LIVING with EXTREMES 2 Max Planckresearch ·1 | 2021 V Volcanic Outbreaks for Outbreaks Volcanic Around Walls
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01 | 2021 MAX PLANCK Research 2021 EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY HISTORY BIOMECHANICS | 01 Viruses from primeval times The empire is back Cells under pressure LIVING WITH EXTREMES 2 ines from the ash: on VLanzarote in the Canary Islands, wine has been cultivated in the sediment of volcanic outbreaks for around PHOTOS: PICTURE ALLIANCE / IMAGEBROKER | JUSTUS CUVELAND DE PICTURE (COVER); ALLIANCE / DUMONT BILDARCHIV | GERALD HAENEL (THIS PAGE) 250 years. The winegrowers dig pits and plant the vines in the lapillus coat, as it is known, which is several meters thick. In the dry climate on Lanzarote, the porous stones which form the layer, and which are no bigger than a pea or a nut, store the night dew. The plants are protected from strong wind by low walls. This is an example of how agriculture can adapt to extreme conditions. Max Planck Research · 1 | 2021 EDITORIAL Dear reader, Our planet provides a comfortable home for the life it supports. With its water, food, warmth and light, it has everything that all kinds of organisms – including humans – need to grow and thrive. However, at certain times and places, conditions on Earth can be distinctly hostile. Heat or cold, heavy precipitation or total drought, strong winds, lightning, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes all threaten the existence of many living beings. The only way they can survive is by adapting to such extremes. Nature is constantly providing new and surprising examples of this, such as a species of algae that is indigenous to the desert. Researchers are studying how these algae can survive in such inhospitable environments and whether its properties could be 3 transferred to crop plants. The question of how plants can cope with drought is becoming ever more urgent. Recent summers have shown that the agricultural industry needs to be prepared for long periods of drought, even in this country. Moreover, climate research models have shown that extreme weather events will become even more common in the future. Forecasting them can help us adjust to these situations. History has shown that humans respond to the challenges posed by their environment in many different ways. Disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions have caused great human tragedies, but they have also influenced and inspired art and culture. There are many examples of this in the Italian city of Naples. Extremes are threatening. However, we have seen new life burgeon and new opportunities open up again and again, even in inhospitable surroundings and harsh conditions. With this in mind, we hope you will find this magazine informative reading! Your editorial team Max Planck Research · 1 | 2021 34 44 PHOTOS: PICTURE ALLIANCE/DPA | CHRISTOPHE (ABOVE LEFT); MARCUS GATEAU ROCKOFF (ABOVE RIGHT); TOM HEGEN (BELOW LEFT); DREAMSTIME (BELOW RIGHT) 52 58 34 DRIED OUT 44 EXCITED 52 DYED 58 HONORED In the summer of 2018, water Asifa Akhtar is examining Microorganisms give salt The Habsburg military com- levels in the Rhine were also how gene expression production pools in southern mander Ban Josip Jelačić fought very low near Duesseldorf is regulated. France their color. for Croatian independence. Max Planck Research · 1 | 2021 CONTENT 03 | EDITORIAL 44 | VISIT TO Asifa Akhtar 06 | ON LOCATION Gender gap – even in the genome A meadow in the Bavarian Alps KNOWLEDGE FROM 08 | IN BRIEF 52 | Viruses from primeval times Not all viruses cause harm to their hosts. Their evolutionary history tells 16 | VIEWPOINT us a great deal about how life developed. Cooperation by example From the corona pandemic and climate 58 | The empire is back protection to corporate success and road Past empires, such as the Ottoman traffic, almost nothing is possible in and Habsburg Empire, still have society without cooperation. However, an impact today, including on the way the right conditions need to be in later generations treat each other. place for it to succeed. 5 66 | Nerve scaffolding from FOCUS a test tube Living with extremes Damaged neurons do not usually heal of their own accord. Peptides, which 22 | Marked by disaster form networks, can help them to do so. Life under the shadow of Vesuvius 72 | Cells under pressure plays an important part in forging the identity of the citizens of Naples The extent to which white blood cells and their culture. can change shape reflects a person’s state of health. 