Author Posts Archive: Science Progress
Christopher Field, Ph.D., is the director of the Department of Global Ecology at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, professor of biology and environmental earth system science at Stanford University, and the Working Group II Co-Chair for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Michael MacCracken is the chief scientist for Climate Change Programs at the Climate Institute and a co-author and contributing author for various chapters in the IPCC assessment reports.
What is personalized medicine? How does personalized medicine work? What are the challenges and possible solutions? Michael Rugnetta explains the principles behind the “Paving the Way for Personalized Medicine” report.
The ethics of data selection, the potential conflicts of peer review, the “soft money lifestyle” of grant recipients, and other issues facing researchers.
So what’s the appropriate progressive response to the recent under-the-radar attempts from conservatives to ban the creation of animal-human hybrids? Caricature.
Embryonic stem cell research is good science, and it needs to be part of our federally funded biomedical research enterprise if the United States is to retain its status as a global scientific leader. That’s why it must be conducted responsibly and ethically.
Jonathan Moreno applauds President Obama’s intended pick for NIH director: Dr. Francis Collins, a researcher and leader who embraces science and ethics.
The Center for American Progress, in partnership with the National Academies, is sponsoring a conference this Wednesday, June 3rd on the role of innovation clusters in spurring economic development, creating new jobs, and building a competitive American economy for the 21st century.
“Growing Innovation Clusters for American Prosperity” will convene academics, business leaders, policymakers, and [...]
It’s not the campaign anymore. Some of the best tools for getting the President’s message out and getting the administration’s work done require special consideration on WhiteHouse.gov. Swire explains the laws that constrain and the rules that advance new media for the government.
It’s the very simple health care concept with the very fancy name. Comparative effectiveness research 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.
CAP Senior Fellow and SP Editor-in-Chief Jonathan D. Moreno explains the significance of President Obama rescinding the limits on human embryonic stem cell research put in place by George W. Bush, after the jump:
With the stroke of a pen, President Barack Obama today erased the Bush administration’s eight-year-old restrictions on federal funding of research involving human embryonic stem cells, reaffirming his commitment to evidence and biomedical hope over his predecessor’s ideological distortion of science.
Charles Darwin, and the legacy of his work describing evolution and natural selection, is often distorted for political ends. But as Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Susan Thistlethwaite explained yesterday, the spheres of science and religion are not in conflict, and a look at Darwin’s own life can help untangle the thorny cultural history [...]
Monday
Science Progress Contributing Editor Chris Mooney will be on the the Colbert Report.
ITIF: “Crafting an Effective Broadband Stimulus Package”
Russell Senate Building, Room 485, 12 noon
AMS: “Coming to Grips with Sustainable Practices: Where Do We Go from Here?”
Russell Senate Office Building, Room 253, 12 noon
Brookings: “Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st [...]
The stories of research involving human embryonic stem cells and the policy governing that work are intertwined and stretch back into the mid-1970s. Shortly after the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, discussions began about how to conduct ethical research on human fetal tissue. Since that time, scientists have made great strides—most notable the [...]
We’re announcing this in conjunction with the American Meteorological Society:
For Immediate Release – January 14, 2009
Author Chris Mooney Honored by American Meteorological Society
Chris Mooney, author of Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle over Global Warming, has won the 2009 Louis J. Battan Author’s Award by the American Meteorological Society, the nation’s leading professional society [...]
The United States is one of only three industrialized nations that lack a national innovation policy. Most international competitors boast recently created or long-standing innovation agencies in addition to scientific research bodies. But not only is U.S. innovation policy disorganized, it is woefully underfunded. In 2006, the federal government spent a total of $2.7 billion, [...]
Inventions are being created at an ever-increasing pace and have grown increasingly complex, but the rules governing patents have not seen substantial change in decades. As a result, the system is bogged down, hampering investment and job creation. Here’s how to fix things.
In the new print edition: Developing Regional Centers of Innovation, Tackling the Challenge of Patent Reform, and Government Contracting Run Amok.
Regional centers such as Silicon Valley and Boston cultivate technology-based economic development through a dynamic mix of researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, and infrastructure. Drawing lessons from their success can help revitalize the U.S. economy.
