In “Prompts for a Perfect Daughter,” this month’s Future Tense Fiction story, writer @aijiang.bsky.social takes this idea literally, imagining a brain implant system that allows parents to embed a sort of operating manual for living. Read here: issues.org/futuretensef...
This week’s #FreeFictionResponse essay is “From Gospel to Guide” by @yenooi.bsky.social in response to “Prompts for a Perfect Daughter” by @aijiang.bsky.social from @issuesinst.bsky.social. Ooi is a narrative designer, writer, editor, and researcher specializing in life, storytelling, and philosophy
This week's #freefictionfriday is "Prompts for a Perfect Daughter" from @issuesinst.bsky.social by @aijiang.bsky.social. A young protagonist is forced to follow strict prompts embedded deep in her brain via an implant installed by her parents in the hopes of guiding their child to live a good life.
The Dana Foundation is supporting a collection of articles in @issuesinst.bsky.social exploring science's social contract. The authors propose strategies for strengthening the relationship between science and society in the years ahead. #neurosociety #scicomms #neurosky #sciencepolicy
An Exploration of Science's Social Contract
dana.org
In their revised emissions standards for stationary combustion turbines, “EPA estimated the costs the regulation would impose on industry but did not estimate the health benefits of reducing exposure to air pollution,” writes Jana B. Milford, professor emerita at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Counting the Benefits of Clean Air Regulations
By abandoning estimations of the costs of health benefits from pollution reduction, the EPA questions the future of evidence-based policy.
issues.org
“Surveillance used to be associated with the work of trench-coated government agents conducting wiretaps from vans. It now hides inside sleek packaging, personalized recommendations,” Big Tech accountability advocate J.B. Branch writes.
Incriminating Ourselves
J. B. Branch reviews a book on how modern technology produces potential risks to privacy and ushers in an age of self-surveillance.
issues.org
A comment letter in @issuesinst.bsky.social by Eion Lys discusses why American research universities should grow activities supporting their home communities, states, and regions. issues.org/navigate-cha... #HigherEducation #Universities #ResearchPolicy #RegionalStrategy
How to Navigate Challenges to the University
The pressure on US research universities is intense and increasing. How can these institutions adapt and thrive under these circumstances?
issues.org
M. Anthony Mills, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, looks at the recent firing of the National Science Board as an opportunity to “establish a new balance between democratic accountability and protection from partisan meddling.” Read the piece here: issues.org/nsb-nsf-demo...
Who Should Decide How to Use Taxpayer Dollars to Fund Scientific Research?
Legislators have an opportunity to establish a new balance between democratic accountability and protection from partisan meddling.
issues.org
“I am an unabashed optimist when it comes to thinking about the long-term future of science,” Neil Shubin, the new president of the National Academy of Sciences says. “When you look at what science has been able to accomplish, increasingly so over the millennia it’s truly stunning and remarkable.”
“I Am an Unabashed Optimist About the Long-Term Future of Science.”
The new president of the National Academy of Sciences talks about learning to see as a scientist and communicating science in a noisy information landscape.
issues.org
Join Future Tense Fiction and Andrés Martinez for a live conversation about how once-fictional technology is coming to life in the World Cup, from video-assisted refereeing to AI agents that make match-tailored recommendations and analyze opponents. Register Here: open.substack.com/live-stream/...
Join Future Tense Fiction and Andrés Martinez for a live conversation about how once-fictional technology is coming to life in the World Cup, from video-assisted refereeing to AI agents that make match-tailored recommendations and analyze opponents. Register Here: open.substack.com/live-stream/...
Ducking out of the path of delivery robots has become part of normal life in cities across the United States. As these devices integrate into urban landscapes, local officials must ensure that they merge safely. Which existing rules in cities should apply to robots?
AI will continue to shape science, but its future isn't predetermined. Explore how thoughtful #AIgovernance and shared scientific norms can help guide AI's role in research: issues.org/ai-in-scienc...
Charting a Course for AI in Science
Rather than haphazardly using artificial intelligence for research, scientists and decisionmakers should take a deliberative approach.
issues.org
The future of science won't be shaped by AI alone — it will be shaped by the choices researchers make about using it. A new @issuesinst.bsky.social article explores how researchers can integrate AI into the scientific process while preserving the principles that make science trustworthy. 🧵
Maintaining codes of conduct, integrity, and professional ethics can help guide scientific communities during times of disruption, say ASA members Natalie B. Aviles (UVA) and Janet Vertesi @cyberlyra.bsky.social @princeton.edu. @issuesinst.bsky.social @nasonline.org
Merton Redux: Re-Confronting the Norms of Science in Democracy
The decimation of democratic processes that undergird state-sponsored research may be ultimately more consequential than funding cuts.
bit.ly
ISSUES editor Megan Nicholson discusses open research infrastructure—its disaggregated nature and vulnerable financial position—and working with Jennifer Gibson and Kaitlin Thaney on their essay and podcast about creating a more stable model. Read: issues.org/open-data-re...
