BY DOUG LAVEY Many hail autonomous vehicles (AV) as a life-altering innovation that will radically transform the way society transports individuals and goods. However, few resources are dedicated to the impact AVs may have on those individuals and goods that should not be transported, namely illegal human and drug trafficking. Consider the following scenarios: 1)     […]

Turkey’s relationship with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is in trouble. Yet it behooves NATO to ensure that Turkey remains a loyal member.

BY ALEXANDER MEDGETT In March 2017, Germany’s foreign minister, Sigmar Gabriel, stated that the two percent of GDP defense spending goals agreed upon by NATO members at the 2006 Riga summit were ‘totally unrealistic’ for Germany. Gabriel’s statement comes in light of Rex Tillerson’s recent appeal that all NATO member states should remain committed to […]

Very rich, heavily armed states are engaged in brinkmanship in the world’s most conflict-prone region. This doesn’t end well – for anyone.

BY MARTA MILKOWSKA “This technology will save millions of patients!” This was the elated comment from the head of a tuberculosis health facility in Lesotho, in response to my prototype of a mobile phone application. Last summer, I was exploring the value of machine learning in predicting patients’ default rates in HIV and tuberculosis treatment […]

What, or who, really is the Smart Nation? In the era of the #SmartNation Singapore, discussions of “smartness” abound in the news space, but corresponding discussions of nationhood are few and far in between.

BY VIKRAM JANARDHAN Donald Trump has followed through with his promise to undo many Obama-era policies regarding energy and the environment. He has lifted the moratorium on mining coal on federal lands, and his proposed budget calls for a 31 percent cut in funding for the EPA, bringing the agency’s budget to its lowest level […]

BY DAVID HARARY It has become clear Democrats need a new strategy on passing climate change legislation. The new Administration’s budget proposal for 2018 is certainly not friendly towards climate change research or mitigation. Deep cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Department of Energy are just the beginning […]

BY NABILA ABU-HANTASH I was sitting behind the wheel in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, with my close friend in the passenger’s seat. The car was parked with the ignition switched off. We were waiting for her husband to come back from souvenir shopping, so that we could begin the twenty-three-hour drive back home to Kuwait. He […]

Former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki spoke about human rights, Tunisian democracy, and US support for Middle East dictatorships.

BY LIZ HANSON Defining the mission of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seems like it should be fairly straightforward. It’s right there in the name: an agency to protect the environment. Of course, in a world of complex costs and benefits, and increasingly intense partisan rhetoric, nothing is quite so simple. Yet, I was still […]

Latin America presents a promising opportunity to resettle some of the millions of Syrian refugees in camps and urban slums in Europe.