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Published 7 July 2010 by Jessica Riccò

Nobel questions – Lindau answers. The students’ point of view.

Prior to the Nobel meeting young researches had the oppurtunity to send in questions – we called that section "Nobel questions, Lindau answers". In the last days I interviewed a couple of young scientists who replied to these questions – and may lead to more discussion in the commentaries of this posting. 

Today’s young scientists have to be more likely “science managers”. Does this situation provide chances to force the scientific competition or do we risk of a trend shifting away from qualitative work towards quantity?

 

Alice McHardy, Max-Planck Institute for Informatics, Saarbrücken, Germany: I definetely think that we here are all young scientists who have shown the capability to work independently in scientific research and I think that we should keep in touch with the basic science and not focus too much on management. That is my opinion how you can keep up good science. 

 

Do you think the current sustainable energy research efforts are sufficient? What else should we do?

Sebastian Krackl, Technical University Berlin, Germany: No, I do not think that the current effort in energy research is enough, especially when it comes to alternative energies. I think it is very underestimated how much we’re locked in stalemate. I’m surely not an activist on the environmental movement but I think that many people just don’t think about these topics out of comfort. Nevertheless we have to work altogether on these matters. We’re running out on fossile fuels, that is completely clear and there is no doubt about it. We need to find alternatives and even if nuclear energy may be sufficient for some time, we can’t consider it as more than just a short-time support. We need to do more research on sustainable energies. Consider China, consider the number of cars still built, the increasing mobility… one day there will be no energy left and then everything stands still. We talked a lot about basic research here at the meeting – which is also important, don’t get me wrong. But I think more research in the field of sustainable energies is needed.

Do you think the current sustainable energy research efforts are sufficient? What else should we do?

Yoko Tomita, Chiba University, Japan: Yes, I think that is very needed. Especially because we have to keep our beautiful nature.

 

Stem cell is the core of regenerative medicine, which could repair kinds of diseases and would extend human life. How will you look at the applications of stem cell in future?

Uzair Luqman, Armed Forces Institue of Dentistry, Pakistan: "Since a lot of my research and work is related to reconstructive surgery and treatment of lost parts of the body, I find more stem cell research very important. So far we can only replace tissue in the face with skin from other parts of the body, which can be very debilitating for the patient. We really need to consider stem cells as an option for the future to maybe breed skin parts from them one day."

Jessica Riccò