Hoping to both anticipate pitfalls and head off a publicity fiasco, policymakers and scientists are promoting research and public discussion on environmental, ethical, economic, and other societal implications of the burgeoning field of nanotechnology.
As computer networks become cheaper and more powerful, a new distributed computing paradigm is poised to transform the practice of science and engineering.
Microelectromechanical systems are currently used in a variety of applications, including triggering airbags and measuring the Casimir force. In the future, they may revolutionize the way we think about machines.
A convention of 1,000 physicists at Snowmass in Colorado discussed the possibility of a 500-GeV electron-positron linear collider which they believe should be the next big supercollider.
Concerns about "emerging missile states" have spurred development of a system to defend the US from small-scale ballistic missile attacks. But the planned system could be compromised by simple countermeasures, and the security costs of deployment could be high.
With the end of nuclear testing, the US seeks to maintain its nuclear deterrent with a multifaceted program aimed at understanding more about the materials and processes of nuclear weapons.