Possible Future Trends
in Basic and Applied Research

Logo for LBNL's
Center for Environmental Biotechnology

Mankind has become a dominant force in the shaping and manipulation of our global environment. Many scientists are greatly concerned that, in the next 40 years, the population of our planet will increase so dramatically that the earth will no longer be able to support our current standard of living. As more and more countries become industrialized, the problems associated with this lifestyle - overuse of raw materials, energy consumption, pollution - will also increase. Scientists are worried that the planet will reach an unsustainable level of use.

Science research may be able to help solve these problems. This would require funding for long-term applied research - - research geared not toward creating products to help us compete with other industrialized nations, but rather research focused on sustainable use of our planet's resources.

Solving problems of global sustainability will probably require a multi-disciplinary approach, that is, teams of scientists from different research areas working together. Multi-disciplinary projects utilize the expertise of scientists in different fields (e.g., biology, geology, chemistry, and physics). It also opens new lines of communication among researchers. Joint research projects of this type are more likely to receive funding from federal agencies such as the Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation. In fact, this approach is already being used at some research labs.

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