What does a specific nucleotide sugar transporter have to do with plant hormones? Plant researchers at the Dahlem Centre of Plant Sciences (DCPS) at Freie Universität asked themselves this question as part of their studies of the plant hormone cytokinin.

Each year 740,000 people in Germany contract some form of pneumonia outside a hospital. About one-third of them become so sick that they require inpatient treatment. Even with medical attention, twelve percent do not survive the infection.

Chemical waste, vehicle exhaust, soil poisoned by fracking: Nowadays, industrial progress since the 19th century is considered the main cause of pollution. But were people 1,000 or 2,000 years ago more environmentally conscious in their actions because there was no industry in the modern sense? Did they live in harmony with nature, as idyllic depictions in ancient and medieval literature would seem to suggest?