Features

Dude, Where’s My War on Science?

An Attack on EPA’s Policy Process Fails Peer Review

Conservatives try to expose what they claim is a case of science suppression by the Obama administration—and in the process demonstrate how little they know about science in the first place.

By Chris Mooney

    CLIMATE CHANGE Hurricane Ike strikes Okaloosa Island, Florida in 2008

    A Climate of Transparency

    The private sector can support a responsible approach to mitigating the potential effects of climate change by sharing what it knows.

    By Kevin Weigand

    AGRICULTURE hand of scientist holding rice plant

    Igniting Agricultural Innovation

    Agricultural innovations through modern biotechnology have delivered significant economic, environmental, health and consumer benefits in recent years, but the full potential is even greater.

    By L. Val Giddings and Bruce M. Chassy

    GENOMICS gel electrophoresis

    Your Genes Aren’t Covered for That

    Policy must protect not just genetic information itself, but also access to care that is critical for prevention, early detection, and treatment—and to the support systems that help individuals care for themselves and their families when serious illness strikes.

    By Susannah Baruch

    SCIENCE, CULTURED members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee after a meeting at the White House

    A Glorious Mess

    The Waxman-Markey bill's progress to a first historic vote hasn't been pretty—but it has been progress.

    By Chris Mooney

    WONK LAB PODCAST social networking site profile with picture of DNA and the name Me

    Personal Profiling

    Will access to our own genetic information make us healthier? That's the idea, but there's a lot to learn as we share and interpret it. Meanwhile, questions remain about proper oversight of an industry that blurs the line between consumer and research participant. An interview with Sandra Soo-Jin Lee on direct-to-consumer genomics and social networking.

    Interview by Andrew Plemmons Pratt

    ENVIRONMENT the bathtub ring around Lake Mead at the Hoover Dam in 2008

    Drowning in Drought

    Better management and conservation efforts are needed to stave off a worsening water crisis as climate change and growing consumption compound the west’s water woes.

    By Jeremy Jacquot

    ENVIRONMENT water getting released at the base of a dam

    Cool Head in a Hot Seat

    Climate change knits energy and water policy together—a fact western states discover as reservoirs drop and rivers dwindle. The newly confirmed head of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Michael Connor, steps into a job that no longer focuses on building dams, but now centers on river restoration and climate change adaptation.

    By Sarah Bates

    SCIENCE, CULTURED satellite image of the United State with increasing emissions graph from cover of report

    Baked America

    Do you prefer your country rare, or well done? Thanks to the Obama administration’s new report on climate impacts, we get to choose. The latest report from the Global Change Research Program tells us a lot about climate science, but it also tells us a lot about a government that is finally managing science for the benefit of its citizens.

    By Chris Mooney

    BIOETHICS view from beneath sculpture of double helix

    The Color of Our Genes

    Advances in genomics may yield profound medical, scientific, and social advances. But if we are not careful, commercial and forensic applications may resuscitate harmful ideas about race.

    By Osagie Obasogie

    AGRICULTURE row of pigs behind a wire fence

    Farm Feelings and Farm Evidence

    When it comes to factory farming, policies require transparent reasoning. We need not be shy about expressing our ethical predilections in the realm of caring for animals but we should be cautious in presuming that those predilections are supported by science.

    By Paul B. Thompson

    SCIENCE, CULTURED Joe Perry of Aerosmith with Francis Collins

    Nerd Busters

    GQ's new "Rock Stars of Science" campaign should give not just disease sufferers, but America's scientists, hope.

    By Chris Mooney

    NEUROSCIENCE for sale sign that read Foreclosure in front of a tan house

    The Sunny Side of an Underwater Mortgage

    From a biological standpoint, socially cooperative behaviors could be an end in themselves, as far as your unconscious brain is concerned. But financial systems and policies ignoring the often-unconscious human social instincts do so at their peril.

    By Arthur Robinson Williams and Daniel D. Langleben

    AGRICULTURE rolling hills during rice harvest in China

    Can Agricultural Biotechnology Help the Poor?

    Biotechnology can help the poor, but whether it will depends on people of good will taking the time to understand and consider the arguments in some detail.

    By Paul B. Thompson

    AGRICULTURE working holding rice seedling as rice institute in Manila

    Genetic Engineering Comes Up Short

    Crops yields must improve to feed a hungry planet amid global warming, but that will require more ecology-based farming and less biotechnology.

    By Doug Gurian-Sherman

    BIOETHICS an MRI scan of a brain, a PET scan, and an army helmet with goggles

    Neuroscience Goes to War

    With more attention to the empirical applications of modern neuroscience, we can better understand the connections between predictors of success and individual variability in training and learning. Equivalence may not be the key to preparing the modern soldier.

    By Jonathan D. Moreno

    SCIENCE, CULTURED satellite image of Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico

    Dozing Atop the Flood Walls

    The 2009 Atlantic hurricane season begins this week—but forecasts of a tamer year should make us raise our guard, not lower it.

    By Chris Mooney

    CLIMATE AND HEALTH mosquito sucking blood from a human

    Global Ailing

    Research begun in the 1990s is relevant now more than ever, and what we know about the relationship between health and climate will be crucial as communities adapt to a warming world.

    By Jeremy Jacquot

    WONK LAB PODCAST screen shot of White House social media tools

    You Have a Friend Request from The White House

    It’s not the campaign anymore. Some of the best tools for getting the President’s message out require special consideration on WhiteHouse.gov. Swire explains the laws that constrain and the rules that advance new media for the government.

