Issues in Focus: Science and the Law
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.
From the Hill
From the Hill – Summer 2000
Report calls genetically altered plants safe; White House to boost oversight A National Research Council (NRC) report released on April 5 concludes that genetically engineered plants appear to be safe but that… Read More
Perspectives
Beyond the Social Contract Myth
In January of 1803, six months before Napoleon offered him the Louisiana Territory, President Thomas Jefferson asked Congress for an appropriation of $2,500 to conduct a scientific and geographic survey of the… Read MoreRetiring the Social Contract for Science
A widely held tenet among policy scholars maintains that the way people talk about a policy influences how they and others conceive of policy problems and options. In contemporary political lingo, the… Read More
Features
Science Advocacy and Scientific Due Process
One of the FY 1999 federal appropriations bills included a two-sentence amendment that guaranteed public access under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to “all data produced” by federally supported research scientists.… Read MoreArchives – Summer 2000
Cecil Green This year Cecil Green, founding director of Texas Instruments and philanthropist to science, turns 100 years old. Born in Manchester, England, in 1900, Green spent his early years in Canada.… Read MoreExpert Testimony: The Supreme Court’s Rules
At the beginning of the 21st century, it is not surprising that the question of how to handle scientific and technological information in judicial proceedings has moved into the limelight. The explosive… Read MoreScience in the Courtroom
Read MoreJudges have begun to work more closely with scientists to ensure that their rulings are founded on scientifically sound knowledge.
Reconciling Research and the Patent System
Is tension growing between the goal of protecting intellectual property and the goal of advancing scientific and technological research? Some people think so. There’s a perception in some quarters that the gears… Read MoreRoundtable: Medical Privacy
This roundtable is an abridged version of a discussion that took place in September 1999 as part of a meeting of the President’s Circle of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy… Read MoreImproving Communication About New Food Technologies
The debate about genetically engineered crops provides an early warning signal that the U.S. public is apprehensive about the benefits and risks associated with new food technologies. It also indicates that the… Read MoreScience and the Law
A dozen years ago, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, under the leadership of David Hamburg, established a commission to explore the broad terrain bounded by the title, “Science, Technology, and Government.”… Read MoreThe Boom in Industry Research
Meetings on science and technology (S&T) policy or innovation in Washington, D.C., or elsewhere around the country usually find at least one speaker lamenting that industry has abandoned longer-term high-risk research. Nothing… Read More
Book Reviews
Science and the Courts
Two hundred years ago, the state of the world was such that leaders such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson could move easily between the realms of science and the law. Now,… Read More
Preserving Privacy
Telling “good stories” has been and will continue to be meaningful in making the impact of technology on privacy issues less abstract and more real. Simson Garfinkel’s Database Nation is the most… Read More