The Washington Post reported yesterday that the Obama transition team announced the leaders for its innovation and technology team—though that announcement did not include the appointment of the White House Chief Technology Officer.
SCIENCE, CULTURED
The Science and Entertainment Exchange is a new departure for the scientific community, but precisely the sort of outreach measure that can help it better connect with our broader society.
Looking for a way to decrease your college’s or universities’ carbon footprint? Rather than purchasing carbon offsets from businesses with unproven track records, schools can instead look to their own backyards. The students at Oberlin College have cut out the middle man and guaranteed their carbon offset efforts are effective by investing directly in their community.
ECONOMICS
Biomedical research cannot solve all the problems of public health. An effective overhaul of the current system won’t happen without attention to some basic psychology and economics.
Bioconservatives are wasting no time and getting right down to business misrepresenting both progressive approaches to and public opinion on key science policy issues like stem cell research. But a majority of the American public supports embryonic stem cell research, so suggesting that moving away from the Bush administration’s policy would “force” taxpayers to support the science is misinformed.
WEISS’S NOTEBOOK
Researchers are eager to see the new administration move away from President Bush’s policies on human embryonic stem cell research funding. But what will it take to get to the first clinical trials?
Earlier this week at The Intersection, Sheril Kirshenbaum offered a look at a new program from the National Academies that will help television and movie makers who want better integrate scientific concepts into their work. The Science and Entertainment Exchange aims to bridge the gap between the research arena and the entertainment industry “and addresses the mutual need of the two communities by providing the credibility and the verisimilitude upon which quality entertainment depends–and which audiences have come to expect,” according to the program’s website.
Originally, the Neuroethics Society expected 50—maybe 80—people to show up for its First Annual Meeting. But over 200 neuroethics devotees assembled last week at the American Academy for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C. This is just the beginning, as neuroscience experts are moving to educate more policymakers on the implications of advances in the field.
White House CTO is a new job, but the forthcoming Change for America: A Progressive Blueprint for the 44th President, now in production and due in bookstores in January, devotes a chapter to recommendations for the post in the new administration. Mitchell Kapor, founder of the Lotus Development Corporation and co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is the author.
NATIONAL SECURITY
A large set of questions for 21st century neural and behavioral science has come into focus, and they will play a significant role in both national intelligence operations and in relations within a globalized scientific community.
BIOETHICS
Refusing to pursue recent and possible future developments in medical research is itself a morally momentous decision—and that inaction has consequences Cohen and other right-wing thinkers refuse to acknowledge.
SCIENCE, CULTURED
Divisiveness and the lack of shared purpose have been too common surrounding science issues. It’s time for a change.
Today, the Center for American Progress Action Fund posted a new slate of chapters from Change for America: A Progressive Blueprint for the 44th President online for free download, including Science Progress adviser Tom Kalil’s overview on science, technology, and innovation. Kalil looks back over the history of successful government-backed research and lays out principles for the future. Here are some of his recommendations.
WEISS'S NOTEBOOK
It will be an uphill battle to justify some of the upfront costs of the personalized medicine revolution, given the technical, political, and educational hurdles that stand between where we are and where we want to get: to a place with better care that costs less.
LIFE SCIENCES
Synthetic biology is on the brink of two noteworthy accomplishments: to be able to “streamline” and redesign the genetic material of living organisms to make them operate more efficiently; and to design and assemble entirely new, artificial life forms from scratch. But a lengthy list of potential risks, as well as broad scientific and social concerns, are largely unaddressed.
SCIENCE, CULTURED
His anti-global warming novel was unfortunate. But like it or not, his impact on the image of science in our culture was massive.
SPACE
The future of the U.S. space program is very much in doubt. In spite of continued great accomplishments, a number of setbacks, combined with a series of bold pronouncements by the Bush administration followed by inadequate funding, have led to serious questions of the nation’s commitment to space and, consequently, to a steady erosion of NASA and the aerospace industry that supports its missions.
WEISS’S NOTEBOOK
The Washington rumor mill is buzzing with names of possible science appointees—and there are dozens of major science-related positions to fill. The questions appointees will face are an opportunity for a clear break with past approaches.
The Science Progress blog and email team will be taking a break next week, but we will have fresh feature content that includes: Rick Weiss on the science posts to fill in the new administration; Chris Mooney on Michael Crichton’s influence on the cultural image of science; Neal Lane and George Abbey on the future of the space program; and Denise Caruso on proper governance for synthetic biology.
INNOVATION
The contemporary scientific community is a complex adaptive system woven among researchers across the globe. But the rules of the system tend to block scientists in poor nations from participating. A scientific system of the future would ignore national borders and solve the problems of everyday life.
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.