After every voting machine failure in recent election years, it has become more and more clear that proper oversight of voting technology is critical to the preservation of our democratic system. The Senate is currently considering bipartisan legislation to support innovation in voting machines.
Why did it take almost four months after the first report of a Salmonella St. Paul infection for the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control to find the grower responsible? Two congressional hearings yesterday and today aimed at understanding why this most recent food safety scare took so long to understand.
With the support of cigarette manufacturer Phillip Morris USA, the House voted Wednesday to approve legislation that would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco.
ENVIRONMENT
How many more sordid tales concerning the Environmental Protection Agency can actually come out before November?
Former Time magazine-reporter-turned-environmental-policy-analyst Eric Roston will make his Colbert Report debut tonight talking about his new book, The Carbon Age. Science Progress featured an interview with Roston earlier this month that ranged across the various scientific fields connected by the carbon atom.
The House and Senate agreed yesterday to ban three types of phthalates, chemicals that are common in plastics, perfumes, lotions, and shampoos, and that can disrupt normal hormone function.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
Two new reports highlight impacts on western trout streams and propose constructive steps to take in response.
The Senate is slated to try once again to extend tax credits for solar and wind energy production. Without these tax credits, renewable energy industries will suffer.
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
A proposed HHS rule would alter the meaning of the word “abortion.” If implemented, our best tools for preventing the need for abortion would suddenly be redefined as abortion.
STEM CELLS
An expert panel at Stanford University has determined that nearly one quarter of the colonies of human embryonic stem cells that the Bush administration had approved as ethically derived and eligible for study with federal funds do not meet Stanford’s ethics standards and should no longer be available to researchers there.
A quick look at the issues making the rounds on the science blogs this week.
NANOTECHNOLOGY
Medicines delivered in nanoparticle form, more potent than their ordinary counterparts, are on deck for regulatory approval. The agency has some catching up to do before it can determine the safety of these cutting-edge products.
In a recent paper in Technology and Society, Neal Lane discusses the impact of the Mansfield Amendment and Bayh-Dole Act on federal R&D in the United States and the need for forward-looking innovation policy for the 21st century.
Experts at a briefing on Capitol hill yesterday discussed global health concerns caused by climate change, but left out the significant impacts Americans will encounter.
Rep. Bill Foster talks about the balance between commercial science and basic long-term research, the importance of math and science education, and the need for scientific reasoning as the basis of policy discussions.
Three big pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer, Merck, and Eli Lilly, announced last week that they will join forces and create a joint venture called Enlight BioSciences that will help speed drug development. A look at profits and drug approvals.
ENERGY
Don’t look now, but we’re peering down yet another possible threat to Americans’ ability to drive their cars in a way that they can remotely afford—an active Atlantic hurricane season.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
The old Office of Technology Assessment had answers to Pennsylvania’s shad problem today. That’s only one reason why efforts to revive the congressional office are gaining traction.
BIOETHICS
Are selective mandatory genetic tests for presidential candidates merited in the case of Huntington’s disease?
In Sunday’s Outlook section of the Washington Post, Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Rick Weiss takes a close look at the personal impacts of new direct-to-consumer genetic testing services. He suggests that we need to properly regulate this auspicious technology to harness its benefits.
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.