we protect habitats we can make a difference the idea of mental series again global studies also on g.w. and on mine. in the art of climate change. africa. what's in store. for the future. can't forget major cities. inside. culture. moving from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources the goal is clear but the way to get there is less. bio gas production relies on monocultures that are bad for biodiversity and insects wind pots are noisy and a danger to birds how can we generate truly killing energy that and more coming up .

well come to you tomorrow today the science show on d w. 'd at the risk of sounding corny i'd say today's show is about me not as food for people or animals but feel to generate electricity. this share of energy from renewable sources is growing every year especially in asia. europe and 'd north america. most of the energy is produced from biomass from something like me. but the other sources aren't doing so badly either. however i've come under a lot of criticism recently while you see for yourself. this field is lush and green but in a. way it's a desert

a desert of corn planted to produce biofuel fields like this cover more than a 1000000 hectares in germany corn provides hardly any food for insects biologists say that's one reason for massive insect die offs. when committed by 90 you can't generate biodiversity with a single type of plant a monoculture so you need to sow a range of different plants to get a range of insects it just doesn't work with corn it will help and. the idea is to replace the corn with plants that can also be used to produce biofuel and provide food for insects at the same time. up to 30 different species should begin flowering here soon. so far only come a mile is visible. to see look at the state of that disco stained even though it's a loss something nicely satisfied it has all wrong we want to have a field of flowering prairie shrubs here we need biomass this senseless camel mile

has reached just 70 centimeters in height that's not enough mass we should have some flowers here now perennial sunflowers this tall that's the plant plunker's and has been like this for years but this year awful. it's a failure come a mile produces hardly any energy and offers very little nutrition for insects. the scientists want to examine the field more closely perhaps the sunflowers have germinated underneath to come a mile. or walkable strip is cleared so that they can see what plants they have here. insect traps are set up to check whether more bugs are being drawn to the field. with a measuring stick and a case report forms they set to work looking for anything that might be growing underneath the ramp and come a mile in that area. cornelia mazzini rick. the amount and height of each flower

species not been found we're looking for the various species that were sown here and the main component of the mixture right now is the hemi on those maximillian the perennial sunflower that's here and it's there year i missed out and. it's taken a good foothold here half there's a caterpillar that's not open. even if such perennial shrubs provide food for insects that indigenous to north america and asia critics fear they might crowd out native species. this and i misspelled comment did you get off on those are actually claims that have never been investigated their assumptions but you have to consider that we are here in germany a land of immigration side we have a level of biodiversity which since the ice age has yet to fully recover to what it was before the icing. we're trying to show that our front to only accept these wild species from foreign lands just as much as the indigenous species and interestingly

we discovered that while beings in particular are very goes and buys food of its you say instant. martinis colleague into the elites is looking at whether beings and other insects can really feed on the pollen of non-indigenous flowering shrubs for example with cylinders like bees in which wild bees build their nests. in the biologists then drive to another field of non-indigenous flowering shrubs. they see right away that it's not overgrown with come a mile and boasts many more types of plants they're not fully grown yet and most aren't in flower. shop. till we have 7 here and this is siberian mother wart. japonica in full bloom no. the field has more flowering shrubs and more bugs. it didn't have very

plains the field is really cleaned up the plants have space around them so they can establish themselves it's a real success there's enough light getting through to the soil so the things species can develop well the field is still emerging and i can see there's another vase and we sit here as a young ross and weed and here's a hollyhock all of that goodness if you see if your mouth you could mistake or was it all. the scientists plan seems to be working here even though the plants are not yet in full bloom there are a lot of. insects and the field will also produce a lot of biomass later for generating energy. but the yield will never be as high as it is with corn 50 to 60 percent at most that's a loss for the pharma. navy and it's a fully you know i'm not satisfied from it but from martinis programs supporting those so it's ok. but farmers would plant more of this if they were supported by

the government if there was a funding programme to make up for the shortfall i normally have $45.00 to $50.00 tonnes of corn in this field it's good soil but with this stuff so to speak i need to be compensated to make a profit by. lower yields but increased biodiversity protecting species and agriculture can go together even if the profits are lower but the idea here is that losses can be minimised if farmers keep growing corn but also plant flowering shrubs in between so that the profitable corn is mixed with flowering perennials that benefit insects. of course will easier to grow the same plants every year. but there's a big downside to that according to a study from munich technical university monocultures destroyed just as many species as climate change does an apparent paradox and crops often grown as

monoculture is intended to counteract global warming well a mix of energy crops help to restore insect but others a team. biologist ingrid has put bee hives in this field to see of the insects are feeding on the flowers. although the field is the bees habitat the scientists want to confirm they also gather pollen here small i need to be sure the pollen comes from this field. every year we have to make certain that there could be something in the field that the bees haven't collected from and that would be important information for us. think of the elite uses a little trick to find out where the pollen comes from 1st she calms the bees with a bit of smoke. then she uses

