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"When My OB/GYN Said He Didn’t Understand Poetry" illustration by Shonagh Rae

When My OB/GYN Said He Didn’t Understand Poetry

Christine Stewart-Nuñez

I worried because my body
is a more complex text.
When he feels the shape
of my uterus, he may not
think pear-shaped yet
an apricot in size, hollow
butternut squash, lightbulb….Read More

The Ongoing Transformation

Podcast conversation with Georges Benjamin

Ending Inequities in Health Care

Georges Benjamin, Sara Frueh

Racial and ethnic disparities are built into the US health care system, and the differences are extreme: the life expectancy difference between white women and black men is over a decade. Georges Benjamin talks about how to fix the system to ensure health care equity for all.Read More

Sexual Health

Illustration for "Leaving No-Women's-Land" by Shonagh Rae

Leaving No-Woman’s-Land

Jewel M. Kling, Sara Collina, Lindy Elkins-Tanton

Women’s sexual health is key to their well-being and overall health. It is time for the embrace this long neglected component of health, and make changes to improve research agendas, health care worker training, and care protocols for women.Read More

Real Numbers

who does science and technology policy

Who Does Science and Technology Policy?

Josh Trapani, Katherine Santos Pavez

Earlier this year, Issues conducted a survey to gain a deeper understanding of the field of science and technology policy today, exploring career paths, motivations, activities, and opinions on how the field is changing.Read More

Editor’s Journal

who does science and technology policy

Science Policy: No Longer an “Exotic Nice-to-Have Thing”

Lisa Margonelli

The community of people who do science and tech policy has long been something of a cipher. In 1964, political scientist Robert C. Wood described the “consistently influential” science policymakers as “an apolitical elite” of just a few hundred people. But was this description ever true?Read More

Future Tense Fiction

Future Tense Fiction is a speculative fiction series that features short stories from acclaimed authors across a wide range of styles. Each story is paired with original artwork and a response essay from an expert who connects the fictional narrative to real-world policy debates.

Illustration for "Domestic Violence" by Rey Velasquez Sagcal

Domestic Violence

Madeline Ashby

From the Future Tense Fiction archives: Madeline Ashby explores what happens when smart home technology is used as a weapon of control.Read More

The FALL Issue

Fall 2024 Issues in Science and Technology cover
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The Future of Nuclear Power

The US Department of Energy and big tech companies such as Google and Amazon have announced their support for the development of advanced nuclear reactors. Do their efforts prefigure a nuclear renaissance? And what would such a renewal of the nuclear sector mean for society?

Nuclear Innovation

An Ambidextrous Approach to Nuclear Energy Innovation

An Ambidextrous Approach to Nuclear Energy Innovation

Florian Metzler, Jonah Messinger

Tension between the promise of new nuclear technologies and uncertainty about their feasibility requires a diversified, balanced research portfolio that can be adjusted locally in concert with global progress.Read More

Engineering Education

Educating Engineers for a New Nuclear Age

Aditi Verma, Katie Snyder, Shanna Daly

Radical designs for fission and fusion energy systems require engineers who are grounded in technical knowledge, adept at engaging communities in participatory design, and fluent in ethical, equity-centered communication.Read More

Decentralized Nuclear?

Can Nuclear Power Go Local?

Jessica Lovering, Suzanne Hobbs Baker

With origins in the Cold War military-industrial complex, nuclear power struggles to reinvent itself as part of the inclusive, democratic future envisioned by progressives.Read More

Nuclear Waste

nuclear regulatory commission

Deep Time: The End of an Engagement

Başak Saraç-Lesavre

For all its flaws, US nuclear waste policy at least relied on a sense of a moral responsibility toward the present and future. That may now be changing.Read More

News

Connecting today’s headlines with deeper policy analyses from the Issues archives.

Bringing Science and Technology Policy Into Focus

Tapping Ingenuity to Cope With Climate Warming

California Okays First Carbon-Capture Project

Nobel Prizes Feature Work in Artificial Intelligence

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