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snijders & van est virtual reality

A Manifesto to Responsibly Extend Reality Into Virtual Realms

Dhoya Snijders, Rinie Van Est

As technology such as augmented reality and virtual reality presents our senses with either partially or completely digitalized versions of reality, it is altering what we can see, hear, and feel—and raising urgent social and political questions about surveillance, human augmentation, and digital modification. Here are rules that can help society navigate a world in which mixed reality has become commonplace.Read More

World Wide Weird

The Rise of the Cognitive Ecosystem

Braden R. Allenby

Technologies are coming together in a way that transcends how humans understand and control our world. The emergence of this cognitive ecosystem has the power to transcend and radically reshape everything from individual psychologies to institutions to societies and geopolitics.Read More

Recent Articles

Energy Storage

Tomorrow’s Energy Storage Solutions

Sarah Kurtz, Noah Kittner, Sergio Castellanos, Patricia Hidalgo-Gonzalez, Daniel Kammen

Energy storage is a critical part of any zero-emission grid system. Long-duration storage is a necessary concept that we are just beginning to explore.Read More

Global Challenges

fan & horvat

Strengthening Global Scientific Collaboration

Yingjie Fan, Manfred Horvat

In the wake of the pandemic, national science funding organizations should create multinational frameworks to coordinate research programs. Read More

Climate Politics

The Emerging Republican Climate Policy Framework

Sarah E. Hunt

A conservative approach to climate change is taking shape in Congress, generating policies that could appeal to Americans across the political spectrum.Read More

Carbon Dioxide Removal

morton allenby graffy lackner carbon dioxide

Prioritizing Carbon Removal for Climate Policy

Evvan Morton, Elisabeth Graffy, Klaus Lackner, Brad Allenby

The world has passed the point where reducing or even eliminating new carbon emissions is enough to avoid dangerous warming. It’s time to get serious about carbon removal technologies.Read More

In focus

  • Rethinking the Power Grid

    Several spectacular failures of the US power grid raise the question: what could the grid system of the future look like?

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  • COVID-19

    Fresh insights on the social, political, and scientific aspects of the pandemic.

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Creativity During COVID

cpnas creative responses archive

A Time Capsule of Creative Responses to the Pandemic

Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences

Creativity often flourishes in stressful times. During the coronavirus pandemic, CPNAS collected creative responses from individuals, communities, organizations, and industries—now available to explore in a new archive.Read More

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Science Fiction

The Scent of the Freetails

Deji Bryce Olukotun

Acclaimed science fiction author Deji Olukotun imagines a near-future where a community decides to take ownership of its power grid and its data.Read More

Energy Futures

Customized Energy Futures

Chris Gearhart

Low-cost distributed energy generation and storage are here. How will people put these technologies to use to shape their lives and their landscapes?Read More

News

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

Government Reverses Course on US Waters Rule

FDA Approves Alzheimer’s Drug

Blue LEDs Causing Driving Woes

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