News Updates

In Nebraska, the US leader in beef production, controversy is swirling over a proposal to make the state the latest to ban the sale of “cell-cultured” meat, the AP reports. In Issues, Alex Smith and Saloni Shah argue that shifting to an alternative source of meat would bring huge benefits for the environment, public health, and animal welfare—and potentially for workers and the economy. And they call for federal help: “Given the scale of potential public benefits, there is a powerful rationale for the US government to develop a strategy to accelerate innovation and commercialization of alternative meat products.”

World Athletics has proposed new rules that would effectively prohibit athletes assigned female at birth, but whose natural testosterone levels exceed those of most other female athletes, from participating in the “female category” in elite track and field competitions. But in Issues, Roger Pielke Jr. and Madeleine Pape argue against such restrictions, and they offer an alternative approach for determining female eligibility. “Our approach maintains female-male competition categories,” they write, but “in a form that reflects the actual biological complexity of sex and the heterogeneity among female athletes while also respecting their biological sex as assigned and maintained since birth.”

Tech giant Google has advanced the date it expects quantum computing to enter commercial operations, projecting use within five years in applications such as improving batteries for electric cars, creating new drugs, and developing new energy alternatives. To build a workforce equipped to operate and manage quantum computing, as well as quantum sensing and networking, the nation’s policymakers and funders must mount a sweeping educational push, Sean Dudley and Marisa Brazil argue in Issues. This effort should span “all tiers and types of learning institutions,” they write, and reach “a very broad range of interdisciplinary learners across the country.”

A newly identified asteroid has a chance—though slim—of hitting Earth in late 2032, NPR reports, citing projections by NASA and its European counterpart. In preparing for the possibility, NASA can benefit from dialogue with the public, Mahmud Farooque and Jason L. Kessler argue in Issues. As evidence, they cite their experience partnering with NASA to use “participatory technology assessment” to engage citizens on planetary defense. And they hope the idea will spread, including beyond space: “leaders of technical organizations should support an office or team with the capacity and resources to champion more such engagements over the long term.”