954050_RDT40_EN 19-02-2004 07:51 Pagina 1 a ISSN 1024-0802 Nuclear 15 KI-AB-03-040-EN-C Energy Can we do without it? Environment Taking the pollution out of health care p. 15 Science and ethics Protecting the ‘whistle-blowers’ p. 35 954050_RDT40_EN 19-02-2004 07:51 Pagina 2 2 RTD info N° 40 February 2004 Editorial Science under pressure Sacked or suspended… while others are being individuals acting as the ‘conscience’ of sci- one and the same time. This causes confusion, prevented from publishing – it is not unusual for ence do not always have the legal or legislative conflicts and sometimes irregularities. It blurs scientists who publicly express doubts or fears tools to ensure their voices are heard and their their image and that of science along with it. about the consequences of their research to find rights are respected. In this respect, science is Aware of the problem, the publishers of certain their civic conscience causing them profes- a very human and mundane activity, with its fair journals now require their contributors to cite sional problems. At a time when science is per- share of conflicts, slip-ups and moral issues. the source of their funding as proof that an art- haps too often seen as the universal magic icle deemed to be scientifically correct is not, at Researchers must therefore be able to speak out wand, there is the temptation to have scientists the same time, potentially biased. freely on the ethical aspects of their research, say what the politicians or captains of industry subject of course to the exclusion of ‘denounce- Until researchers speak openly and transparently would like to hear. Consequently, by virtue of ments’ inspired by the settling of scores, about the nature and power of science – as well being placed in the service of non-scientific unhealthy rivalry or other base motives. In this as of their personal position – instances of such objectives, research can sometimes be put respect, if researchers want to combat any form bias will continue to occur. This is both regrettable under pressure. of censure then they must also show more and has potentially devastating consequences. The article on page 35 broaches this delicate transparency. This is especially true today as their subject. Often condemned to isolation by the current role is often multifunctional, operat- power of their institution or hierarchy, those lone ing as researchers, experts and fund-raisers at Portrait to fishermen hoping for a bigger catch – to 18 study, count and protect this species of vital Nuclear energy Ice seasons economic and ecological importance. 3 A meeting with Ursula Schauer, Nuclear energy a German oceanographer who Science and ethics The benefits of an spends a large part of her life in 35 Protecting the ‘whistle-blowers’ unpopular sector Arctic or Antarctic regions. The research she helps carry out on board the Scientists, researchers and technicians Once the ‘darling’ of the ‘glorious thirties’, Polarstern floating laboratory is crucial to our may want to sound the alarm nuclear energy is now out of favour. So much understanding of the climate. when they believe that certain so that several European countries have developments they are work- decided to dispense with it. No doubt the Sixth Framework Programme ing on have the potential to DOSSIER reservations have more to do with the issue of 20 The class of 2003 harm. The idea of a con- waste management than the safety of installa- science clause designed to protect such tions. But the nuclear sector has one major The selection of projects submitted following whistle-blowers is gaining ground. benefit: producing no greenhouse gases, it is – the first round of calls for proposals during the alongside renewable energies – a particularly first half of last year was eagerly awaited. In par- Scientific co-operation sustainable means of producing electricity. ticular, it was an initial test for the ‘new instru- It is also of strategic importance in reducing ments’ designed to strengthen the European 38 The Prigogine legacy Europe’s energy dependence. Research Area around specific research prior- A pioneer of ‘post-classical’ physics, ities. We present the results and analysis. this 1977 winner of the Nobel 6 There are risks and risks Prize for chemistry (who died in 22 Overview of calls for proposals 2003) saw himself as a citizen 7 Waste management: a crucial matter of a ‘greater Europe’ – an open In brief Europe, able to extend a hand 12 Voyage into a (semi) virtual future 24 News in brief – Opinion and Letters – to the scientific community in his native Russia. Publications – Diary – Science within Medicines and the environment arm’s reach International co-operation 15 Taking the pollution Environment 40 The sounds of Ethiopia out of health care 32 Researchers on the high seas Ethnomusicology is to sound like archaeology is to objects and Many pharmaceutical molecules