The most important ethical issues in the use of the Internet and World Wide Web in scientific research are considered together with some of the conceptual problems that arise as a result of applying new information technologies to old institutions. The paper concentrates on a set of issues relating to moral responsibility for the production, utilization and diffusion of scientific knowledge in a networked environment. A conclusion is that reliability of information and hence the individual scientist's capacity to take full moral responsibility may be compromised by the environment provided by the World Wide Web.

The increased globalization of economics, communications and of medical care raises many issues of ethics and science and their applications on the global scale. A critical question to consider is the possibility of common agreement between people sharing different moral, philosophical or religious traditions. Common neurocognitive predispositions to moral judgement, which are found in the human species, may plausibly give access to common ethical values as a result of shared deliberations, despite differences in cultural traditions and social conventions. Various national bioethics committees have opened the debate at the national level, and extension to a global scale could be achieved by the creation of a Council for the Ethics of Science at the United Nations level.

Through the evolution of the conscious mind in the human species, nature became aware of itself and can thus, for the first time in more than three billion years of natural evolution, influence and even, to some degree, take control of its own future development according to intentional goals. Since these goals are, at the same time, inevitably our own wishful visions, our species becomes not only nature's managing agent but also morally responsible for the future of nature, including our own future. This essay tries to draw conclusions from evolutionary, ecological, cultural, anthropological and moral perspectives. It not only asks about the place of human beings in nature as some kind of alien intruder, but seeks to understand human cultural evolution as part of nature, as the consequent continuation of natural evolution having become not only self-organized but self-guided and responsibly self-controlled.

Plankton are microscopic organisms living in the sea. They are responsible for more than half of the biological production of our planet. They also influence global climate, fisheries and pollution. Understanding the ever-changing distribution of plankton in the ocean is one of the grand challenges of science. The scope of the problem has been well documented in the 20th century, and new research tools should greatly accelerate progress in the 21st century. A particularly promising tool is mathematical simulation of the ecosystem, in which the demographics of plankton populations are derived from the growth and behaviour of individual organisms, each responding to its immediate environment. These use new computer codes, based on the Lagrangian Ensemble method, which are at the leading edge of complexity simulation. When integrated on massively parallel computers they can simulate the individual histories of millions of plankters for several decades. These ‘virtual plankton ecosystems’ help us to understand the complex processes responsible for the ever-changing patterns of planktonic life in the ocean.

In this paper I would like to draw on some of the European Science Foundation's past and present initiatives to illustrate how we might build on its strengths – and overcome its weaknesses – in order to capitalize on European scientific potential during one of the most important periods in Europe's recent history. In effect, I would like to set out my personal vision for the European Science Foundation (ESF). This is certainly a fitting time to be looking forward. We are not only on the brink of a new millennium, the ESF is also celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and should take stock of its past achievements and assess how these can be used to enhance European science over the next two and half decades. More crucially, Europe's social, political and economic landscape is undergoing one of its most radical upheavals, spearheaded by the euro and other facets of European union. These developments will inevitably have a major impact on how science is organized, funded and conducted. Like it or not, science is inextricably linked to Europe's socio-economic environment. The challenge is to develop a strategy, and the associated structures and resources, to place science at the heart of the ‘new Europe’.

Climatic impacts on human health can be direct or indirect. Direct impacts include variations in physical comfort, heat and cold stress, frostbite and – specifically in response to stratospheric ozone depletion – sunburn, sunstroke, skin cancer and (possibly) cataracts. Direct impacts also include death and injury from floods, storms and other extremes of weather. Photochemical air pollutant levels and pollen levels are affected by climate and have been related to asthma, other respiratory problems, and allergies. Through its influence on biological disease agents, climate variability has a major impact on infectious disease emergence and re-emergence, by affecting pathogen maturation and vector reproduction and altering host and vector habitats. Climate change is also predicted to alter regional agricultural yields, with downturns most likely in low-latitude countries where food insecurity often pre-exists.