The Continuing Problem of Nuclear Weapons
Every issue explores cutting-edge developments in technology, medicine, education, climate change, and much more. Articles provide in-depth analyses of science and technology’s impact on public policy, the economy, and society—bringing today’s best minds to bear on tomorrow’s most critical topics.
Editor's Journal
A Plague o’ Both Your Houses
“A plague o’ both your houses! They have made worm’s meat of me” Mercutio knew what he was talking about. In Romeo and Juliet, it is not just his own life … Read More
From the Hill
From the Hill – Spring 2006
Constraints continue in proposed R&D budget President Bush’s proposed budget for fiscal year (FY) 2007, released on February 6, calls for substantial increases in key physical sciences and engineering programs as well… Read More
Perspectives
Import Ethanol, Not Oil
To paraphrase Mark Twain, people talk a lot of reducing U.S. dependence on imported oil, but they don’t do much about it. Rather than continuing to talk the talk, the United States… Read MoreLet the Internet Be the Internet
Now that the Internet has become a keystone of global communications and commerce, many individuals and institutions are racing to jump in front of the parade and take over its governance. In… Read MoreFor What the Tolls Pay: Fair and Efficient Highway Charges
Hydrogen cars, expensive oil, fuel efficiency standards, and inflation frighten those interested in maintaining and improving U.S. highways. All of these forces could erode the real value of fuel taxes that now… Read More
Features
Archives – Spring 2006
TIM ROLLINS + K.O.S. AND BANNEKER HIGH SCHOOL PARTICIPANTS, On the Nature of the Universe (after Lucretius), Watercolor, acrylic ink, India ink, aqaba paper, collage, and book paper on canvas, 76 … Read MoreCartoons – Spring 2006
Controlling Iran’s Nuclear Program
The world would be a more dangerous place with nuclear weapons in Iran. A Persian power with a keen sense of its 2,500-year history, Iran occupies a pivotal position straddling the Caspian… Read MoreFederal Neglect: Regulation of Genetic Testing
Government needs to ensure that genetic tests provide useful medical information and that the test results are reliable. U.S. consumers generally take for granted that the government assesses the safety and effectiveness… Read MoreDelegitimizing Nuclear Weapons
Read MoreThe United States should take the lead in making the use of nuclear weapons unacceptable under any but the most extenuating circumstances.
Environmental Safeguards for Open-Ocean Aquaculture
Because of continued human pressure on ocean fisheries and ecosystems, aquaculture has become one of the most promising avenues for increasing marine fish production. During the past decade, worldwide aquaculture production of… Read MoreStraight Talk: Don’t “Dis” Chinese Science
Considering the worldwide attention being paid to the growing economic, technological, and scientific prowess of China, one would expect that the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the… Read MoreProtecting the Best of the West
Once considered the leftovers of Western settlement and land grabs, the 261 million acres of deserts, forests, river valleys, mountains, and canyons managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are… Read More
Real Numbers
The U.S. Energy Subsidy Scorecard
In his State of the Union address on January 31, 2006, President Bush called for more research on alternative energy technologies to help wean the country from its oil dependence. The proposal… Read More
Book Reviews
An antidote to sprawl
Bruce Babbitt, former Arizona governor and U.S. secretary of the Department of the Interior, proposes not so much a new vision of land use in the United States, as indicated in the… Read More
Regulatory diversity
Polling data from the late 1990s in Europe and the United States revealed curious differences in public attitudes. In the United States, there appeared to be a high level of acceptance of… Read More
Lost in space
In his first year as National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) administrator, Michael Griffin concluded that the space shuttle is an “inherently flawed vehicle” and that both the shuttle and the space… Read More
A Dam Shame
Jacques Leslie is a journalist, and Deep Water has a journalist’s style. It reads well and tells a compelling story. The book relates first-person accounts of three protagonists, each of whom is… Read More