Tireless hunters, constantly migrating from linguistics is to words. Here we which are designed specifically one ocean to another, tuna tune into a multidisciplinary to be persistent and lipophilic are have a notable habit of coming and multinational project evacuated into the environment together in schools. Nine attempting to document, through waste water. In-depth research is seek- research teams in the Fadio classify, study and preserve ing to quantify and remedy this insidious pollu- project made the most of this Ethiopian cultural heritage. tion which has been ignored for too long. gregarious peculiarity – already familiar Notice A magazine providing information on European research, RTD info is 84 000 copies of this issue were published. Neither the European Commission, nor any person acting on its behalf, may be held published in English, French and German by the Information and All issues of RTD info can be consulted on-line responsible for the use to which information contained in this publication may be Communication Unit of the European Commission’s Research DG. at the Research DG’s website: put, or for any errors which, despite careful preparation and checking, Editor in chief: Michel Claessens europa.eu.int/comm/research may appear. Tel.: +32 2 295 9971 © European Communities, 2004 Fax: +32 2 295 8220 Non-commercial reproduction authorised, subject to acknowledgement of source. E-mail: [email protected] 954050_RDT40_EN 19-02-2004 07:56 Pagina 39 SCIENTIFIC CO-OPERATION RTD info N° 40 February 2004 39 this interdependence is evident in regularities on a larger scale – and often even on several scales. In many cases, the laws are auto-similar, meaning that they show the same profile for different scales, like fractal curves.’ Mathematical patterns These notions are at the basis of an approach that makes it possible to study systems of every kind by means of the same mathematical methods. It is this aspect that the EU-Russian project has developed in Ilya Prigogine liked to communicate his interest in science to various fields of study, producing impressive results. young people. He is shown here after giving a physics lesson to 12-year-olds at La Cordeille d’Ollioules, near Toulon (FR). At the end of the five years, there was clearly a need to pursue the research further. But the rules of the game had changed and urgent measures were no longer justified. Scientific co-operation between the European Union and Russia was beginning to evolve in the new framework of international But whether it is in Brussels, Moscow, Dubna or St Petersburg, one ele- and competitive participation in the Union’s calls for proposals. For ment remains constant: the unconditional admiration for Prigogine, at Russian researchers, the transition was not always easy. ‘Some scientists both the scientific and personal level. Iuri describes were not able to submit projects that were competitive by European stan- him as ‘a universal spirit, in the great tradition of To find out more dards,’ explains Antoniou. ‘The Commission’s new programme also the Enlightenment’. Vladimir Belokurov, vice- }The Chaos and Innovation required scope for commercial applications, and not all the teams were rector of Moscow University, describes the Nobel Research Unit, Thessaloniki (EL) able to demonstrate this. It is one thing to switch from a theoretical mod- laureate as ‘always open and ready to listen to oth- www.auth.gr/chi elling to an algorithm which uses its principles, but something else ers, interested in the ideas of the young and ready again to use these algorithms in prototype systems and then in to give them a push in the right direction.’ Others Contacts realistic and competitive commercial applications.’ maintain that Prigogine was ahead of his time. ‘We }Ioannis Antoniou are convinced that his thinking will influence the [email protected] Nonetheless, several teams met the challenge and 15 projects, originat- 21st century,’ observes Antoniou. ‘But he was }Iouri Melnikov [email protected] ing in research fields initiated thanks to Prigogine, passed the test, already thinking further ahead. He said that after most of them based at Moscow University, St Petersburg University irreversibility and auto-organisation the next big }Victor Ivanov [email protected] and the Nuclear Research Institute in Dubna. ‘The previous programme challenge for science would be to shed light on the had given us a boost,’ notes Melnikov. At Moscow University, an relationship between the body and the soul.’ autonomous dynamic had clearly been generated with the creation, in 1995, of the Institute for the Mathematical Study of Complex Systems Prigogine, who published a number of notable works with the philoso- (with Prigogine as honorary president), which proved fertile terrain for pher of science Isabelle Stengers,(3) never paid attention to disciplinary the development of basic theoretical tools.