Issues in Science and Technology articles from June 2002

Issues in Science and Technology archives from June 2002

Forum.(Letter to the Editor)
June 22, 2002... Electric system security "Bolstering the Security of the Electric Power System" by Alexander E. Farrell, Lester B. Lave, and Granger Morgan (Issues, Spring 2002) addresses a pressing concern. Electrical power plants are one of many areas...

Debate over meaning of "sound" science heats up. (From the Hill).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... Scientific research has played a critical but not always clear role in recent debates over energy policy, with advocates on all sides of the issues marshaling "sound science" to defend their position against the "junk science" of their...

Doubling of NSF budget over five years proposed. (From the Hill).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-N.Y) and Research Subcommittee Chairman Nick Smith (R-Mich.) have proposed a National Science Foundation (NSF) reauthorization bill that would set the agency on a track to double its...

Government to boost scrutiny of foreigners studying science. (From the Hill).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... The U.S. government has taken some steps to close loopholes in the immigration process that apparently allowed some of the September 11 terrorists to enter the country. They include additional scrutiny of foreigners studying in science fields....

Progress on brownfields restoration. (Update).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... Since "Restoring Contaminated Industrial Sites" appeared in the Spring 1994 Issues (as well as an update in the Fall 1997 edition), Congress has debated how best to clean and redevelop moderately contaminated properties, known as brownfields. A...

Making sense of government information restrictions: panic after September 11 led to bad policy; a more deliberate response can protect security without sacrificing beneficial access to government data. (Straight Talk).
June 22, 2002... New moves by the Bush administration to curtail public access to certain types of government information on security grounds have set off alarms among scientists, public interest groups, and concerned citizens, who foresee a veil of...

Reducing mercury pollution from electric power plants: the technology to reduce emissions is at hand, but the Bush administration seems unwilling to require industry to use it. That's a mistake. (Perspectives).
June 22, 2002... The majority of electricity in the United States is produced by power plants that burn coal, with 464 such plants producing 56 percent of all electricity. But these power plants also are the nation's single biggest source of mercury pollution....

Science's role in natural resource decisions: collaborative efforts that rely on local knowledge as well as science are key to resolving difficult land use issues.
June 22, 2002... The call for land management and regulatory agencies to center their decision processes on "sound science" or "good science" has become a kind of mantra, so that no speech or directive about natural resource decisionmaking is any longer thought...

Research universities in the new security environment: some hasty government responses to September 11 posed problems for universities; with a more collaborative approach, higher education can play a vital role.
June 22, 2002... When our nation was attacked, we knew that the world was changing before our eyes; that terrorists were using the freedoms and openness we had taken for granted against us and that our lives would never be the same. As members of the science...

The Henry and Bryna David endowment. (Editor's Journal).(Brief Article)(Editorial)
June 22, 2002... The article by Elizabeth Loftus that begins on the following page is the first annual Henry and Bryna David Article/Lecture. It was presented in person at the National Academy of Sciences on May 7, 2002, to an invited audience. Financial...

Memory faults and fixes: research has revealed the limits of human memory; now the courts need to incorporate these findings into their procedures.
June 22, 2002... The sex abuse scandal enveloping the Catholic Church has prompted vigorous calls for action: The Church should hand over to prosecutors a list of all its priests who have ever been accused in the past of sexual abuse; priests should be forced...

Science and security at risk: a comprehensive strategy for integrating science and security is urgently needed at DOE's national labs and throughout the U.S. government.(Department of Energy)
June 22, 2002... The marriage between science and security in the United States has at times been turbulent, and never more so than in the fall of 2000, following the darkest hours of controversy over security breaches in the Department of Energy's (DOE's)...

Countering terrorism in transportation: our failed piecemeal approach to security must be replaced with a layered, well-integrated system.
June 22, 2002... Americans now face almost weekly warnings about potential terrorist targets, from banks and apartment buildings to dams and nuclear power plants. This threat of terrorism is not new to transportation. From jet airliners to mass transit buses...

The technology assessment approach to climate change; we should apply the lessons of the Montreal Protocol: enlist industry expertise and focus on manageable goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
June 22, 2002... Policy debate on global climate change is deadlocked. Why? One major reason is that assessment of options for reducing greenhouse gases has been strikingly ineffective. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which produces...

Improving technological literacy: the first step is understanding what is meant by "technology." Then we must try to reach the broadest possible audience.
June 22, 2002... At the heart of the technological society that characterizes the United States lies an unacknowledged paradox. Although the nation increasingly depends on technology and is adopting new technologies at a breathtaking pace, its citizens are not...

What Americans know (or think they know) about technology. (Real Numbers).
June 22, 2002... The United States is a world leader in developing and using new technology, and this is widely recognized as being largely responsible for the county's economic success. One would expect Americans to be very knowledgeable about technology and...

Overfishing. (Books).
June 22, 2002... From Abundance to Scarcity: A history of U.S. Marine Fisheries Policy, by Michael L. Weber. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2002, 320 pp. The environmental issues confronting the United States and the world are varied, huge, and often...

Nature and profits. (Books).
June 22, 2002... The New Economy of Nature: The Quest to Make Conservation Profitable, by Gretchen C. Daily and Katherine Ellison. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2002, 260 pp. The title The New Economy of Nature seems to promise fresh insight into the...

Citizen astronomers. (Archives).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... When the first artificial satellites were sent into orbit around the earth in 1957, some way of tracking them was called for. As early as 1955, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), as part of its contribution to the International...