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Bright spots: curious ideas that make the world a little bit better

Food from the Antarctic, oil-storing beer mats and buildings made from trees. Three astonishing ideas for a better world.  

Anja Leuschner , 19.12.2024
Basil harvest at EDEN ISS in Antarctica.
Basil harvest at EDEN ISS in Antarctica. © Linda Ort, DLR/NASA/AWI

Food for the universe 

Tomatoes, peppers and strawberries from outer space? What might sound strange at first is in fact a key question being pursued by researchers as a step towards long space missions and the colonisation of another planet. The cultivation of food in a hostile environment was tested from 2018 to 2023: researchers from the German Aerospace Centre harvested more than a tonne of vegetables, lettuces and herbs at the EDEN-ISS greenhouse in Antarctica.  

The EDEN ISS greenhouse in the Antarctic.
The EDEN ISS greenhouse in the Antarctic. © AWI / Michael Trautmann

The test greenhouse is currently being remodelled: it is to be used to train astronauts to grow food during potential deployment on the moon. At EDEN, research is also being conducted into how food production can succeed in difficult climatic conditions such as in deserts and arctic regions.  

Fighting oil spills with beer mats 

The Liquid Binder Boards can be used as an initial response in the event of spills.
The Liquid Binder Boards can be used as an initial response in the event of spills. © Koehler-Gruppe

You usually come across beer mats at your local pub: they’re placed on top of a glass to keep insects out, used as building blocks for card houses – or as a handy way of noting down someone’s mobile phone number. The company Katz in the northern Black Forest has been producing classic beer mats for 120 years, and for several years now there has been a completely different variant, too: the Liquid Binder Boards look like beer mats, but they’re made of particularly absorbent cardboard made from wood pulp, enabling them to soak up oil, petrol and diesel. If oil is leaking in a lake, river or ocean, for example, the mats are thrown into the polluted water from a boat. Once absorbed, the material no longer releases the stored substance. Even after binding the pollutants, the mats still float on the surface, so they can easily be easily recovered. These beer mats are a quick and efficient aid in the event of water contamination.  

Living buildings made of trees and steel 

Development or greenery? This is the eternal conflict involved in urban planning. But there is another way – as architectural botany shows. This combines buildings with trees by fusing trees with other materials such as steel to create load-bearing elements and façades. Professor Ferdinand Ludwig is Germany’s expert in architectural botany. His projects include a 22-metre footbridge at a height of 2.5 metres which is supported only by willow trees, and a ten-metre plane tree cube that can be climbed like a viewing platform. The idea in future is for it to be supported solely by the plane trees. This brings nature and architecture together: towns and cities in particular can benefit from the positive climatic properties of trees.