The Ongoing Transformation

Issues in Science and Technology

The Ongoing Transformation is a biweekly podcast featuring conversations about science, technology, policy, and society. We talk with interesting thinkers—leading researchers, artists, policymakers, social theorists, and other luminaries—about the ways new knowledge transforms our world. This podcast is presented by Issues in Science and Technology, a journal published by Arizona State University and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Visit issues.org and contact us at podcast@issues.org.

  1. Untangling the “Cosmic Coincidence” of the Job Market

    4 ДН. ТОМУ

    Untangling the “Cosmic Coincidence” of the Job Market

    How do people find good jobs? How do employers find good talent? How should the American economy prepare for the future of work in the age of artificial intelligence?  On this episode, Issues editor Molly Galvin talks to Burning Glass Institute president Matt Sigelman about these questions. Sigelman spent two decades developing the field of real-time labor market data as CEO and then chairman of a company now known as Lightcast. Five years ago, he founded Burning Glass to transform the way that policymakers, researchers, employers, education institutions, and workers understand, plan for, and connect with the world of work. An edited version of this interview appears in our Spring 2026 issue.  Resources: Read the Issues Spring 2026 interview with Matt Sigelman.  Learn more about Sigelman’s work by visiting the Burning Glass Institute and Lightcast websites.

    27 хв
  2. The Future of Making Babies

    7 КВІТ.

    The Future of Making Babies

    Assistive reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization have helped many people have children. Behind many of these births are egg donors, whose experiences remain largely invisible in public narratives and scholarship. As reproductive technologies change—along with the ethical and policy challenges they raise—the role of egg donors will too.  On this episode, host Jason Lloyd is joined by Emily Packard Dawson, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan Medical School whose work focuses on the ethics of emerging reproductive technologies. In our Winter 2026 issue, Dawson reviewed a book by Diane M. Tober called Eggonomics: The Global Market in Human Eggs and the Donors Who Supply Them. Dawson discusses egg donors and the donation process, and what advances in reproductive technologies might mean for them.  Resources Read Emily Packard Dawson’s review of Eggonomics: The Global Market in Human Eggs and the Donors Who Supply Them.  Check out the National Academies workshop report, “In Vitro–Derived Human Gametes as a Reproductive Technology: Scientific, Ethical, and Regulatory Implications: Proceedings of a Workshop” to learn more about in vitro gametogenesis.

    21 хв
  3. Edward You Protected America From Bioterror

    24 БЕР.

    Edward You Protected America From Bioterror

    On Science Policy IRL, we talk to people in science policy about what they do and how they got there. Most of the people we’ve interviewed work in the legislative branch of the federal government or in agencies in the executive branch. In this installment, we’re going to an unexpected place for science policy: the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Host Lisa Margonelli is joined by Edward You, who has been called “America’s Top Bioterror Cop” by MIT Technology Review. A biochemist by training, You worked for the FBI for over 20 years. At the FBI, he served in the Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate, and was also on joint duty assignment at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, where he served as the National Counterintelligence Officer for Emerging and Disruptive Technologies. In this episode, Margonelli and You discuss how his time as an FBI agent enabled him to reframe the way the policymakers understand what is required to protect biosecurity and support innovation. Resources:  Watch a 60 Minutes episode on DNA and the big-money market for biodata, featuring Edward You.  Read “National and Transnational Security Implications of Big Data in the Life Sciences” (2014), a joint report from the FBI, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute.  Learn more about big data, security, and the FBI’s role by reading “Biosecurity in the age of Big Data: A Conversation With the FBI”.  Check out Issues’s recent publications on biosecurity:  Interview with Senator Todd Young on emerging biotechnologies. “Reconsidering Research Security” by John C. Gannon, Richard Meserve, and Maria T. Zuber.  “When All Research Is Dual Use” by Sam Weiss Evans.

    44 хв
  4. Building a Tech Innovation Ecosystem in Newark

    3 БЕР.

    Building a Tech Innovation Ecosystem in Newark

    Innovation lately feels synonymous with the digital entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley or the high-tech corridor of Route 128 outside Boston. But when Thomas Edison opened his first research lab in the 1870s, it was in Newark, New Jersey. A few years later, in nearby Menlo Park, he invented the light bulb. Now, Newark is working to build a new, inclusive tech innovation ecosystem that goes beyond this legacy. On this episode, host Lisa Margonelli is joined by Fay Cobb Payton and Lyneir Richardson, who are both at Rutgers University. Payton directs the Institute for Data, Research, and Innovation Science (IDRIS) and Lyneir is the executive director of the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development. Together they have been pioneering data-led innovation and business accelerators with a diverse group of entrepreneurs. Resources Read Senator Andy Kim’s vision for New Jersey’s Einstein Corridor.  Learn more about the Exit to Win accelerator by watching this video.  Check out more Issues articles on regional economic development.  “Cultivating Mastery in Place” by Maryann Feldman and Alaina Kayaani-George. Diné entrepreneurs entwine economic renewal with mutual obligation, providing a model of regional economic development that serves the community.“Revisiting the Connection Between Innovation, Education, and Regional Economic Growth” by Grace J. Wang. What have we learned over the past 40 years about how to generate sustained economic growth through scientific research and technological innovation?“Place-Based Economic Development” by Maryann Feldman. “Lessons from Baltimore for Participatory Research” by Alvin Hathaway Sr. A pastor and community organizer explains what a landmark Black neuroscience study needed to gain insight, influence, and credibility.

    33 хв
  5. Who Sets the Standard?

    17 ЛЮТ.

    Who Sets the Standard?

