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Maize plants use benzoxazinoid both to ward off aphids and to protect against caterpillars. Wheat has the same defense strategies, but the enzymatic switch that decides the defense function is different.

Food Plants Agriculture sciences

One substance, two effects

Ecologists from Germany and Switzerland report that maize and wheat use the metabolite benzoxazinoid differently depending on which pest attacks them.

Researchers from Baden-Württemberg want to produce new products for the bioeconomy from walnuts.

Food Plants Agriculture sciences

Walnuts for the bioeconomy

Nuts are traditional winter and Christmas treats. However, they are not only tasty and nutritious, they also have a huge potential as source material for the bioeconomy.

Many plastic products can now be made from renewable raw materials - including Lego building blocks. However, researchers in Bonn warn that just because it's renewable, it is not necessarily sustainable.

Consumables Plants Chemistry

Are bioplastics the solution?

Are bioplastics really a "green" alternative to petroleum-based plastics? According to researchers in Bonn, bioplastics are only sustainable if crop residues are used for its production.  

Jasmine plants are particularly popular because of their flowers and fragrance. But they also give their name to an important plant hormone that is involved in the function of leaf pores.

Agriculture and forestry Plants Agriculture sciences

Old hormone, new function

Jasmonic acid is widely known as a defence hormone of plants. Researchers from Würzburg have now identified another function: it also causes the closure of stomata.

Prof. Dr. Andrea Kruse

Chemistry Plants Biotechnology/Systems biology

An on-farm biorefinery

Andrea Kruse wants to promote the material use of biomass. The chemist from Hohenheim hopes to establish a biorefinery on the farm in order to produce basic chemicals from plant feedstocks.

Through contact with water, the seed of Neopallasia pectinata from the family of composite plants forms a slimy sheath. The white cellulose fibres anchor it to the seed surface.

Pharmaceutical industry Plants Biotechnology/Systems biology

New plant-based nanofibers

Zoologists in Kiel have discovered highly adhesive cellulose nanofibres in the slimy protective layer of plant seeds, which may be very useful for biomedical applications.

The magnetic microbe Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense during its division: magnetite crystals are colored red and the cytoskeleton green.

unspecific Microorganisms Biotechnology/Systems biology

Microbe of the year goes to Magnetospirillum

Due to its magnetic properties, the microbial species Magnetospirillum has enormous potential for biotechnological applications and was voted Microbe of the Year 2019.

At the end of 2018, the PANBioRA project meeting took place in Tirana, Albania.

Pharmaceutical industry unspecific Biotechnology/Systems biology

Quick evaluation of biomaterials

The European project PANBioRA is investigating and developing tools and methods in order to assess the risks of new biobased medical products in a standardised way.

Using tomatoes and ground beef as examples, Fraunhofer researchers have trained the intelligent algorithm of their food scanner. The scanner can now infer the shelf life of food items based on the measured values.

Food unspecific Bioökonomie mitgestalten

Measuring shelf life with infrared light

Fraunhofer physicists have developed a pocket-sized food scanner that uses infrared light and intelligent algorithms to determine the shelf life of food.

Just a few centimetres in size, but extremely absorbent: The wood chips developed by materials scientists at TU Dresden are designed to clean up water after an oil spill.

Machine and plant engineering Plants Materials sciences

Fighting oil spills with wood chips

Materials scientists at TU Dresden have developed wood fibre-based oil binders that can clean water in the event of an oil spill.

Zucker

Chemistry Microorganisms unspecific

nova-Institut (2019): Sugar Sustainability Study

A new study by the nova-Institut investigates the sustainability of biobased raw materials for the chemical industry, both quantitatively and qualitatively.

Michael Ohl

unspecific Plants Biodiversity

Capturing global biodiversity

The Berlin biologist Michael Ohl wants to record the diversity of animal species on earth with the help of innovative technologies - at the new Center for Integrative Biodiversity Discovery.

In Paris, Covestro is presenting a biobased hair gel and a biodegradable sun lotion.

Chemistry unspecific Chemistry

Covestro presents sustainable cosmetics

Cosmetics are a growing market but mostly based on petrochemicals. During a trade show in Paris Covestro is now presenting a new sustainable hair gel and sun protect lotion.

Chemistry Fungi Biotechnology/Systems biology

Biogas from mushrooms

Thomas Helle, Managing Director of Tübingen-based Novis GmbH, is developing a biogas plant using mushroom compost as part of the EU project "Smartmushroom".

DLR researcher Paul Zabel spent a year in Antarctica, testing the farming of vegetables in the EDEN-ISS greenhouse.

Food Plants Agriculture sciences

Farming vegetables in perpetual ice

After a year of growing vegetables in Antarctica, Paul Zabel has returned to Germany. The results are mostly positive - in total, more than 270 kilograms of vegetables were harvested.

Picture of two cell clones (in green), each of which originated from a single cambium stem cell and contributed to both the wood (xylem) and the bast (phloem).

Agriculture and forestry Plants Forestry

Stem cells produce wood and bast

According to researchers from Heidelberg, so-called bifacial stem cells alternate between producing wood and bast cells.

Viele Meter unter der Erde befindet sich ein riesiges Wasserreservoir, das für Menschen überlebenswichtig ist: das Grundwasser.
Many metres underground there is a huge reservoir of water that is vital for human survival: groundwater.

unspecific unspecific Environmental technology

Delayed climate impact on groundwater

The influence of climate change on groundwater is insidious. The slow reaction time could prove to be an ecological time bomb, as an international team of researchers discovered.

Getreidefeld mit Frauenspiegel und anderen Ackerwildkräutern Getreidefeld mit Wildkräutern | © Michael Welling
Grain field with corn bellflower and other wild herbs

Agriculture and forestry Plants Agriculture sciences

Clear advantage for organic farming

A recent study by the Thünen Institute shows: Organic agriculture scores significantly better than conventional agriculture in terms of resource conservation, soil fertility and biodiversity.

Die Polymere werden aus Bakterien isoliert und anschließend chemisch modifiziert.
The polymers are isolated from bacteria and then chemically modified.

Chemistry Microorganisms Biotechnology/Systems biology

Smooth running with biobased lubricants

Partners from research and industry are developing environmentally friendly lubricants based on biopolymers.

Flasche mit Flüssigwaschmittel

Consumables Microorganisms

Detergent

At the beginning of the 20th century, the "first automatic detergent" went on sale. It promised clean laundry after only 30 minutes at 95°C. Before that, the laundry had to be soaked, laboriously kneaded, rubbed, rinsed and wrung.