Issues in Science and Technology articles from June 2001

Issues in Science and Technology archives from June 2001

FORUM: Energy policy.
June 22, 2001... John P. Holdren's "Searching for a National Energy Policy" (Issues, Spring 2001) is the sort of sound assessment of national energy options that should be reviewed and digested by federal officials as they work to resolve the current energy...

Clarification.(Correction Notice)
June 22, 2001... Several alert readers noticed that the "Archives" photo of the dedication of the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in the Spring 2001 Issues was not a picture of the South Pole. There are no hills and exposed soil at the South Pole. The...

FROM THE HILL: DOD, NIH big winners in Bush R&D budget; other agencies face cuts.(Department of Defense)(George W. Bush)(National Institutes of Health)(research and development)(Statistical Data Included)
June 22, 2001... On April 9, the Bush administration released details of its fiscal year (FY) 2002 budget request, which contains an overall increase in federal research and development (R&D) spending but cuts in most of the individual sponsoring agencies....

What's Food Got to Do with It?(genetically modified food)(Editorial)
June 22, 2001... A host of deeper and broader concerns are the real motivation behind the genetically modified food ruckus. Displacement is the common psychological practice of redirecting an emotional response from the original person or event to a...

Redesigning Food Safety.
June 22, 2001... Better deployment of the government's food safety resources is essential to minimizing the growing risks from foodborne illness. Controversy over genetically modified foods has helped put food safety in the headlines, but that issue, like...

More than a Food Fight.(transgenic foods)
June 22, 2001... If the United States and Europe cannot settle their disagreements over agricultural biotechnology, the fallout will extend far beyond the food business. From some perspectives, the news for agricultural biotechnology boosters seems good....

European Responses to Biotechnology: Research, Regulation, and Dialogue.
June 22, 2001... Real differences exist between U.S. and European public opinion, but the foundation for a policy convergence is in place. Modern biotechnology is the fruit of a massive surge of knowledge about the structure and functioning of living...

Patenting Agriculture.
June 22, 2001... An intense drive to patent agricultural biotechnologies may hurt those who would benefit most: people in developing countries. More than one million children die each year because of a chronic lack of vitamin A. Millions more suffer...

The Wild Card in the Climate Change Debate.
June 22, 2001... The potential for abrupt, drastic climate changes on a regional scale is being underestimated by policymakers. The debate on global warming, framed on one side by those who see a long-term gradual warming of global surface temperatures and...

Needed: A National Center for Biological Invasions.
June 22, 2001... A new coordinating body is essential to the success of nonindigenous species prevention and management efforts. Introduced organisms are the second greatest cause, after habitat destruction, of species endangerment and extinction worldwide....

Bush Versus the Defense Establishment?(George W. Bush)
June 22, 2001... A large dose of presidential courage will be required to effect the drastic changes needed in weapons spending priorities. In a major speech on defense policy at the Citadel military academy in South Carolina during the 2000 presidential...

Retooling Farm Policy.(Statistical Data Included)
June 22, 2001... Federal programs to help farmers should be realigned so that they effectively advance their stated goals. In 2000, federal direct payments to U.S. farmers exceeded $22 billion. Farm groups contend that as much as an extra $117 billion will...

This Sovereign Land: A New Vision for Governing the West & Plundered Promise: Capitalism, Politics, and the Fate of the Federal Lands.(Review)
June 22, 2001... Western lands This Sovereign Land: A New Vision for Governing the West, by Daniel Kemmis. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2001, 255 pp. Plundered Promise: Capitalism, Politics, and the Fate of the Federal Lands, by Richard W. Behan....

Spacefaring: The Human Dimension.(Review)
June 22, 2001... Human spaceflight Spacefaring: The Human Dimension, by Albert A. Harrison. Berkeley, Calif.: The University of California Press, 2001, 324 pp. The scope of this book befits its subject. It ranges from the mechanics of human spaceflight...

Forces of Habit: Drugs and the Making of the Modern World.(Review)
June 22, 2001... Drug use and control Forces of Habit: Drugs and the Making of the Modern World, by David T. Courtwright. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001, 277 pp. Forces of Habit offers an ambitious interpretation of a challenging...

Airship Safety.(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... One of the first studies undertaken on behalf of the government by the newly established National Research Council was a 1917 investigation into the problem of static charge build-up on airships. Experience had shown that certain mixtures of...

Making the Most of Your Retirement Plan Assets.(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... Although a tax-deferred retirement plan like a 401-K, 403 (b), or Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) can be a good source of retirement income for you, it may prove expensive to pass it to your heirs through your estate plan. But, by...

Common Estate Planning Mistakes--ASSUMING ALL ASSETS ARE CREATED EQUAL.
June 22, 2001... When deciding how to allocate the assets in their estate, many people make the mistake of assuming that a dollar's worth of one asset is equal to a dollar's worth of another asset. In fact, because of capital gains and income tax laws, the...

Ask Mark Weinberg: "Final Expense" Funds.
June 22, 2001... Mark Weinberg, Esq., is a prominent Washington-based estate planning attorney. You can send your questions to Mr. Weinberg at our website, NationalAcademies.org/Planning. Question: My friends have suggested setting aside a fund in my...