BY JOHN THOMPSON, STEPS Centre member
AAAS Day 2: Friday 16 Feb 2007

The challenge at a conference of the size and scope of this year’s AAAS annual meeting is managing to attend the diverse array of fascinating symposia and lectures on offer, particularly when many of the most interesting ones are scheduled in parallel. Nearly 200 scientific sessions for general registrants will focus to one degree or another on ‘Science and Technology for Sustainable Well-Being,’ the theme set out by John Holdren in his opening address. Today, for instance, I wanted to attend a session on ‘Renewable Energy from Biomass: Technology, Policy and Sustainability’, which was set against an equally intriguing one on “Water Crisis in Agriculture: How to Produce More with Less.’ The rather unsatisfactory solution was to spend some time in both, but it did give me insights into some of the latest thinking on both subjects