Interview with Nobel Prize Winners Riccardo Valentini and Edvard Moser
Riccardo Valentini, a professor of forest ecology at the University of Tuscia, who won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize and Edvard Moser, a Professor of Neuroscience and Director of the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, who won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, gave brief interviews for sk.ru after "Nobel Vision. Open Innovations 2.0" Forum.
Riccardo Valentini, a professor of forest ecology at the University of Tuscia. Photo: sk.ru.
The world of technology is rapidly transforming our lives. What scientific invention or new technology that can radically change a person's life can be introduced in 2022?
EM: I can only speak for my own field but in neuroscience we will see the introduction of new technologies that allow us to monitor activity in thousands of brain cells at the same time as animals or humans perform cognitive tasks (e.g., remembering an event). Tools are also being developed to turn on or off activity in specific target cells, which may be used as a tool to understand brain function, and eventually to improve brain function in disease cases.
What is the biggest global problem of the future being underestimated or ignored?
RV: I guess we still do not have the perception that our planet has become small for humanity. Thus the big challenge is to maintain a safe space of wealth development without harming the Planet equilibrium.
EM: Of course the climate crisis is one, future pandemics is another. More within my own field, is the dramatic increase in neurodegenerative disorders expected with an aging population. Research on the brain and neurodegenerative mechanisms is necessary if we are to prevent neurodegenerative diseases from taking epidemic scales.
From your perspective, what will the next 30 years of science bring?
RV: There will be many advances in science but I think the best keywords for the next 30 years will be 'interdisciplinary and interoperability of science’. We will move from the classic vision of science disciplines (physical and natural sciences, social and humanities, economics etc) into a ‘problem solving’ science with the use of all of our scientific approaches. Artificial intelligence is already operating in several fields traditionally outside of the digital domain i.e. medicine, social analytics etc or more mathematicians are involved in solving ecological problems. This is the future, but requires a big transformation of our universities.
EM: In neuroscience we will obtain a better understanding of the neural mechanisms of cognition (the relationship between brain and mind). We now have the technologies and analysis power to address this type of questions.
Which technologies do you think will shape science in the next decades?
RV: Certainly some of them: quantum computers, AI in all directions of data science, nano materials, hydrogen as vector for energy.
EM: Artificial intelligence will make its way into most disciplines as an analysis tool but there will also be major engineering developments.
What about the current crisis worries you the most? What gives you the most hope?
RV: I just got a report from Italy that about 10-20% of people have alternative 'science theories' from the flat planet to the inexistence of COVID etc. This is very dangerous and could project humanity into a new middle age period. My hope is that education of science and the ’scientific method’ be more diffused in society. Education should not be given only to the rich and well educated part of the society but should be free for everybody, otherwise we will create an ’intelligence’ divide in the society with a corresponding human crisis.
After this pandemic comes to a close, what should be the first step we as a global community take so that we are better prepared for the next pandemic?
EM: More investment into science, including fundamental science, which enabled the fast production of entirely new types of vaccines during this pandemic and so illustrates the need to understand general principles of nature, before applications can be realized.