Energy Update
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
New Voices, New Approaches
About six months ago in Tempe, Arizona, about two dozen young scientists, policy wonks, and communicators gathered for a “pitch slam.” In a hotel meeting room near the Arizona State University campus,… Read More
From the Hill
From the Hill – Winter 2011
R&D funding faces budget cuts In the wake of Republican gains in the 2010 midterm elections, funding cuts to rein in soaring federal budget deficits have jumped to the top of the… Read More
Features
Archives – Winter 2011
DAVID MAISEL, The Lake Project 3, Chromogenic print, 29 × 29 inches, 2001. Image courtesy of the artist/Haines Gallery. The Lake Project 3 Photographer David Maisel’s early work, such as the… Read MoreTime for Climate Plan B
Policymakers in the United States and elsewhere have assumed for 15 years that putting a price on carbon would be an effective strategy for addressing climate change. Nations would price carbon emissions,… Read MoreRenewing Economically Distressed American Communities
All communities do not fare equally well after recessions and other economic shocks. Some bounce back fairly quickly. Others suffer more and take longer to recover—sometimes decades longer. A sluggish return to… Read MoreAccelerating the Pace of Energy Change
Scientists and engineers invariably see technology innovation as the primary, if not sole, driver of energy transformation, but changing the energy system involves much more. Economic, political, and business aspects determine whether … Read MoreReducing Barriers to Online Access for People with Disabilities
As ever more education, employment, communication, entertainment, civic participation, and government functions move primarily or exclusively online, the high levels of inaccessibility on the Web and in Internet-enabled mobile technologies threaten to… Read MoreMaking Stories Visible: The Task for Bioethics Commissions
A little before lunchtime on December 6, 1957, when the United States made its first attempt to match the triumph of Russia’s Sputnik 1 by launching its own Vanguard TV3 satellite into… Read MoreFighting Innovation Mercantilism
Despite the global economic downturn, indicators of global innovative activity have remained strong during the past two years. The total global output of scientific journal papers in all research fields for the… Read More
Book Reviews
Contesting climate
According to its dust jacket, The Climate War is “an epic tale of an American civil war.” Eric Pooley is said to “do for global warming what Bob Woodward did for presidents.”… Read More
The Myth of Objective Scientists
In Science, Policy and the Value-Free Ideal, Heather Douglas of the University of Tennessee–Knoxville seeks to challenge the belief that science should be “value-free,” meaning that it is guided only by… Read More