Issues in Science and Technology articles from December 2001

Issues in Science and Technology archives from December 2001

The Kyoto Protocol. (Forum).(Letter to the Editor)
December 22, 2001... I have to congratulate you on publishing Richard E. Benedick's essay on Kyoto and its aftermath ("Striking a New Deal on Climate Change," Issues, Fall 2001). Many of us already knew that Benedick was an accomplished scholar and diplomat. What I...

The new economy. (Forum).(Letter to the Editor)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2001... Dale W. Jorgenson's excellent paper ("U.S. Economic Growth in the Information Age," Issues, Fall 2001) finds that the fall in information technology (IT) prices helps explain the surge in U.S. growth in the 1990s. Research by the Organization...

Genetics and medicine. (Forum).(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
December 22, 2001... In "From Genomics and Informatics to Medical Practice" (Issues, Fall 2001), Samuel C. Silverstein accurately captures the extraordinary excitement and potential of medical research emerging from the disciplines of genomics and informatics. What...

U.S.-Russian cooperation. (Forum).(Letter to the Editor)
December 22, 2001... Kenneth N. Luongo's "Improving U.S.-Russian Nuclear Cooperation" (Issues, Fall 2001) makes a convincing case for the need to renew the partnership with Russia to improve nuclear security. The impressive achievements cited by Luongo occurred...

Workforce productivity. (Forum).(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
December 22, 2001... The current downturn in the economy, which has been exacerbated by the events of September 11, is raising doubts and causing uncertainty about the future of the United States in an increasingly competitive and hostile world. In "The Skills...

Advanced Technology Program. (Forum).(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
December 22, 2001... Glenn R. Fong's proposed Advanced Technology Program (ATP) reforms are not new and would dramatically move the program away from its original intent ("Repositioning the Advanced Technology Program," Issues, Fall 2001). In 1988, the statute...

Fisheries management and fishing jobs. (Forum).(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
December 22, 2001... In "A New Approach to Managing Fisheries" (Issues, Fall 2001), Robert Repetto has made an extremely useful contribution to the field of fishery management, with his direct comparison between the U.S. and Canadian sea scallop fisheries. I am...

Redesigning food safety. (Forum).(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
December 22, 2001... I commend Michael R. Taylor and Sandra A. Hoffmann for their thought-provoking "Redesigning Food Safety" (Issues, Summer 2001). I fully concur that the government needs a more coordinated and structured approach to determine the most productive...

Regulating genetically engineered foods. (Forum).(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
December 22, 2001... In "Patenting Agriculture" (Issues, Summer 2001), John H. Barton and Peter Berger describe how a few big agricultural biotechnology companies are increasingly consolidating control over the application of advanced molecular technologies in crop...

Biological invasions. (Forum).(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
December 22, 2001... The spread of invasive species is, together with climate change, one of the most serious global environmental changes underway. In "Needed: A National Center for Biological Invasions" (Issues, Summer 2001), Don C. Schmitz and Daniel Simberloff...

Marburger confirmed as science advisor; OSTP moves questioned. (From the Hill).(John H. Marburger, III)(Office of Science and Technology)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2001... New science advisor John H. Marburger III, confirmed by the Senate on October 23, has taken steps that have increased anxiety among some members of the science community about the Bush administration's interest in science. Marburger, who...

Colleges drop opposition to more tracking of foreign students. (From the Hill).(Brief Article)
December 22, 2001... In the wake of reports that one or more of the terrorists involved in the September 11 attacks entered the United States on student visas, the academic community has reversed its staunch opposition to electronic tracking of foreign students at...

President appoints science and technology advisors. (From the Hill).(Brief Article)
December 22, 2001... On December 12, President Bush named the members of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), which has the job of providing the president and the Office of Science and Techology Policy with independent expert...

Weighing our woes: Just as we marshal resources against terrorism, we must increase our efforts to control an even more prolific killer--infectious disease. (Editor's Journal).(Statistical Data Included)
December 22, 2001... The horror of September 11 is difficult to absorb. We all looked in disbelief as the tape of the buildings collapsing was played over and over and over again. We watched thinking that if we saw it often enough perhaps we could feel the...

