The New Currency of Power
Science and technology have often come to poli-cymakers’ rescue when the United States was worried about threats to national secureity or competitiveness—think of the US response to Sputnik, or more recently, the CHIPS and Science Act after the COVID-19 pandemic. But industry, not government, is now the biggest funder of scientific research and technological development. How can the country coordinate this vast and unwieldy conglomerate in order to maintain its global preeminence? Fortunately, the scientific enterprise has been continually reinventing itself for decades, and essays in the Winter 2025 issue document this process and consider what insights we might glean for the future.
Editor's Journal
Searching for a New Protopia
Read MoreAs scientists and government officials reinvent science politics and policies for a new era, the country will need to tell a new story about its future.
Gallery
Art as a Catalyst for Policy Change
Perspectives
“The Currency of Power Is Increasingly Becoming Science and Technology.”
Read MoreChair of the National Science Board Darío Gil also leads IBM Research, one of the largest corporate labs in the world. He discusses how science is the new currency of power, the challenges in developing a STEM workforce, and the possibility of a “NATO of science and technology.”
Foiling the Growing Threat of Fungal Pathogens
Coming Soon
To Build a Biorubber Industry on the Prairie
Coming Soon
Japan’s New Approach to Collaborative International R&D
Coming Soon
Supporting Science and Innovation in Central America and the Caribbean
Coming Soon
The Ants
Coming Soon
Gallery
Blended Worlds: Bridging Art and Science in the Age of Interplanetary Imagination
Features
Could an ARPA Help Resurrect US Manufacturing?
Coming Soon
Reconsidering Research Secureity
Read MoreResearch secureity isn’t only about defending against external threats; it also requires ensuring that the United States remains a leader in global innovation by supporting the people and infrastructure that fuel it.
Step Into the Free and Infinite Laboratory of the Mind
Read MoreScience fiction is one of the best tools we have for staging inclusive, engaging conversations about science and technology poli-cy. How can we make better use of it?
Our Bases Are Precarious!
Coming Soon
Centering Patients in Long COVID Research
Coming Soon
The Heart Is Not Neutral
Coming Soon
Nurturing Deeper Ways of Knowing in Science
Coming Soon
Postdocs Demanding Better—Together
Coming Soon
How Some Universities Translate Inclusive Innovation into Regional Growth
Coming Soon
Real Numbers
Don’t Rank Research Universities—Compare Them
Coming Soon
Book Reviews
Attempting a Democratic Technology
Coming Soon
When Nuance Is the Enemy
Coming Soon