Census, Green New Deal, and Artificial Intelligence Highlight Summer Edition of Issues in Science and Technology

The summer edition of Issues in Science and Technology includes articles about making the most of the 2020 census, the inadequacy of the Green New Deal, the of use artificial intelligence in computer-aided tutoring, the Pentagon’s role in developing clean energy technology, and the misguided use of big data studies in ecology.

As the government makes plans for the 2020 census it must not only consider whether to include the controversial citizenship question but how to implement new information technologies that could make the count more accurate and efficient. Constance Citro of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine reviews the history of the census and provides guidance on how to enhance the accuracy of the 2020 count.

The Green New Deal proposal to slow climate change has been criticized for being too ambitious, but Ted Nordhaus of the Breakthrough Institute argues that it is actually too modest to achieve the carbon emissions reductions necessary to slow global warming significantly.

Justine Cassell of Carnegie Mellon University, a pioneer in the use of artificial intelligence in elementary education, summarizes recent progress and illustrates how computer-aided tutoring can be a valuable addition to classroom instruction, particularly for students with autism.

Former Defense Department officials Dorothy Robyn and Jeffrey Marqusee describe the vital contribution that the military has made in the application of innovative clean energy technology and recommend ways that the Departments of Defense and Energy could work more collaboratively to spur progress.

Mark Sagoff of George Mason University critically examines an ambitious National Science Foundation to transform ecological science through the use of big data and concludes that the initiative is likely to do more harm than good.

Other articles in the summer edition explore how China is responding to the need to more closely regulate the use of CRISPR and other novel biotechnologies, the effect of Facebook on democracy, and the use of institutional review boards to protect human research subjects.

SOURCE Issues in Science and Technology