Issues in Science and Technology articles from September 2002

Issues in Science and Technology archives from September 2002

Dealing with terror. (Forum).
September 22, 2002... I was a member of John Hamre's Commission on Science and Security, and he does an outstanding job in his article of explaining what we were about and why we made the recommendations we did ("Science and Security at Risk," issues, Summer 2002)....

Transportation security. (Forum).
September 22, 2002... Layered security measures and curtains of mystery are keys to success in deterring and preventing terrorists, and they are also keys to restoring faith in and profitability to our nation's transportation systems. In "Countering Terrorism...

Memories: true or false? (Forum).
September 22, 2002... As remarkable as Elizabeth Loftus's evidence of memory fallibility is, I find even more remarkable the utter lack of evidence for memory repression: the pathological inability to remember something that otherwise could not be forgotten ("Memory...

Universities and national security. (Forum).(Letter to the Editor)
September 22, 2002... In "Research Universities in the New Security Environment" (Issues, Summer 2002), M. R. C. Greenwood and Donna Gerardi Riordan discuss the need for "the free flow of information" in research, the involvement of more U.S. students in science,...

Control mercury emissions now. (Forum).
September 22, 2002... For over a decade, the utility industry and regulators have actively debated whether it is appropriate to control mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants, and if so, to what extent. Matt Little's recent article, "Reducing Mercury...

Needed: achievement and aptitude. (Forum).
September 22, 2002... In "Achievement Versus Aptitude in College Admissions" (Issues, Winter 2001-02), Richard C. Atkinson discusses the SAT I and II tests. But to say whether aptitude or achievement should be used as the criterion for university admission is too...

New approach to climate change. (Forum).
September 22, 2002... "The Technology Assessment Approach to Climate Change" by Edward A. Parson (Issues, Summer 2002) deals with an extremely important issue that has direct implications not only for the mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions but also for...

Managing our forests. (Forum).
September 22, 2002... I have little argument with the idea that we should test new approaches to decisionmaking for the national forests. However, I find Daniel Kemmis' arguments ("Science's Role in Natural Resources Decision," Issues, Summer 2002) less convincing,...

S&T given big boost in homeland security department. (From the Hill).
September 22, 2002... Both the House and Senate would create an undersecretary for science and technology (S&T) in the proposed Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The House approved legislation creating the DHS on July 26. The Senate initially expected to...

House votes to double NSF budget; is DOE next in line?. (From the Hill).
September 22, 2002... On June 5, the House of Representatives passed by a 397-to-25 vote the "Investing in America's Future Act" (H.R. 4664), which would launch the National Science Foundation (NSF) on a path to double its budget. A similar bill (5. 2817) has been...

Legislation on human cloning stalls in Senate. (From the Hill).
September 22, 2002... The Senate in June put off any debate, most likely until 2003, on competing bills involving human cloning. A bill proposed by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) would impose a comprehensive ban on human cloning, whereas a bill introduced by Sens....

House bill would bolster protection of humans in clinical trials. (From the Hill).
September 22, 2002... The highly publicized deaths in 1999 and 2001 of two volunteers participating in clinical research trials brought attention to what some consider weaknesses in the federal oversight of biomedical research using human subjects. After numerous...

Senate energy bill would create new OTA-like service. (From the Hill).
September 22, 2002... A provision of the Senate's 977-page energy bill would create a "Science and Technology Assessment Service" within Congress to "coordinate and develop information for Congress relating to the uses and application of technology." The service...

International ecosystem assessment now under way. (Update).
September 22, 2002... In "Ecosystem Data to Guide Hard Choices" (Issues, Spring 2000), I discussed the rationale for a new international scientific assessment focused on the consequences of ecosystem change for human wellbeing and described the proposed Millennium...

Advanced Technology Program survives challenge. (Update).
September 22, 2002... In "The Advanced Technology Program: It Works" (Issues, Fall 2001), I argued that the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) had proven its success. The research carried out under the National Research Council (NRC) review of government-industry...

Science advice or political cover? (Editor's Journal).
September 22, 2002... Science advisory committees are being dissed by the Bush administration according to recent stories in Science, the Washington Post, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. Several committees that provide scientific input to the Department of...

A fair deal for federal research at universities. (Perspectives).
September 22, 2002... The government has gone too far in its efforts to shift the costs of federally funded academic research to the universities. This transfer has reduced researcher productivity, led to inadequate research management, and has almost certainly...

Are all market-based environmental regulations equal?
September 22, 2002... Economists have long advocated using the market to achieve environmental objectives. Possible policies include taxes on waste emissions and programs through which the government limits pollution by issuing emission permits that can be traded...

Fighting traffic congestion with information technology.
September 22, 2002... Traffic congestion is a vexing problem felt by residents of most urban areas. Despite centuries of effort and billions of dollars worth of public spending to alleviate congestion, the problem appears to be getting worse. Between 1980 and 1999,...

Countering sprawl with transit-oriented development.
September 22, 2002... Since World War II, two mutually reinforcing processes have characterized U.S. cities: decentralization and an increasing reliance on the automobile. Heavy investment in roads and other implicit subsidies of automobile use, combined with...

The developing world's motorization challenge.
September 22, 2002... Motorization is transforming cities and even rural areas of the developing world. The economic and social benefits are enormous. It provides individual flexible transportation in urban areas and reduced manual labor and improved market access...

Paying for protection from invasive species.
September 22, 2002... The introduction of harmful, nonnative, invasive species--terrestrial and aquatic--has received heightened recognition because of the threats this form of "biological pollution" poses to ecosystem health, endangered species, economic interests,...

The perils of groundwater pumping.
September 22, 2002... The next time you reach for a bottle of spring water, consider that it may have come from a well that is drying up a blue-ribbon trout stream. The next time you dine at McDonald's, note that the fries are all the same length. That's because the...

Public views of science issues. (Real Numbers).
September 22, 2002... Who should control the human genes used in research? (a) George Bush, (b) Leon Kass, (c) corporate America, (d) Kofi Annan, (e) you? If you said (d) or (e) you are in tune with the views of the general public, according to a recent poll. If you...

Food fights. (Books).(Book Review)
September 22, 2002... Travels in the Genetically Modified Zone, by Mark L. Winston. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2002, 272 pp. Like a bee pollinating a field of flowers, biologist and honeybee researcher Mark Winston spent more than two years...

The politics of fire. (Books).(Book Review)
September 22, 2002... Flames in Our Forests: Disaster or Renewal, by Stephen F. Ando and Steven Allison Bunnell. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2002, 245 pp. Suppressing fire was the stated policy of the U.S. Forest Service for much of the past century and...

Science and society. (Books).(Book Review)
September 22, 2002... Science, Truth, and Democracy, by Philip Kitcher. Oxford. Oxford University Press, 2001, 256 pp. Philip Kitcher, the distinguished Columbia University philosopher has written a book that is clear well argued, and, under the guise of...

Science and security. (Books).(Book Review)
September 22, 2002... Tuxedo Park, by Jennet Conant. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2002, 330 pp. In 2002, the story of Alfred Lee Loomis--lawyer, Wall Street tycoon, patron of science, and ultimately member of the National Academy of Sciences--is an exceedingly...

Pioneers in standardized testing. (Archives).(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... Soon after the United States entered World War I, the Committee on the Psychological Examination of Recruits was formed by Robert M. Yerkes, president of the American Psychological Association, to design mental tests for selection of Army...