In the wake of Covid, trust in scientific and medical experts has eroded and become starkly polarized, threatening the ability of science agencies to sustain broad public support. The National…
By M. Anthony Mills | April 3, 2025
For years, scientists kept the debate about risky virus research among themselves. Then Covid happened. As President Trump prepares to crack down on virology research, the expert community must face…
By M. Anthony Mills | April 3, 2025
Five years ago, a new coronavirus to which no one was yet immune was sweeping the globe, shutting down schools and sporting events. In March 2020, masks had not yet become…
By M. Anthony Mills | March 27, 2025
The U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) currently has a study committee on Attribution of Extreme Weather and Climate Events and their Impacts. In this series — Weather…
By Roger Pielke Jr. | March 20, 2025
The DC Court that heard the defaation case brought by climate scientist Michael Mann against two bloggers has ruled today that Mann and his lawyers acted in “bad faith” during the case,…
By Roger Pielke Jr. | March 12, 2025
Earlier today, The Washington Post reported that head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Lee Zeldin, has urged the Trump administration to rescind the EPA’s 2009 “endangerment finding” on greenhouse gases. The Post reports:…
By Roger Pielke Jr. | February 27, 2025
One of the wonderful things about science is that research results cannot be consistently anticipated. That’s why we do the research. That research doesn’t always come out how we expect…
By Roger Pielke Jr. | February 24, 2025
In his classic 1960 book, The Semisovereign People, political scientist E.E. Schattschneider identified a dilemma of democracy: All of us are ignorant about most things, making each of us unsuitable to…
By Roger Pielke Jr. | February 18, 2025
An important new paper published this week in Nature Communications looks at the historical record of fire in North America — A fire deficit persists across diverse North American forests despite recent increases…
By Roger Pielke Jr. | February 12, 2025
Last week, in a classic Friday evening news dump, the Trump administration set off one of those frantic controversies that seem to be our fate for the next few years.…
By Yuval Levin | February 10, 2025
Ahead of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearings, New York Times Opinion invited experts and leaders across disciplines and ideologies to share questions they believe Mr. Kennedy must answer before…
By M. Anthony Mills | January 29, 2025
Last year the world experienced the most major hurricane landfalls since records are available, tying only 2015, with 11 storms. Does last year indicate that we have reached a new…
By Roger Pielke Jr. | January 27, 2025
In my courses on policy analysis I teach my students to focus on problem definition before even thinking about policy options. The problem facing major American research universities, as characterized…
By Roger Pielke Jr. | December 23, 2024
I am the answer to a trivia question. Who is the only person to appear in the leaked 2009 Climategate emails and in the 2016 Hillary Clinton Wikileaks emails? That’d…
By Roger Pielke Jr. | December 16, 2024
Roger Federer spent 24 years as a professional tennis player. Roger Clemens played 24 years in the major leagues. And at the end of next month, I’ll leave my position as tenured, full…
By Roger Pielke Jr. | November 25, 2024