'The future of science needs you'

By Professor Martin Earwicker

The future of science should not just be left to scientists

Developments in mobile phones, the internet and healthcare have changed our lives over the last few decades in ways that we would never have imagined.

New areas of science and technology, brain science, computing, genetics and more, will continue to shape our futures.

But they will also raise some important questions: should we be worried about tiny technologies tracking our movements? Who should pay for medical treatment as it gets more and more expensive? Should more research be directed towards people who still need access to clean water, rather than people who need faster computers?

Sciencehorizons is a public debate about new technologies, the future and society. It has been set up by the UK government and will run during 2007.

It is an opportunity for people to have their say about issues that will affect all of us - from organ transplants to genetic tests, from new technologies for food to new technologies for friendship.

In the last few years, the government has seen the need to think about such questions early and get more people involved in debates about science.

The results of the project will be used to inform government policy Future science debate opens Send us your views

Last year, the government's Horizon Scanning Centre asked scientists, engineers and other experts to say which areas of science and technology they think will have the biggest impacts in the future.

But the future of science is too important to be left to scientists alone. The experts can't predict which particular developments will emerge and they can't say how developments will be used by people.

Risks and benefits

In the last few years, we've seen the problems that can arise when public debate about science doesn't take place. With GM foods, the heated arguments that took place about the risks and benefits of the technology took the government by surprise.

But with nanotechnology - the emerging science of the very small - the government has been quick to open up a broader debate, and a different story has ensued.

As well as giving scientists the chance to talk and listen to other people, the results of the project will be used to inform government policy.

The aim of Sciencehorizons is to get as many people as possible talking: we want to see conversations taking place throughout the UK, in classrooms, living rooms and pubs as well as science museums and universities.

We want to hear what you think about science and what you want to see in the future.

Professor Martin Earwicker is director of the Science Museum, London, and chair of the group that runs Sciencehorizons

For more information on Sciencehorizons please visit its website