Science & Technology

Joel Clement writes that the federal government must allow community voices to drive infrastructure investment  and conservation in the North.

Since March, the Belfer Center’s scholars and practitioners have been physically distanced but intellectually close. They’ve faced the pandemic head-on, launching new types of research to explore the unusual, tragic circumstances of this year. 

These new products include tips and advice regarding COVID, health, and safety from Juliette Kayyem, Faculty Director of our Homeland Security Project, and a series of reports and recommendations regarding preparing for and responding to future pandemics from the OPCAST Ad-Hoc Pandemic Response Group, led by John P. Holdren.

Bruce Schneier and Alicia Wanless argue that persuasion is essential to society and democracy, but  new rules governing how companies can harness it are necessary.

Professor Joseph Aldy says the incoming U.S. administration can breathe new life into global efforts against climate change, but faces daunting political and economic obstacles.

To the engineers, coders, geneticists, and others on the front lines of innovation who may be considering public service, I want to make the case for a type of service you may not have previously considered: offering policy advice on science and technology issues to the United States Congress.

The authors provide a set of summaries of key findings and recommendations for six reports on the U.S. COVID-19 Response.

Many congressional personal offices and committees are already staffed by smart, public-spirited scientists and technologists, and Congress can draw on outside experts to inform its legislation and its hearings. But none of the interviewees for this report or our previous report, argued that the status quo worked as well as it should; no one thought that Congress had enough STEM expertise to effectively reckon with emerging technology issues. Everyone—from members of Congress to their staffers, from non-profit leaders to private sector professionals, from generalists to STEM professionals—thought that Congress can do better. 

The Republican Party's willingness to indulge U.S. President Donald Trump's dangerous fantasies reveals a blithe disregard for U.S. foreign policy and national security, Stephen Walt writes.

 The Gazette spoke with John Holdren, Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and professor of environmental science and policy in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, about what the incoming Biden-Harris administration reinstalling science as a foundation for government policy means.

This week in Say More, PS talks with Joseph S. Nye, Jr., a professor at Harvard University.