This is how you blurb

Why was science’s social contract such a useful myth? Let me count the ways… Or, as Heather Douglas says: “a shield can become a weapon.”

“Rather than saying, as we have traditionally, that engineering is only for people who are good at math and science... It should be more like: ‘Who’s interested in helping invent new things that will solve problems for people?’” —Tsu-Jae Liu, @nationalacademies.org issues.org/engineering-...

Amid the political upheaval of 1967, a group of bureaucratic innovators within the federal government released a manifesto. Their message: “Invention and innovation lie at the heart of the process by which America has grown and renewed itself.” Read the story: issues.org/nation-of-in...

Did you know Bluesky's founder has an #STS degree? In a new article, Erin Burkett and I explain why, despite current threats to humanities and social science, "STEM-in-Society programs" like STS are more important than ever. And we guide funders and university leaders how to better support them.

Hello, professors & teachers! Can't believe it's syllabus season already. If you assign Meet the Neighbors—perhaps for your human-wildlife conflict, animal studies, animal intelligence, or environmental ethics course?—I'd be glad to Zoom in for a Q&A. Ping me if you're interested!

My 2019 short story 'The Song Between Worlds', about the paths of a 1 percenter space tourist & an indigenous worker crossing in a Martian city, is republished in @issuesinst.bsky.social for @imaginationasu.bsky.social's Future Tense series, w/ a brief new intro by me:

Sure, anteaters are cool, but this is really a story about how important termites, ants, and social insects are—inspiring evolution all around them. Go termites!

“Call it the Vannevar Index: The greater the pressure on the scientific enterprise, the more one hears about Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s science advisor.” Read @lisamargonelli.bsky.social’s Editor’s Journal for the Summer ISSUES: issues.org/innovation-h...

A take worth reading on #scipol reform debate by @issuesinst.bsky.social's @lisamargonelli.bsky.social. Esp by science advocates. Back to Vannevar Bush or to what's next in the Endless Frontier? issues.org/innovation-h...

ChatGPT is Joe Gould!

“Trust in science has lately emerged as the Snark of American politics.” #STS scholar Sheila Jasanoff employs two Lewis Carroll characters—the Snark and the Boojum—in explaining the “strangely undefined” quest to understand public trust in science. issues.org/snark-boojum...

“Ironically, although universities unleashed an age of massive technical innovation,” ASU’s Michael Crow, William Dabars, and David Rosowsky argue, “they failed to innovate their own designs to meet the changing needs of society.” Read their piece in the Summer ISSUES: issues.org/universities...

“Our commission envisions a future in which Americans engage with biotechnology the same way they do with cell phones and computers.” We spoke with Indiana senator Todd Young, chair of the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology, for the Summer ISSUES: issues.org/interview-se...

Our latest podcast features the story of Cosmos, a deformed cormorant who’d groom his rescuer’s sideburns (it was the ’80s) and turn the pages of his science journals. @brandonkeim.bsky.social & @lisamargonelli.bsky.social talk animal personhood, policy, and cormorants: issues.org/brandon-keim...

i’m at the taco bell i’m at the urgent care i’m at the combination taco bell and urgent care

In other disaster-related news, today marks 45 years since publication of the @science.org article by Walter & Luis Alvarez, Frank Asaro, & Helen Michel arguing that the dinosaurs were killed off by the impact of a massive asteroid or comet: www.lindahall.org/about/news/s... #HistSci 🔭 🧪

There is not enough popcorn in the world.

"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging." Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council. I wrote about my decision in TIME. time.com/7285045/resi...

How do we make scientific voices more impactful in policymaking? Read my new article out today ⬇️

“Libraries are a trusted source. Let the books battle it out on the shelves. We have different perspectives, and you can choose.” Carla Hayden, who sat down with ISSUES last year, was fired from her position as leader of the Library of Congress yesterday. issues.org/interview-li...

“The growing national climate of exclusion resonates deeply and personally for me.” David Asai tells his own story, calls on scientists and educators to “insist that inclusion remains at our core,” and recommends steps for doing so: issues.org/inclusive-sc...

