that come to life in the imagination of their readers. In fact, most books are literally alive, because their pages contain microorganisms. Researchers from the Leipzig University Library, the TU Braunschweig and the German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (DSMZ) now want to look at and study these microbes as "genuine components of the culture material".

It is at least 3,500 years old and yet so far no one knew its parents: the saffron crocus has been cultivated for a long time, especially in the Mediterranean region and in Asia. Its flower threads are the source of the valuable spice saffron, which can compete with gold at a price of up to 30,000 euros per kilo. The saffron crocus has also been appreciated for centuries as a medicinal plant and coloring agent. Despite its value, the plant has never been improved by breeding in all these years.