at the german aerospace center in stuttgart scientists are researching synthetic fuels. to make them hydrogen is produced using electricity from renewable resources the hydrogen is combined with the c o 2 from the air to create the synthetic fuel but these so called a fuels are still in the test phase plant based synthetic fuels made from residual materials and bio waste are already available on the market. and the 1st of all we're developing synthetic fuels to reduce c o 2. but there's the additional benefit that pollutants are reduced when it comes to particulate matter you can assume from the outset that they'll be cut in half you can even get the particulates levels close to 0 really. professor eichner and his team are investigating the optimal mix is it possible to reduce c o 2 by 70 to 90 percent with synthetic fuels there's still a lot to be done to introduce them but don't expect to be gassing up with professor agnes synthetic fuels anytime soon researchers reckon that those fuels will be used primarily in ships airplanes and trucks. and that's it for me and the

we take a flight over the region, joining a research team from the german aerospace center. the scientists are directing radar beams at the earth, using four different frequencies that penetrate to various depths. ralf horn and his colleagues are conducting experiments to see how the permafrost on our planet is changing. the canadian arctic is the perfect environment for their work. ralf: this floating landscape has all the different facets of permafrost. this is exactly the place we want to be with this equipment. reporter: the test setup is a global first and is designed to give us a better understanding of the changes taking place in permafrost regions. a huge risk for humanity lies dormant in these areas. that's because permafrost soils hold more than twice as much carbon as the earth's atmosphere does. so it's only the ice that is preventing vast amounts of greenhouse gases being released into the air. a short while later, back down on the ground in the wilderness of ice and snow, the scientists dig up a radar reflector that provided a reference point for the measuremen