The Ongoing Transformation

Latest Episodes:

Race, Genetics, and a “Most Dangerous Myth” May 16, 2023

Show notes

The concept of distinct races came from European naturalists in the 1700s and it’s now recognized as a social construct, rather than a biological classification. Nonetheless, genetics researchers sometimes use race or ethnicity to stand in for ancestry. This practice has been criticized for creating discrete categories where none exist and for underemphasizing the ways that environment and other nongenetic factors can contribute to ill health.

In March, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine weighed in with a consensus report. It documented the problems of using race as a biological category in genetics studies and suggested more appropriate approaches. One of the report’s authors is Ann Morning, a professor of sociology at New York University. Over a decade ago she wrote the book The Nature of Race: How Scientists Think and Teach about Human Difference. She spoke with Issues editor Monya Baker about why race is a poor—but persistent—shorthand in genetics studies.

Resources

Read the National Academies’ consensus report Using Population Descriptors in Genetics and Genomics Research: A New Framework for an Evolving Field.

Books by Ann Morning: The Nature of Race: How Scientists Think and Teach about Human Difference and An Ugly Word: Rethinking Race in Italy and the United States (coauthored by Marcello Maneri).

The Microscope and the Metaphor May 02, 2023

Show notes

What does intuitive, emotional poetry have in common with rational, empirical science? On this episode, host J. D. Talasek talks to poet Jane Hirshfield and neuroscientist Virginia Sturm to understand how they came to work together, and the connections they’ve found between poetry, neural science, and society. They discuss what Hirshfield calls the “mutual delight” they’ve found between poets and scientists as they consider how the microscope and the metaphor can be used to explore the world.

Hirshfield and Sturm also explore how poetry affects the brain, and what that reveals about the science of emotions and the complex ways that humans process language. Together they connect the dots on the surprising connection between poetry, empathy, science, and policy change.

Resources:

· Visit the Poets for Science exhibit at the National Academy of Sciences building in Washington, DC, until September 8, 2023. Learn more about Jane Hirshfield’s work and find upcoming exhibitions on the Poets for Science website.

· Visit the University of California San Francisco’s Clinical Affective Neuroscience Lab website to find more of Virginia Sturm’s work.

To Solve the AI Problem, Rely on Policy, Not Technology Apr 18, 2023

Show notes

Artificial intelligence is everywhere, growing increasingly accessible and pervasive. Conversations about AI often focus on technical accomplishments rather than societal impacts, but leading scholar Kate Crawford has long drawn attention to the potential harms AI poses for society: exploitation, discrimination, and more. She argues that minimizing risks depends on civil society, not technology.

The ability of people to govern AI is often overlooked because many people approach new technologies with what Crawford calls “enchanted determinism,” seeing them as both magical and more accurate and insightful than humans. In 2017, Crawford cofounded the AI Now Institute to explore productive policy approaches around the social consequences of AI. Across her work in industry, academia, and elsewhere, she has started essential conversations about regulation and policy. Issues editor Monya Baker recently spoke with Crawford about how to ensure AI designers incorporate societal protections into product development and deployment.

Resources

Learn more about Kate Crawford’s work by visiting her website and the AI Now Institute.
Read her latest book, Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence.
Visit the Anatomy of an AI System artwork at the Museum of Modern Art, or see and learn about it virtually here.
Working with machine learning datasets? Check out Crawford’s critical field guide to think about how to best work with these data.

Finding Collective Advantage in Shared Knowledge Mar 28, 2023

Show notes

The CHIPS and Science Act aims to secure American competitiveness and innovation by investing $280 billion in domestic semiconductor manufacturing, scientific innovation, and regional development. But if past government investments in science and technology are any guide, this will affect American life in unexpected and profound ways—well beyond manufacturing and scientific laboratories.

On this episode, Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University, talks to host Lisa Margonelli about the CHIPS and Science Act in the context of previous American security investments. Investments in food security and agriculture in the 1860s and nuclear security in the 1940s and 50s created shared knowledge that benefitted all Americans. Early agricultural programs, for example, turned farmers into innovators, resulting in an agricultural sector that can feed many people with very little labor. In similar ways, today’s quest for digital security could make the country more secure, while also changing how individuals live and work with information.

Resources:

Read perspectives on How the CHIPS and Science Act Can Deliver on its Promises

Read A. Hunter Dupree’s Science in the Federal Government: A History of Policies and Activities

Read Michael Crow and William Dabars on The Emergence of the Fifth Wave in American Higher Education.

Confronting Extreme Heat with the World’s First Chief Heat Officer Mar 07, 2023

Show notes

Miami is so renowned for its warm weather that its professional basketball team is the Miami Heat. But extreme heat can be life-threatening, even in cities like Miami that are used to high temperatures. And within cities, lower-income and minority neighborhoods feel the effects of extreme heat more acutely due to a lack of shade and green spaces. What can be done to protect vulnerable communities from extreme heat?

The world’s first chief heat officer, Jane Gilbert, who leads Miami-Dade County’s efforts to deal with extreme heat, is working on the answers. She recently spoke with Issues editor Jason Lloyd about the need for win-win solutions (more air conditioning alone can’t solve the problem), the difficulties of planting trees on busy streets, and engaging with citizens on solutions for keeping communities safe in a warmer future.

