News Updates

Reports of unidentified flying objects are making news again, with the New York Times offering on-the-record interviews with Navy pilots who recently claimed unusual aerial sightings, and the Washington Post offering speculation on the reports and what it might mean if they turn out to be evidence of extraterrestrials visiting our planet. In Issues, a journalist took a deep—and skeptical—look at why the idea of UFOs has captivated public attention for so long, and why the Pentagon remains interested in but close-mouthed about such activities.

A recent Washington Post editorial examined advances in human gene editing—and the challenges created—calling for the international science community to develop regulations “that will enable genuine scientific advancement but avoid reckless fiddling with the source code of life.” The latest Issues offers some up-close perspective, with leading experts describing (here and here) why scientists, government leaders, and the public must all be part of the discussion, as well as how scientific leaders (here) can encourage positive research and deter untoward work.

Florida’s Space Coast is on the upswing again, powered by industry taking over from once-dominant government programs as they work toward launching small rockets carrying satellites routinely into orbit as well as huge rockets carrying humans back to the moon and perhaps beyond. The bustling scene is yet another example of the emerging trend, detailed recently in Issues, of private companies applying their innovative strengths to create a vibrant new space economy in the United States and globally.

“What’s Our China Endgame?” asks a columnist for the New York Times, concluding, among other things, that the United States can’t simply focus on ramping up tariffs to overcome its trade deficit with that nation, as President Trump seems wont to do. In Issues, a leading scholar and longtime government official offers an answer: outcompete China, by strengthening the US innovation capacity for implementing new or improved technology and management practices that offer products and services with desirable performance at affordable cost.

For ethical and environmental reasons, raising octopuses in captivity for food is a bad idea, a group of researchers recently wrote in Issues, adding that companies, universities, and governments should focus instead on achieving a truly sustainable and compassionate future for food production. Their arguments are now making news elsewhere, notably in the British paper The Guardian, which quotes the lead author as saying “We can see no reason why, in the 21st century, a sophisticated, complex animal should become the source of mass-produced food.”

As a sign of troubling times for commercial nuclear energy in the United States, the last reactor operating at the infamous Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania is closing, after losing money for years. Meanwhile, a new player in the industry sees a brighter future for nuclear plants that are smaller, simpler, and cheaper. In Issues, a longtime nuclear expert has also examined the advantages of building such reactors, as part of a broader road map for nuclear innovation over the next several decades.

Following the debut of the first hamburger produced from animal cells grown in a laboratory, two scholars of sustainable engineering wrote in Issues that society should start discussing the social, cultural, environmental, and economic implications of this new development. It seems they’ve gotten their wish, as a recent news report examined how widely, and often heatedly, cell-based meat and other “alt-meat” products are up for discussion and possible regulation.

Following the failure of several experimental drugs thought promising for treating Alzheimer’s disease, scientists are by necessity expanding their search for therapeutic candidates. Issues recently took a deep look at the challenges, with a science policy analyst recounting his history of following Alzheimer’s research and treatment—where it has failed and where it has advanced—and the head of a private foundation long involved in the field citing the need to “ask the right questions” in pursing new directions in aging and neurodegeneration research.

Black and Latino college students transfer or drop out of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs at higher rates than their white peers, a new study says, a trend not evident in other competitive fields. In Issues, two officials at a university with a proven record of enrolling and keeping minority students in STEM programs explain that the key is “empowering settings for minority student achievement within a broader institutional change process focusing on transforming campus culture to emphasize inclusion and excellence.”

We recently noted that the US Navy was drafting new guidelines for how its personnel should report their experiences with “unexplained aerial phenomena,” and referenced an Issues article that skeptically suggested the Pentagon “may well have its own good reason for keeping the UFO story alive.” Now, in an announcement that might make you go “hmmm,” the Navy says it likely won’t release to the general public any information about reported sightings, claiming the need to protect “classified information on military operations.”

Researchers in New York are working to genetically engineer the American chestnut to withstand the fungal blight that drove it to virtual extinction in Appalachian forests, but some activists oppose releasing the new trees into the wild. In Issues, a philosopher recently examined the scientific arguments at play, finding valid data in both camps, and she concluded that it will ultimately be public opinion about the value of the transgenic trees that decides their fate.