Issues in Science and Technology

”If all research and all technology are dual use,” writes Dr Brendan Walker-Munro in response to Håvard Rustad Markussen’s essay, ”then how does one regulate and control access to and availability of potentially hazardous technologies?” https://lnkd.in/giziKeVE

On a future Mars overrun by wealthy tourists, a young explorer ventures out to hear an elusive Martian song vocalized by the long-time residents of the planet. But they quickly run up against what it really means to seek—and share—intangible cultural goods. Read an archive #FutureTenseFiction story by Indrapramit Das: https://lnkd.in/gp6M_QVb

In Margrét Helgadóttir’s #FutureTenseFiction story “Tunnel Fever,” an isolated roadside bar buried in a vast network of tunnels on the floor of the Arctic Ocean is staffed by a claustrophobic waitress who dreams of life above the surface. In an interview with editor Mia Armstrong-López, Helgadóttir talks about extreme environments and human nature. https://lnkd.in/gmGXvYYw

The chemical industry—once an engine of innovation—has become a dinosaur, argue Roger Turner, Joel Tickner, and Molly Jacobs. But examining how government policy, private investment, and industrial strategy built the foundations of the modern chemical industry provides lessons that can be used to design its future. https://lnkd.in/gkjX8BBS

Mindful of the limitations of the Silicon Valley model for regional economic development, Maryann Feldman and Alaina K. look instead to emerging entrepreneurs in the Navajo Nation.

For two decades, Navajo Technical University has helped Navajo Nation become a leader in advanced manufacturing. Scott Halliday describes the school’s “goal of creating sustainable jobs and economic development that reflects the community’s values. This has led us to innovate on some of the time-tested models for technical education and to discover new ways to develop our workforce and local economy.” https://lnkd.in/gvzBJW43

A current exhibit at the Autry Museum of the American West explores contemporary Indigenous art as a means of envisioning alternative futures and championing Indigenous technologies. https://lnkd.in/g6aqmFUi

“Let us begin to see [research] proposals not as vehicles for funding, but as instruments of shared governance, trust building, and institutional reform,” writes Marilu Hastings in response to Ryan Meyer and Evan Michelson’s essay about grant proposals. “That shift in mindset may be what is needed to build the muscle memory for more equitable, enduring, and useful science.” https://lnkd.in/gxN3jFAZ

“A new model of economic development is needed,” write Maryann Feldman and Alaina K., “one that accommodates diverse ideas about what constitutes a good life, meaningful work, a healthy economy, and cultural identity.” They find lessons for this kind of economic development in the work of entrepreneurs in the Navajo Nation. https://lnkd.in/grAr6kWx

Jeffrey Alexander and Rossana Zetina-Beale argue that the intramural research program at the National Institutes of Health is a keystone in the US biomedical research ecosystem.