MaxPlanckResearch 2/2025

We are living in an age of unprecedented upheaval — climate change, biodiversity loss, and technological marvels. Amid this disruption, Carla Avolio and Martin Wikelski envision a new kind of conservation, one where technology helps us to protect nature and even return its agenc

Tina Lüdecke enjoys traveling in foreign countries. It’s one of the reasons she became a geoscientist. Today, she works at the cutting — or even biting — edge: at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, she analyzes fossil teeth to determine how our early ancestors ate millions of years ago, shedding light on human evolution.

Hydrogen is supposed to help many areas of the economy become independent from fossil fuels. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Dresden are using the quantum properties of catalysts to make the electrolysis required for producing hydrogen more efficient.

Over the coming years and decades, the chemical industry will have to forego the use of fossil feedstocks — not only to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also to avoid waste. At the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems in Magdeburg, researchers are supporting this transformation through numerous projects.

Established democracies are under mounting pressure — and they are beginning to crumble. The process of erosion begins slowly, almost imperceptibly, before suddenly accelerating at a terrifying pace. What are the most corrosive forces at play, and how can society counter the slide? These are the questions driving Ralph Hertwig’s research at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. One fact is undeniable: watching passively from the sidelines will do nothing to stop the erosion.

For thousands of years, the boreal region and the Arctic have served as a sort of freezer for carbon and so have helped to keep Earth’s climate stable. But a new study involving the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena shows that the region’s CO₂ balance sheet is changing as a result of climate change — sooner than expected.

Max Planck researchers collaborate with partners in more than 120 countries. In this article, they write about their personal experiences and impressions. At the Atto research station in the Amazon, Sebastian Brill from the Mainz-based Max Planck Institute for Chemistry is investigating how fungal spores and other biological particles affect cloud formation in the atmosphere. The researcher tells of life in a rainforest camp, where the trees are home to howler monkeys and caymans appear in the shower.