Transdisciplinary Research Area Innovation and Technology for Sustainable Futures

A new study by the University of Bonn and the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) in Gatersleben sheds light on the mechanism used by plants to monitor how much of the nutrient phosphate is available, and to decide when strategies to mobilize and take up more phosphate from the soil must be activated. The enzyme ITPK1 plays a key role in this process. The researchers were also able to show that a particular group of signaling molecules involved in phosphate sensing respond very sensitively to phosphate and that this regulation takes place not only in plants but also in human cells. In the long term, the results could lead to the breeding of new crop varieties that require less phosphate fertilizer. The final version of the study has now been published in the journal "Molecular Plant".

Humans are social beings, but not everyone is equally mindful of others. To what extent does the degree of social mindfulness differ in different countries? An international team of researchers led by Leiden University has now investigated this - and found considerable differences. Among other things, the authors, with the participation of the University of Bonn, found that greater social mindfulness was also associated with better overall environmental protection goals in countries. The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Smart robots, such as vacuuming or mopping robots, are becoming more prevalent in everyday life and will also increasingly take care of tasks in the public sphere in the future. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has now approved EUR 2.25 million of funding for the Robots in Everyday Life (RimA) transfer center project. Computer Scientists at the University of Bonn will be working on the Benchmarking of Assistance Robots subproject until 2025.

Prof. Dr. Joachim von Braun, director at the Center for Development Research at the University of Bonn, was appointed president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in 2017 for a four-year term. Now Pope Francis has appointed him for another four years.