The Leopoldina Annual Assembly on Friday, 23 and Saturday, 24 September will shine the spotlight on global health, which is a concept that has gained greater significance as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. But, according to Lothar H. Wieler – who prepared the programme for the event together with Susanne Hartmann and Thomas C. Mettenleiter – global health is about much more than pandemic preparedness. In the new newsletter issue, he talks about the basic ideas of “Global Health” and gives an outlook on the future of the eponymous section at the Leopoldina, which he heads as acting senator. More on pages 4 and 5

Climate change, the energy transition, the scarcity of raw materials, water shortages and the significant rise in damage inflicted by natural disasters are all the topic of increasingly heated public debates, with recent crises adding even more fuel to the fire. Equally, these issues are opening our eyes to the limits of our planet’s habitability. And they are turning the geosciences into a key discipline for finding suitable solutions to keep Earth habitable. In July, the Leopoldina published the Report on Tomorrow's Science "Earth System Science – Discovery, Diagnosis, and Solutions in Times of Global Change". More on page 8

The Leopoldina has just published its statement on women in science. Ute Frevert ML, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin/Germany, is the speaker of the working group behind the statement. In her work as a historian, she has long had an interest in the construction and interpretation of gender differences. More on page 9