tags: Africa, agriculture, AI, apes, artificial, artificial intelligens, ASPM, atoms, biological diversity, biology, biosphere, biotechnology, birds, bloom, botany, bottom-up, brain, breeding, carbon dioxide, Carl Linnaeus, cells, cell division, chemical vapour deposition, children, chimpanzee, classification, climate, cloning, computers, computer chips, consciousness, cross-fertilisation, Darwin, death, development, DNA, domestic animals, Earth, ecology, economics, ecosystems, egg cell, egoism, electronic devices, elevator, embryo, embryonic stem cells, emotions, energy forests, environment, ethics, evolution, flooding, florigen, flowering, forestry, FOXP2, fullerenes, GDP, genemanipulation, genes, genetics, genetic code, gene manipulation, global change, God, heridity, human being, invisibility, kieselguhr, language, learning, life, materials, medicine, Mendel, molecular biology, molecular electronics, molecules, mutations, MYH16, nano, nanometres, nanotechnology, nanotubes, nano clocks, Nobel, nobel prize, oceans, organs, ozone hole, parkinson, pharmaceuticals, plants, play, poplar, proteins, quantum effects, rain forests, religion, resilience, robots, scanning tunnel microscope, self-awareness, self-consciousness, sex, space, speech, stem cells, top-down, trees, urbanisation, wetlands, Ångström,

carl folke

"Myself, I'm most interested in the Earth's ability to deal with change and continue to develop, what we call resilience."  Read more

question 13: how sick is our planet really?

How's our planet doing actually? To find out, the Earth has been subjected to a thorough health examination of a kind never undertaken before. The first results arrived a couple of years ago.  Read more

question 17: what issue is the most crucial for our survival on earth?

It's easy to be overwhelmed by a feeling of impotence. But even when we see that many important graphs are pointing in horribly wrong directions, there are still some bright spots. What must we do to help the Earth take a turn for the better?  Read more

question 20: when will we start treating mother earth better?

Were our planet a doctor's patient, the diagnosis wouldn't be comforting: change your lifestyle or else! We've been mistreating the Earth for centuries now − how can we make amends? Maybe by strengthening her resilience? One thing's for certain: only we humans can help our planet.  Read more

question 22: who cares about species death?

The finest source of inspiration for the pharmaceuticals industry is neither costly chemistry laboratories nor scientific journals. It's actually Nature herself, in particular the wealth of species in the tropics, that gives scientists ideas for medicines and treatments.  Read more

question 23: nature versus nurture – what makes us the way we are?

What is it that makes you resemble your parents? How does the bear know when it's time to hibernate? What makes flowers of the same species bloom at the same time? Modern evolutionary biology is an exciting research field which will eventually help us answer many of the questions that puzzle us.  Read more

question 35: when will we get an Earth in balance?

"Life is a flame as long as the oil lasts" said Carl Linnaeus. The quotation seems more relevant than ever today, especially if you read life as 'all life on Earth'. We are living beyond our means and oil isn't the only thing that's running out...  Read more

question 39: what's the price of your lifestyle?

If everyone lived the way the author of this text does, 3.5 Earths would be needed to support the planet's population. Unsettling facts like this spread a sense of guilt... Have you ever really stopped to consider how your lifestyle is affecting the global ecosystem?  Read more

question 40: can wood possibly replace oil in the future?

If oil belonged to the 20th century, it looks as if wood could be the raw material of the 21st century – as indeed it was in earlier times. Good news for a country that's more than half covered by forest. To get back to nature and replace plastics with paper and other wood-based materials we need a whole new kind of engineering. No wonder that protein engineering is a hot research field in a country like Sweden.  Read more

question 47: when can we take the elevator to heaven?

Building an elevator to space has long been a dream among science-fiction authors. If this becomes possible one day it will be thanks to the incredibly strong and incredibly small nanotube – a structure that nano scientists foresee a revolutionising future for.  Read more

question 48: which species must we preserve for the future?

Is there any point in trying to preserve all the Earth's biological species? Or are some more valuable than others? How can we decide? Modern molecular biology is a big help.  Read more

question 49: how do you make use of new ideas?

The 18th century was characterised by its utility approach to scientific research, with Linnaeus himself in the vanguard. Botany yielded benefits in medicine and for public health, new underground machinery was designed to streamline the mining industry... How do things look today? How acceptable is it to adopt a user perspective in research?  Read more