moving my ideas is on its way to bring you more conservation. how do we make cities remember how can we protect how to tell us what to do with all our waste. we can make a difference by choosing smart solutions overstrained said in our ways. global warming genius to put them into a series of implosion tolls are only to double down on more. greenhouse gases trash and heavy metals we humans are really hard on the. but many industries have been briefing to know how they work and science is lending better hands. today we take a look at a few funded projects that are hoping to reduce c o 2 emissions over in the night then timely.

welcome to this edition of tomorrow today the science show on d w. in our 1st reports we accompany a german research it the united arab emirates. the arab country in the arabian gulf was long known for its high energy consumption. but now its lavish attractions and glitzy mega projects may be a thing of the past the country's oil wealth is drawing up and the climate crisis is growing ever more and could soon come to the rescue. greenhouses near abu dhabi in the united arab emirates the plants here can only survive in this arid environment. because they're watered by an expensive

irrigation system and protected from the sun. climate change is already having a major impact here. genetically modified plants that are better adapted to the heat be part of the solution and even help slow down climate change. in his experiments thomas down to car from university has found a way to get tobacco plants to absorb more c o 2 which could help pull the greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere. he's collaborating with mohamed now seem a biologist who works in votes and abu dhabi so exciting to meet. they have weekly meetings from one greenhouse to the next thousands of kilometers apart. they're hoping to modify plants to bind more c

o 2 and boost their yields that would be especially helpful in desert countries like the united arab emirates. you've used to snow the. desert is a real threat and sister a few kilometers away from the university the government wants all professors to make a contribution to the fight against global warming. and on lies still it's abundantly clear that the amount of fertile land is shrinking as a god it is seeing carbon fixation a very important so that we can feed just as many people with less land and. scientists are hoping to super charge plants to make them better at absorbing c o 2 during photosynthesis leaves consume carbon dioxide and release oxygen using the enzyme aruba's co but it's not a faster of fish. process so up to 50 percent of their conversion efficiency is

lost. to a standard car and just colleague alina been sort of our modulating the plants metabolism to make it easier for their leaves to buy c o 2. they're working with bacteria and synthetic enzymes which are introduced into the plant cells the goal is to slow down foetal reciprocation a process in which c o 2 is released instead of stored a synthetic metabolic cycle will also give the process a boost. he's bold in. building 2 things into the plants the synthetic cycle enables them to fix too much better and it's quicker and a larger quantity is stored. the other has to do with photo respiration c o 2 is lost in this process and i can block this undesirable cycle by changing the

mix of enzymes so that c o 2 is either not released or is immediately recycled recycled so far these climate friendly plants only exist in the laboratory but thomas donned a car and his doctoral student. have developed a computer model that shows what their super charged plants might one day be able to do. i pass info to respiration and modulating the metabolic network will keep carbon dioxide inside the plants instead of releasing it into the atmosphere plant's modified this way could bind 5 times as much c o 2. as if i'm in mathematical terms the model works that's a really important result that has come up with in her calculations. and that means that i can perfectly argument the blocking of c o 2 transporter with the center. these

computer simulations are being put to the test in abu dhabi the university greenhouses growing tomatoes and kinna what will their super charge plants have a higher yield and more c o 2. genetically modified plants are permitted in the united arab emirates under highly controlled conditions one super charged plants might be grown in secure greenhouses and the technology might also be used in other applications. trees for example could be enhanced to store more c o 2. algae that grows in flooded sand pits near cement factories could be modified to bind more smokestack emissions. and golden rice which already boosts vitamin e.

might also become more climate friendly. this is an important moment in time where the c o 2 imbalance is still unstable years where new conditions have not yet been established ice free polar caps like the thawing of permafrost is that is why we need to research fully reversible and mild climate mitigation strategies so that we know which way to go when things get critical in say 10 years' time. the scientists hope that green genetic engineering could help boost and at the same time reduce c o 2 emissions. if their research days are supercharged crops could help solve 2 of our biggest problems. global hunger and global warming.

pulling greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere is one solution. but eliminating emissions would be even better. the steel industry is one of the dirtiest industries in the world the blast furnace is that heated with coal are a big part of the problem. might hydrogen be a green a solution a german still produce it is betting that it could. cope as germany's biggest steel producer and also its biggest c o 2 producer its factories pump out around $20000000.00 tons of carbon dioxide a year amounting to almost 3 percent of total c o 2 emissions in germany and the furnace is they use to play a big role in that. period this is a blast furnace one with a conventional design that normally uses iron ore and coke as an additive will be.

