Science’s Social Contract
Policymakers must rewrite science’s Cold War–era social contract by being honest about who benefits from R&D investments and about the feasibility of achieving global leadership in all scientific domains.
Quantum Computing
A combination of quantum, AI, and classical computing can soon be used to perform calculations beyond the ability of any single compute architecture, solving major hurdles in science that have previously strained classical-only systems.
Trust in Science
Understanding how one of the world’s most enduring and successful large-scale science collaborations has made its work credible can help Europe build trustworthy infrastructure for artificial intelligence in science.
Editor’s Journal
America’s community colleges have pulled off something close to a moonshot in making education accessible.
Interview
DeRionne Pollard, president and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges, makes the case for community colleges as essential institutions that help individuals prosper, anchor civic life, and drive regional and national economic growth.
Social Media
Instead of opening debate and reflecting public opinion, social media platforms have amplified a small subset of extreme voices who dominate discussion, poison public discourse, and mislead the public.
Ethics, Norms, and Standards
A new publication aims to train young scientists to act responsibly and ethically, be good stewards of public funding and trust, and navigate the broader responsibilities that come with being a scientist in this rapidly shifting landscape.
Biosecurity
There is much discussion on how artificial intelligence poses threats to biosecurity; there should be at least as much focus on how AI can expand the solutions.
Book Review
Nikhil Menon looks at how the forces of global politics and capitalism shaped India’s technological revolution, as described in Dwaipayan Banerjee’s recent book.
Digital Identity
The nation’s experience with developing digital credentials may be instructive for other countries seeking to build an identity system that reflects civic and social preferences.
Reparative Science
How can scientists and research institutions contribute to social justice?
University Innovation
Even though the 1980 Bayh–Dole Act is widely considered a success, the modern research enterprise operates under new tensions that the legislation was not built to address.
Grid Infrastructure
A lack of standardized infrastructure data is holding back efforts to modernize the nation’s electrical grid.
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Vol. XLIII, No. 1, Fall 2026
The Fall 2026 issue explores how artificial intelligence might affect public policy in a variety of domains. Take biosecurity: Despite the fear that AI could be used to engineer dangerous pathogens, a former FBI special agent argues that the technology can also be used to uncover suspicious activity and possible bad actors before they become a threat. On economic policy: Spectacular wealth from AI will accrue to relatively few companies and individuals. What if a country were to create an AI sovereign wealth fund to distribute these profits more equitably? A group of Canadian scholars and legislators proposes to set up just such a fund. And when it comes to trust, a cultural anthropologist argues that CERN, the world’s most successful large-scale science collaboration, has many lessons to offer European regulators about how to build trust and transparency when using AI for science.
Browse the Issue
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Subscribe to the Print EditionIn response to essays published in Issues, our readers weigh in on critical topics in policy related to science, technology, and society.
Fall 2026
A Discussion of
Responses By
Fall 2026
A Discussion of
Responses By
An expert in technology and conflict asks whether we can build military artificial intelligence systems that engender human trust.
Response
What happens to abandoned technology after conflict? In Troy Wiggins’s story, two scrappy cousins struggle to get by in a postwar bartering economy. When they encounter an abandoned autonomous military system, they get pulled into a dilemma that reveals some dark secrets about their divided world.
Information is social: It is produced, shared, and solidified into “fact” through human relationships. Artificial intelligence is disrupting those relationships and transforming knowledge into “content.”
Response
What does it look like to search for truth across ideological bubbles? In a remote cabin, an online encyclopedia editor has collected a vast library of books that she hopes can counteract a polarized online information environment. When she gets a surprise visit from some young idealists, the editor is forced to confront what it means to curate information some find dangerous.
How can rapidly expanding cities provide affordable, green housing? To understand the challenges in doing so, look to the capital of Nigeria.
Response
Imagine a housing development that takes green architecture to another level, braiding plants into the very scaffolding of a home. Osahon Ize-Iyamu’s story brings us to such a development, where a grief-stricken daughter struggles to defend her late mother’s vision of sustainable housing against financial, regulatory, and personal hurdles.
After the firing of the National Science Board, legislators have an opportunity to establish a new balance between democratic accountability and protection from partisan meddling.
Although public attention is focused on the federal government’s efforts to slash funding for scientific research, the decimation of the democratic institutional processes that undergird state-sponsored scientific research is far more consequential.
To improve the relationship between science and the public, funders should embrace a new ontology of scientific work that aligns incentives with society’s goals.
University leadership needs to shift attention from chasing prestige to crafting strategies for long-term success.
