Chronic diseases are triggered by lifestyle factors such as smoking, diet or physical activity behaviors. These factors still have a major global impact on the health of millions around the world. However, as the world moves into the 21st century, more important risk factor will be the focus of global health and it can only be tackled by interdisciplinary research teams. Global warming, widespread use of chemical toxicants, and the overuse of earth's resources are being studied from the perspective of its impact on ecology, plants and the weather patterns, but there is limited study on their direct human health impact. This is largely due to the lack of interdisciplinary sciences needed to overcome hurdles facing the advancement of such research. (#27872)