Chief Scientist Satish Singh was invited to share his experiences in a joint event organised with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. The goal was to discuss how to reduce disaster risk in order to achieve the UN sustainable development goals. Several lessons can be drawn from the conference call discussion.

We have all heard that our planet behaves like a living organism. Just like us, the Earth has systems that are all linked and constantly influencing each other. The Earth’s climate can affect its geology and in return, plate tectonics can play a role in the evolution of our planet’s climate.

Our most recent documentary short film, ‘People of the Forest: Orang Rimba,’ premiered at the Singapore Eco Film Festival in early September 2017. The short offers a brief but intimate look at the lives of the Orang Rimba, a minority group of a few thousand nomadic tribespeople who live throughout the forests of Jambi province in Sumatra, Indonesia.

Albert Einstein once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” We should take his word for it, especially when it comes to science. As I walk around the Science Control Room on board the R/V Marion Dufresne, I witness a small army of experts keeping close tabs on endless spreadsheets, running equations or measuring maps with religious precision. It seems counterintuitive to think that passion and imagination are driving this research, yet they are.