Science Politics

Efforts to diversify representation in science and engineering require initiatives that increase diversity of thought as well.

The highly polarized debate over health care for transgender youth demonstrates why the pursuit of so-called scientific neutrality so often fails to bring about social consensus.

To counter worrying trends in domestic R&D, Japan’s science and technology policy pivoted to a radical new approach to international research collaboration.

As scientists and government officials reinvent science politics and policies for a new era, the country will need to tell a new story about its future.

Chair of the National Science Board Darío Gil also leads IBM Research, one of the largest corporate labs in the world. He discusses how science is the new currency of power, the challenges in developing a STEM workforce, and the possibility of a “NATO of science and technology.”

Alvin Hathaway Sr. explains what Baltimore’s African Ancestry Neuroscience Research Initiative needed to gain insight, influence, and credibility.

In response to China’s rise, Western governments are acting to limit scientific collaboration—but these measures will not increase economic competitiveness and could inhibit the practice of science itself.

Tribal Epidemiology Centers, tasked with analyzing the health data of American Indian and Alaska Native communities and reducing health disparities, are often prevented from accessing public health data that are necessary to respond effectively to crises—including the COVID-19 pandemic. Data-sharing policies and culture must change to prevent further harm.

Who does science and technology policy? We surveyed the community to find out who the practitioners are, what the field is trying to do, and what science and tech policymakers envision for the future of the field.

The president of the National Academy of Sciences outlines how to keep the American scientific enterprise strong. With responses from Alexandra Fuentes, Matt Owens, James Manyika, J. Marshall Shepherd, and Stephanie J. Diem.

Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist Saul Perlmutter talks with contributing editor Molly Galvin about how the scientific worldview leads to the ability to stick with a challenge, a willingness to be wrong, and—sometimes—the discovery of “amazing solutions to problems.”

Brent Blevins is a senior congressional staffer and staff director of the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee, which is part of the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Space, Science, and Technology. On this installment of Science Policy IRL, he explains what staffers in the House and Senate do in the science policy world, and his unusual path into science policy.