Some of the events next week in Washington, D.C. for the science and tech policy crowd.
Here’s a roundup of some of the science and technology policy events happening around Washington, D.C. from October 6 to October 10. Things are light this week.
HereHere’s a roundup of some of the science and technology policy events happening around Washington, D.C. from September 21 to September 27.
Here’s a roundup of some of the science and technology policy events happening around Washington D.C. from September 15 to September 19.
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.
The Bush Administration has proposed new rules that allow federal agencies to assess on their own threats to endangered species, side-stepping scientific review of environmental impacts for regulatory decisions. Here’s what some experts have been saying in the mainstream media and blogosphere over the past few days about the proposed rule change.
The recent federal investigation of Dr. Bruce Ivins, the Army bioterrorism researcher suspected of facilitating the 2001 anthrax attacks, is drawing media attention to dual-use research and could provide an opportune moment for biotech researchers to take another look at the rules that govern work with deadly pathogens.
This week’s Policy Forum in
Science addresses the “structural disequilibria” in biomedical research that has resulted from the recent funding history of the National Institutes of Health. Addressing these problems would create a more hospitable career path for young researchers and yeild more medical advances.
Rep. Bill Foster talks about the balance between commercial science and basic long-term research, the importance of math and science education, and the need for scientific reasoning as the basis of policy discussions.
In Sunday’s Outlook section of the
Washington Post, Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Rick Weiss takes a close look at the personal impacts of new direct-to-consumer genetic testing services. He suggests that we need to properly regulate this auspicious technology to harness its benefits.
In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the number of ID checks in American life has climbed sharply. Some advocate more intrusive identification systems to fight terrorism and limit immigration, while others are skeptical of new procedures for verifying identity because of the impact they may have on costs, computer security, privacy, and civil liberties.
Rep. Rush Holt explains how science informs policy that improves the lives of Americans, builds opportunity, and creates a fair and equitable society.
Last Friday,
Science Progress kicked off the launch of its inaugural print edition with a gathering of distinguished science policy experts.
We can spur scientific innovation by revising our green card immigration policy for highly educated foreigners studying in the United States.
After a brief hiatus, we return with roundup of some of the science and technology policy events happening around Washington D.C. from June 9 to June 13. Don’t forget our first
Science Progress event, “Science Is the Stuff of Progress,” on June 13, where we’ll launch our first printed edition.
As Congress considers the supplemental funding request and the spending earmarks that will accompany it, it’s worth looking at what states themselves spend on R&D.
Yesterday, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) introduced H.R. 6049, the Energy and Tax Extenders Act of 2008. Among other extensions, the bill would renew the Research and Development Tax Credit for the 13th time since its inception in 1981. But extending the R&D tax credit for one more year is insufficient; it should be made permanent.
President Bush’s latest request for Iraq war funding totals approximately $135.4 billion. What if we spent that money on domestic scientific research and development? Boosting R&D by the numbers.
A roundup of some of the science and technology policy events happening around Washington D.C. from May 12 to May 16.
Part 3 of coverage of Tuesday’s House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the Renewable Fuel Standard, with the perspectives of witnesses on biofuel production and rising food prices.
Part 2 of a break down of Tuesday’s House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the Renewable Fuel Standards, with a look at what witnesses had to say about the economic and environmental concerns.
On Wednesday, the House Committee on Science and Technology’s Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight held the first of what could be more hearings on the CDC’s failure to protect public health when it released a scientifically flawed report on formaldehyde levels in post-Katrina FEMA trailers, understating the health risk of extended exposure to the gas.
A roundup of some of the science and technology policy events happening around Washington D.C. from Mar. 31 to Apr. 6.
Faculty and staff in colleges and universities have a growing number of technologies at their disposal, but they have to understand how to use them to enrich education, and institutions must be willing to invest in useful solutions.
A quick look at some of the policy-related posts in the science and technology blogosphere: suggestions for best practices in science blogging; the need for more hurricane research; vaccines and public fears; and new research centers to study parallel computing.
A quick look at some of the policy-related posts in the science and technology blogosphere: synthetic biology, the lack of science coverage on cable news networks, drug-resistant antibiotics, and rethinking the drug development process.
