Domestic Security Revisited
Every issue explores cutting-edge developments in technology, medicine, education, climate change, and much more. Articles provide in-depth analyses of science and technology’s impact on public policy, the economy, and society—bringing today’s best minds to bear on tomorrow’s most critical topics.
Editor's Journal
Don’t Know Much Trigonometry
A new poll revealed that 86% of Americans are aware that China and India are working to produce more workers with technical skills, and only 49% believe that the United States would… Read More
From the Hill
From the Hill – Winter 2007
Federal R&D funding stuck on hold The outgoing Republican majority in Congress left town in December having passed only 2 (defense and homeland security) of the 11 appropriations bills needed to fund… Read More
Gallery
Archives – Winter 2007
Blue Mesa, Utah
James Sanborn is noted for his work with American stone and related materials that evoke a sense of mystery and the forces of nature. He is probably best known… Read More
Perspectives
Avoiding Gridlock on Climate Change
For the twelfth consecutive year, nearly 190 nations convened in November 2006, this time in Nairobi, to address the critical issue of climate change. Unfortunately, the atmosphere at these two-week annual conclaves… Read MoreNone Dare Call It Hubris: The Limits of Knowledge
During the past four decades, many of us have come to terms with an increasing realization that there may be a limit to what we as a species can plan or accomplish.… Read MoreThe New U.S. Space Policy: A Turn Toward Militancy?
At first reading, the Bush administration’s new National Space Policy looks much like the Clinton policy enunciated a decade ago. Supporters of the Bush policy in fact state that it is little… Read More
Features
Deep Competitiveness
Competitiveness is the new buzzword in Washington, DC. Many public and private leaders proclaim that the United States faces a new and formidable competitiveness challenge. Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats unveiled their… Read MoreGrowing Old or Living Long: Take Your Pick
The 20th century witnessed two profound changes in regions of the world where people are well educated and science and technology flourish: Life expectancy nearly doubled, and fertility rates fell dramatically. As… Read MoreNot Safe Enough: Fixing Transportation Security
In August 2006, British authorities announced that they had uncovered a plot in which liquid explosives would be used to destroy airliners en route from England to the United States. When the… Read MoreImproving Public Safety Communications
At 9:59 a.m. on September 11, 2001, the first of many evacuation orders was transmitted to police and firefighters in the World Trade Center’s North Tower. Police heard the order, and most… Read MoreUpdate: U.S. flexibility on farm subsidies key to trade progress
In “In Agricultural Trade Talks, First Do No Harm” (Issues, Fall 2005), I argued that negotiations at the World Trade Organization risked further impoverishment of the world’s poor because… Read More
Real Numbers
Commuting in America
Everybody has ideas about how to solve traffic congestion, but the job is trickier than it seems, as a new report examining recent trends in computing patterns makes clear. Commuting in America … Read More
Book Reviews
The End Is Near
At age 87, James Lovelock remains the indefatigable proponent of the Gaia hypothesis, which depicts Earth as a living entity. In The Revenge of Gaia, he warns that Gaia is not… Read More
Dump deterrence? Not yet
In Beyond Nuclear Deterrence, Alexei Arbatov and Vladimir Dvorkin, two well-known and respected Russian security experts, analyze and then propose modifications to the current nuclear deterrent relationship between Russia and the… Read More
Moonstruck
Once this history of the Apollo program reaches its stride in chapter six, it presents a persuasive and telling critique of human spaceflight. The preface and the introductory chapter suffer from an… Read More
Transparency in Jeopardy
Alasdair Roberts provides an excellent sense of the history and key issues of efforts to hold governments accountable by requiring the disclosure of information they possess. Roberts has a comprehensive knowledge of… Read More