By Jameson M. Wetmore, In the spring of 2011, the Emirate of Dubai appeared in headlines as the site of a series of protests. These protests, however, were largely not aimed at the Emirati government. Dubai has become a place…

By Daniel Sarewitz, On October 22, six scientists and a public safety official were convicted of manslaughter in an Italian court for their actions prior to the 2009 l’Aquila earthquake, which killed 309 people mostly due to collapse of ancient…

By G. Pascal Zachary This is the story of the plight of chimpanzees in west Africa – not the only story by any means, but the only one I know first hand — about an orphaned chimpanzee, once cared for…

By Chad Monfreda Let’s hope renewables avoid nuclear’s sorry fate. Fifty years ago, the atom was full of promise. Electricity would be too cheap to meter and the world would be made safe, peaceful and rich. Today, Fukushima is but…

By Keith D. Hjelmstad This talk was part of a panel entitled “Nerd talk, geek speak, and the challenges of 21st century knowledge silos” held at Arizona State University on October 1, 2012, and hosted by the Center for Science…

By Clark A. Miller Big data has become all the rage. The Internet and other technologies of data collection and surveillance have produced massive amounts of information. Big business and the scientific community now want to put that information in…

By Rosalyn Berne Prologue When the Virtual Information System for Human Noetic Evolution and Welfare emerged, it was detected in very few localities on Earth. Exquisitely intelligent, it appears to have formed independent of human design. Discretely linked in time…

By Mary Jane Parmentier I am separated by one year from former Libyan Ambassador Chris Stevens. He and I were both Peace Corps English teachers in Morocco in the early 1980s, and shared, no doubt, a love of the region…

By Kimberly Elms The recent release of the iPhone5 and the anniversary of Steve Jobs’ death remind me that the legacy of Jobs remains alive and well, both at Apple and in the way Americans think about innovation. While we…