According to Professor Marc Mangel, one of the great challenges of this century is to answer the question: How do we bring first class basic science to bear on important applied problems? In this fascinating talk, Professor Mangel addresses this and a series of sub-questions, including: How does the nature of environmental problems differ from other kinds of problems? How do we deal with uncertainty, data and models? How can science support policy making? And, how do we and what should we learn from other disciplines?Marc Mangel is a Professor of Applied Mathematics and Statistics at the Baskin School of Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz and is one of the world's most outstanding biomathematicians of his generation. The Australian National University, Canberra, March 2009(Part 1 of 2)Click here for Part 2