Resources

· Miami Dade County’s extreme heat resource page

· National Integrated Heat Health Information

· Visit Arsh-Rock’s Heat Action Platform to find more resources to combat extreme heat on the regional and municipal level, and learn more about Chief Heat Officers.

Transcript

Coming soon!

You've Been Misinformed About Sharks Feb 21, 2023

Show notes

Recent conversations about scientific misinformation have concentrated on what is new: social media and algorithms that spread all kinds of information—reliable and unreliable—surprisingly fast. But misinformation has long been an issue for scientists who study sharks. The Discovery Channel’s Shark Week has anchored the idea of predatory, dangerous sharks in the public consciousness for 35 years, often wrapping its entertainments in the legitimizing cloak of science. In this episode, we talk with Arizona State University marine biologist David Shiffman, who studies sharks and the impacts of misinformation on shark conservation.

Resources

· Read David Shiffman’s book, Why Sharks Matter: A Deep Dive with the World’s Most Misunderstood Predator.

· Follow David on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

· What are the Odds?Compare shark attacks to other risks.

What’s Driving the Electric Car Revival? Feb 07, 2023

Show notes

In 2022, there were more than 2 million electric vehicles, or EVs, on the road in the United States. In 2005, there were only about 1,000. The conventional wisdom credits better batteries with this remarkable growth. In the 2010s, engineers delivered batteries that cost less and could go many miles further. Consequently, driving range increased, costs decreased, and sales soared. EVs now compete with vehicles powered by traditional internal combustion engines.

But Matthew Eisler (University of Strathclyde) challenges this narrative. He argues that the US resurgence in EVs had little to do with technology and much more to do with public policies, business models, and social conditions. On this episode, Eisler talks with host Jason Lloyd about the complex history of EV adoption, how a powerful metaphor invited new players into car manufacturing, and what the EV revival might mean for infrastructure such as electric grids.

Resources

Matthew N. Eisler’s recent book, Age of Auto Electric: Environment, Energy, and the Quest for the Sustainable Car(MIT Press, 2022)
Read an excerpt from the book, published in the Winter 2023 Issues in Science and Technology: “Computers on Wheels?”

Collaborations on Ice Jan 10, 2023

Show notes

How can scientific data be made more tangible, visceral, and experiential? Collaboration! Over the course of a four-year project, Arctic Ice: A Visual Archive, artist Cy Keener, landscape researcher Justine Holzman, climatologist Ignatius Rigor, and scientist John Woods integrated field data, remote satellite imagery, scientific analysis, and art to create visual representations of disappearing Arctic ice. Being deeply embedded in each other’s processes helped the artists and scientists foster new ideas and unexpected outcomes.

On this episode, host J. D. Talasek is joined by Keener and Rigor to discuss how to build successful collaborations across different disciplines and how creative practices can contribute to scientific research and communication.

Resources:

· See images from Arctic Ice and read more about the collaborative project in Issues in Science and Technology.

· Visit the Arctic Ice: A Visual Archive exhibition through February 15, 2023, by visiting the National Academy of Sciences Building in Washington, DC. Check out the CPNAS website to learn more about the exhibition and download a virtual catalogue.

· See more of Cy Keener’s work on his website.

· Visit the International Arctic Buoy Programme’s website to learn more about the program’s buoy maps, data, research, and publications.

Shirley Malcom: Where Science and Society Meet Dec 20, 2022

Show notes

Shirley M. Malcom is a trailblazer in the area of broadening participation in science. Currently senior advisor and director of the SEA Change initiative at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, she has long worked to create institutional transformation in support of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

On this episode, we are delighted to feature her talk from the 2022 Henry and Bryna David lecture in its entirety. This lecture series is sponsored by the National Academies’ Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education and Issues in Science and Technology. In her lecture, she talks about the importance of the behavioral sciences, social sciences, and education in evidence-based public policy. She brings her considerable expertise in public science literacy, issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and STEM education to bear on the challenges facing American society.

Resources

Read Shirley M. Malcom’s recent essay for Issues: “The Limiting Factor of ‘The Endless Frontier’ Is Still a Human One”
Visit the SEA Change website
Find more information about the David Lecture at the National Academies’ site

Peaches, Pimentos, and Myths of Innovation Dec 06, 2022

Show notes

The challenge of transforming regional economies through technological innovation is at the heart of current discussions about science and industrial policy—not to mention the CHIPs and Science Act itself. To think about what regional transformation means, it’s worth revisiting the story of how a network of “fruit men” used the peach, and later the pimento, to change the South after the Civil War. Starting with a biotechnological invention—a shippable peach named the Elberta—this group built railroads, designed shipping methods, educated farmers, and eventually built factories that transformed the landscape and economy of the region. But this story isn’t only about tangible actions: the network used powerful storytelling and ideology to accomplish this revolution.

On this episode, host Lisa Margonelli talks with historian and journalist Cynthia Greenlee about the role of technological innovation, storytelling, and myth in regional transformation. They also discuss how the peach paved the way for the invention of the pimento—now part of a beloved regional cheese spread—and harnessed cultural as well as technological forces.

Resources:

· Reach Cynthia R. Greenlee’s Issues essay, Reinventing the Peach, the Pimento, and Regional Identity.

· Visit Cynthia’s website to find more of her work. She has written on food, history, politics, and more.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

The Ongoing Transformation

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected