Study finds unsustainable water use across the Rio Grande
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Updates every hour. Last Updated: 2-Apr-2026 07:15 ET (2-Apr-2026 11:15 GMT/UTC)
After surpassing the 600-scholarship milestone last year, this year the remarkable generosity of private individuals, companies, and institutions enabled Goethe University to set a new participant record. A total of 280 private individuals, 45 companies, and 52 nonprofit organizations donated a €1,116,000 to Goethe University in 2025, which according to the matching principle was doubled by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR). This translates into a total of €2,232,000 raised for scholarship recipients.
Two early-career researchers from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) convinced the expert reviewers of the Carl Zeiss Foundation with their projects. They now have five years to establish their research groups at KIT through the “CZS Nexus” funding program. Each researcher will receive approximately 1.5 million euros. Boris Karanov is developing new algorithms for digital signal processing in optical communication systems, while Frank Rhein is investigating how the CO2 emissions produced by cryptocurrency mining can be reduced by means of physical processes.
Higher yields, greater resilience to climatic changes or diseases – the demands on crop plants are constantly growing. To address these challenges, researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) are developing new methods in genetic engineering. In cooperation with other German and Czech researchers, they succeeded for the first time in leveraging the CRISPR/Cas molecular scissors for changing the number of chromosomes in the Arabidopsis thaliana model organism in a targeted way – without any adverse effects on plant growth. This discovery opens up new perspectives for plant breeding and agriculture. The results have been published in the Science journal. (DOI: 10.1126/science.adz8505)
The reed leafhopper has evolved rapidly from a reed grass specialist into a dangerous pest that attacks important crops such as sugar beets, potatoes, carrots and onions, as well as reeds. It lives in close symbiosis with seven different bacteria, two of which transmit diseases leading to significant crop losses. These symbiotic bacteria likely play a pivotal role in broadening the cicada's host range. These findings could help to develop targeted control strategies in the future, based on influencing pathogenic or beneficial bacteria.