Issues in Science and Technology

Under Review

Same Storm, Different Boats

Adam Briggle examines how disasters can disproportionately affect vulnerable people in his review of Angela Frederick’s Disabled Power.

Editor’s Journal

A “mohole moment” is when an investment in science goes disastrously wrong, providing a focal point for distrust and funding cuts. Such moments reveal the tacit premise of science’s social contract—both what the agreement is and what counts as a breach.

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How Do Moon Missions Reflect Changes in Science’s Social Contract?

May 20, 20263:30pm–4:30pm

The Latest

Knowledge Commons

Constructing a New Knowledge Infrastructure

Shannon Dosemagen, Gwen Ottinger

An environmental knowledge commons could support evidence-based policymaking, but it will require long-term coordination across the many communities monitoring pollution and local conditions.

Science Policy IRL

Kumar Garg Funds Ideas That Are “Big, if True”

Kumar Garg, Monya Baker

Kumar Garg, president of Renaissance Philanthropy, shares how he has spent his career finding, funding, and implementing ideas both within the government and outside it via philanthropy, which is uniquely positioned to pilot “big, if true” ideas.

Community Well-Being

We Created a Survey to Measure Community Well-Being and Activated a “Messy Middle”

Natalie Bomstad

How a Wisconsin county realized that systems change requires shared sensemaking as much as innovative metrics.

Science Funding

A Science Funding System Beyond the Linear Model

Heather Douglas

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.

A businessman and his small business. Seeking investment for development and advertising. Grants and government programs. Entrepreneurship, funding growth, and startup strategy.

Small Businesses

Reauthorizing the Small Business Innovation Research Program Isn’t Enough

Lars Erik Schönander

Reforms to America’s seed fund should be a catalyst for policies that help more small businesses bring new technologies to market.

Book Review

Roving the Prairies

Charles N. Herrick

Charles N. Herrick navigates the science and art of American grassland restoration in his review of George Frazier’s Riverine Dream.

interview

“The Key Lever for Increasing the Productivity of our Workforce Is Learning.”

Matt Sigelman, Molly Galvin

Burning Glass Institute president Matt Sigelman shares his insights about the worth of a college degree, the future of work in an age of artificial intelligence, and revitalizing the American dream.

Research Universities

How the American Research University Survives

Robert A. Brown, Bruce R. Guile

Despite their focus on institutional research excellence, US research universities are well down a path of eroding public value and research prowess. University leadership needs to shift attention from chasing prestige to crafting strategies for long-term success.

Pluralistic Intelligence

Building Pluralistic Intelligence Into the American Research University

Michael M. Crow, David V. Rosowsky, William B. Dabars

To respond to challenges in society, sustainability, and governance, universities must first deal with the mismatch between how knowledge is actually generated and what academia recognizes and teaches.

Space Policy

A Vision for America’s Next Era in Space

Brian Babin

Maintaining the United States’ leadership in space requires discipline, continuity, and a clear division of responsibilities between government and industry.

The Ongoing Transformation

The Future of Making Babies

Emily Packard Dawson, Jason Lloyd

Assisted reproductive technologies have helped many people have children, but the egg donors behind this process are often overlooked. Emily Packard Dawson discusses donors and the donation process, along with the ethical and policy challenges raised by advances in reproductive technologies.

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Weaving Data and Community

Vol. XLII, No. 3, Spring 2026

There are big, open questions about the changing relationship between science and society: How should the public fund science, and what kind of science should it fund? What should society expect in return for its support? What is the role of research universities in the scientific ecosystem? And the relationship between science and society looks very different at the local, or even personal, level—and the questions are different too: How can research improve the quality of life in my community? Should I be worried about the refinery in my neighborhood? Is my town able to assist the most vulnerable when the power goes out during a storm? The essays in the Spring 2026 Issues explore all these questions to better understand how the social contract with science is evolving.

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From This Issue

The International Geophysical Year

Forum

In response to essays published in Issues, our readers weigh in on critical topics in policy related to science, technology, and society.

