Issues in Science and Technology articles from March 2003

Issues in Science and Technology archives from March 2003

Forum.
March 22, 2003... Climate research As an old-timer in the climate policy arena, I applaud the article by Roger Pielke, Jr., and Daniel Sarewitz ("Wanted: Scientific Leadership on Climate," Issues, Winter 2002-03). For the past decade, I have maintained that...

Correction.
March 22, 2003... In the review of Flames in Our Forests: Disaster or Renewal (Issues, Fall 2002, p. 87), the name of one of the authors--Stephen F. Arno--was misspelled.

Nondefense R&D would take a hit in proposed FY 2004 budget. (From the Hill).
March 22, 2003... On February 3, President Bush proposed a 4.2 percent increase in federal R&D for fiscal year (FY) 2004. However, most of this increase would be devoted to defense development and homeland security research. Nondefense R&D budgets would receive...

Congress debates president's hydrogen initiative. (From the Hill).
March 22, 2003... President Bush's proposal to fund R&D to advance the development of hydrogen fuel cells was met with a mixture of excitement and skepticism at a recent hearing of the House Science Committee. The president made the proposal during his state of...

NASA programs face intense scrutiny after Columbia loss. (From the Hill).
March 22, 2003... The loss of the space shuttle Columbia on February 1, 2003, has once again raised many questions about the operations and programs of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). As investigations into what caused the shuttle...

Weapons and Hope. (Editor's Journal).
March 22, 2003... As Freeman Dyson observes in his book Weapons and Hope, scientists and engineers have a complex relationship with military weapons. Advances in science have over the years made possible ever more powerful weapons, and scientists and engineers...

A broader vision for government research: too many federal agencies lack the research funds they need to stimulate innovative solutions to national problems. (Perspectives).
March 22, 2003... In recent years, the question of "balance" has been a hot topic in science policy circles. Although federal support for biomedical research has increased significantly, support for the physical sciences, engineering, and social sciences has...

Improving scientific advice to government: recent "reforms" in how independent expert panels are selected and operate have done more harm than good. Some steps back to the future are needed. (Perspective).
March 22, 2003... Congress and federal policymakers draw on independent expert panels for scientific and technical advice in addressing some of society's most controversial and economically significant issues. It is imperative that these panels operate in the...

A change of climate: despite a lack of leaders hip from the federal government, a ground swell of activity to cut emissions of greenhouse gases is emerging throughout the United States.
March 22, 2003... Although the signs of global warming are becoming ever more prominent, casual observers of the media in the United States or Europe might easily conclude that U.S. citizens are in denial about climate change, refusing to take responsibility for...

Controlling dangerous pathogens: more systemic protection is needed to guard against the deliberate or inadvertent creation of advanced disease agents.
March 22, 2003... Remarkable advances are underway in the biological sciences. One can credibly imagine the eradication of a number of known diseases, but also the deliberate or inadvertent creation of new disease agents that are dramatically more dangerous than...

Cybersecurity: who's watching the store? Government is not doing all it could to research the problem or to exercise its proper regulatory role.
March 22, 2003... With information technology (IT) permeating every niche of the economy and society, the public has become familiar with the dark side of the information revolution--information warfare, cyber-crime, and other potential ways nefarious parties...

The case against new nuclear weapons: new tactical bombs would have little military value and would undercut U.S. nonproliferation efforts.
March 22, 2003... Does the United States need nuclear bombs to destroy enemy bunkers and chemical or biological weapons? For some people, the answer is clear. Strong proponents of nuclear weapons speak of the need to give the president every possible military...

Time to sign the mine ban treaty: the U.S.'s stubborn refusal to accede to world opinion no longer makes sense and is further dimming its leadership status.
March 22, 2003... Throughout the twentieth century, U.S. foreign policy was pulled in contrary directions by the muscle-flexing appeal of realism and the utopian promise of liberalism. At the end of the cold war, many pundits suggested that liberalism, having...

"Nonlethal" chemical weapons: a Faustian bargain; incapacitants developed for use by law enforcement are more likely to be used by dictators, terrorists, or criminals.
March 22, 2003... On October 26, 2002, approximately 50 Chechen separatist guerrillas took over a Moscow theater, holding about 750 people hostage. The hostage-takers were well armed with automatic weapons and grenades, and the females were wired with high...

A program for Africa's computer people: a little help from U.S. academics and business professionals could go a long way toward making the information sector an engine for economic development.
March 22, 2003... Jacob Aryetey has two personal computers on his desk, only one of which is connected to the Web. In his case, the Web-connected one is the anomaly. Aryetey is alone among the four computer science faculty at the University of Ghana to have Web...

Reinvigorating genetically modified crops: poor farmers in developing nations will benefit if the United States asserts itself in the international arena to develop and promote biotechnology.
March 22, 2003... In August 2002, government officials in the United States were shocked when Zambia, which was on the verge of a major food crisis, began to refuse the import of free U.S. corn as food aid, because some of that corn might be "genetically...

When Children Die. (Real Numbers).
March 22, 2003... The death of a child is a special sorrow, an enduring loss for surviving mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, other family members, and close friends. No matter the circumstances, a child's death is a life-altering experience. In 1999,...

Reducing toxic risks.(Book Review)
March 22, 2003... Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution, by Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner. Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press, 2002, 464 pp. In Deceit and Denial, Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner provide a...

Stale environmentalism.(Book Review)
March 22, 2003... Beyond Earth Day: Fulfilling the Promise, by Gaylord Nelson (with Susan Campbell and Paul Wozniak, and with a foreword by Robert F Kennedy, Jr.). Madison, Wise.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002, 201 pp. As a U.S. senator in the 1960s,...

Computer technology.(Book Review)
March 22, 2003... Strategic Computing: DARPA and the Quest for Machine Intelligence, 1983-1993, by Alex Roland with Philip Shiman. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2002, 455 pp. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA's) Strategic...

Science Advisory Board 1933. (Archives).(Brief Article)
March 22, 2003... In July 1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order to establish the National Research Council's (NRC'S) Science Advisory Board (SAB), a body set up to address scientific problems of the various government departments. The...