Fiction can be an important tool to explore complex science and technology questions: Would our legal system be more equitable if an AI delivered verdicts rather than judges and juries? What will happen to future climate refugees? Is human consciousness just another algorithm? That’s why Issues has partnered with ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination to publish Future Tense Fiction, a speculative fiction series that uses imagination to explore science and technology questions like these ones. 

On this episode, host Mia Armstrong-López, an editor of Future Tense, talks to Arula Ratnakar, a computational neuroscience PhD student at Boston University and author of “Coda,” a recent Future Tense Fiction story about computing, consciousness, and cryptography. They discuss how Ratnakar’s work as a writer enhances her work as a scientist and vice versa, and how storytelling can help both experts and nonexperts think about complex technical issues and enhance the practice of science. 

Resources: 

• Read Arula Ratnakar’s story, “Coda,” and Cristopher Moore’s response essay, “Computing Consciousness.” 

• Check out the paper that inspired “Coda”: “An RNA-based theory of natural universal computation.”

• Find more of Ratnakar’s stories and research on her website. 

• Check out Future Tense Fiction to find more stories! 

On Science Policy IRL, we talk to people in science policy about what they do and how they got there. We’ve shared stories of how people have found their way into science policy careers at places like the White House, Congress, and federal agencies. In this episode, we’re exploring a different way into science policy: getting involved with your local government. 

Taylor Spicer, the executive director of Engineers and Scientists Acting Locally (ESAL), shares how her organization helps scientists and engineers get involved in local policy. In a discussion with host Lisa Margonelli, Spicer talks about her path from international development to leading an organization dedicated to local civic engagement. She emphasizes that it’s important for people with STEM backgrounds to get involved with policy in their backyards, and describes how ESAL’s network can help you get started. 

Resources: 

Visit the Engineers and Scientists Acting Locally (ESAL) website to learn more about making a difference where you live, and subscribe to the newsletter to find opportunities in your area. 
Want to join ESAL’s online community-building platform? Sign up here to be the first to hear when it launches in July.

What happens in your brain when you hear your favorite song? 

In our Music and Health podcast miniseries, we’re exploring how music affects our minds, bodies, and communities. On this episode, host J. D. Talasek is joined by Sweta Adatia, a neurologist practicing in Dubai, and Fred Johnson, a community engagement specialist and artist in residence at both the National Academy of Sciences and the Straz Center for Performing Arts. They discuss their paths into combining music and science, how music impacts the brain, and how music can go beyond entertainment to create stronger, healthier communities. 

This series is produced in collaboration with Susan Magsamen and Leonardo journal.

Resources:

• Listen to Fred Johnson’s version of “Nature Boy,” and check out his website and his Instagram to listen to more of his music and mantras, and to see Johnson in an upcoming show. 

• Visit Sweta Adatia’s website to learn more about her work. 

• Listen to previous miniseries episodes: 

Fungi are ubiquitous in nature—in fact, you’re likely breathing in fungal spores as you read this. Most fungi are harmless to healthy people. But changes in the global climate, in human settlement patterns, and even in our own body temperatures have made fungal pathogens an increasing health threat.

On this episode, host Jason Lloyd interviews Angel Desai, an infectious disease specialist and associate professor at the University of California Davis Medical Center. Desai and George R. Thompson III cowrote “Foiling the Growing Threat of Fungal Pathogens” in the Winter 2025 Issues. Desai discusses what fungal pathogens are, why they are becoming more dangerous, and how the public health community can respond. 

Resources: 

Learn more about fungal pathogens by reading Angel Desai and George R. Thompson III’s Issues article, “Foiling the Growing Threat of Fungal Pathogens.” 

Angel Desai and Maimuna S. Majumder’s October 2020 Issues article, “How Contact Tracing Apps Could Help Prevent COVID-19 Super-Spreader Events,” offers lessons about contact tracing and disease surveillance that can be applied to future outbreaks. 

How can wildfire smoke spread disease? Read Leda N. Kobziar and George R. Thompson III’s “Wildfire Smoke, a Potential Infectious Agent” in Science to learn more. 

Check out “Infectious Diseases in a Changing Climate” by Matthew C. Phillips, Regina C. LaRocque, and George R. Thompson III in JAMA to read more about the impact of climate change on infectious diseases.

More than half of US states have legalized cannabis for recreational or medical use. Regulations on cultivation, production, and marketing vary from state to state, and most of these policies were developed without a robust public health strategy. Because it is not federally legal, Washington has provided only limited guidance to states on how to control the variety of cannabis products on the market. What’s more, the dazzling arrays of gummies, vapes, and chocolates are available with much higher concentrations of THC (the psychoactive component of cannabis) than have been previously available.

A recent National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report, Cannabis Policy Impacts Public Health and Health Equity, examines the connections between public health and marijuana legalization. 

On this episode, host Sara Frueh talks to Yasmin Hurd, vice-chair of the report committee, Ward-Coleman Chair of Translational Neuroscience, and director of the Addiction Institute at  Mount Sinai. They discuss the research on the complex landscape of modern cannabis products, what’s known about their public health impacts, and strategies policymakers could use to minimize harms. 

Resources

Read the National Academies’ report, Cannabis Policy Impacts Public Health and Health Equity.

Visit the Hurd Lab and Addiction Institute websites to learn more about Yasmin Hurd’s work on addiction.