28 | Algal bloom in the desert sand The alga Chlorella ohadii survives 78 | POST FROM ... the hot sun and arid conditions and is one of the fastest-growing La Palma organisms ever. 80 | COMMUNITY NEWS 34 | Predictable climate stress Artificial intelligence is helping 82 | FIVE QUESTIONS to predict extreme meteorological events and their consequences. On patent protection for vaccines 42 | INFOGRAPHIC 83 | PUBLISHER’S INFORMATION There’s something in the air Max Planck Research · 1 | 2021 SPECIES PROTECTION WITH THE FLORA INCOGNITA APP 6 Max Planck Research · 1 | 2021 ON LOCATION 7 Hiking, walking, learning a lot about flowers, grasses, and trees, and at the same time being part of a scientific project, is now possible thanks to the free Flora Incognita app. It is easy to use, and quickly recognizes thousands of wild plants. As a joint development of the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena and the Technical University of Ilmenau, the underlying algorithm was first trained with several million images of plants. Now, it learns new data every time it is used. So why not download the Flora Incognita app, take a photo and find out what plants are currently in bloom all PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK/LAPA SMILE SHUTTERSTOCK/LAPA PHOTO: around you? And not only that, the app can do so much more. Is this plant poisonous? Is it rare or common? Is it a protected species? Flora Incognita offers users quick, on-site access to a great deal of knowledge about unfamiliar plants. At the same time, scientists obtain new data and facts about plant diversity. When do certain species flower, and where? How much do plants from a single species differ from each other? How does the composition of plant species change at a particular loca- tion? With this Citizen Science project, anyone can help to investigate biodiversity and how it is changing, for example through climate change or agriculture. And with a little help of artificial intelligence, a wildflower meadow – here in the Bavarian Alps – becomes a research location. floraincognita.com Max Planck Research · 1 | 2021 Relics of Late Antique prosperity: the Late Antique Little Ice Age in the 6th century A.D. saw settlements in the Near East, like this one in Syria, expand as a result of increasing precipita- tion and improved water management. PHOTO: IRENE BÖTTCHER-GAJEWSKI/MPI FOR BIOPHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LEARNING FROM PAST CLIMATE Climate changes throughout his- how societies react to climate for example, improved their water tory, such as the Little Ice Age change. This focuses on societal management and used the increase between the 13th and 19th centuries, resilience and ensures that climate in precipitation to grow larger have often been associated with data and historical facts are ana- crops. Overall, the researchers famines, crises and wars. However, lyzed more carefully than was for- have identified five strategies for 8 there are also many examples of merly often the case. The team has coping with climate change and how populations and politicians already used this guideline to put now plan to explore these in greater have been able to use changing cli- together case studies, e.g. of the detail: the exploitation of new matic conditions to their advantage, Late Antique Little Ice Age that socioeconomic opportunities; the or at least to maintain stability. An occurred during the 6th century utilization of robust energy sys- interdisciplinary research team, A.D. These climate changes tems; the use of trade to tap new which includes scientists from the exerted great pressure on some resources; ascertaining politically Max Planck Institute for the Sci- societies, while others used them to effective reactions to extreme ence of Human History, is there- their benefit. The inhabitants of events, and migration. fore using a new approach to study the Eastern Mediterranean region, www.mpg.de/16613100 AWARD-WINNING PATRICK CRAMER This year, the renowned Louis Jeantet Patrick Cramer has made the structures Prize for Medicine goes to Patrick of many of these cellular copying Cramer, Director of the Max Planck machines visible in atomic detail for Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, for the first time. He was able to his groundbreaking work in the field of demonstrate how RNA polymerases gene transcription. This copying translate genetic information and how process enables living cells to produce they work as a team with other protein transcripts of their genes that then complexes. The award presented by serve as blueprints for making proteins. the Swiss Louis-Jeantet Foundation is RODZIEWICZ ARTUR PHOTO: Cramer’s research focuses on RNA endowed with 500,000 Swiss francs. polymerases, the molecular machines that implement this process. www.mpg.de/16336063 Max Planck Research · 1 | 2021 IN BRIEF LOW-COST RAPID TEST As long as vaccine is in short supply, one way of helping to contain the coronavirus pandemic could be to regularly test as many people as pos- sible. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropo- 9 logy and the Hospital St. Georg in Leipzig have now developed an improved method of detecting Sars- Versatile substance: a newly discovered CoV-2. Known as Cap-iLamp, this nickel compound could serve method amplifies the desired target as a catalyst for numerous chemical sequences of the virus at a constant products in the future. temperature using minimal technical equipment. Instead of a swab, which many people find unpleasant, all that CATALYST WITH is required is a gargle lavage sample.