The genetic testing industry, with its great potential to not only improve health care outcomes but also create jobs, is a prime example of a government investment with positive return.
SCIENCE AND SOCIETY
From nanotech to biotech, we stand to benefit greatly from discoveries on the frontiers of technology. But there are risks too, and a bipartisan consensus on how to manage these technological risks in the 21st century is quietly emerging. One-size fits all is out. Evidence-based risk management is in.
SCIENCE POLICY NEWS
This weeks science policy news: we have less natural gas than we thought; Google responds to personal information kerfuffle; what’s in store for stem cells in 2012; and more.
SCIENCE COMMUNICATION
Rather than looking at political neuroscience as alienating and judgmental, try and look at it as giving you tips on how best to reach your target audience.
PODCAST
We need to rethink the legal framework that allows new industrial chemicals to enter the market every day without being tested for potential health impacts on humans.
OCEANS
A new report from the UN Environment Program outlines the economic imperative to protect our oceans from pollution, overfishing, climate change while at the same time developing new marine industries.
ENERGY INNOVATION
As BrightSource Energy adds cutting-edge molten salt storage to its new solar plants, the choice between clean energy and cheap energy is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
SCIENCE COMMUNICATION
For scientists, the importance of framing, outreach, avoiding jargon, and going to your local science communication trainings are increasingly taken as givens, and that may signal a sea change in the effort to educate the public.
INNOVATION POLICY
President Obama’s State of the Union address demonstrated the importance of science, innovation, and economic competitiveness to a prosperous and growing middle class.
INNOVATION AND COMPETITIVENESS
A proposal to elevate the Department of Commerce by consolidating federal trade, technology, workforce training, and economic development programs into one department with one mission: national competitiveness through innovation.
PROCESS INNOVATION
A humble process innovation could reduce cost and increase efficiency of thermoelectric materials used to recycle waste heat in cars, refrigerators, and other machines.
OCEANS POLICY
Michael Conathan explains why even though our oceans aren’t exactly part of the “interior,” moving the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration out of the Department of Commerce isn’t a bad idea if it’s done right.
CLIMATE CHANGE
If by going dark for a day to protest anti-piracy legislation, Wikipedia and other websites can cause the US Congress to change course, could they do the same for global warming? James L. Powell imagines how it could work.
INNOVATION AND COMPETITIVENESS
A new series of policy reports from Science Progress and the Center for American Progress outline key steps the president and Congress can take to reinvest in the building blocks of American innovation and economic competitiveness.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
A day of online activism by Internet titans, bloggers, and citizens may have shifted the political calculus of controversial online piracy and intellectual property legislation.
SCIENCE EDUCATION
Chris Mooney interviews Eugenie Scott, longtime head of the National Center for Science Education, about their new initiative to protect the accurate teaching of climate science in classrooms.
SPACE RESEARCH
What research happens on the ISS and why don’t we hear about it on the news? Former NASA engineer who helped design the ISS life support systems offers a couple answers.
INVESTING IN SCIENCE
Despite the gloomy budget picture, some science and innovation programs will actually gain ground in 2012. ARPA-E and the NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences came out ahead, while the Education Department’s research programs slipped.
CLIMATE AND POLITICS
While studies have shown conservatives to have an anti-science bias, a recent study about liberal and conservative reactions to arguments for geoengineering show that perhaps liberals do too.
INNOVATION
Measures to simplify and strengthen the corporate R&D tax credit can help make the most of the spillover benefits of innovation and enhance economic competitiveness.
SCIENCE OF POLITICS
Chris Mooney clears up misunderstandings about the findings of several scientific studies pointing to behavioral differences between liberals and conservatives.
Science Progress and American Progress's Doing What Works project teamed up to produce a set of policy proposals that the Obama administration and Congress can adopt to reinvest in the building blocks of American science, innovation, and economic competitiveness. Read the overview of the five reports.
Science Progress proceeds from the propositions that scientific inquiry is among the finest expressions of human excellence, that it is a crucial source of human flourishing, a critical engine of economic growth, and must be dedicated to the common good. Scientific inquiry entails global responsibilities. It should lead to a more equitable, safer, and healthier future for all of humankind.