Tapping Talent in a Global Economy
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
Irrational Exuberance
We’re back! The mood at the recent annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science was buoyant. President Obama speaks science. The crowd for Al Gore’s talk filled not… Read More
From the Hill
From the Hill – Spring 2009
Economic stimulus bill provides major boost for R&D The $790-billion economic stimulus bill signed by President Obama on February 17 contains $21.5 billion in federal R&D funding—$18 billion for research and $3.5… Read More
Perspectives
The Challenge for the Obama Administration Science Team
President Obama’s choices for top government science positions have made a strong statement about the importance of science and technology (S&T) in our society. In choosing Nobel prize–winning physicist Stephen Chu for… Read MoreGlobal Warming: The Hard Road Ahead
With a president committed to fighting climate change and a new Congress inclined to go along, the prospects for greenhouse gas emissions abatement legislation are bright. That’s good news. The Bush and… Read More
Features
Archives – Spring 2009
TIM ROLLINS + K.O.S., On the Origin of the Species (after Darwin), India ink, graphite transfer, matte acrylic on book pages. On the Origin of Species (after Darwin) This detail is… Read MoreU.S. Workers in a Global Job Market
Among the many changes that are part of the emergence of a global economy is a radically different relationship between U.S. high-tech companies and their employees. As late as the 1990s, a… Read MoreIn the Zone: Comprehensive Ocean Protection
For too long, humanity’s effects on the oceans have been out of sight and out of mind. Looking at the vast ocean from the shore or a jet’s window, it is hard… Read MoreIn Defense of Biofuels, Done Right
Biofuels have been getting bad press, not always for good reasons. Certainly important concerns have been raised, but preliminary studies have been misinterpreted as a definitive condemnation of biofuels. One recent magazine… Read MoreBiomedical Enhancements: Entering a New Era
Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a drug to lengthen and darken eyelashes. Botox and other wrinkle-reducing injections have joined facelifts, tummy tucks, and vaginal reconstruction to combat the effects… Read MoreClosing the Environmental Data Gap
The compelling evidence that the global climate is changing significantly and will continue to change for the foreseeable future means that we can expect to see similarly significant changes in a wide… Read MoreA Reverse Brain Drain
Although most of the national immigration debate originates with those who want to limit immigration, U.S. policymakers should be focusing on the more important task of attracting and keeping more highly skilled… Read More
Book Reviews
Book Review: Truth in testing
It has been said that “few wish to be assessed, fewer still wish to assess others, but everyone wants to see the scores.” Throughout the world, tests are both extolled and disparaged,… Read More
Nuclear fears
Are there any big-idea books left to be written about nuclear terrorism? After all, every possible threat assessment, from apocalyptic to anodyne, is well represented in the stacks. Analyses of how to… Read More
The Bioterror Threat
World at Risk, a new report by the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, concludes that “it is more likely than not that a weapon… Read MoreBook Review: Bent science
Bent science Bending Science: How Special Interests Corrupt Public Health Research by Thomas O. McGarity and Wendy E. Wagner. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008, 400 pp. Kenneth E. Warner As Thomas… Read More