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Issues in Science and Technology
A quarterly journal of the National Academy of Science focused on discussion of public policy related to science, engineering, and medicine. Provides a forum researchers, government officials, business leaders, and others concerned with public policy to s
Articles from Vol. 27, No. 1, Fall
Can Geoengineering Be Green?
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In their provocative article, "Pursuing Geoengineering for Atmospheric Restoration," Robert B. Jackson and James Salzman put forth a new objective for the management of Earth. Atmospheric restoration would return the atmosphere "ultimately to its preindustrial...
GAO Investigates Genetic Test Companies
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The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is continuing to examine direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies. It released the results of its latest investigation at a July 22 hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's investigations and...
Goddam Humans
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The social sciences have long been considered the runt in the litter of the science family, if not the bastard child of wild conjecture with deluded mathematics. Broad-minded practitioners of the physical and biological sciences admit that the study...
House Approves Bill to Reform Offshore Oil Drilling
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After holding dozens of hearings on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and well rupture in the Gulf of Mexico, the House on July 30 passed a bill to reform offshore oil drilling and restore the Gulf Coast. A Senate bill did not make it to the...
Intelligent Transportation
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I was pleased to read another article by Stephen Ezell related to the need for action in the deployment of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) in the United States. ("Bringing U.S. Roads into the 21st Century," Issues, Summer 2010). I have regarded...
Is the Smart Grid Really a Smart Idea? A Smart Electrical System Can Bring Social Benefits, but Smaller Customers May Pay Too High a Price. A More Modest Plan, Guided by Government Policy, Would Be Better
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It is hard to quarrel with the idea that it is good to be smart. That presumably is why the proponents of some radical changes in the design of the U.S. electrical system came up with the name "smart grid." The Obama administration has signed on. So...
Mineral Reserves
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I wholeheartedly agree with the Roderick G. Eggert's comments in "Critical Minerals and Emerging Technologies" (Issues, Summer 2010), even though he sugarcoats the impact of our nation's current short-sighted mining regulations. The discussion on...
Nuclear Waste Disposal Showdown at Yucca Mountain: The Administration's Decision to Withdraw the Application for a Nuclear Waste Repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, Lacks Scientific Justification and Could Hamper the Nation's Effort to Use Nuclear Energy to Reduce Emissions of Greenhouse Gases
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If the nation is to seriously confront a growing inventory of highly radioactive waste, a key step is to determine the merits of its geologic repository project at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. A board of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has...
Personal Health Records
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In "Personal Health Records: Why Good Ideas Sometimes Languish" (Issues, Summer 2010), Amitai Etzioni suggests that a "Freudian macroanalysis" (FMA) of proposed policy remedies, seeking "subterranean forces," can aid our understanding of why some solutions...
Reinventing Technology Assessment
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As the pace of technological change continues to accelerate worldwide, the far-reaching social ramifications are frequently not understood until after new technologies become entrenched. Historically, this has resulted in important lost opportunities;...
Science's Influence
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Through his years of service as director of the Office of Science and Technology, within the Executive Office of President George W. Bush, John Marburger had more than the customary opportunity to test the authority of science to govern political decisions....
Senate Committee Approves Competitiveness Bill
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The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on July 22 passed the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (S. 3605) by a unanimous voice vote. The bill differs from the version passed by the full House on May 28 in a number of ways,...
Strengthening Global Nuclear Governance: Interest in Nuclear Energy by Developing Countries without Nuclear Experience Could Pose Major Challenges to the Global Rules Now in Place to Ensure the Safe, Secure, and Peaceful Use of Nuclear Power
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Motivated in large part by climate change and the need for carbon-free energy sources, governments and companies around the world are pushing to revive nuclear energy. Developed and developing countries alike have expressed interest. For developing...
The Dismal State of Biofuels Policy
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Biofuels policy in the United States remains controversial and much debated. In the months since BP's catastrophic deep-water oil rig explosion, the international debate over energy, ever inclined to drift on the winds of current events, has been captured...
The Need for Climate Engineering Research
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Like it or not, a climate emergency is a possibility, and geoengineering could be the only affordable and fast-acting option to avoid a global catastrophe. Climate change triggered by the accumulation of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere...
Transforming Conservation
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As Alejandro Camacho, Holly Doremus, Jason S. McLachlan, and Ben A. Minteer point out in "Reassessing Conservation Goals in a Changing Climate" (Issues, Summer 2010), a challenge now is how to continue to save species, ecosystem services, and "wild"...
Transforming Education in the Primary Years: We Must Invest in Building a High-Quality Early Education System That Starts at Age Three and Extends through the Third Grade
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When more than two-thirds of students cannot read at grade level and barely three-quarters are graduating from high school on time, it is time to reevaluate not just how well our schools and teachers are doing but whether the entire system needs an...
University Futures
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In "Science and the Entrepreneurial University" (Issues, Summer 2010), Richard C. Atkinson and Patricia A. Pelfrey remind us of the extent to which the U.S. economy is increasingly driven by science and technology and the central role the the U.S....
Where Are the Health Care Entrepreneurs? the United States Lacks a Culture of Organizational Innovation in Health Care. as We Begin to Implement the New Health Care Law, There's a Lot We Can Do to Change That
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Health care in the United States is notorious for market imperfections. Costs are higher and outcomes worse than almost all analyses of the industry suggest are reasonable. Indeed, few other industries perform worse than health care in serving their...
