第１３８回自然環境論セミナー
「Science 125 Questions セミナー」
日時：２００５年１０月２７日（木）１５時００分−１８時００分
場所：発達科学部 Ｂ１０４教室 (Ｂ棟１階)
科学雑誌「Science」は今年創刊125周年を迎え、それを記念して、7月1日号で「What
Don’t We Know?」という特集記事を組みました。これは、今世紀、とくにこれからの
25年間において我々人類が取り組むべき（解決すべき）重要な科学的問題を
125項目有識者に選定してもらい、その内容を紹介したものです。
われわれ科学技術の世界に関わる人間も、ともすれば日頃の「眼前の」問題に
振り回され、「本当に重要な問題」について自ら深く考えることなく
年老いてしまうこともままあります。こういった機会を通じて、
「我々は何のために科学に関わっているのか？」、「科学は本来何を
目指すべきか？」といった根源的な問題に思いを馳せるのもよいのでは
ないでしょうか？
今回の自然環境論セミナーでは、発達科学部の教官８名が手分けをして、
125項目の課題のうち約50項目の要点を院生・学生の皆さんにも
わかりやすく解説したいと考えています。
［講師と解説する項目］（太字は「Big Questions」）
- 青木茂樹（15:00−15:20）
- Can the laws of physics be unified ?
- What are the limits of conventional computing ?
- Why is there more matter than antimatter ?
- Does the proton decay ?
- Are there smaller building blocks than quarks ?
- Are neutrinos their own antiparticles ?
- 伊藤真之（15:20−15:40）
- What Is the Universe Made Of?
- Are We Alone in the Universe?（宇宙物理的立場から）
- What drove cosmic inflation?
- When and how did the first stars and galaxies form?
- What is the nature of black holes?
- Is there--or was there--life elsewhere in the solar system?
- 中川和道（15:40−16:00）
- Are we alone in the Universe?（生物物理的立場から）
- How and where did life on Earth arise?
- What is the most powerful laser researchers can build?
- What is the origin of homochirality in nature?
- Who was LUCA (the last universal common ancestor)?
- 蛯名邦禎（16:00−16:30）
- How far can we push chemical self-assembly?
- Do deeper priciples underlie quantum uncertainty and nonlocality?
- How hot will the greenhouse world be?
- Will Malthus continue to be wrong?
- What causes ice ages?
- What causes reversals in Earth's magnetic field?
- Is morality hard-wired into brain?
- What are the evolutionary roots of language and music?
- 尼川大作（16:30−16:50）
- What is the biological basis of consciousness?
- How are memories stored and retrieved?
- How do migrating organisms find their way?
- Do pheromones influence human behavior?
- What are human races, and how did they develop?
- 丑丸敦史（16:50−17:10）
- What determines species diversity?
- How did cooperative behavior evolve?
- Will there ever be a tree of life that systematists can agree on?
- How many species are there on Earth?
- How did flowers evolve?
- What caused mass extinctions?
- 近江戸伸子（17:10−17:35）
- Why do humans have so few genes?
- How does a single somatic cell become a whole plant?
- What enables cellular components to copy themselves independent of DNA?
- What roles do different forms of RNA play in genome function?
- What role do telomeres and centromeres play in genome function?
- Why are some genome really big and others quite compact?
- What is all that "junk" doing in our genomes?
- How can genome changes other than mutations be inheritied?
- 田中成典（17:35−18:00）
- To what extent are genetic variation and personal health linked ?
- How much can human life span be extended ?
- What genetic changes made us uniquely human ?
- How will big pictures emerge from a sea of biological data ?
- Can we predict how proteins will fold ?
- How do proteins find their partners ?
- What keeps intracellular traffic running smoothly ?
- How much of personality is genetic ?
※ 多数の学生・教員・一般の皆様のご来聴をお待ちしております.
□ 世話人：田中成典（tanaka2@kobe-u.ac.jp）