The Future of Science and Society Starts with You
Kei Koizumi氏

We know science makes the future happen, but science today and tomorrow requires more than experiments and publishing the results. We all face the challenge of connecting science to the challenges we face as a global society. I'd like to talk today about how I've worked with Science and AAAS to connect science to society and offer some ideas to my Japanese colleagues from my own experience. I'll talk about how I've worked at AAAS to connect scientists to policymakers and science to policy, how I've worked at several institutions to connect scientific advice to informing important decisions, how effective science communication increases the impact of research, and how we can all work together to make science a welcoming environment for everyone. We have so many difficult challenges such as a warming planet, aging societies, and environmental pollution that everyone has to participate in making science part of the solution. Whether we are early-career scientists or policy makers, Japanese or American, researchers or communicators, we can work together to improve science and society.

Being a Scientist in a Dynamic World: Challenges and Strategies
Mary Voytek氏

What does it take to be a successful scientist in the modern world?
What is the current landscape of funding?
How do scientist engage in interdisciplinary research or research in emerging fields when much of your training is in conventional scientific disciplines?
How can early career scientists and engineers work with the best in the field and gain the global connections that have become an essential aspect of science?
What is the diversity of career tracks for PhD students and postdocs after they complete their training and how can you prepare for them?
These and other questions will be discussed.

Movement in plants
中村匡良氏 　Masayoshi Nakamura

As a sessile organism, plants need to adapt rapidly to unstable environmental conditions. Unlike animals and birds, plants cannot move away from danger. According to the lifestyle of plants they must have exquisite sensory systems and efficient communication systems, and consequently respond to environmental stimuli by changing how they grow. For example, when a seed germinates in the dark, the embryonic stem grows rapidly to push the first leaves out of the soil and toward the light to support photosynthesis. The growth movement of a plant depends to a great extent on the shape of cells. How the movement in plant is controlled will be introduced with our latest finding.

多くの動物と異なり、植物は生まれた場所から移動しない。変動する環境に適切に対応ため、植物は正確に環境を感知する能力と細胞間での効率的な情報共有システムを有しているはずである。そして成長方法を変えることで環境刺激への柔軟な対応を分子・細胞レベルで行っている。例えば、土の中で発芽した種子は土の外に葉を押し出し、光合成を効率よく行うため、その茎を早く長く成長させる。植物の成長による動きは、細胞の形態に大きく依存している。本講演では、環境に応答した植物の動きがどのように制御されるかを、最新の研究結果とともに紹介する。

Manipulating Social Memory with Light
奥山 輝大氏 　Teruhiro Okuyama

For social animals, it is crucial to remember and recognize different individuals (i.e., having "social memory") and exhibit appropriate social behaviors, such as preference behavior or avoidance behavior, to each individual. Using optogenetics, a modern technology that gives neuroscientists an incredible ability to control neurons with "light", our lab attempts to manipulate social memory itself and social behaviors driven by the memory. Even if the memory seemed lost after long separation periods, optogenetic activation of the memory neurons can fully restore that social memory. Additionally, an artificial association between the memory of a specific individual with fear or reward events can elicit avoidance or preference to that individual, respectively.