I mean, I watched bugs for 10 years. (Thank you @arthursmid.bsky.social for posting! Sometimes I forget that I had a life before @issuesinst.bsky.social .)

Watching bugs will improve your life. I swear.

This is a super interesting observation. And it raises the question (for science and scientists) of what the underlying political calculation is and what an effective response should be.

I am a huge fan of any fan of Issues! So glad to see this.

Tomorrow: What IS Going On in Science Policy? Join us online at 3 PM ET to discuss this era of destabilization—with @dkaushik.bsky.social, Jason Rittenberg, Caroline Wagner, Carrie Wolinetz, and moderator @mitchambrose.bsky.social. Register here: asu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Why does polling show declining trust in science? @issuesinst.bsky.social published two perspectives about how science is now involved in political identities. Here’s the first— about what’s going on with Republicans.

A really lovely essay by @brandonkeim.bsky. So glad we got to work with him.

Ok let’s get the #scipol community here really rolling. Made a #sciencepolicy starter pack. Please share/tag folks who should be added @alondra.bsky.social @heidiwilliams.bsky.social @archstreet.bsky.social @abankston.bsky.social @holdenthorp.bsky.social @shobitap.bsky.social go.bsky.app/DTMaC4s

1. Quick—which of these shapes is different from the others?

“For all the trillions that American citizens have invested in science, it’s hard to find anything that says ‘Your tax dollars at work,’ when you go in for a colonoscopy,” @lisamargonelli.bsky.social writes. “Taxpayers may fund science, but they don’t get to own it.” issues.org/who-owns-sci...

In an interview for @IssuesInST.bsky.social, @nasonline.org President Marcia McNutt and Arizona State University President Michael M. Crow discuss the unprecedented challenges facing the U.S. scientific enterprise and research universities. Read: buff.ly/INohABq

To extend everyone’s little sturgeon break… very chill baby sturgeons sturgeoning.

The US increasingly relies on place-based policy to help distressed regions, but many regions lack the capacity to obtain resources or implement effective policy, from Gordon H. Hanson, Dani Rodrik, and Rohan Sandhu https://www.nber.org/papers/w33511

Not sure how many U.S. western followers I have, but with Washington DC-based science policy fellowships currently being eviscerated, here's a heads-up that the call for the sixth class of Idaho Science & Technology Policy Fellows is now live: www.uidaho.edu/president/di... #STS

Stares in person who thinks words mean something.

Mitch at FYI is a leader in the science policy information ecosystem. If you don’t subscribe to AIP’s FYI Science Policy, you should.

The American Institute of Physics is looking for an associate director who will lead our new policy research and analysis function, which is within my portfolio. We will be busy. americaninstituteofphysics.applicantstack.com/x/openings

Once upon a time, he wrote a very good book. But everyone was feeling too good to believe it.

And a mighty cute false termite head on its butt, too.

Check out my new article in @issuesinst.bsky.social In a time when equity is under threat, organizing and advocating for better working conditions for ALL early-career researchers is more important than ever. issues.org/postdocs-uni... @uaw.bsky.social #unionpower #dei

I was invited by @issuesinst.bsky.social to write a reaction piece to a short story by Gregory Mones in which AI, AI agents, and reinforcement learning play a role. It was a wholly new experience for me and very fun. And here's the result: issues.org/futuretensef...

In her Editor’s Journal, ISSUES editor-in-chief @lisamargonelli.bsky.social contemplates how support for science and technology has fluctuated with the times for decades—“The question is not whether the pendulum will swing again, but what will its return bring with it?” 2/ issues.org/searching-ne...

if you think it’s weird to follow a sewer utility’s content on this network, wait til you find out how long sewer utilities have been following your content on theirs.

In the Kingian tradition, this characteristically excellent essay from @sifill.bsky.social is introspective and future looking, critical yet hopeful, castigating yet loving, and unequivocal about the aim of justice for all. #MLKDay

B.H.A.G.??? It’s okay to have big ambitious goals but why insist they are hairy and require an acronym? Are they trying hard to convince themselves they’re serious?

Innovation is overrated.

We’re all the drippy melting dog now.

Well played, CPSC.