New Scientist, one of our favorite publications, is launching a four-issue series on tackling the planet's problems through science and innovation. Their broadside launching the series reads like it could have been written here:

Too many people live short lives plagued by disease and poverty. Political decisions are too often taken without any evidence that they will work. Governments are too focused on material wealth as an indicator of well-being, and technologies that could improve lives are too often sidelined for irrational reasons. As the global population soars, we are starting to bump up against constraints on key resources, such as oil, water and phosphorus. And if all that isn't bad enough, the developed world has already emitted such vast quantities of greenhouses gases that climate change is already becoming significant. We face a perfect storm of problems.

So talk of making the world a better place is not starry-eyed idealism. It is about survival - the long-term survival of the civilisation we have built and the lifestyles we have come to enjoy.

Indeed.

We look forward to reading the rest of the series!