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.

How can music composition help students learn how to code? How can creative writing help medical practitioners improve care for their patients? Science and engineering have long been siloed from the humanities, arts, and social sciences, but uniting these disciplines could help leaders better understand and address problems like educational disparities, socioeconomic inequity, and decreasing national wellbeing.

On this episode, host Josh Trapani speaks to Kaye Husbands Fealing, dean of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts at Georgia Tech, about her efforts to integrate humanities and social sciences with science and engineering. We also discuss her pivotal role in establishing the National Science Foundation’s Science of Science and Innovation Policy program, and why an integrative approach is crucial to solving societal problems.

Recommended Reading

· Read Kaye Husbands Fealing, Aubrey DeVeny Incorvaia, and Richard Utz’s Issues piece “Humanizing Science and Engineering for the Twenty-First Century” for for our series “The Next 75 Years of Science Policy," supported by the Kavli Foundation

[KS1]Think this is enough to justify using Kavli funds to promote this episode of the podcast?

· Visit Kaye Husbands Fealing’s webpage at Georgia Tech

· Read Julia Lane’s Issues piece “A Vision for Democratizing Government Data”

· Read National Science Board members Ellen Ochoa and Victor R. McCrary’s Issues piece “Cultivating America’s STEM Talent Must Begin at Home”

· Read John H. Marburger’s 2005 piece in Science “Wanted: Better Benchmarks”

· Look at the National Academies 2014 summary of the Science of Science and Innovation Policy (SciSIP) principal investigators conference

· View the webpage for the SciSIP program (renamed Science of Science: Discovery, Communication, and Impact) at the National Science Foundation

Buses are an inexpensive and easy-to-deploy form of mass transit that could help reduce traffic congestion and curb air pollution. But in the United States, no one wants to ride them—and for good reason: the design of the American bus has not changed much since World War II. The antiquated design is uncomfortable and creates hazards for riders, drivers, and pedestrians. How could the bus be transformed into a mode of transit that people actually want to use?

On this episode, host Lisa Margonelli talks to Brian Sherlock, a former Seattle bus driver and safety specialist at Amalgamated Transit Union International, the largest public transit union in North America. He explains what’s wrong with American buses, and how a redesign could make for a better urban future.

Resources:

COVID-19 Revealed an Invisible Hazard on American Buses by Brian Sherlock

Clinical trials are crucial to the development of new drugs, medical treatments, and therapeutics. The knowledge gained from these trials helps ensure that treatments are safe and effective. Trials are also sometimes the only way for patients to access the most cutting-edge therapies for a disease. However, wide swaths of the American population, including Black and Latino Americans who often face the greatest health challenges, are not adequately represented in the clinical trials and do not benefit equitably from this research.

In this episode, host Sara Frueh is joined by Gloria Coronado, an epidemiologist with the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, and Jason Resendez, president of the National Alliance for Caregiving, to discuss the causes and consequences of this underrepresentation, and steps researchers and policymakers should take to remedy it.

Resources:

The typical history of the internet tells a story that emphasizes experts and institutions: government, industry, and academia. In this origin story, the internet began as a product of the military during the Cold War, was adopted by academia and research institutions, and then Silicon Valley and the private sector brought it to the masses. What this history ignores, however, are the many computer enthusiasts and hobbyists of the 1980s who used modems to connect to bulletin board systems—creating thriving online communities well before most people ever heard about the “information superhighway.”

On this episode, host Jason Lloyd is joined by professor Kevin Driscoll from the University of Virginia to discuss how the forgotten history of bulletin board systems can help us understand today’s social media-dominated internet and build healthier, more inclusive online communities.

Resources:

· Read Kevin Driscoll’s Issues essay, “A Prehistory of Social Media,” and his book, The Modem World: A Prehistory of Social Media, to learn more about early social networks.

· Check out Kevin’s first book, Minitel: Welcome to the Internet, coauthored with Julien Mailland, on the French precursor to the internet. They also have a great websitefor the book.

Food is an essential part of our lives, but for many people fresh food is something they find in a grocery store, not growing in their communities. How can art and advances in agricultural science create new food resources, connect communities, and create more resilient food systems?

On this episode, host J. D. Talasek is joined by artists David Allen Burns and Austin Young of Fallen Fruit and professor Molly Jahn from the University of Wisconsin-Madison to explore how creativity and systems thinking can change the food system.

Resources:

This summer, Congress is trying to reconcile the differences between two massive bills focused on strengthening US competitiveness and spurring innovation: the House-passed COMPETES Act and the Senate-passed USICA bill. In this episode, we speak with Mitch Ambrose from FYI, the American Institute of Physics’ science policy news service, about the historic conference aimed at negotiating the House and Senate bills. What are the competing visions for US competitiveness in the bills? How do the details get worked out, and what happens if Congress fails to reach an agreement?

Recommended Reading:

Follow FYI’s coverage and subscribe to their newsletters at aip.org/fyi.

Who gets to be a scientist? At BioJam, a free Northern California summer camp, the answer is everyone. This week we talk with Callie Chappell, Rolando Perez, and Corinne Okada Takara about how BioJam engages high school students and their communities to create art through bioengineering. Started as an intergenerational collective in 2019, BioJam was designed to change the model of science communication and education into a multi-way collaboration between the communities of Salinas, East San Jose, and Oakland, and artists and scientists at Stanford. At BioJam, youth are becoming leaders in the emerging fields of biodesign and biomaking—and in the process, redefining what it means to be a scientist.

Resources:

Read their essay, "Bioengineering Everywhere, For Everyone," and see the youth artwork.

Visit the BioJam website to learn more.

When it comes to exploring the mind-boggling complexity of living systems—ranging from the origins of human consciousness to treatments for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s—Susan Fitzpatrick has long been a critic of reductionist thinking. In this episode we talk with Fitzpatrick, who has spent three decades supporting brain research as president of the James S. McDonnell Foundation, about new ways to understand the human brain, the difficulty of developing an effective Alzheimer’s treatment, and how scientific research can successfully confront complex problems.

Further reading:

How do budgets evolve into policies? As Congress starts to appropriate money for President Biden’s 2023 budget requests, we talk with Matt Hourihan, director of the R&D Budget and Policy Program for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Hourihan tells of his own introduction to the byzantine mysteries of the budget, how the process works (and sometimes doesn’t work!), and what the numbers reveal about today’s science policy priorities.

Resources:

Follow Matt on Twitter at @MattHourihan.