Editor’s Journal
Whatever the future of federally funded science is, it’s no longer “free of strings,” as physicist Harvey Brooks described the relationship between government and scientific research. As the scientific enterprise tries to decide how to respond, it first needs to figure out what happened.
Indirect Costs
When the National Institutes of Health announced its intention to cap the indirect costs of research, an ad hoc group of organizations joined forces to develop a more transparent model.
Space Exploration
NASA’s new directive to design, build, and deploy a nuclear reactor on the Moon by 2030 will require a commitment to implementation, leadership from the White House, and learning from six decades of failures.
Gender Equality
Julisa Tambunan explains why gender inequality is a disaster and how collecting better data—both statistics and stories—can help create a better future for everyone.
Focused Research Organizations
Four years ago, we founded a new kind of scientific organization to build fundamental technologies and accelerate discovery. Almost a dozen launches later, we have an idea of what works—and what doesn’t.
Cannabis Policy
The United States urgently needs a coordinated approach to regulating the use of cannabis that prioritizes product safety and patient well-being.
The ISSUES Interview
National Academy of Engineering president Tsu-Jae Liu discusses how engineers can help the United States translate new ideas into practical benefits for the nation.
Food and Climate
Investigative journalist Thin Lei Win shares her experience growing up in Myanmar, and how that has shaped how she sees the intersection between food production, climate, and disasters.
Overlooked Disasters
Steven Gonzalez compares the dramatic and immediate impacts of Hurricane Maria to the slower, overlooked disasters of environmental destruction and exploitation of human labor that support our data infrastructure.
Artificial Intelligence
Singapore relies on existing laws and voluntary guidelines to govern AI. Will this relaxed approach be sufficient as AI advances?
Disaster Research
An integrated, interdisciplinary national research strategy is urgently needed to strengthen the country’s efforts to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters.
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Vol. XLII, No. 1, Fall 2025
A remarkable treatment for subdural hematomas involves, essentially, using superglue to repair the brain. The superglue procedure inspires the question of whether there exist analogous policy tools that could help fix systems that suffer from a lack of coordination: the health care bureaucracy, state and federal cannabis regulation, biosecurity, or artificial intelligence.
Browse the Issue
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Subscribe to the Print EditionIn response to essays published in Issues, our readers weigh in on critical topics in policy related to science, technology, and society.
Fall 2025
A Discussion of
Responses By
Fall 2025
A Discussion of
Responses By
A conservation researcher responds to Torie Bosch’s “Bigfeet.”
Response
An eccentric billionaire claims he has a chance encounter with Bigfoot. When he decides to offer a reward to anyone who can bring him proof of the creature, he opens the floodgates to Bigfoot sightings—and is stuck with the dilemma of how to classify an animal that isn’t supposed to exist.
Insurance involves betting on catastrophe, and it’s the main way our economy interacts with short-term disaster and long-term risk. As climate catastrophes accelerate, what happens when insurers walk away from the table?
Response
Drover, a weather analyst, tracks bat data—including heart rate, flight patterns, food intake, and other behavior—to predict extreme weather events. When the bank where his partner works introduces a system that allows people to bet on weather events, he’s forced to reckon with the line between predicting climate catastrophe and profiting from it.
Planning for managed retreat in the face of rising sea levels is politically difficult—getting people to actually move may be even harder.
Response
In a future Washington state, the governor has successfully convinced voters to move the capital of Olympia to a location more protected from accelerating climate threats. But while moving a city is hard, the governor soon discovers that convincing residents to move with it is even harder.
The United States has focused on preventing the transfer of sensitive technology to adversarial nations rather than on improving its ability to collaborate internationally.
A recent case in Norway demonstrates how dual-use controls can constrict international scientific collaboration without offering commensurate protections.
The United States’ global leadership in research was built on the foundation of substantial government investments in science and technology (S&T) made during World War II. In the subsequent decades, S&T has… Read More
In recent years, science and technology have emerged as critical domains reshaping the landscape of international relations and national security. In particular, the United States and the European Union have sought to… Read More
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