As recognized by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, the human community has reached a point in which it is faced with an array of choices that will determine the quality of our lives and the state of the global environment for present and future generations. One possibility is that at long last we will pave a path toward environmental stewardship and sustainable development. But it is also quite possible that we will travel a less enlightened course, running down the earth's natural capital and severely limiting the choices our descendants will face.

"Knowledge and information are essential for people to respond successfully to the opportunities and challenges of social, economic and technological changes (...). But to be useful, knowledge and information must be effectively communicated to people", says the Food and Agricultural Organization. India is home to a number of ICT-enabled development initiatives, and we will look at one of them to learn how an effective communication strategy is used.

The world is facing an unprecedented situation in health management as fast transport and travel lead to spread of diseases at a rate that has not been seen before and into countries that had once conquered them. This is even more evident with infectious diseases which do not respect geopolitical barriers or economic progress. It is becoming increasingly clear that control of such diseases and good practices for public health need global sharing of knowledge and international cooperation. In addition networking of institutions involved in health care with the communities that they serve is fundamental to containing diseases and promoting good health. For reasons as yet unclear even non infectious diseases such as obesity, hypertension and diabetes are also increasing at an alarming rate globally. The advantages of international networking and timely communication which contained three diseases will be discussed in this article.

All science undergraduates should do at least one philosophy course as part of their curriculum to augment their communication skills. This article sets out the arguments and the wider benefits for students of such courses.

While knowledge-society is developing all around the world, science seems to be loosing its historical prestige in public perception, scientific vocations are declining among young people, "limit" on science is common subject of daily politics, research freedom is questioned in front of public good, scientists are dragged in front of public opinion. As a consequence, scientists are to be skilled in science communication. But communicating science is no more matter of "translating" scholar knowledge into lay language (popularization); it is mainly matter of crossing barriers of fundamental attitudes, understanding daily-life ends, sharing future scenarios and cultural values, becoming responsible for the societal dimension of science. Moreover, while confronting the coming Big Convergence (among nanosciences, bio-medical sciences, information and communication-sciences, neuro-cognitive sciences), science itself is called to cross barriers among disciplines, distinctions between pure and applied science, academic and industrial research, science and technology, etc. However, such crossovers are challenging for present education of scientists. The governance of the democratic knowledge-society not only demands more scientific education among citizens, but also a general revision of highest scientific curricula. What are the goals for educating scientists to public responsibility and participation? What are conceivable ways for joining the "two cultures" and integrating curricula? What cross-fertilizations are conceivable between natural and social sciences, scientific and humanistic education, specialised and more general formation?