the 100 metre tall furnace is filled much like a pepper grinder a fan blows in hot air and coal dust at the bottom of my own occurs naturally in oxidized form so the oxygen has to be extracted to obtain the pure metal that's where the coke or carbon comes in. the byproduct is carbon dioxide. as the gas rises the crude opaque i am melts and flows to the bottom. to do sport based company wants to reduce those c o 2 emissions and eventually eliminate them. they're carrying out tests to see if hydrogen could be used in the furnace instead of carbon. that currently completing the initial phase 1st we have to figure out a good way to get the hydrogen deep into the furnace. awful. but.

it's a tricky process because hydrogen is a highly reactive element when it's combined with oxygen it forms a highly combustible gas oxy hydrogen. every 2 hours the steel workers tap off the fresh. samples are sent to the laboratory on site where the quality of the iron and other raw materials is checked. the hydrogen technique is also a new territory for the engineers here. and of course to have us for being part of this transformation is a huge challenge it's not as easy as people might think that if we're now injecting hydrogen into furnace that means our tests also have to be changed to that of the composition of the gases difference and we might have to change other parameters to . see. in the labs trial furnace is the engineers carry out test runs with a variety of additives and gases. they need

a huge amount of hydrogen which is also a major challenge. these blue cylinders supply just one of the furnace is 28 injection nozzles are. it's well at the moment we have 2 trucks delivering the hydrogen to us in rotation multiply that by 28 and you can see we have a crazy number of deliveries here it's not feasible over the long term which is why we're laying a pipeline. 130 kilometers south of deuce book is a company that knows all about pipelines and that's also investing in hydrogen production the shell rhineland refinery is the largest refinery in germany. shell is now building the world's largest electrolysis plant here on site the facility will use electricity from renewable sources to produce green hydrogen.

the coronavirus pandemic has slowed down construction work somewhat. but the water pipes are already in place. it might just be water but it has to travel 700 meters we had to use some pipe rack with stainless steel it has to be heated to prevent freezing it's not just an ordinary pipe. now it's on to the next stage the refinery director is coming to the site to see how things are going. he's already making plans for the future. where it's a payphone fame mayor of art it is project has a capacity of 10 megawatts it's a start and we can learn from it we want to get the technology up and running to see if it's scalable to 100 megawatts or more what we learn will help us move the

technology forward and that's what makes it so fascinating and it all falls on the spotlight thought is awful so you. shall hopes that one day it might be able to export its green hydrogen. the steelworks induced also a promising customer they also have big plans installed. by 2050 at the latest to suncorp wants to use no coke at all in its furnace is. for that they'll need an all new blast furnace one that will be fed with iron ore pellets and hot hydrogen. instead of dirty c o 2 the byproduct would be h 2 o. water in the form of steam. and they want the furnace to be powered with thermal energy source from green electricity. they've already seen some promising results. awful spirit. this is

what you've already managed is to ship the conversion of the hydrogen deep inside the furnace interior then the hydrogen doesn't just combust but extracts the oxygen from the iron ore leaving us with workable pig iron in the end the fluid was. picked i am produced with this method is higher in quality too when coke is used but pig iron contains unwanted by products like sulphur and phosphorus which have to be removed but that's not the case with hydrogen it's a truly clean fuel. germany did it in 2020. that they tested it almost 20 years ago. but the ban on plastic bags hasn't made much of a difference that yes. altena tips made from natural jute haven't caught on. now a scientist in back today may have found

a solution for that. this is a market at the edge of the bangladeshi capital dhaka. the fish section is very busy as all those. many species are on sale at the stalls. and everywhere single use plastic bags everybody uses the. u.s. genger has been selling fish here for 10 years. he knows that plastic bags are bad for the environment but he says his customers. should take responsibility.

but on the back i'm not buy that. these bags are everywhere and that's why we used them if we could get different ones we would use them people who shop at the market should bring their own bags or baskets but nobody does them myself. right beside the market is a lake it's very polluted and plastic trash is everywhere. ringback disposable plastic bags have been banned in bangladesh since 2002 but the authorities don't enforce the bad. one reason is the lack of alternatives that are slight and cheap and easy to use as regular bags made of polyethylene. eco friendly bags are available for sale but they are rarely used bangladesh is the 3rd biggest producer

of jute in the world. the abundance of this resource inspired scientist mubarak ahmed khan to develop a biodegradable polymer derived from jud fibers and then bags made out of it. when i lived. in bangladesh called the golden 5 i think that's why the prime minister gave our product the name calling back. it's recyclable if you dissolve in water you can dry it and make something new and with it came. back went through a long period of development and testing before to change its present form.