    Interview by Andrew Plemmons Pratt

    HEALTH CARE prescription bottles in a pharmacy

    What Works and What Doesn’t

    It’s the very simple health care concept with the very fancy name. Jonathan Moreno and Ruth Faden Discuss comparative effectiveness research, which examines the benefits of different procedures used to treat the same illness, allowing health care providers to make the best decisions about options for patients.

    Interview by Jonathan D. Moreno

    WONK LAB PODCAST screen shot of White House Open Government Initiative innovations gallery

    No Monopoly on Expertise

    Last week, the Obama administration unveiled its Open Government Initiative, a set of online tools and a process of public engagement for making its operations more transparent. In this podcast, we talk about the project with deputy chief technology officer for open government Beth Noveck.

    Interview by Andrew Plemmons Pratt

    SCIENCE, CULTURED Eugenie Scott

    Great Scott

    It's about time everyone is celebrating Eugenie C. Scott of the National Center for Science Education—she is, after all, perhaps the leading day-to-day defender of science in America.

    By Chris Mooney

    RESEARCH ETHICS blank check made out to NIH-supported scientist for favorable findings from your industry funder

    Can We Bank on Objectivity?

    Managing financial conflicts of interest is a complicated policy matter, as researchers and their institutions often receive both public and private funding to support research that leads to new treatments. But research also indicates these conflicts are widespread and ingrained. How far should we go in addressing the issue?

    By Patti Tereskerz

    HEALTH CARE CAT scans

    Cure Cancer? Not Without a Course Correction

    The “war on cancer” devotes too much in search of new cures and too little to understanding the results of existing oncology therapies.

    By Merrill Goozner

    SCIENCE, CULTURED CAT scans

    Science-less in Seattle

    Tom Paulson, formerly of the Seattle-Post Intelligencer, now a freelance writer, carpenter, and building contractor, epitomizes the story of the science writer in our time.

    By Chris Mooney

    SCIENCE, CULTURED President Obama signing scientific integrity memorandum

    Speaking Truth From Power

    Ensuring scientific integrity in government is a marvelous goal—but achieving it will hardly be simple, even under this administration.

    By Chris Mooney

    INNOVATION CLUSTERS drawing of SkySong building

    Arizona’s Entrepreneurial Song

    Arizona State University over the past six years has engaged in a significant institutional transformation. One of the results is the SkySong Innovation Center, a nucleus for a community of entrepreneurs dedicated to innovation and learning.

    By Julia Rosen, Keith Aspinall and Augustine V. Cheng

    WONK LAB PODCAST Environmental Protection Agency sign

    Saving Scientific Integrity

    The past eight years were a bad time for scientific integrity in government research. Grifo, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, says we must protect government researchers, make science-based policymaking more transparent, and monitor potential abuses.

    Interview by Andrew Plemmons Pratt

    BIOETHICS mothers day gift

    What My 91-Year-Old Mother Wants for Mother’s Day

    Smart government can and must deliver a reasoned, evidence-based health plan for all. Compassion demands it. Is that so much to ask for this holiday?

    By Jonathan D. Moreno

    BIOETHICS in vitro fertilization under the microscope

    Throwing the Baby Out With the Amniotic Fluid

    One important distinction that is not made often or clearly enough by either ethicists or lawyers is that between decisions to procreate and decisions not to procreate. Witness, for instance, the reaction to Nadya OctoMom™ Suleman.

    By Michelle N. Meyer

    BIOETHICS in vitro fertilization under the microscope

    The Baby Business and Public Policy

    Drawing lessons from other countries’ regulatory successes could help temper the commercial pressures in the U.S. assisted reproduction sector, without in any way diminishing reproductive rights.

    By Marcy Darnovsky, PhD

    FINANCING SCIENCE two women lab technicians

    Needed: Professional Research Technicians

    Scientists need professional research technicians the way doctors need professional nurses, but grant-based research programs rarely provide for these key positions.

    By Estella Raulfs

    INNOVATION CLUSTERS man operating computer-numerical controlled machine

    Manufacturing Innovation

    The Manufacturing Extension Partnership program’s evolving strategies to spur competitiveness and innovation among small- and medium-sized businesses adjusts to new challenges.

    By Justin R. Masterman

    SWINE FLU people in the Mexico City subway wearing face masks

    When Drugs Aren’t the Answer

    Public health measures that reduce the potential for spreading disease through groups of people present a strong defense in the face of an outbreak. We should have been talking about them earlier.

    By Jason L. Schwartz

    SCIENCE, CULTURED Coast of Kivalina, AL

    Planetary Smoking Is Dangerous

    Recently revealed documents just add to the evidence that sowing doubt about global warming seems to have been in part a political strategy.

    By Chris Mooney

    PUBLIC HEALTH many pigs together in holding pen

    Flu Farms?

    Controlling infections once they reach the human population is crucial, but the origin of many pathogens may lie in factory farming operations, where potent diseases develop.

    By Aysha Akhtar, MD, MPH

    INNOVATION CLUSTERS open box that reads Patents

    Time for a More Open Approach?

    “Open innovation” challenges the assumptions made by university technology transfer offices about maximizing the value of their intellectual property.

    By Joseph Cortright

    STEM CELLS reprogrammed mouse cells

    Reprogramming Cells With Protein Power

    Using specially engineered proteins instead of DNA to coax mice cells back into an embryonic state is promising, but doesn’t resolve many potential problems. For regenerative medicine research in humans, embryonic stem cells remain the gold standard.

    By Jeanne F. Loring

Science Progress Blog


» Read earlier posts from the Science Progress blog

Close
E-mail It