“People always say, ‘Well, if I could only do one art form, what would it be?’ And I always say dance.” —Susan Magsamen 

In our podcast miniseries Music and Health, we’re exploring how music impacts our minds, bodies, and communities. In this installment, we’re learning about the power of dance. Host J. D. Talasek is joined by David Leventhal and ConstantinaTheofanopoulou. Both began their careers as dancers and use dance to inform their current work. Leventhal is a program director and one of the founding teachers of Dance for PD, a program that offers people with Parkinson’s disease research-backed dance classes. Theofanopoulou is a research assistant professor at Rockefeller University. Her research focuses on understanding the neuroscience of complex sensory motor behaviors. They discuss how dance is helping patients regain movement abilities, and what neuroscience research says about dance as a form of healing. 

This series is produced in collaboration with Susan Magsamen and Leonardo journal.

Resources: 

• Listen to the first episode of the mini-series, Music and Health: The Creative Arts and Healing, featuring Renée Fleming and Susan Magsamen. 

• Visit the Dance for PD website to learn more about the program, and find classes in your area or virtually. 

• Learn more about Constantina Theofanopoulou’s research by visiting her website. 

Vaccines, oil spills, genetic engineering, and stem cells—anywhere there’s science, there’s also misinformation. It muddies our ability to make good decisions, ranging from far-reaching ones like creating policy to simple ones like what to buy at the grocery store. Misinformation also undermines trust in scientific institutions and across society. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine tasked an expert committee with addressing misinformation. Their report,Understanding and Addressing Misinformation About Science, is out now. 

On this episode, hostMonya Baker is joined byAsheley Landrum, one of the authors of the report and an associate professor at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication. Landrum’s research focuses on science, communication, and media psychology. She discusses what exactly science misinformation is, how to tackle it, and the unexpected places it can arise. 

Resources: 

• Learn more about science misinformation by reading the full National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report, Understanding and Addressing Misinformation About Science.
• ReadIssues’ collection of articles about “Navigating a Polluted Information System.”
• Check out thePsychology of Misinformation special issue to learn more about misinformation in different domains, including Landrum’s research on “Entertainment media as a source of relationship misinformation.”
• VisitAsheley Landrum’s website to learn more about her work. 

From lullabies to movie soundtracks to workout playlists, music has the capacity to change how we feel. But what is the evidence that music’s effects can transform physical health? On our new podcast miniseries, Music and Health, we’ll explore the power of music to heal our minds, bodies, and even communities. 

On the first episode of this series, host J. D. Talasek is joined by Renée Fleming and Susan Magsamen. Fleming is an opera soprano, actress, and long time advocate for the healing powers of the arts. She recently edited a book called Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness. Magsamen founded the International Arts + Mind Lab, and created the NeuroArts Blueprint. They discuss health and arts research, current initiatives to use the arts to heal, and how this vital approach to care can be expanded. 

This series is produced in collaboration with Susan Magsamen and Leonardo journal.

Resources

Read Renée Fleming’s book, Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness, to learn more about how music and the creative arts are being used for health. The book was also recently reviewed in Issues by Susan Fitzpatrick, who called Fleming’s introduction “beautifully written, providing a lyrical and comprehensive summary of the main ideas in the book.” 

Learn more about Susan Magsamen’s work by visiting the International Arts + Mind Lab website, and check out Magsamen and Ivy Ross’s book, Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us. 

Visit the NeuroArts Blueprint website to find information on how the creative arts impact the brain. You can also find more information about and apply for the Renée Fleming Neuroarts Investigator Award. 

Visit the Sound Health Initiative website to learn more about the partnership between the National Institutes of Health and the Kennedy Center to research the potential of music to treat a wide range of conditions. 

Listen to the Real Young Prodigys’ song “Where My Bus At” and learn more about how the song helped inspire change in Louisville. Thank you to the Real Young Prodigys for allowing use of their song in this episode! 

In Alaska, reindeer are much more real than the fantasy animals that pull Santa’s sleigh. Introduced to Alaska from Siberia by the US government in the 1890s, reindeer were part of a strategy to solve food shortages among the Native peoples after the gold rush. Today, reindeer provide food security and economic opportunities for the Alaskan Native community. Even more so than farming, reindeer herding requires a deep understanding of the needs of Indigenous communities and academic science—as well as how to navigate and influence local, state, and federal policies.

On this episode, host Lisa Margonelli is joined by Jacqueline Hrabok and Bonnie Scheele of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’s High Latitude Range Management program to learn more about the interplay of science, policy, and community in reindeer herding. 

This is our final episode of 2024. We’ll be back in late January for an interview with opera singer and actress Renee Fleming and neurology professor Susan Magsamen on the intersection of music, art, and health. And we would love to explore more local science policy issues in our upcoming episodes! Write to us at [email protected] about any policy developments happening near you. 

Resources:

The word "bureaucracy" conjures up images of red tape and long lines at the DMV, not cutting-edge innovation. But some of the most significant scientific and health innovations of the past century have actually come from scientist-bureaucrats at government research institutes. 

On this episode, host Jason Lloyd is joined by Natalie Aviles, an assistant professor at the University of Virginia and author of An Ungovernable Foe: Science and Policy Innovation in the US National Cancer Institute. Aviles explains what the National Cancer Institute does and how the mission and culture of the agency have enabled its scientist-bureaucrats to conduct pioneering cancer research, such as the invention of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccine. 

Resources: Check out Natalie Aviles’s book, An Ungovernable Foe: Science and Policy Innovation in the U.S. National Cancer Institute, to learn more about the NCI. 

Read “How Federal Science Agencies Innovate in the Public Interest” at Issues.org to learn more about the development of the HPV vaccine and the importance of agency discretion.