A quick look at some of the policy-related stories making the rounds on the science and technology blogs.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates will appear before the House Science and Technology Committee tomorrow in what will be the first of a series of hearing on challenges to our nation’s innovation agenda. A look at recent findings, including the National Science Foundation’s biennial report on the state of science and engineering research and education, shows that there is cause for concern.
Tomorrow’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on net neutrality and free speech on the Internet brings the controversial issue back into congressional crosshairs. To help make sense of the issue, Science Progress and the Center for American Progress have put together this net neutrality 101, a beginner’s guide to understanding the debate that could alter the very future of the Internet.
As
The New York Times reviews the rising popularity of solar thermal power plants, Congress hears from an Arizona Public Service Company spokesperson about Solana, the world’s largest solar thermal plant to be built in Arizona. The output of ten planned solar thermal plants in Arizona, California, and Nevada could equal the output of three nuclear reactors, but they could be built in two years instead of ten or more.
Members of the
Science Progress advisory board and editorial staff express their support for the Science Debate 2008 initiative and encourage the presidential candidates of both major political parties to devote one nationally televised debate specifically to issues related to science, technology, and innovation.
Good news for large-scale solar power generation arrived yesterday with bad news for photovoltaic technology; we need names for the next administration’s science advisors; and Google launches a pilot program for electronic medical records.
AAAS president critiques U.S. science and tech policy; researchers map human impacts on ocean ecosystems; new materials for carbon capture; harnessing the tides and waves for energy; biodefense watchdog shuts down.
Scientists working in developed and developing nations will soon have a new organization to integrate their efforts; the New York Academy of Sciences is spearheading the formation of “Scientists Without Borders.”
President Bush’s final Federal budget for FY 2009 contains significant boosts for physical sciences and programs supported by the Administration’s American Competitiveness Initiative, but proposes flat lining funding for National Institutes of Health, the largest source of funds for life sciences research. Today, the American Association for the Advancement of Science releases its preliminary analysis of R&D in the budget.
The Bush Administration released its final budget request today. It includes significant cuts to the budgets for the Centers for Disease Control, stagnant funding for the National Institutes of Health, and moderate boosts to the Department of Energy.
The DOE Basic Energy Sciences program is forced to cut grants after a meager budget increase. Are iPS cells ready to replace embryonic stem cells? A new report in
Science on climate change and reduced global food production.
The phrase “stem cells” never made it into the State of the Union address—until last night, when the President implied that only policy makers, not scientists, can understand morality.
Yesterday, we noted the frequency with which President Bush has mentioned “energy” in previous State of the Union speeches. Last night’s address and included the word “energy” five times, but contained more doublespeak than leadership.
Tonight, President Bush offers the final State of the Union address of his presidency. Saying that science has gotten short shrift during the Bush years is nothing new. Science Progress takes a look at some of the key terms in science and tech policy that have, and have not, appeared in the previous six State of the Union addresses.
Yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission began auctioning off licenses to a portion of the 700 MHz band of the radio frequency spectrum. The decisions of companies that win those national licenses will determine the shape of wireless communications in the United States for years to come. Science Progress offers this short guide to the issues involved.
Is the NIH monitoring conflicts of interest?; EPA won’t explain itself on nixing state emissions caps; controversial framing of new MRSA study; new paths to energy-efficient electronics.
Engineering corn to fight blindness; “Science 2.0″ and participatory journalism; Google gives back, and not just to non-profits.
Tracking broadband speeds for the FCC; bioterrorism sensors in NYC; China revises its patent policy.
An interactive map showing where in the U.S. you can find Flex Fuel cars and gas stations that offer E85. The energy bill currently in Congress provides important provisions to make flex-fuels more widely available.
Testimony of Director Gerberding prepared for a hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Tuesday on the impact of climate change on public health. The portions excised by the White House are highlighted in red.
The U.S. is pursuing new approaches to nurture science and technology innovation—and so is the UK. This week’s National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship newsletter sets the two plans next to one another. Perhaps each government could learn from the other.
U.S. labs that handle deadly germs have reported “100 accidents and missing shipments since 2003,”
reports the AP. No one was hurt, but the number of incidents are going up with number of labs approved to handle the pathogens. The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a
hearing today.