    What do the design of high-visibility public safety vests, the distance between two railroad tracks, and the protocols that allow for file transfers between devices have in common? Each is determined by a technical standard set through a process coordinated by a private, non-profit organization called the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Technical standards are behind most of the products Americans interact with in everyday life, underpinning public safety, consumer protection, interoperability, and innovation.  On this episode, host Megan Nicholson is joined by president and CEO of ANSI and former director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Laurie Locascio. Locascio explains the importance of standards for innovation and competitiveness, and describes how the US approach to standards development depends on the participation of people with all kinds of expertise. She also shares how more researchers can find their way into setting “the invisible infrastructure of modern life.”  Resources Read ANSI’s United States Standards Strategy 2025 and review their courses and webinars about the American national standard designation.  Check out the US government’s 2023 National Standards Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technology, which has not been adopted by the Trump Administration. Read an Issues piece from 1999 on “Why Standards Matter” by Robert L. Mallett, former Deputy Secretary of Commerce.

    31 хв
  6. How Cannabis Regulation Became a Giant Experiment

    3 ЛЮТ.

    How Cannabis Regulation Became a Giant Experiment

    Cannabis policy in the United States has been, in many ways, a giant experiment. The drug was recently reclassified by the Trump administration from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug, but remains federally illegal. On the state level, cannabis’s availability to patients and consumers has been determined by voters, not by scientists and regulators. Each state has a different approach to cannabis regulation and product safety, and as a result, a patient using medical cannabis in Florida might be exposed to different risks than a consumer in California, for example. On this episode, host Kelsey Schoenberg is joined by toxicologist Maxwell C. K. Leung, assistant professor at Arizona State University and the director of the ASU Cannabis Analytics, Safety and Health Initiative, and Symone T. Griffith, an ASU Presidential Scholar and doctoral candidate at Arizona State University. Leung and Griffith, who wrote about cannabis regulation and product safety for the Fall 2025 Issues, explain how the federal-state legal divide has shaped cannabis safety, research, and policy. They also share what it’s like to be a researcher working in this space.  RESOURCES Read Leung, Griffith, and Marisa Kreider’s essay, “A Coordinated Approach to Cannabis Policy and Product Safety,” in the Fall Issues.Check out Leung and Griffith’s paper on cannabis use and Parkinson’s patients, as well as their lab’s analysis of state-level regulations for cannabis contaminants.Read a paper from the Cannabis Regulators Association outlining a research agenda for how science can shape cannabis policy.Listen to another episode on cannabis: “Minimizing Cannabis’s Harms to Public Health,” with Sara Frueh and guest Yasmin Hurd.

    32 хв
  7. How Is AI Shaping the Future of Work?

    13 СІЧ.

    How Is AI Shaping the Future of Work?

    For as long as people have speculated about the development of artificial intelligence, they have debated its potential impacts on the labor market. Today, several years into widespread use of large language models, those questions are more urgent, but the answers are less clear. Is AI already taking jobs away? Could human beings flourish in a world in which they no longer have to perform economically valuable work? On this episode, Massachusetts Institute of Technology labor economist David Autor joins host Sara Frueh to discuss the possible impacts of AI on the future of work, what that means on an economic and human level, and what policies may be able to shape AI in a way that works for humans. Resources Read the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s 2024 consensus study, “Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work.” Check out Autor’s book, The Work of the Future. Could AI help rebuild the middle class? Autor explores in an essay for Noema Magazine. Read Frueh’s interview with economist Anne Case mentioned in this episode. More on this topic from Issues: “A Vision for Centering Workers in Technology Development” by Amanda Ballantyne, Jodi Forlizzi, and Crystal Weise.

    32 хв
  8. Science Policy IRL: Bhavya Lal Charts a Future for Humans in Space

    09.12.2025

    Science Policy IRL: Bhavya Lal Charts a Future for Humans in Space

    On Science Policy IRL, we talk to people in science policy about what they do and how they got there. In this installment, host Lisa Margonelli talks to Bhavya Lal about the trajectory of her career. Lal began as a nuclear engineer, then completed a midcareer PhD and began to work in science policy. A few years in, she decided to specialize in space policy—which is when things really started to get interesting. Lal has since served in a variety of roles at NASA, including acting chief of staff, chief technology officer, and associate administrator for technology, policy, and strategy. She is currently a professor at the RAND School of Public Policy.  In this episode, Lal shares how policy and governance became her passion, how she went from writing reports to leading programs at NASA, and the big questions that drive her work.  Resources Read Lal and Roger M. Myers’ Fall 2025 Issues piece, “A Strategy for Building Space Nuclear Systems That Fly,” to learn more about NASA’s efforts to build a nuclear reactor in space. Read Lal and Myers’ white paper “Weighing the Future: Strategic Options for US Space Leadership.”What does space leadership mean? Lal explores this in her SpaceNews piece, “The US can get to the moon first — and still lose.”Check out Earth Abides, the novel that inspired Lal’s career.

    31 хв
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Опис

The Ongoing Transformation is a biweekly podcast featuring conversations about science, technology, policy, and society. We talk with interesting thinkers—leading researchers, artists, policymakers, social theorists, and other luminaries—about the ways new knowledge transforms our world. This podcast is presented by Issues in Science and Technology, a journal published by Arizona State University and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Visit issues.org and contact us at podcast@issues.org.

Інформація

  • Автор
    Issues in Science and Technology
  • Роки діяльності
    2021 - 2026
  • Епізоди
    93
  • Категорія
    Не відверті
  • Авторське право
    © Issues in Science and Technology
  • Вебсайт шоу
    The Ongoing Transformation

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