SCIENCE, CULTURED
Science Evaded
Both presidential candidates have now answered 14 questions about science policy—but it’s not enough.
Genetic Privacy in Practice
At the beginning of the month, NIH pulled pooled GWAS data from its website and began encouraging other institutions to follow suit, because a team of scientists have figured out just how to identify a single person’s DNA from a sample of hundreds.
LIFE SCIENCES
A New Way to Bank
Major innovations in the United States are often driven by collaborative research. Regenerative medicine is no different, and the federal government can help coordination.
OCEANS
Overfishing, Climate Change, and the Rise of Slime
We risk losing what makes the world’s oceans a valuable natural resource: their rich biodiversity. It’s time to get the concept on the cultural radar.
Science and Tech Policy Events This Week
Here’s a roundup of some of the science and technology policy events happening around Washington D.C. from September 15 to September 19.
WEISS'S NOTEBOOK
Nanoparticles Get Nanoregulation
How can FDA reasonably protect public health in the interim period before researchers completely understand the science of nanotechnology?
Week in Review: All the Science Advice a New President Can Handle
Art Caplan offered his “Six Easy Pieces” for improving medicine and life science in a recent column. But we’re not the only science publication looking forward to the possibilities of the next administration.
Innovation Policy Needs Accurate Scorekeeping
A recent RAND Corporation report called the country a “dominant leader” in global science and technology, but according to a paper released yesterday, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation found the RAND study off-color, offering a rosy assessment where none was warranted.
CLIMATE
Should We Talk About the Weather?
We should use hurricanes to discuss global warming, but we have to do it with rigorous fidelity to the current state of scientific understanding.
CERN Generates the Next Big Bang
The biggest scientific experiment in human history is getting hyped like a Harry Potter book release. But instead of nine-year-olds lining up outside of the bookstore for hours, a generation of physicists watched the live Web cast of CERN’s Large Hadron Collier as it started up today at 3 a.m. EST.
Flip the Switch: It’s Time to Roll on Energy R&D
Federal dollars and leadership drive energy innovation in the United States. That was true in 1942, when Enrico Fermi’s team of physicists and engineers created the world’s first sustained nuclear reaction, and it is true today. One of the many things that U.S. government must do to move the economy towards a low-carbon future is to support research and development in energy technologies.
LIFE SCIENCES AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Six Easy Pieces
Americans know that the future fortunes of the country rest on scientific and technological advances, so Mr. President, let’s take biomedical science policy seriously.
EVOLUTION
Not a Flock of Dodos
The battle over teaching evolution is still far from won in this country, despite the overwhelming mass of scientific evidence that supports this model of how the biological universe works.
Science and Tech Policy Events Next Week
Congress is back in session after the August recess. Here’s a roundup of some of the science and technology policy events happening around Washington D.C. from September 8 to September 12.
A Good Week for Vaccine News
Good news this week from the Centers for Disease Control: the vast majority of children in the United States have received nearly all the recommended vaccines. CDC’s new report indicates that immunization rates are “at or near record levels.” The survey data landed just after a new study reinforcing the fact that the measles vaccine has no connection to autism.
NATIONAL SECURITY
Teach the Controversy
Crippling our nation’s future economic competitiveness and military preparedness by crimping scientific learning and denigrating authoritative science puts our nation at risk.
You Might Be Eating Clones
Milk and meat from cloned animals could be in the U.S. food supply, and the Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture can’t detect it, says an FDA official, despite a USDA “voluntary moratorium.” But products from cloned animals may have been in the food supply for a while.
CLIMATE
The Hurricane Election?
If we’re focusing attention on storms in 2008, then let’s also pay serious attention to oft-neglected matters of hurricane preparedness policy.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
Western Forests Face a Flammable Future
Climate change is driving average temperatures upward, and the unmistakable long-term trend is toward a warmer, drier West. Firefighting alone can’t contend with growing fire danger; investment in strategic fuel reduction is the key.
Spore: A Video Game About Evolving
In today’s NYT Science Times, Carl Zimmer profiles Will Wright’s latest game, Spore, which follows the evolution of new life forms from single-celled organisms to galaxy-hoping civilizations. Spore raises the possibility that video games could help illuminate for players the basic premises of the life sciences.
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What We Work On
Science, Innovation, and Competitiveness
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.
What We Believe
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.