The Dead Sea area is unique in the sense that it is a natural laboratory in which key topics in several scientific disciplines can be studied in situ. Processes that take place during continental break-up, geochemistry and dynamics of the hypersaline Dead Sea water, paleoclimate and paleoseismic records in sediments and the survival mechanisms of halophilic micro-organisms are among the topics being studied there. Active tectonic processes control all aspects of the Dead Sea and have created an environment that has also influenced the course of human history.