In a decade, “the United States will face a workforce shortage of more than 141,000 physicians," with similar shortages in oral health, behavioral health, and allied health. Authors from Baylor College of Medicine offer a model to address these needs. Read: issues.org/baylor-healt...
When Sixth Graders Study Neuroscience
Baylor College of Medicine is partnering with school districts to create health science programs that prepare students for careers.
issues.org
What happens when you hold someone’s gaze—really hold it? In “Mirror, Mirror” by Sofia Samatar, an artist and an inventor try to recreate that experience but neglect a more fundamental question: Will they be ready to see what their technology reflects back to them? Read: issues.org/futuretensef...
Mirror, Mirror | Future Tense Fiction
What happens when you hold someone’s gaze—really hold it? An artist and an inventor try to recreate that experience in Sofia Samatar’s story.
issues.org
Shanthi Chandrasekar “Maya – Hridaya Kamalam,” 2011
What allows us to depict the Tyrannosaurus rex as violence incarnate? ISSUES editor Jason Lloyd shares a review by Max Dresow, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Minnesota, of Elana Shever’s “Making Our Beasts.”
“Although the late 2020s may feel more like a dumpster fire than a garbage can, there are still many opportunities for policy innovation in today’s turbulent streams and whorls of scandal and reaction,” ISSUES editor-in-chief @lisamargonelli.bsky.social writes. Read: issues.org/mohole-momen...
Mohole Moments
Mohole moments are when an investment in science goes disastrously wrong, revealing the tacit premise of science’s social contract.
issues.org
In case you missed it, author @monicabyrne13.bsky.social joined Jason Lloyd on Substack in collaboration with @issuesinst.bsky.social for a conversation on world-building in speculative fiction. View the full conversation here: futuretensefiction.substack.com/p/world-buil...
Imagine a legal system where punishment literally matches the crime. In “Golden Rule,” this month’s Future Tense Fiction story, writer @monicabyrne13.bsky.social explores what it really means to seek justice for devastating crimes. Read the full story here: issues.org/futuretensef...
My new piece in @issuesinst.bsky.social with @cyberlyra.bsky.social comes at an urgent moment in science policy. New OMB rules and EOs threaten to politicize science and strip it of the democratic norms, autonomy, and pluralism meant to protect science as and for democracy issues.org/merton-redux...
Merton Redux: Re-Confronting the Norms of Science in Democracy
The decimation of democratic processes that undergird state-sponsored research may be ultimately more consequential than funding cuts.
issues.org
Today at 12 PM ET! Join the live conversation with @monicabyrne13.bsky.social to discuss worldbuilding in speculative fiction—how she thinks about the scientific and policy dimensions of her fictional worlds, and the tools she uses to create them. Register here: open.substack.com/live-stream/...
Engaging with policymakers or local communities hasn’t traditionally been a part of the “culture of science.” Mary Woolley, president emerita of @researchamerica.bsky.social, a major research advocacy organization, wants to change that. Full episode of our podcast: issues.org/mary-woolley...
Join Future Tense Fiction and Monica Byrne for a live conversation about worldbuilding in speculative fiction. We’ll discuss how Monica thinks about the scientific and policy dimensions of her fictional worlds, and the tools she uses to create them. Register here: open.substack.com/live-stream/...
Who will keep research data infrastructure open and running? Jennifer Gibson (@datadryad.bsky.social) and IOI's Kaitlin Thaney (@kaythaney.bsky.social) break it down in an article in Issues in Science and Technology (@issuesinst.bsky.social). issues.org/open-data-re...
Who Will Keep Research Data Infrastructure Open and Running? | Real Numbers
The scientific community must consider the longevity of open research infrastructure—why it might fail and how to prevent it.
issues.org
This week's #FreeFictionResponse essay is "The Purpose of Punishment" by Randy McDonald in response to @monicabyrne13.bsky.social "Golden Rule" from @issuesinst.bsky.social McDonald relates fundamental principles of correction to the justice system in "Golden Rule". issues.org/futuretensef...
Current ethical principles guiding AI are insufficient. To shape how we implement world-changing technologies, John P. Nelson writes that AI “should be deployed in a more agile and anticipatory way, to proactively advance public values”—shared, common-ground goals that almost everyone endorses.
What Do We Want From AI?
Public values must shape governance and implementation of artificial intelligence.
issues.org