The writer is Director of Turku Bioscience John Eriksson.
The ongoing pandemic has given reason to consider the public awareness of bioscience and its general importance. In this respect, it was interesting to check out the mass media and science journals at the turn of the year, as the new decennium, carrying the somewhat prophetic number 2020, spurred an exceptional interest in things to come. There was a cavalcade of interviews, columns, blogs, and debates from experts with presumed crystal balls to portray the future. The predictions included many familiar themes: climate change, consequences thereof and necessary plans for action, digitalization, energy production, new materials, artificial intelligence, different aspects of theoretical physics, astronomy, the future of Earth and the universe, plans for space programs, and also universal themes like politics, traffic, and housing.