a grid to block the entrance to the hive. this allows her to gather the pollen that collects on the bees hind legs in their orange colored sacks which she then strips off to examine later. if the bees want to get into the honeycombs in the hive they have to crawl through the grid. the grid openings are so narrow that the insects can just squeeze through. but the pollen on their hind legs sticks to it these samples show how the pollen differs depending on which plant it came from. after an hour the 1st batch is ready for examination. as shines out it's very likely that a lot of this pollen comes from the field but we really have to look carefully under the microscope and confirm that before we know for sure. but what we can see from this pollen is that the bees are using many different plants for their nourishment 2. in contrast to the monoculture of corn there's more than one

flowering perceives in here because one of the 30 or so plant species in the field is always in bloom that means the bees and other insects have food from spring right through to autumn. what about other creatures can they also find a habitat here after all many species of birds live on insects. the camera which automatically takes pictures when it detects movement should tell us. in just a few weeks this photographic trap captures several animals including field hamsters birds and hairs but. it seems that one species attracts the next. the fact that the bees are making a lot of honey shows that they're thriving in this environment.

trami much of time and so it makes me so happy to see a healthy colony like this one for us well taken care of adequately supplied with next year and paul and the brood that's this beautiful it's great fun. obviously this test field with its energy plants provides food for the insects. but what about the yield for humans. a field cultivated by a farmer is now in full bloom. my garden so i'm michael hunt so much buzz going to be hives in there there are a couple of 100000 bees out here going to show me remember you've got some crazy. sure to be a full flowers amazing. many of the high yielding perennials are not yet fully grown sometimes clevelanders are going to grow another 50 centimeters right here we

have. our yellow sweet clover that's not yet fully grown you can see it here it's spreading its shoots it should grow another 3040 centimeters so there is plenty of biomass in there and that's exactly what we want we want mass for the biofuel companies and we also need lots of flowers for the insects and that's exactly what we have here. an impressive sight an abundance of blossoms on a cultivated field. it's time for the harvest biologist carnelian martini and farmer klaus gas and i have come to see the results. looking good. really good. he wants to be compensated for the reduced yield but he also knows that these species rich fields offer an opportunity for farmers and they prove that

agriculture and biodiversity can work hand in hand. electricity from renewable sources has a weakness the energy supply can fluctuate sometimes renewables provide more electricity sometimes less to the grid. excess power could be stored in electric vehicles they're not in use all of the time. they rechargeable lithium ion batteries can store a lot of energy relative to their weight but extracting lithium comes with its own problems. this is how lithium is often found in nature as a mineral in hard rock and generally in combination with other elements. that's because a lithium atom has a loosely bound electron that it easily give some. to form compounds and rock like this it is hard to extract. but in south america there are deposits where it is

much more accessible more than half the world's known reserves are there under the crust of the salt flat is of brine rich. when the briny water is pumped up and left to evaporate the residue contains among other things lots of lithium. various chemicals some of them toxic are used to separate. what's more as the brine is removed from the salt flats groundwater from the extremely dry terrain takes its place to get enough lithium for the battery of just one mid-sized car 12000 liters of water are needed if they extract such vast amounts of water so quickly and we know that's a lot of water then in the next 5 or 6 years this area will turn into a real desert it won't just destroy farming and livestock breeding it will make

human life here impossible. a high price to pay for. the extracted now undergoes further processing it's the most important part of a rechargeable battery the battery cells are mainly produced in asia about 6 kilograms of lithium are needed for a mid-sized car. and this is how the lithium performs on the road. in the battery it provides power by letting electron migrate from the town and out to the cathode. and back again during recharging. at some point the lithium is used up and the battery becomes too weak to run a car. but it 80 percent. capacity battery can still store electricity from renewable energy and to be ready to use when the sun isn't shining

and there is no wind. but every rechargeable battery down i eventually. put to rest. not quite the batteries can be recycled but a lot of energy and chemicals are needed to revive them. right now it's hardly worth the trouble since the price of new lithium from south america. is in huge demand for batteries. in 2019 more than 3000000000 smartphones with. cell phones with an internet connection all great for accessing from all over the globe. and they can be a big help to people in remote areas for example

a vegetable in rural. things have turned gloomy in recent days from into more. he lives in a village in south central bangladesh. division. he's a tenant farmer and has been doing well. the soil is fertile and describes have been abundant. he's one of 80000 tenant farmers in the district who grow mainly rice and vegetables. but a new problem is just cropped up. plants have been hit by a disease he can't identify.

it had to get this plant has dried up in with are just. going what they want 1st the tops of us talks right and then lower down as well you know. we've never seen a disease like this before. the plants and i within a week but at that time that next up with that he got that means we could be facing huge losses. other farmers in his village own their own land and are more prosperous. zakir hussain is one of them he went to school when he was young and he has a smartphone into mall and tells him about his problem. farmers here have heard that they can get advice from experts via a smartphone app. or sort of the. secular host signed takes

a photo of the diseased plant writes a brief account of the problem and posts them to full sholay and based online service offering free advice to farmers it's run by d.c.i. agribusiness is a unit of the conglomerate a.c.i. . so he said it best that we used to go to the local government agriculture department or other people who could help when we had problems now if you have a smartphone you can find many solutions via an app. for surely is based in the capital dhaka. he thought our alina processes queries received from farmers across the country she's already received about 100 queries today she communicates with the farmers but the information she provides comes from experts sunbeam raman runs the geographical information system and remote sensing unit of a.c.i.

