What Next?
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
And Now for Something Completely Different
The poet Muriel Rukeyser wrote that “The Universe is made of stories, not of atoms.” And for most people, she is right, even though the hardcore Issues reader might not be happy… Read More
From the Hill
From the Hill – Spring 2014
Administration releases FY 2015 budget request President Obama’s FY 2015 budget proposal totals $3.9 trillion, of which roughly 63% is mandatory spending such as Social Security payments, roughly 30% is discretionary spending,… Read More
Real Numbers
Poverty and Vulnerability to Storms
Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the Philippines on November 2, 2013, left behind more than 6,000 dead and displaced a population the size of Los Angeles. The scale of the damage is a … Read More
Features
Anticipating a Luddite Revival
Even as computer-based consumer products have transformed our leisure and social lives over the past decade, information technology (IT) and robotics suggest a transformation of work that might be even more far-reaching.… Read MoreA Survival Plan for the Wild Cyborg
Read MoreIn order to stay human in the current intimate technological revolution, we must become high-tech people with quirky characters. Here are seven theses to nail to the door of our technological church.
Conservatism and Climate Science
It is not news to say that climate change has become the most protracted science and policy controversy of all time. If one dates the beginning of climate change as a… Read MoreIs U.S. Science in Decline?
The nation’s position relative to other countries is changing, but this need not be reason for alarm. Who are the most… Read MoreEagle
The long, fat freighter glided into the harbor at late morning—not the best time for a woman who had to keep out of sight. The sun slowly slid up the sky as… Read MoreThe New Visible Hand: Understanding Today’s R&D Management
The New Visible Hand: Understanding Today’s R&D Management Recent decades have seen dramatic if not revolutionary changes in the organization and management of knowledge creation and technology development in U.S. universities.… Read MoreThe Politics behind China’s Quest for Nobel Prizes
JUNBO YU China is applying its strategy for winning Olympic gold to science policy. It may be surprised by the outcomes—but overall, the world will benefit. Skeptics about the capacity of… Read MoreReconstructing the View
The landscape has been a source of artistic exploration and contemplation since the earliest cave drawings. Represented in paintings and photography as well as film and the tourist’s snapshot, a variety… Read More
Book Reviews
The View from Nowhere
The global positioning system (GPS) technology incorporated into the vehicles, computers, smart phones, and other devices we use every day provides a convenience that would have been almost unimaginable two decades ago.… Read More
Choosing a Future
The past several years have witnessed a lively debate about innovation between techno-pessimists and techno-optimists. The pessimists’ view—exemplified by work such as Peter Thiel’s What Happened to the Future, Robert Gordon’s… Read More
Steal This Book
In 1971, Abbie Hoffman mischievously named his first book-length screed Steal This Book, and founded a publishing company, Pirate Press, because no existing publisher would touch it. It was a countercultural… Read More
Archives – Spring 2014
University of Texas at Dallas professor John Pomara’s work reflects an interest in the role that human error plays in technology, focusing primarily on the current state of painting and picture… Read More