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Spring 2026
The Key to Defense STEM Workforce Development
A Discussion of
Connecting the Dots for Defense STEM Workforce Development
Response By
Carrie B. Kisker
Spring 2026
Downsizing vs. Streamlining
A Discussion of
Simplify Research Regulations
Responses By
Andrew Gerard Matt Owens

Beyond the Headlines

Self-Driving Trucks Slated to Expand Operations

A major US distribution company plans to expand its use of self-driving long-haul trucks, from a pilot program in Texas with a human in the cab as a precaution to “unsupervised” operations… Read More

Preparing Collaboratively for Landslides and Tsunamis

A landslide in southeast Alaska last year triggered “one of the highest-reaching tsunamis ever recorded,” the Alaska Beacon reports. Although it caused no major damage, researchers noted that “with climate change making… Read More

Restrictions on Cannabis Loosened, but Challenges Remain

The US government has loosened restrictions on medical marijuana in states where it is already allowed, a shift that a PBS report calls “jump-starting the process for reclassifying marijuana more broadly.” But… Read More

Enlisting Cacti to Fight Drought

Much of the United States is seeing record drought for this time of year, the AP reports, raising worries about wildfires, food prices, and water supply. In a modest but intriguing look… Read More

Future Tense Fiction

Future Tense Fiction is a speculative fiction series that uses imagination to explore how science and technology will shape our future. It features short stories written by acclaimed authors across a wide range of styles. Each story is paired with original artwork by Rey Velasquez Sagcal and a response essay from an expert who connects the fictional narrative to real-world policy debates.

The Pocket Box™

Gunnar Anderson

What happens when a technology moves from groundbreaking scientific discovery to mass consumer product? Gunnar Anderson’s story explores a mysterious new discovery that breaks the bounds of physics as we once understood them. But quickly, scientific awe morphs into commercial prospecting—with little regulation and horrifying consequences.
What Happens When a Groundbreaking Invention Falls Victim to Human Impulse?

Torie Bosch

Even inventions with the loftiest of goals can be commandeered for unscrupulous—or nefarious—ends. Where does that leave the inventors?

Response
What Would Akanda Do?

Samit Basu

An Indian actor in a future Mumbai has authorized politicians, entertainers, and businesses to use his likeness. When he discovers his image is being used as a tool for repression—and when two kids he’s close to disappear—the actor is forced to confront what he really gave away.
The Dividing Towers of Mumbai

Moira Shourie

Moira Shourie returns to Mumbai, the city she once called home while working at MTV India. She reflects on how a culture of celebrity, rampant inequality, and complex urban design divide some residents and bring others together.

Response
Deficiency Agent

Andrew Liptak

How will artificial intelligence transform warfare? Andrew Liptak’s story brings us to the front lines to see how a glitchy combat AI deals with the tricky task of balancing the demands of a mission with the unpredictability of the battlefield.
The Algorithmic Fog of War

Candace Rondeaux

What happens as AI systems become embedded in military operations? Candace Rondeaux explores how command structures are already reorganizing around AI black boxes—and what it would look like to design decisionmaking structures that combine technical capacity with human expertise.

Response

Collection

Perspectives on Science’s “Social Contract”

Explore the Collection

Over four decades, Issues has hosted many articles discussing science’s “social contract”—the idea, as physicist Harvey Brooks articulated it in 1988, that the scientific enterprise would provide “social benefits in exchange for an unusual degree of self-governance and financial support free of strings.” Today, this contract is clearly defunct: The federal government has cut funding for science, cast doubt on scientific findings, and prioritized investment in research outside the university system. Whatever the future of federally funded science is, it’s no longer “free of strings.” As the scientific enterprise tries to decide how to respond, it first needs to figure out what happened. This collection is part of an exploration of science’s social contract that is generously supported by The Kavli Foundation, Rita Allen Foundation, and Dana Foundation.

Discussing Science’s “Social Contract”

Ian Banks, Heather E. Douglas, David H. Guston, C. Brandon Ogbunu, Bina Venkataraman

If the public funds science and gives it autonomy to govern itself, then benefits such as economic growth, innovation, and national security will follow. This unwritten social contract was long thought to underpin policymakers’ relationship to the scientific enterprise, but recent events suggest those days are over.
No Longer Free of Strings

Lisa Margonelli

Why has the idea of an implicit social contract between society and science had a hold on scientists’ imaginations for so long? And what does it mean now that the relationship has frayed?
It’s Time for Universities to Redesign Their 75-Year-Old Contract

Michael M. Crow, William B. Dabars, David V. Rosowsky

American research universities have unleashed an age of massive technical innovation—but they’ve failed to innovate their own designs to meet the changing needs of society.
“The More Inclusion We Have in Science, the Better Outcomes We’ll Get.”

Eddie Bernice Johnson, Molly Galvin

Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson spent five decades in public service, during which she ushered through landmark science and technology legislation and helped to advance opportunities for all Americans.