Science & Technology

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Snapshot,
Yuri Takhteyev

For technologies from the global South, worldwide success usually means shedding local ties and, should all go well, returning home triumphant. It is a treacherous road, and most of the benefits of such projects will never make it to the communities in which they started. But the alternative strategy of focusing on local problems and solutions is even less appealing.

Snapshot,
Alexis Wichowski

The U.S. embassy in Cairo's Twitter feed is once again embroiled in controversy. As the episode shows, tweeting can occasionally lead to trouble. But social media is good for governments and for citizens. For officials to ignore or disdain it would amount to professional malpractice.

Essay, May/June 2013
Michael Levi

The U.S. energy revolution is not confined to a single fuel or technology: oil and gas production, renewable energy, and fuel-efficient automobile technologies all show great promise. To best position the country for the future, U.S. leaders should capitalize on all these opportunities rather than pick a favorite; the answer lies in ‘most of the above.’

Essay, May/June 2013
Kenneth Neil Cukier and Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger

Everyone knows that the Internet has changed how businesses operate, governments function, and people live. But a new, less visible technological trend is proving just as transformative: big data.

Postscript,
David G. Victor, M. Granger Morgan, Jay Apt, John Steinbruner, Katharine Ricke

With predictions about climate change growing direr every week, geoengineering (which includes everything from fertilizing the oceans in an attempt to cajole great blooms of carbon-sucking phytoplankton to spraying particles into the upper atmosphere to make the earth more reflective) is starting to look more attractive. But the science still lags behind the ambitions. To understand how such schemes would work in practice -- and what their consequences would be -- it is time to start small-scale field tests.

Snapshot,
Brandon Valeriano and Ryan Maness

Despite the hype, cyberwarfare is a seldom-used, relatively toothless tactic that will not change foreign policy calculations anytime soon.

Essay, Nov/Dec 2012
Neil Gershenfeld

In recent decades, the world has been rocked by revolutions in the digitization of computation and communication. Now the physical world is being digitized, thanks to new technologies that can turn data into things and things into data. Digital fabrication will let people build custom home furniture, living organs out of cells, and drones that can fly out of a printer; science fiction is becoming industrial fact.

Snapshot,
Ernest J. Wilson III

The United States is no longer all about cows (agriculture) or cars (manufacturing). So the tech industry has to step up and start shaping policy on immigration, trade, and free expression to ensure its competitiveness on the global stage.

Snapshot,
Berin Szoka and Geoffrey A. Manne

The European Commission alleges that Google is preventing competition in the markets for Web search and advertising. But its concerns are unsubstantiated and it has yet to propose any workable remedies. Europe should stop trying to fix what isn't broken.

Response,
Mike Rogers; Rebecca MacKinnon

Without real-time information sharing, U.S. companies cannot adapt and respond to cyberattackers' constantly changing tactics, argues the chair of the House Intelligence Committee. The problem, counters Rebecca MacKinnon, is the lack of protections of individual liberties.

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