The latest

Bring on the Policy Entrepreneurs

Policy entrepreneurs—“uniquely catalytic” players in the policy arena—are often seen as policy “naturals” who seize windows of opportunity for change. However, policy entrepreneurship should instead be seen as a set of skills and strategies that are relatively easy to learn. Teaching these to a wider range of scientists could bring both new policy ideas and more diverse perspectives into the process of democratic decisionmaking.Read More

Book Review

“Collision: Stories From the Science of CERN” edited by Rob Appleby and Connie Potter.

Stories and Basic Science Collide

A review of Collision: Stories From the Science of CERN, a collection of short science fiction stories written by authors who collaborated with scientists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, and finds the anthology shines for readers intrigued by the question of what the field of particle physics means for humanity.Read More

Bioeconomy

What Do Bitter Greens Mean to the Public?

The movement to build the US bioeconomy has gained significant momentum over the last decade, leading scientists and policymakers to forecast industrial revolutions in medicine, food, fuel, and materials. Overlooked in these projections, however, is the reality that advancing the bioeconomy requires public trust. A successful bioeconomy must create new mechanisms for public engagement and transparency.Read More

Philosophy

Illustration by Shonagh Rae

The Limits of Data

Right now, the language of policymaking is data, philosopher C. Thi Nguyen writes. Government agencies, corporations, and other policymakers all want to make decisions based on clear data about positive outcomes. They want to succeed on the metrics—to succeed in clear, objective, and publicly comprehensible terms. But metrics and data are incomplete by their basic nature. Every data collection method is constrained, and every dataset is filtered.Read More

Poetry

Translocations

We de-notate and detonate. At breakpoint, we will close our eyes. We replicate abnormally. We suffer from the rational. We radiate excessively, fold into flats then flex our thighs. We cycle then proliferate. We implicate, psychologize.

We replicate abnormally. We suffer from the rational. Both balanced and unbalanced, we will call ourselves reciprocal …Read More

In Focus

An AI Society

Artificial intelligence is reshaping society, but human forces shape AI. Getting governance wrong could mean narrowing cultural narratives, de-incentivizing creativity, and exploiting workers. In a new collection of 11 essays, social scientists and humanities experts explore how to harness the interaction between AI and society, revealing urgent avenues for research and policy.

Art by Amy Karle.Read More

The Winter Issue

Winter 2024 ISSUES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


To deepen one’s engagement is to be absorbed in nuance and complexity, but also to emerge with greater clarity and understanding. This is precisely what the essays in the Winter 2024 issue aim to do. 

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Oppenheimer

The Slippery Slope of Scientific Ethics

For students of science policy, J. Robert Oppenheimer’s work on the Manhattan Project is a quintessential case study in the ethics of science. What does the biopic about the scientist get right or wrong, which issues does it interrogate, and what does it elide?Read More

Film Review

No Ordinary Documentary

By the time they’re diagnosed, most ALS patients have only months or a few years to live. There are no cures and few effective treatments. But DC lawyer Brian Wallach, who knew nothing about ALS before his diagnosis, sought to make treatment a policy priority. A new documentary chronicles his remarkable success.Read More

Human Development

The Camouflaged Metaphysics of Embryos

Last summer, the Supreme Court overturned the right to an abortion in the United States. The ramifications of that decision continue to play out across interpretations of the whole human reproductive process, including in health care and technology. Jane Maienschein sees opportunities for thoughtful reflection and crafting of better informed, more nuanced policies.Read More

The ISSUES Interview

Tristan Harris

“The Complexity of Technology’s Consequences Is Going Up Exponentially, But Our Wisdom and Awareness Are Not.”

Tristan Harris, a technology ethicist and the cofounder of the Center for Humane Technology, talked with Issues editor Sara Frueh about the challenge of online misinformation, ways to govern artificial intelligence, and a vision of technology that strengthens democracy.Read More

News

Creativity During COVID

cpnas creative responses archive

A Time Capsule of Creative Responses to the Pandemic

Creativity often flourishes in stressful times. A remarkable collection of creative responses from individuals, communities, organizations, and industries is now available to explore in a new archive.Read More

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