Prof Büntgen will talk about the potential and limitations of state-of-the-art tree-ring research, that may range in space and time from a cell to the globe and from hourly resolution to the end of the Last Ice Age. After an introduction into dendrochronology, he will provide timely examples of how different tree-ring archives and parameters can help to identify and shift research frontiers and cross disciplinary boundaries; not only within the natural and social sciences but also the humanities. In addressing aspects of archaeology, astronomy, biology, ecology, epidemiology, history, mycology and volcanology, this talk will stimulate blue-sky thinking to generate exciting scholarship at the crossroads of methodological and intellectual innovation.