According to the neuroscientist Colin Blakemore, interviewed on page 22 of this special issue, "forces, both commercial and private . . . want to sidestep the rigorous methodology of science to sell a product or an idea". Following the Climategate scandal and the libel case against Simon Singh (who writes on page 21), scientists can be forgiven for thinking that they are under attack from reactionary forces. Yet only science can help us overcome the challenges of climate change, food insecurity and pandemics. Science, as Mr Blakemore rightly says, "is the only solution".