Kimberly Quach

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Articles

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Misinformation?

Feb 11, 2025 | issues.org | Monya Baker |Asheley R. Landrum |Kimberly Quach

Vaccines, oil spills, genetic engineering, and stem cells—anywhere there’s science, there’s also misinformation. It muddies our ability to make good decisions, ranging from far-reaching ones like creating policy to simple ones like what to buy at the grocery store. Misinformation also undermines trust in scientific institutions and across society. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine tasked an expert committee with addressing misinformation.
Reindeer!

Dec 17, 2024 | issues.org | Kimberly Quach

In Alaska, reindeer are much more real than the fantasy animals that pull Santa’s sleigh. Introduced to Alaska from Siberia by the US government in the 1890s, reindeer were part of a strategy to solve food shortages among the Native peoples after the gold rush. Today, reindeer provide food security and economic opportunities for the Alaskan Native community.
The Hidden Engineering that Makes New York Tick

Nov 19, 2024 | issues.org | Lisa Margonelli |Kimberly Quach

New York City is the perfect place to understand the importance of modern engineering, but the most valuable lessons won’t be found at the Empire State Building or in Central Park. To truly discover what makes modern life tick, you have to look at the unloved, uncelebrated elements of New York: its sewers, bridges, and elevators. On this episode, host Lisa Margonelli talks to Guru Madhavan, the Norman R.
Uncovering Hidden Bias in Clinical Research

Oct 22, 2024 | issues.org | Lisa A Bero |Monya Baker |Kimberly Quach

Check the end of any recent study, and there will be a list of study funders and disclosures about competing interests. It’s important to know about potential biases in research, but this kind of transparency was not always the norm. Understanding bias in research and helping policymakers use the most reliable evidence to guide their decisions is a science in itself.
How the Octopus Got to the Senate

Oct 8, 2024 | issues.org | Jennifer Jacquet |Lisa Margonelli |Kimberly Quach

Octopuses are famously smart: they can recognize individual humans, solve problems, and even keep gardens. They are also a popular food for humans: around 350,000 tons of octopus are caught worldwide each year, and demand is only growing. Some governments and start-ups have invested significant resources into domesticating octopus, and the world’s first octopus farm may soon open in Spain’s Canary Islands. But should octopus be farmed at all?
Rashada Alexander Prepares the Next Generation of Science Policy Leaders

Jul 23, 2024 | issues.org | Rashada Alexander |Lisa Margonelli |Kimberly Quach

Since 1973, the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy Fellowship (STPF) has brought thousands of scientists and engineers into the policy world. The fellowship is a very popular pathway into science policy, and AAAS fellows have featured in several episodes of our Science Policy IRL series. In this episode, we talk with the STPF fellowship director, Rashada Alexander.
A Road Map for a New Era in Biology and Medicine

Jul 9, 2024 | issues.org | Lydia Contreras |Monya Baker |Kimberly Quach

Most people are familiar with DNA, but its cousin, RNA, has become widely known only recently. In 2020, of course, RNA was in the news all the time: the COVID-19 virus is made of RNA, as are the vaccines to combat it. Technologies based on RNA could lead to innovations in biology, medicine, agriculture, and beyond, but researchers have only scratched the surface of understanding what RNA is capable of.
This Eclipse Could Make You Cry-And Make New Scientists

Apr 2, 2024 | issues.org | Douglas D. Duncan |Lisa Margonelli |Kimberly Quach

Douglas Duncan is an astronomer who worked on the Hubble Space Telescope. He is also an eclipse fanatic. Since 1970, he has been to 11 total solar eclipses. When April 8, 2024, comes around, he’ll experience his twelfth with his 600 best friends as he leads a three-day eclipse viewing extravaganza in Texas. “It looks like the end of the world,” he says, and a total eclipse can be a source of intense fascination.
Walter Valdivia Researches for the White House

Mar 12, 2024 | issues.org | Lisa Margonelli |Walter D. Valdivia |Kimberly Quach

The Science Policy IRL series pulls back the curtain on who does what in science policy and how they shaped their career path. In previous episodes we’ve looked at the cosmology of science policy through the eyes of people who work at federal agencies and the National Academies, but this time we are exploring think tanks. Walter Valdivia describes how a chance encounter while he was getting a PhD in public policy at Arizona State University led him into science policy.