When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
food / travel

Last Call: Drunken Crowds Cram Munich’s Subway For Final Toast Before Alcohol Ban

A permanent alcohol ban went into effect Sunday for the S-Bahn, Munich’s subway system. The night before, thousands turned up for one last binge. Reporter Marco Marco Völklein shares his notes on this most unusual of underground parties.

Party's over...
Party's over...
Marco Völklein

Odeonsplatz station, 7:24 p.m

Two young girls are seated on the U4 headed towards Theresienwiese. Each of them holds a bottle of Piccolo sparkling wine in one hand and a smart phone in the other. "Hey, look, Sebastian's here already," one of them says. "Is something happening?" the other asks."No. Nothing. Shit!"

Stachus station, 7:40 p.m.

TV crews surround Bernhard Weisser, the head of the S-Bahn, Munich's subway system. "We're ready," he says into the microphones.

Outside Stachus station, 8:06 p.m.

Suddenly, several hundred young people gathered outside a hamburger joint move into action chanting "Jetzt geeeht's los, jetzt geeeht's los' (let's go!) to start the party. They also have some choice words for the MVV, the entity that runs the subway. TV cameras located at the bottom of the escalator film them swarming down onto the platform.

Stachus station, 8:11 p.m.

The kids are chanting "One more! There's room for one more!" But the train, at least this part of it, is full to bursting. There definitely isn't room for one more. In vain, the announcer keeps repeating: "Please use all doors to board." The next subway train is waiting in the tunnel. But the sheer mass of young people is preventing the train from leaving the station.

Hackerbrücke station, 9:40 p.m.

At the far end of the platform stands a young man with a handkerchief wrapped around his hand to stop the bleeding. Police officers are taking down his details. "You might say he, uh, turned off the lights," says another kid standing nearby, laughing maliciously. The train the two got off from is still standing in the station. Inside an open door, shards of glass are visible all over the floor.

Marienplatz station, 9:56 p.m.

An older couple is waiting for the S8 to Herrsching. The train rolls into the station, and the section they planned to board is stuffed with people. In fact, the whole train is bobbing because passengers inside are jumping up and down. "What should we do?" the distraught woman asks. "The next train's in 40 minutes." A subway security officer steps up, signaling to the driver to wait. "Come with me," he says to the couple. "There's room up front. And it's quiet there."

Ostbahnhof, platform 3, 10:54 p.m.

As a train approaches, the young people start shouting "All aboard, all aboard!" before jamming themselves into the same car. Some of them start playing around with the light fixtures. Subway security drag two of them off the train, and a loud argument ensues. "We aren't doing anything," the kids protest. "Material damage!" the subway people push back as they start taking details.

Ostbahnhof, platform 3, 11:06 p.m.

More conflict between security and partiers. "Tone it down," a federal police officer says to subway security. "You're just making it worse." A subway security man counters with "We've got a boss too."

Stachus station, 11:25 p.m.

S-Bahn head Weisser is standing on the platform. His mobile phone rings constantly. He looks exhausted. "We've taken emergency measures to relieve the main line." S1 and S6 have been rerouted. "We took two trains out of service because they were so heavily vandalized." That's what was causing the blockage on the main line. "Look, a subway train with no lighting is one subway train we can't run."

Stachus station, 11:46 p.m.

A young man, very drunk, drops his mobile phone as he gets on a train. It falls on the track. A security man stops traffic and retrieves the phone. He hands it back to the drunk man who, hugging the officer, says "You're my hero of the night."

Marienplatz station, 12:05 a.m.

On the S3 to Mammendorf, empty beer and sparkling wine bottles roll across the floor among discarded potato chip bags and cigarette butts. Every second light is out. "Will you look at this!" says a man who's dressed as if he's been to the opera. "And it stinks," says his wife. Indeed, the air is heavy with stale cigarette smoke.

Isartor station, 12:35 a.m.

On the S4 to Grafing, a woman in her mid-50s is collecting empties. She's already filled a carryall and two plastic bags. She bends down again and again, picking up scraps of paper and bottle caps that she pitches into the trash. "I can't stand it when it's dirty," she says. "I have to clean up, I can't help myself." She leaves the train with the empties. "They're good for at least 20 euros."

Read the original article in German

Photo - SansPoint

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Green

Forest Networks? Revisiting The Science Of Trees And Funghi "Reaching Out"

A compelling story about how forest fungal networks communicate has garnered much public interest. Is any of it true?

Thomas Brail films the roots of a cut tree with his smartphone.

Arborist and conservationist Thomas Brail at a clearcutting near his hometown of Mazamet in the Tarn, France.

Melanie Jones, Jason Hoeksema, & Justine Karst

Over the past few years, a fascinating narrative about forests and fungi has captured the public imagination. It holds that the roots of neighboring trees can be connected by fungal filaments, forming massive underground networks that can span entire forests — a so-called wood-wide web. Through this web, the story goes, trees share carbon, water, and other nutrients, and even send chemical warnings of dangers such as insect attacks. The narrative — recounted in books, podcasts, TV series, documentaries, and news articles — has prompted some experts to rethink not only forest management but the relationships between self-interest and altruism in human society.

But is any of it true?

The three of us have studied forest fungi for our whole careers, and even we were surprised by some of the more extraordinary claims surfacing in the media about the wood-wide web. Thinking we had missed something, we thoroughly reviewed 26 field studies, including several of our own, that looked at the role fungal networks play in resource transfer in forests. What we found shows how easily confirmation bias, unchecked claims, and credulous news reporting can, over time, distort research findings beyond recognition. It should serve as a cautionary tale for scientists and journalists alike.

First, let’s be clear: Fungi do grow inside and on tree roots, forming a symbiosis called a mycorrhiza, or fungus-root. Mycorrhizae are essential for the normal growth of trees. Among other things, the fungi can take up from the soil, and transfer to the tree, nutrients that roots could not otherwise access. In return, fungi receive from the roots sugars they need to grow.

As fungal filaments spread out through forest soil, they will often, at least temporarily, physically connect the roots of two neighboring trees. The resulting system of interconnected tree roots is called a common mycorrhizal network, or CMN.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch

The latest