Better US Health Care at Lower Cost
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
Charles Darwin and the Human Face of Science
The latest success in Charles Darwin’s victory lap marking his 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species is a starring role in a major… Read More
From the Hill
From the Hill – Winter 2010
Climate change debate remains deadlocked Although the House passed a climate change bill in 2009, the Senate remains deadlocked, an outcome that effectively took the steam out of the international climate change… Read More
Perspectives
Using University Knowledge to Defend the Country
Everyone understands that the United States will need new ideas to meet the threat of terrorism, and indeed, history shows the way. Seventy years ago, the country’s scholars ransacked their respective disciplines… Read More
Features
Perennial Grains Food Security for the Future
Colorful fruits and vegetables piled to overflowing at a farmer’s market or in the produce aisle readily come to mind when we think about farming and food production. Such images run counter… Read MoreIntangible Assets Innovative Financing for Innovation
Finding funding for a new business or idea is almost always challenging. With the recent near-collapse of the financial system, however, funding innovation is even more difficult. Credit to businesses has tightened… Read MoreBetter U.S. Health Care at Lower Cost
In the United States, the amount of money spent on health care by all sources, including government, private employers, and individuals, is approximately $7,500 a year per person. In other advanced industrial… Read MoreCalming Our Nuclear Jitters
The fearsome destructive power of nuclear weapons provokes understandable dread, but in crafting public policy we must move beyond this initial reaction to soberly assess the risks and consider appropriate ac tions.… Read MoreChanging Climate, More Damaging Weather
The weather varies, but climate change affects the frequencies with which particular weather occurs, including the frequencies of extreme weather, such as heavy storms, heat waves, and droughts. More frequent weather extremes… Read MoreOn the Trails of the Glaciers
On the Trails of the Glaciers is a multidisciplinary project, combining photography and science, to study the effects of climate change on the glaciers of the most important mountains of the world.… Read More
Real Numbers
Rising Tigers, Sleeping Giant
Asia’s rising “clean technology tigers”—China, Japan, and South Korea —are poised to out-compete the United States for dominance of clean energy markets due to their substantially larger government investments to support research… Read More
Book Reviews
Fusing Science and Civics
Andrei Sakharov is widely remembered today for two things. As a physicist, he helped create the Soviet Union’s first and biggest thermonuclear weapons, and as a political dissident, he received the Nobel… Read More
An ocean of worry
Although Orrin Pilkey and Rob Young are skeptical of mathematical models that specify how high and how quickly sea level will rise, they have no doubt that the oceans are expanding. Because… Read More
New Bedfellows
During the past few decades, a growing amount of mental real estate has been devoted to discussing art and science, and the level of attention increased markedly in 2009 as we marked… Read More