Vietnam's capital Hanoi is a perfect example of a fast-growing megacity. It generates vast amounts of waste and sewage and has a rapidly growing population, but lacks adequate infrastructure. Scientists at Darmstadt University of Technology have developed a pilot project that combines wastewater treatment, waste disposal and energy production in one. Their goal is to design a biogas plant for Hanoi that extracts biogas from waste to generate electricity and heat.

The German Research Center for Geosciences in Potsdam was responsible for designing an early warning system for Indonesia, whose coastline is threatened by frequent earthquakes under the Indian Ocean. After a test phase carried out jointly by Germany and Indonesia, the tsunami early warning system is now being turned over to the island nation.

DW-TV: Thomas Rachel. First of all, four years of development and two years of testing, is this going to work do you think?

Thomas Rachel: The tsunami early warning system developed in Germany is extremely efficient. It's shown over the last four years that when a tsunami threatens, it can provide an effective warning. It will help dramatically lower the number of potential victims.

It was developed by Germans as we mentioned. How will it go for the Indonesians operating the system?

Over the last four years, we have trained our Indonesian partners in the management of the system that was developed in Germany. In addition, we have made it clear that it is important to be able to organize communication of an early warning to the population.

During that time, what were the biggest problems that cropped up?

We had to integrate our Indonesian partners on this complex but highly efficient early warning system, and train them to be able to manage it. And we emphasized that they had to be able to warn the population efficiently all up and down the coast. For the system to meet expectations, that has to happen.

That's the thing -- how do you warn the people in such a remote part of the world with so many little islands in one place?

You're right -- Indonesia has 17 thousand islands. That means it's important for the Indonesian authorities to be able to warn the population via radio, SMS, telephone -- through the mosques, over public loudspeaker systems. And also that the population is trained to know how to react correctly....to flee the shore and head for higher ground.

There have been some development problems. Buoys that cost 200 thousand Euros disappeared or were damaged. How do you prevent something like that?

The buoys no longer play a role in the tsunami early warning system. Instead, data is collected by sensors down on the seabed which register seismic events. These data and GPS data ensure that the necessary information arrives in the warning center, so an efficient warning can go out.

Interview: Ben Fajzullin

The special goggles will allow doctors to see structures like bones, organs, and even tumors to help guide surgeons in medical procedures. The core of the technology is a tracking system that measures the relative position of the patient and surgeon during the operation and compares the real-life image to the virtual one.

Ilenia Battiato comes from Italy and is conducting research at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen. Trained as a physicist, she researches how fluids move in the earth's subsurface. That information can be useful in many ways, for example to help predict when landslides will occur after a heavy rainfall.