February 3, 2022
Improving Research Funding Efficiencies and Proposal Diversity Through NSF Science Lottery Grants
The United States no longer leads the world in basic science. There is growing recognition of a gap in translational activities — the fruits of American research do not convert to economic benefits. As policymakers consider a slew of proposals that aim to restore American competitiveness with once-in-a-generation investments into the National Science Foundation (NSF), less discussion has been…
January 26, 2022
How a Federal Regulator Is Hijacking Energy Policy
Sometimes you really do have to hit the mule between the eyes to get its attention. The mule of interest here is not a drug smuggler, but instead the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, whose legal mandate is straightforward: “Economically Efficient, Safe, Reliable, and Secure Energy for Consumers . . . at a reasonable cost through appropriate regulatory and market…
January 25, 2022
Is This Still an Emergency?
With a new variant running rampant, an enormous wave of cases, hospitals under strain, mask mandates returning, states of emergency being redeclared, and schools reverting to virtual learning, it is easy to get the sense that we have slid back to where we started. A raft of news articles in late December described the perilous and demoralizing feeling that the country…
January 13, 2022
Will the Climate Industry Move the Goalposts Again?
The international climate alarmist industry comprises a number of special interests. There are the activists, fundamentally anti-human and deeply disingenuous, demanding that billions of the global poor suffer and die in order that the planet be “saved.” There are the “experts” in pursuit of bigger budgets and “research” grants. There are the editors of the peer-reviewed journals, transforming “science” into a propaganda exercise. There are the bureaucrats massively…
December 23, 2021
Science as Craftwork with Integrity
Editor’s Note: The coronavirus pandemic has brought onto the center stage of public debate our deep, although often unarticulated, disagreements about the nature of scientific knowledge and the authority of scientific experts. Seeking insights on these questions, we asked former New Atlantis associate editor M. Anthony Mills, who has written widely on philosophy, science, and expertise, to…
December 16, 2021
Banning Crude-oil Exports Would Increase Gasoline Prices
Having floated a possible export ban on crude oil as a trial balloon last month, the Biden administration earlier this week abandoned the idea, as opposition emerged quickly from Democrats in oil-producing districts. But the mere fact that this proposal received serious consideration illustrates three eternal truths about Beltway policy-making. The first is the virtual certainty of unanticipated or ignored adverse…
November 18, 2021
A More Productive Way to Spread Federal Science Funding Around
In an age of many irreconcilable partisan divisions, lawmakers on Capitol Hill have quietly come to agree on at least one thing: the federal government must do more to shore up American science and technology. To that end, various pieces of bipartisan legislation aim to revitalize US research and development (R&D) by increasing funding for federal science agencies, particularly the…
November 18, 2021
When Climate Is King, Perversities Follow
Back in the old days, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission took its mandate seriously — specifically, to provide: Economically Efficient, Safe, Reliable, and Secure Energy for Consumers . . . at a reasonable cost through appropriate regulatory and market means, and collaborative efforts. Translation: A stance of neutrality and objectivity with respect to the complex choices…
November 9, 2021
Will ‘green Energy’ Produce More Jobs? Three Experts Discuss
As Washington considers increasing incentives for businesses moving to a clean-energy future, one of the big questions is: Will the “greening” of the economy result in more employment or less? Examples of “green jobs” include workers who build electric cars; construction contractors who install solar arrays and charging infrastructures; scientists who design carbon-capture solutions; and…
November 5, 2021
There Are No Free Lunches in Climate Politics
Fred Krupp gets everything wrong in “Methane and Other Climate Bargains” (op-ed, Nov. 2), his argument for sharp and “virtually cost-free” reductions in methane emissions. Using the EPA climate model, Mr. Krupp’s 30% reduction in methane emissions would reduce temperatures in 2100 by six one-hundredths of one degree Celsius, an effect that would not be…