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1 week ago | 
issues.org | Tom Burroughs |John O'Brien
A biotechnology company claims to have “successfully de-extincted” prehistoric dire wolves, CNN reports. But in Issues, the zoologist John O’Brien questions this approach to protecting the planet’s biodiversity.
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1 month ago | 
issues.org | Tom Burroughs |Alex Smith |Saloni Shah
In Nebraska, the US leader in beef production, controversy is swirling over a proposal to make the state the latest to ban the sale of “cell-cultured” meat, the AP reports. In Issues, Alex Smith and Saloni Shah argue that shifting to an alternative source of meat would bring huge benefits for the environment, public health, and animal welfare—and potentially for workers and the economy.
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Dec 5, 2024 | 
issues.org | Tom Burroughs |Biodesign Challenge
Negotiators seeking the first legally binding treaty on global plastics pollution recently failed to reach agreement, deciding only to resume talks next year. But some students aren’t waiting. In Issues, two teams of college students taking part in the Biodesign Challenge describe their efforts to get at the problem by reducing the need for conventional petrochemical-based plastics or making them environmentally safer.
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Nov 19, 2024 | 
issues.org | Tom Burroughs |Christy Spackman
Los Angeles is set to build a new facility for recycling wastewater into drinking water. When completed in 2027, it will produce 20 million gallons per day, enough to supply about 250,000 people. Until now, technologists and policymakers often met public resistance to reusing wastewater for human consumption, due in part to what Christy Spackman calls the “yuck” factor.
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Oct 8, 2024 | 
issues.org | Tom Burroughs |Claire Wardle
Hurricane Helene’s damaging push into the mountains of North Carolina was accompanied by a storm of false or misleading claims across various social media outlets, the AP reports. But how can society stop or mitigate the flow of flawed information? In Issues, Claire Wardle proposes ways for researchers, in particular, to step up.
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Oct 2, 2024 | 
issues.org | Tom Burroughs |Jennifer Jacquet |Becca Franks |Peter Godfrey-Smith
California just enacted a comprehensive state ban on farming octopuses for human consumption and on selling any octopus raised as food. This action aligns with arguments presented in Issues by Jennifer Jacquet and three other international scholars. “We believe that octopuses are particularly ill-suited to a life in captivity and mass-production, for reasons both ethical and ecological,” they write.
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Sep 6, 2024 | 
issues.org | Tom Burroughs |Stuart Elliott
Artificial intelligence might turn out to be like past technology breakthroughs, eliminating some jobs while creating others, for an overall benefit, the AP reports. But in Issues, Stuart W. Elliott argues that this time could be different, and that we must look more sharply at how AI will require changes in worker education and training. If the changes are feasible, he writes, the overall impact of AI “will look like the changes we have seen with other technological innovations.
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Jul 31, 2024 | 
issues.org | Tom Burroughs |Braden R. Allenby
US intelligence officials are warning that foreign adversaries are gearing up to deploy artificial intelligence and other communication technologies to spread disinformation aimed at swaying the upcoming presidential election. In Issues, Braden R. Allenby examines how use of such “weaponized narratives” has evolved—and what makes the United States especially vulnerable.
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Jul 24, 2024 | 
issues.org | Tom Burroughs |Jiaying Zhao
A new study of whether providing people with a guaranteed cash income helps their long-term prospects suggests the answer is yes—with caveats, NPR reports. This promising but uncertain finding aligns with what Jiaying Zhao, Yuen Pau Woo, and Lorne Whitehead observe in Issues. They see providing a basic income as one of several approaches that can help people overcome economic hardship, but note that policymakers lack firm evidence for making choices.
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Jul 16, 2024 | 
issues.org | Tom Burroughs
Artificial intelligence can make an individual person more creative, but may decrease creativity in society overall, NPR reports, citing new research. This perhaps comes as no surprise to Frederick R. Chang.
