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Basic research is driven by curiosity. Also known as discovery research, owing to its emphasis on the quest for knowledge rather than commercial applications, basic research has led to breakthroughs that have spawned not only new technologies but even entirely new fields of science like genomics. Some of these discoveries were even accidental!

On this page, you will find examples of the many ways in which basic research is paving the way to sustainable development – even if the time lag between a discovery and concrete applications of this new knowledge can be more or less long. Take a look at the photo exhibition and videos on this page too.

One of the most prominent examples of the ties between basic research and societal change is the transistor. When the first transistor radio came on the market in the early 1950s, it was the fruit of almost 50 years of basic research in public laboratories. The computer chip followed, the first integrated cir-cuit. Since then, the miniaturization of integrated circuits has made it possible to manufacture ever-smaller mechanical, electronic and optical devices: today’s smartphones use millions of miniscule transistors to perform complex processes.

Having a capacity in basic sciences is in the interests of both developed and developing countries, given the potential for applications to foster sustainable development and raise standards of living. For example, a growing number of people around the world suffer from diabetes. Thanks to laboratory studies of the ways in which genes can be manipulated to make specific protein molecules, scientists are able to engineer genetically a common bacterium, Escherichia coli, to produce synthetic human insulin.

Invented in 1983 by American biochemist Kary Banks Mullis, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a technique used to copy tiny segments of DNA. PCR acts like a magnifying glass, making it easier to analyse these DNA segments. PCR has a wide range of applications. It can be used to detect the presence of bacteria and viruses, such as in food, water or patients. Over the past two years, PCR has been used countless times to test individuals for infection with Covid-19. PCR can also be used to detect a genetic disorder or to further our understanding of evolutionary relationships between different organisms. In forensics, PCR can be used to identify a criminal on the basis of a sample left behind at a crime scene, such as a hair follicle. Kary Banks Mullis was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1993 for his revolutionary discovery.

UNESCO’s toolkit ( 2021) recalls that mathematical methods have been used during the Covid-19 pandemic to design vaccines more efficiently and to model vaccine hesitancy as a social phenomenon.

In chemistry, basic research is laying the foundations for ‘green’ applications such as innocuous alter-natives to toxic chemicals and solvents, more energy-efficient chemical processes, biodegradable chemicals and waste and so on. One example of a new material to have emerged from basic science research is graphene; it has countless potential applications in industry. Isolated in 2004, graphene is ultra-light and much stronger than steel, yet extremely flexible. Graphene could be incorporated in rubber soles, for instance, to make shoes more durable.

Did you know that the flat screen on your television or cell phone is the fruit of basic research? The discovery of liquid crystals in 1888 would make it possible, more than a century later, to flatten the screens of televisions, computers and cell phones, once it was realized that liquid crystals could be used in display devices. Liquid crystals were first used in the 1960s in optical imaging devices. The liquid crystal does not produce light itself but rather draws on an external source – such as the back light on a television – to form images, making for low-energy consumption. As so often happens in basic research, liquid crystals were discovered by accident.

One key challenge today is to transition to clean forms of energy. Hydrogen is already being used on an industrial scale but hydrogen energy is almost entirely supplied from coal and gas¹. Converting water into hydrogen using artificial photosynthesis – by splitting water (H20) into hydrogen and oxygen molecules – could offer a ‘green’ method of producing hydrogen energy.

A growing number of households are turning away from oil or gas heating towards solar, geothermal and wood pellet options. Biomass produced using the floating mangrove technology could provide an alternative to cutting down existing mangrove trees illegally to make wood pellets for charcoal production. 91�鶹������Ʒ���� developed a system of floating mangroves, in cooperation with Mourjan Marinas and Lusail City in Qatar. The system has been tested since 2012. The mangrove seeds have germinated, produced roots, stems, pneumatophores, leaves, bark, flower buds, flowers and even new seeds, in a floating system. The value of this new type of biomass is that it can be produced in coastal systems without the need for agricultural land.

Moreover, no freshwater is required for irrigation, since mangroves are salt-tolerant. The market for wood pellets was worth an estimated US$10 billion in 2020, with pellets costing about US$250 per ton, depending on the wood quality. Mangrove wood pellets would, thus, have great market potential.

_{¹ See: International Energy Agency (2019) . Web news, 14 June}

There is so much we can learn from observing nature. By studying the ways in which animals and plants have adapted to their environment, we can learn how to mimic these coping mechanisms in in-dustry. For instance, the structure of lotus leaves is designed to keep the surface of the leaf clean and dry in damp conditions. Unable to penetrate the leaf, rainwater simply runs off the surface, taking any dirt with it. These properties have inspired coatings for aircraft cabins which reduce the amount of cleaning fluid required to wash away fingerprints and spillages left by hundreds of passengers.

Have you ever wondered how migrating birds are able to fly hundreds or even thousands of kilome-tres without ever touching land? These birds exploit warm, rising air currents – or ‘thermals’ – to fly and gain height without needing to flap their wings, thereby conserving energy. Since the landscape of these currents is complex and continuously changing, we do not yet have a good understanding of exactly how birds find and navigate thermals. Scientists at UNESCO’s Abdus Salam International Cen-tre for Theoretical Physics have used machine learning to identify navigation strategies that could cope with, and even exploit, turbulent fluctuations, using a learning strategy based on trial and error which combined numerical simulations of atmospheric flow with reinforcement learning methods. This type of basic research could aid in the development of energy-efficient long-distance autonomous gliders.

As recalls, mathematical models can also help to tackle the interrelated crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and water insecurity. They can quantify the value of ecosystem services and biodiversity of large estuaries, for example, and enable us to explore multiple “what-if” scenarios to inform the decision-making process. Scientists use climate models in combination with storylines to produce scenarios of plausible alternative futures. This approach is used, for example, in the reports produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to inform policy-makers of the science behind climate change and their options through plausible scenarii for the future.

Atmospheric sciences can make a vital contribution to sustainable development. Scientists in UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme have worked with the University of California, Irvine, in the USA, to develop an algorithm that can estimate real-time precipitation worldwide. This algorithm has enabled them to extract local and regional cloud features, such as coldness and texture, from an international constellation of satellites, in order to inform hydrological services on the ground about the risk of flooding, drought or storms and, thereby, improve emergency planning and manage-ment. This system is now available as the iRain application for mobile phones.

The University of Ghent in Belgium has an antenna in the Yangambi Biosphere Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is part of UNESCO’s World Network of 738 Biosphere Reserves. In March 2020, the university installed the Congoflux Tower, the first of its kind in the Congo Basin. Some 55 m tall, the Congoflux Tower rises 15 m above the forest canopy as it collects data over a 1 km2 radius on exchanges of water vapour and greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane between the atmosphere and the forest. These data will fill yawning gaps in our knowledge of the role that the forest plays in carbon sequestration and, thereby, in limiting climate change.