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.
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.
BIOETHICS
The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity asked two leading life science journals not to publish certain details about experiments done on the bird flu virus to make it even more contagious and potentially deadly, citing public safety concerns.
BIOETHICS
The federal decision to prevent teenagers from obtaining emergency contraception over the counter cuts to the core of the progressives idea that science should always trump politics.
BIOTECH INNOVATION
A new report reviews the status of biotech innovation clusters across the country and the world. The report shows potential for biotech innovation and job creation in emerging clusters from Houston to Atlanta to Indianapolis if we can get the policy right.
BIOETHICS
Why do we have trouble defining what a “person” is? The answer may lie in human evolutionary antiquity, writes Jonathan Moreno in a Huffington Post op-ed.
BIOETHICS
So-called “personhood” efforts that are active now in all 50 states represent an attack not only on women’s reproductive rights but also on science.
SCIENCE AND SOCIETY
Tom Daschle and Jonathan Moreno discuss how far we’ve come in our ability to respond to biological threats like the anthrax attacks that rocked the country ten years ago.
BIOETHICS
Many, including President Bush, have called for an end to human-animal hybrids, but these creatures are critical to medical research.
BIOETHICS
As Advanced Cell Technology Inc. receives approval from British authorities to conduct a human embryonic stem cell study in the U.K., Jonathan D. Moreno reminds us that such research can be a long, tiring slog.
SCIENCE COMMUNICATIONS
Sometimes a crisis made in Hollywood understands the need for public health policies that should work.
BIOPOLITICS
Even in an election cycle that is dominated by the economy, feelings about cultural issues continue to be the most raw, especially where the power of modern medical science seems to conflict with tradition values. Welcome to the era of biopolitics.
NATIONAL SECURITY AND BIOETHICS
The CIA’s phony “hepatitis immunization” DNA gathering campaign in Abbottabad undermines not only U.S.-Pakistan relations but also the global polio eradication program and potentially our own public health.
SCIENCE IN SOCIETY
In the 21st century leadership in science is not optional for a nation that proposes to remain a superpower.
BIOETHICS
Hollywood once again helps us understand why what biologists could do scares the hell out of us.
STEM CELL RESEARCH
Stem cell researchers around the country can finally go back to work knowing their jobs are safe now that the ruling prohibiting federal funding for embryonic stem cell research has been reversed.
BIOETHICS
A political alliance of bioprogessives on the left and the right can share a commitment to the continued growth of knowledge as a basic humanistic value, the desire to use knowledge as a force for innovation, and an appreciation of innovation as a source of new wealth.
BIOETHICS
The first ever human recipient of a stem cell transplant and the three-judge panel that recently reversed the ban on federal stem cell funding both had to rely on their own best angels in the absence of absolutes.
SCIENCE AND SOCIETY
If human beings really are smart enough to survive, we don’t need extremists, but leaders who can help us prepare for extreme events.
SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
Experts discuss the ethics of synthetic biology and emerging technology at the Center for American Progress
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.