“Science and diplomacy are naturally allied. Energy security, food safety, global warming or pandemics: there is no global challenge that diplomacy can face without the help of the scientific community”. With these words, Emma Bonino, Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs, had opened the Meeting of Scientific Attachés, held in Rome on the 18th and 19th of July.  Sitting near Minister Bonino there was Maria Chiara Carrozza, the Italian Minister of University and Research: together they supervised the signature of a joint operative agreement between the Minister of