Science is the art of answering new questions, but more and more often is facing problems which are the product of its own success. First among these is the problem posed by the relationship between scientific research and economic growth, generated by the changing equilibrium among the developed countries and the growing gap between the North and South of the planet, by a new conception of health and the quality of life and by the questions that technological progress poses for the future of human race and the environment. Scientific progress has always deeply modified social organisation and individual liife style and attitude, often indipendently from a public awareness of these transformations. Today, the relationship between science and economics is stronger than ever, and the pace of discoveries and their application is more and more rapid. Communicating to the public the potential and the limits of research is therefore indispensable to create a good relationship between science and society, between decision-makers and the citizen. Ten Nobel Laureates are invited to turn their attention to the major issues that have emerged from the redefinition of our conceptions of humanity, nature and society in the wake of scientific progress. Their lectures are divided into five sessions.

The Interaction of Science and Society: Benefits and Fears Wednesday 8 December 1993 Science is an expression of human curiosity, and every human being is a potential scientist. For a person to become a scientist, he or she must acquire a background of appropriate knowledge, possess a keen spirit of observation and a dash of luck. The scope of scientific research is to make discoveries, which are inherently unpredictable. For this reason, the expansion of the domain of knowledge must proceed without establishing direct goals or following precise targets. Practical applications are often found, however, at times in fields far-removed from those in which the search began. Society plays an essential role in the progress of science because it is society that must provide the resources for the training of researchers and the tools of their research, permitting scientists to extend human knowledge without demanding immediate practical results in return. This is the model that has prevailed until now, but it is being transformed under the pressures of the current world economic crisis. This is a mistake. In limiting the horizons of research today, we preclude the development of tomorrow. The ever closer interaction between biomedical research and the biotechnology industry has introduced an important change in the relationship between science and society, a relationship that has had its ups and downs but that on the whole has proved positive for both. However, society has begun to fear that the possible results of biotechnological research might well produce more harm than benefit. A typical example is the Human Genome Project, which aims at revealing the exact composition of all human genes and which has sparked fears of discrimination, and worse. These fears are certainly exaggerated in relation to the state of current knowledge, but they cannot be denied a priori with respect to the results of the future. To avoid these risks, society must become a well-informed participant in the advances of science, sharing in its goals and its possibilities. And, while guaranteeing the widest possible freedom of research, society must determine whether and how the consequences of scientific discovery should be limited. The resulting essay has been translated into Italian and published in the book Scienza, economia, etica per il prossimo secolo. Dieci Nobel per il futuro. (Marsilio, Venezia 1994).