Science, Technology, and Public Policy

Every day that the EPA quietly ticks off another item, the social and financial consequences are being shifted from polluters to at-risk communities.

The authors investigate how the executives of the two largest research institutes for photovoltaic technologies — the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, USA and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE) in Freiburg, Germany — have made use of public framing to secure funding and shape the technological development of solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies. The article shows that the executives used four framing dimensions (potential, prospect, performance, and progress) and three framing tactics (conclusion, conditioning, and concession), and that the choice of dimensions and tactics is tightly coupled to the characteristics of the specific technologies pursued by the research institutes.

Mariana Budjeryn recounts Ukraine's surrender of its inherited nuclear arsenal and the signing of the Budapest Memorandum by the United States, United Kingdom, and Russia. While the memorandum did not specify the assistance Ukraine was to receive if it became a victim of aggression, Ukrainians were led to believe that the United States would uphold its commitments to their security in the time of need, as Ukraine upheld its commitment to nuclear nonproliferation norms.

Cement production is one of the most energy-intensive and highest carbon dioxide (CO2) emitting manufacturing processes. The goal of this study is to develop a roadmap for decarbonization of California's cement and concrete production. In this study, the authors look at the current status of cement and concrete production in California and develop scenarios up to 2040 to analyze different decarbonization levers that can help to reduce CO2 emissions of cement and concrete production in California.

The authors recount the history of ARPA-E and describe how it has supported clean energy innovation in the United States. They argue that ARPA-E needs two things in the short term in order to increase its chances of success in the long term: resources and a leader who can channel the country's top science and engineering talent toward particularly tough technical challenges.

Professor John P. Holdren welcomes the belated creation of a Trump administration President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) to work with Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Kelvin Droegemeier on some of the important issues of national policy on science, technology, and innovation. Historically, PCAST and its predecessor group, the President's Science Advisory Committee, have played important roles connecting the White House with the views of top scientists, engineers, and innovators from business, universities, and civil-society organizations.

Codex's "World's Top 50 Innovators 2019" event took place at the Royal Society in London from 23–25 September 2019. Bruce Schneier gave a 15-minute talk during the Cyber Security Session.

If a single armada of drones can make its way across the Saudi airspace undetected and successfully hit targets with surgical precision and maximum damage, then one must conclude the country's vulnerability quota is quite high.

The ACDA’s existence meant arms control and disarmament would not become lost in bureaucratic fights between other departments.

Joseph Nye writes that In the cyber realm, the same program can be used for legitimate or malicious purposes, depending on the user’s intent. But if that makes traditional arms-control treaties impossible to verify, it may still be possible to set limits on certain types of civilian targets and negotiate rough rules of the road that limit conflict.