Preparing for and preventing bioterrorism: Strengthening the U.S. public health infrastructure is the key to enhancing the nation's safety. (Perspectives).
December 22, 2001... The tragic events of September 11th, followed by the recent anthrax incidents, have made us painfully aware of our nation's vulnerability to terrorism, including bioterrorism. Although once considered a remote concern, the possibility that a...

Achievement Versus Aptitude in College Admissions: Students should be selected on the basis of their demonstrated success in learning, not some ill-defined notion of aptitude.
December 22, 2001... Every year, more than a million high school students stake their futures on the nation's most widely used admissions test, the SAT I. Long viewed as the gold standard for ensuring student quality, the SAT I has also been considered a great...

Regulatory Challenges in University Research: Federal regulations must be streamlined and coordinated so that society's values can be upheld without impeding science.
December 22, 2001... The body of federal regulations designed to ensure that university research adheres to generally accepted societal values and ethics has grown rapidly in recent years, creating an administrative burden and a potential impediment to research. As...

Homeland Security Technology: A new federal agency is needed to rapidly develop and deploy technologies that will limit our vulnerability to terrorism.
December 22, 2001... On September 11th, our complex national aviation infrastructure became a brilliant weapons delivery system, both stealthy and asymmetrical. The attack was so successful that we should expect this and other like-minded groups to strike again at...

Keeping National Missile Defense in Perspective: If we're going to pursue this strategy, let's do so in a realistic way that minimizes the economic and political costs.
December 22, 2001... The United States is in the midst of its third major debate on nationwide ballistic missile defense--the first culminating in the 1972 ABM Treaty and the second sparked by President Reagan's "Star Wars" speech in 1983. This time the Cold War is...

Revamping the CIA: The terrorist attacks have once again exposed wide-ranging flaws in the agency's operations.
December 22, 2001... One week after the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, national security adviser Condoleeza Rice told the press: "This isn't Pearl Harbor." No, it's worse. Sixty years ago, the United States did not have a director of...

Rethinking U.S. Child Care Policy: Demand for high-quality care will increase only when consumers have better information about child care and stronger economic incentives to purchase excellent care.
December 22, 2001... Child care in the United States is, by many standards, in poor shape. Commonly heard complaints include that today's system of child care endangers the well-being of children, causes financial hardship and stress for families, makes it...

The Ethanol Answer to Carbon Emissions: When the United States gets serious about the threat of global climate change, it should turn to ethanol to power cars.
December 22, 2001... The moment is fast approaching when the United States will have to face up to the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is finding growing scientific evidence that human activities are forcing a...

The Uninsured: Myths and Realities. (Real Numbers).(Statistical Data Included)
December 22, 2001... Much of what Americans think they know about people without health insurance is wrong. National polling data and market research reveal that the popular wisdom is that the number of uninsured people is small, includes largely healthy young...

Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict. (Oil and war do mix).
December 22, 2001... Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict, by Michael T. Klare. New York: Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Co., 2001, 289 pp. Throughout his career, Michael Klare has written engaging, thoughtful, and timely pieces on emerging...

Strategic Warfare in Cyberspace. (Information warfare).
December 22, 2001... Strategic Warfare in Cyberspace, by Gregory J. Rattary. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001, 517 pp. Several books about information warfare (IW) have appeared in recent years. Government officials and industry leaders are more concerned...

Science, Money, and Politics: Political Triumph and Ethical Erosion. (Return of the gadfly).
December 22, 2001... Science, Money, and Politics: Political Triumph and Ethical Erosion, by Daniel S. Greenberg. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001, 530 pp. Webster's defines gadfly as "an intentionally annoying person who stimulates or provokes...

Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling Numbers from the Media, Politicians, and Activists & It Ain't Necessarily So: How Media Make and Unmake the Scientific Picture of Reality. (Loose numbers).
December 22, 2001... Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling Numbers from the Media, Politicians, and Activists, by Joel Best. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2001, 190 pp. It Ain't Necessarily So: How Media Make and Unmake the Scientific...

Andrew Carnegie and George Ellery Hale. (Archives).(Brief Article)
December 22, 2001... The Carnegie Institution of Washington was born a century ago in January 1902 with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie to foster the development of new knowledge. It has supported research in a broad array of scientific fields, and its...