if a bag is burnt it doesn't release dangerous chemicals the way polyethylene does. to all waste you are the source materials for the backs they look as if they're made of regular plastic but they're not. least clear 1st if we beechcroft you to tell it's white you know should i pick on that single star if they put in then we extract cellulose from it but it may soon. be recessed the cellulose to make it will to soluble him a bit again but are not money due. to me then we out of binding agent what it is of them like the bindings of an addict and that yields the solution if you don't mr good at the solution to. a solution to that solution we produce the facts when you say various methods to make them. politically. conscious the manufacturing process

is entirely natural unlike that for bags made from other plants such as manya or the peel of sugarcane. imports our bags are completely biodegradable compostable and water soluble water but also dependable and dependable we can produce bags that last as long as customers need them to. the. pollution of the sea the land and the air is a big topic right now. to learn from our bags are a good environmentally friendly alternative to put our money finally back. the government back to pilot project to manufacture them proved a success. the challenge now is to develop large capacity machines and scale of production so that so now the bags can be made available across the country.

and now it's time for your questions this time we've got one from south america. the young hello my name is. and i'm from colombia and i have a question for tomorrow today why is plankton important for our planet back down. deal or my air good question let's take a look at seawater one teaspoonful contains up to a 1000000 organisms viruses fungal bacteria tiny algae and other creatures. all organisms carried along by the current account just as plants and even large ones like jellyfish but most are so small you need a microscope to see them. it's quite beautiful and when they multiply a lot you can even see that from space. plankton are extremely important for the

global ecosystem here are 3 reasons why number one breathing without plankton we couldn't breathe phytoplankton that use plant like plankton a photosynthetic their fuel by light energy from the sun and give off oxygen in the process the way trees to to but all in a fight a plankton release a lot more oxygen than trees do photosynthesis also involves the consumption of carbon dioxide so phytoplankton help combat climate change by pulling c o 2 from the environment number 2 eating plankton a key to the global food chain phytoplankton a region by 0 plankton that is tiny animals eat tiny plants fish and other larger aquatic creatures eat plants and even some of the biggest animals eat it like some species of whale. and a lot of what. it was really it on plankton without them the entire food chain

would collapse. which brings us to number 3 building plankton are also the source of rule materials what do these buildings have in common like. it's formed from the shells of dead microorganisms that gather on the sea floor. over a 1000000 years or so the debris is cemented together into rock one cubic centimeter of chalk a kind of limestone is made up of hundreds of millions of tiny shelves. just think how many there must be here. plankton maybe very small but sometimes it's the little things that play a very big role. by the way the amount of plankton changes seasonally and in response to other factors

. but in some regions there's been a massive decline in. the us an expert what can we do to protect plankton from. 2 on for an hour. the biggest factor is reducing atmospheric carbon emissions. the same as is related to fish or ice the larger creatures plankton and fish are important for the mineral nutrients cycle. through for the outside says if you take those creatures out of the system by overfishing for example then you also change the mineral nutrient cycles. then ended tomorrow. that also has a direct impact on phytoplankton because they need mineral nutrients to grow to vioxx and. in turn has plankton research changed. over time.

to our hearts more form land we used to base our approach to the oceans and what we know about land ecosystems. not at 1st scientists focus primarily on how mineral nutrients are distributed in the ocean and how phytoplankton respond to these nutrients. but we are now discovering that the many interactions among the plankton might be more important. then that's the direction research is now going in. looking at the interactions which species occur together how they are distributed and that kind of thing. will do that and i didn't just use it in cats and the data shows that these interactions are very important one of the most important involves predation.

grazing pressure from playing. if we look at these types of interactions in detail then of course rediscover completely new facets of the clinton ecology. and. facet of. a typical example diatoms. and this month the fish car surges have examined the robustness of their salissa find cell walls and which animals eat such creatures and how the structure of these shells 1st protection from various predators. if outlet is right why aren't they. do you have a science question you'd like us to answer. send you think as a video text man if we featured on the show did. surprise from us as

a thank you come on just ask. for more science stories check out our website d.w. dot com slash science or look for us on twitter. that's all for now that's what joining us on tamara today. will be back next week with another edition. of.

live. from. literally from his time in an airplane the am to the very 1st time on an escalator . through 20 years in an african refugees in the new monthly get this little one way trip to america. a film about and it's.

ordinary congolese family about the pitfalls of the american way of life. insisting. people looking for courage. and there are many answers. there are many reasons. and there are many alternatives. to. make up your own mind. for minds.

they were forced into a nameless mass. their bodies and their tools. the history of the slave trade is africa's history book describes how the greed for power and profit plummeted an entire continent into chaos and violence the slave system created the greatest planned accumulation of wealth the world had ever seen up to that moment. from its very beginning until this very day shimon treasure to shape the book this is the journey back into the history of slavery that i think will truly be making progress when we all accept the history of slavery as all of our history.

our documentary series slavery routs starts march 10th on t w. this is g w news live from berlin donald trump returns to the political stage hinting at another run for the white house. it is never been a journey so successful 3 to get it together 4 years ago and it is far from being over. the home of president gets a rapturous welcome from.