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Brian Nosek on open science

The Ongoing Transformation

Open Science: Moving From Possible to Expected to Required

A decade ago, University of Virginia psychology professor Brian Nosek cofounded an unusual nonprofit, the Center for Open Science. It’s been a cheerleader, enabler, and nagger to convince scientists that making their methods, data, and papers available to others makes for better science. Nosek refers to the “pyramid of culture change” as his strategy to push for reforms: first make a better practice possible, then easy, expected, rewarding, and finally, required.Read More

Ocean Memory

Blue Dreams

Blue Dreams is an immersive video experience inspired by microbial networks in the deep sea and beyond. Using stunning undersea video footage, abstract imagery, and computer modeling, the work offers a glimpse into the complicated relationships among the planet’s tiniest—yet most vital—living systems. The video installation flows between micro and macro worlds to portray geologic processes at play with microbial and planetary webs of interactivity.Read More

Space Junk

Why Space Debris Flies Through Regulatory Gaps

Orbital debris has been a looming issue for decades, and it’s only getting worse as activities in space increase. With technical expertise and authority over space activities widely distributed across the US government, officials need to determine the appropriate regulations and policies to address how space is changing. It’s time to clarify which agencies have authority to act to resolve the space debris problem.Read More

Forum

Regulating Space Debris

“If the budget exists and projections materialize, it seems to make sense for the Office of Space Commerce to become the central home for these new regulatory issues,” writes Timiebi Aganaba in response to Marilyn Harbert and Asha Balakrishnan’s essay. Read her and other experts’ reactions in the Forum.Read More

Poetry

Zinc Fingers

Can science provide a basis for human empathy? Peter Meinke, the poet laureate of Florida, describes a surprising encounter with a pickpocket on the Paris Metro.Read More

In Focus

Navigating a polluted information ecosystem
  • Navigating a Polluted Information Ecosystem

    Fake newsmisinformation, and disinformation have become bywords for problematic online content. But these labels provide little understanding of the ways people create and share information. A new series from Issues explores how to navigate and improve today’s information ecosystems.

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The Summer Issue

Cover of the Summer 2023 ISSUES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


How can public policy push science, medicine, and technology forward? In the Summer 2023 Issues, contributors offer plenty of ideas. 

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Film Review

No Ordinary Documentary

By the time they’re diagnosed, most ALS patients have only months or a few years to live. There are no cures and few effective treatments. But DC lawyer Brian Wallach, who knew nothing about ALS before his diagnosis, sought to make treatment a policy priority. A new documentary chronicles his remarkable success.Read More

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

The Camouflaged Metaphysics of Embryos

Last summer, the Supreme Court overturned the right to an abortion in the United States. The ramifications of that decision continue to play out across interpretations of the whole human reproductive process, including in health care and technology. Jane Maienschein sees opportunities for thoughtful reflection and crafting of better informed, more nuanced policies.Read More

The ISSUES Interview

Tristan Harris

“The Complexity of Technology’s Consequences Is Going Up Exponentially, But Our Wisdom and Awareness Are Not.”

Tristan Harris, a technology ethicist and the cofounder of the Center for Humane Technology, talked with Issues editor Sara Frueh about the challenge of online misinformation, ways to govern artificial intelligence, and a vision of technology that strengthens democracy.Read More

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

Centering Societal Concerns at NSF

The National Science Foundation has been operating in a hybrid mode of use-inspired research and knowledge-based innovation for most of its history. Examining the new mandates of the CHIPS and Science Act, and their relationship to past experiments at the agency, reveals how NSF can center “ethical and societal considerations” as it reorients the scientific enterprise.Read More

News

Creativity During COVID

cpnas creative responses archive

A Time Capsule of Creative Responses to the Pandemic

Creativity often flourishes in stressful times. A remarkable collection of creative responses from individuals, communities, organizations, and industries is now available to explore in a new archive.Read More

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