All Research

All Research

Getting Serious About Improving Biosafety
Article
Issues in Science and Technology

Getting Serious About Improving Biosafety

Response to Better Biosecurity for the Bioeconomy by David Gillum. David Gillum makes a compelling and urgent case for improving oversight of high-risk biological research and proposes a National Biosafety and Biosecurity…

Shutting Down NCAR Is Vindictive Governance
Article
The Honest Broker

Shutting Down NCAR Is Vindictive Governance

Yesterday, the Trump Administration announced that it was taking steps to shut down the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). USA Today broke the story: The Trump administration is moving to…

Tracing Engineered Biothreats with AI Forensics: Five Steps to Improve Attribution
Article
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Tracing Engineered Biothreats with AI Forensics: Five Steps to Improve Attribution

The 2001 anthrax letter attacks in the United States, the 2007 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak, and the COVID-19 pandemic have something in common: Investigators have struggled to determine their origins despite extensive efforts. This highlights…

Science Policy without Science or Policy
Article
The Honest Broker

Science Policy without Science or Policy

Writing almost 20 years ago, science policy scholar Dan Sarewitz made a remarkable observation about federal support for research and development (R&D):1 Sarewitz argued that the long-term stability in R&D funding can…

Trump vs Biden on Science Integrity
Article
The Honest Broker

Trump vs Biden on Science Integrity

Since the George W. Bush administration and under both parties, the White House has focused on scientific integrity. However, Republicans and Democrats have conflicting views on what that means.  For Democrats,…

Precipitation Paradox?
Article
The Honest Broker

Precipitation Paradox?

There is a cynical trick being played by some climate activists to promote misinformation and undercut the assessments of the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as they lobby for…

So You Want to Go Pro?
Article
The Honest Broker

So You Want to Go Pro?

Ten years ago today I published a post at my sport governance blog, The Least Thing, that explored who had a greater chance of “going pro” — the men’s NCAA Division…

“The Global Fertility Crisis is Worse Than You Think”
Article
The Honest Broker

“The Global Fertility Crisis is Worse Than You Think”

The title of today’s post comes from an excellent recent talk in London given by my AEI colleague (and University of Pennsylvania professor), Jesús Fernández-Villaverde. Today I look at the simple math…

What is a “Worst Case” Climate Scenario?
Article
The Honest Broker

What is a “Worst Case” Climate Scenario?

The implausibly extreme and hugely popular climate scenario RCP8.5 made it into President Trump’s executive order last week on “Restoring Gold Standard Science.” Ironically, the Trump administration’s characterization of RCP8.5…

The Politicization of Intelligence, Part 2
Article
The Honest Broker

The Politicization of Intelligence, Part 2

In Part 1 of this two-part series I discussed the National Intelligence Council (NIC) and its role iin synthesizing and summarizing intelligence from across the U.S. government’s intelligence gathering agencies. Today, in…

A Bitter Pill to Swallow: American Drug Shortages
Article
RealClearHealth

A Bitter Pill to Swallow: American Drug Shortages

While drug pricing has been a consistent focus for policymakers concerned about access to medicine, another significant barrier to care has grown: drug shortages. Drug shortages have become more prevalent,…

Heavy Metal
Article
THe Honest Broker

Heavy Metal

More than 7,000 years ago, humans first began mining copper. Since then, humans have mined more than 700 million tonnes. According to a fascinating study of the metals requirements of a…

Ten Provocative Graphs
Article
The Honest Broker

Ten Provocative Graphs

The figures and data below are all hot of the press and shared to help get your weekend off to an intellectually stimulating start. Enjoy! The Earth is Darkening In…

The New Rules for Experts
Article

The New Rules for Experts

My friend and AEI colleague Tony Mills — director of the AEI Center for Technology, Science, and Energy — has been on a tear lately. Today, I share four of Tony’s essays published in…

The Strange New Politics of Science
Article
Issues in Science and Technology

The Strange New Politics of Science

Amid the familiar lines of political division in America—immigration, abortion, taxes, regulation, and the like—a new divide has emerged over trust in science. Concerns about the politicization of science and…