Max Stecher has now graduated with a MSc degree form the EnvEuro programme. Max has conducted a GIS-based study where he extracted climatic data and soil characteristics from more than 10,000 worldwide occurrences of wild rice.

A new group of BSc thesis students have now successfully defended their theses and after completing some very exciting projects, they are now all ready for the MSc study.

When I first visited Prof Moto at Nagoya University, I was amazed by a time-lapse video that a student had made. It showed how fast the rhizomes of Oryza longistaminata spread and colonized bare soil.

It has now been a month since Carlo started his EMBO-funded visit to our group in Copenhagen. He has been working with artificial roots but now it is time to start using real plants!

Elisa is wrapping up her work on iron plaque formation on roots of wetland plants. The effect of pH is obvious but lots of work remain before we fully understand the dynamics of formation of metal oxides in soils.