Since March 2022, the global community has been negotiating a global plastics treaty within the framework of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) – but no agreement has been reached so far. From 5 to 14 August, the next round of negotiations in Geneva (Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) 5.2) will make another attempt to reach a legally binding agreement aimed at ending global plastic pollution. Plastic pollution harms not only the environment and human health but also the climate. Environmental chemist Prof. Dr Annika Jahnke and ecotoxicologist Dr Dana Kühnel from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) are advocating cooperation between the scientific, regulatory, industrial, and civil society sectors in order to achieve far-reaching improvements in pollution levels as quickly as possible. Within the INC 5.2 negotiations, they will support the “Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty” and the German delegation.

What if a complex material could reshape itself in response to a simple chemical signal? A team of physicists from the University of Vienna and the University of Edinburgh has shown that even small changes in pH value and thus in electric charge can shift the spatial arrangement of closed ring-shaped polymers (molecular chains) – by altering the balance between twist and writhe, two distinct modes of spatial deformation. Their findings, published in Physical Review Letters, demonstrate how electric charge can be used to reshape polymers in a reversible and controllable way – opening up new possibilities for programmable, responsive materials. With such materials, permeability and mechanical properties such as elasticity, yield stress and viscosity could be better controlled and precisely 'programmed'.

Using energy piles for geothermal heat exchange in buildings offers a sustainable alternative to traditional temperature regulators. However, designing these systems is often complex. Now, researchers from Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan, have developed a simplified modeling framework to improve the design of energy pile systems. Using a combination of finite element modeling and field testing, they quantified the thermal interference between piles and soft clay soil—offering insights for quicker and enhanced geothermal performance.

Amylase/trypsin-inhibitors (ATIs) are proteins that can trigger immune reactions in the human body. They are best known from wheat, where they are considered a possible trigger of non-celiac wheat sensitivity. An international research team led by Katharina Scherf from the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich has now succeeded for the first time in precisely measuring these proteins in barley. The results could open up new avenues for the development of more tolerable foods.

- The HeH⁺ ion was the first molecule to form in the early universe, before the first stars were born.

- Researchers have investigated reactions of HeH⁺ with hydrogen atoms under conditions similar to those in the early universe for the first time, revealing significant discrepancies with previous theories.

- The results significantly impact our understanding of the early chemistry of the universe and the processes that contributed to the formation of the first stars.