the technology enables farmers to monitor the health of their crops and to protect them by analyzing and predicting threats for surely doesn't just respond to specific queries but also makes a lot of general information available on that sap. that you need once that they commence to buy every 12 days we analyze the backscatter values we get from the sentinel one satellite for crop growth and feed the data into our map used to be there it won't look at somebody before you think pest and disease control methods we try to figure out what kinds of diseases might affect crops within the next 48 hours. and in which particular stage of growth and put all this information in our app information all of it i think you should just. for sholay is an intelligent decision support system. a.c.i. has invested a lot in its development. farmers don't pay for the service but at the

same time the company using sales of its agricultural products soar. it has recruited staff to go out into the fields and teach farmers about the app. local government officials are. also involved they appreciate how this software can enhance communication among farmers experts and the authorities. is hoping to get a reply to his query later the same day so that he can start to tackle the disease killing his plans for him and many farmers like him the new digital technology could mean the difference between ruined and a brighter future. in the future digital technologies are expected to. much of which may be

generated by wind power. but critics say. it's. found a solution. this is a conventional wind turbine and this could be the wind turbine of tomorrow the 3 rotor blades rotate around a vertical axis so far no one's managed to produce electricity with a 100 meter high vertical axis wind turbine but inventor patrick least here believes he and his team have made a breakthrough fixture spent more than 6 years working on the project as a personal hobby after another 6 years collaborating with scientists he managed to produce a prototype. i'm excited we've been working on this for a while it's a major component and now we'll see it for the 1st time when it comes out of the mold. and this is the moment of truth in the hangar near zurich

the part measuring 27 meters in length and weighing 2 tons is the 1st section of a rotor blade for a test in the field made of fiberglass and resin it was bonded and pressed into a gigantic mold. and it's coming along. so cool. his vertical axis wind turbine has a certification a 105 meter tall tower is already standing waiting for it in western germany the turbine will be mounted on top for the inventor to demonstrate its advantages especially for the environment just because it's back if it is compatible with wildlife in the air bats will fly around it and birds can recognise it so there aren't any bird strikes if this one very important feature is that it's much quieter than conventional wind turbines. even at close range you don't hear anything it's like

a tower that turn slowly and it can be used in many different places where conventional wind turbines can't be. back in 2011 at dubin door of an airport near zurich after this special trial on the runway patrick feaster could no longer keep his vertical wind turbine a secret. a 2nd test in 2012 in the swiss town of core it was sobering the turbine with 12 blades that tracked the wind didn't produce enough power like many before him face to face failure especially after a storm knocked the turbine off kilter. setback just 10 days after it was installed was a huge shock. it was weird to be woken up on a saturday morning by the release of the. 8 years and many lab tests later patrick nature and his team were able to solve the problem of the rotor blades. today the blade still adjusts to the wind but they're powered by 3 motors

it's the heart of the invention. of sort of the motor ensures that the position of the rotor blade is always optimized so that the stream of air on the blade doesn't break down and the blades pull the entire road or even in the same direction. because that way they turn very slowly and quietly which allows us to enlarge the system. picture wants to get his prototype on the market he has projects in the planning phase in asia and the us and a lot depends on their success there's already 18000000 euros worth of venture capital invested in this design. bad mix of all thumb if you don't take risks you won't reap the reward of my entire life i wanted to be a pioneer if my parents always said i should do something pioneering software i always search for things that no one had done before. them that horrible says when you really do experience tilting at windmills 1st hand sometimes you don't feel

like going through with it but moments like this make up for everything well. there's no turning back now for patrick priester his 1st vertical axis wind power system is now complete and about to go into operation. and that's all from tomorrow today for this week. they'll be more science from us next morning until then stay healthy stay period.

closer. to see people from around the world put on display. come closer marvel at our extraordinary collection of chains being. pried out to the light in the suffering of people who are. different all to justify the money our.

first time story. 15 minutes on d. w. . it was the 1st international tribunal in history. the number of the trials. 75 years ago a high ranking officers of the nazi regime of morning judging by the allied forces . were the 1st war criminals to be held accountable for their crimes. measured by the government count them on. going through dollars pair of years of frasier. our 2 part series the 3rd reich the dog starts nov 12th on g.w. . imagine how many foolish muslims are thrown out on the phone right now climate

change means different awful story. faces much less leeway from just one week. how much worse can really get. we still have time to act i'm going. slugfests get subscribed for more minutes like this. we know that this is a scary time for the coronavirus is changing the world changing our lives so please take care of yourself. good distance wash your hands if you can stay at how we do w. for here for you we are working so hard to sleep here with forms on over platforms we're all in this together on together make it. so you see everybody.

stay safe stay safe please stay safe. and. play. this is the of you news live from berlin standing in solidarity people across france honor a well liked history teacher who was beheaded after discussing cartoons the muslim prophet muhammad with his class prime minister john caustics joined the crowd in paris. also coming up in unofficial count shows bolivia's socialist candidate is a.