News Updates

To help the United States in its drive toward carbon-free electricity, the Biden administration plans to open the West Coast to offshore wind turbines. The first two proposed sites, off California, could produce enough electricity to power 1.6 million homes. But in Issues, a dozen researchers who analyzed California’s energy needs argue that it must look beyond wind and other sources, such as solar, whose inescapable variability creates reliability problems. Lead author Jane C. S. Long and colleagues maintain that the state will need “clean firm power” that can deliver carbon-free electricity whenever needed and for as long as needed.

The Texas Senate recently passed a bill banning physicians from treating youths under age 18 for the purpose of gender transitioning. Medical experts and transgender advocates call the bill unconstitutional and criticize its negative impact on mental health. In Issues, Adam Briggle, a Texas philosopher who has a transgender child, provides a powerful look at why restricting medical care for transitioning young people is misguided and how society might set things aright. At heart, he writes, we should look beyond science and politics and “reconsider what it means to be human and to be among other humans.”

China recently landed a spacecraft on Mars, becoming only the second nation to land a functioning craft—in this case, a rover the size of a small car—on the planet’s surface. China’s president hailed the event as “an important step in our country’s interplanetary exploration journey.” In Issues, Sylvia Schwaag Serger and her colleagues offer an even broader look at China’s increasing contributions—and ambitions—in science and technology. They write that by finding ways to cooperate with China, the United States—indeed, the world—will benefit. But they also see challenges, including China’s uneven willingness to follow generally accepted norms of science.

Humans have sent numerous spacecraft to Mars, including the US rover Perseverance that is now exploring the planet’s surface. Could microbes have hitched along and found a new home there? In a BBC report, Christopher Mason, a Cornell University geneticist, answers yes, then surveys potential implications for earthlings and any other life in the universe. In an Issues online exclusive, Bhavya Lal and Jeff Trauberman examine what NASA and other spacefarers are doing to avoid microbial contamination. They see strengths, but also needs for improvement, especially as ambitious interplanetary space missions are moving toward reality.

A handful of people with a hereditary disease that renders them blind are being treated using the gene-editing tool CRISPR. Several participants in this first-of-its-kind trial talked with NPR about their experiences, with one remarking that “it was exciting and scary at the same time.” Jennifer Doudna, who shared a Nobel Prize in 2020 for her role in discovering CRISPR, also senses the promise and worry surrounding the technology. In Doudna’s interview with Issues, she highlights its “vast potential” in health care. But she cautions that policymakers, with public input, must “establish an enforceable framework for responsible and accountable management of CRISPR technology.”

The Biden administration has come out in favor of waiving patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines, a measure advocated by countries such as South Africa and India. But some experts see this as only a first step, arguing that patent-holders should also supply their technical know-how to developing countries facing vaccine shortages. Fostering technology transfer aligns with ideas presented by Ken Shadlen, a scholar of international development, in an Issues online exclusive. He proposes that patent holders should be encouraged—and given specific incentives—to license and share their technologies widely, and to build large networks of licensees to make and distribute vaccines at scale.

Already global leaders in making electric vehicles, Chinese companies are erecting new EV factories “almost as fast as the rest of the world combined,” the New York Times reports. At projected rates, China will produce 8 million EVs a year by 2028—more than five times the output in North America. In Issues, John D. Graham, Keith B. Belton, and Suri Xia examine how government policies have held US companies back, going on to recommend 10 steps to make the nation a competitive place for the EV industry and to make EVs more attractive to consumers.

Girl Scouts in Christiansburg, Virginia, have joined with the drone company Wing to deliver their famous cookies to customers. Indeed, this town hosts the nation’s most advanced residential drone delivery trial, and Virginia Tech researchers surveyed residents’ responses. Writing in Issues, Eleanor Nelsen, Adeline Guthrie, and Lee Vinsel note that the responses have been resoundingly positive, perhaps as personal experience with drone delivery overcame initial speculation. But the researchers caution that increased familiarity with any new technology may also coexist with an evolving awareness of disadvantages, and more studies will be needed to chart changing public opinions.