Arizona State University (commonly referred to as ASU or Arizona State) is a national space-grant institution and public metropolitan research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is the largest public university in the United States by enrollment.
Founded in 1885 as the Tempe Normal School for the Arizona Territory, the school came under control of the Arizona Board of Regents in 1945 and was renamed Arizona State College. A 1958 statewide ballot measure gave the university its present name.
In 1994 ASU was classified as a Research I institute; thus, making Arizona State one of the newest major research universities (public or private) in the nation. Arizona State’s mission is to create a model of the “New American University” whose efficacy is measured “by those it includes and how they succeed, not by those it excludes”.
Now that we’re in a post-truth world, a timely report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine highlights evidence for what works and what doesn’t when talking about science.
Connecting cities should serve all citizens, not just a few.
Illustration via shutterstock.com
Design will make the difference between smart city projects offering great promise or actually reinforcing or even widening the existing gaps in unequal ways their cities serve residents.
Improved autonomous vehicle technology could reduce the tens of thousands of annual U.S. deaths due to human error behind the wheel. Are driverless cars the next big public health intervention?
Now’s the time to think about what we’re getting into with neurotechnologies.
Brain image via www.shutterstock.com.
This method of crowdsourcing science legwork is ready to expand into other disciplines – and maybe the amateurs themselves can start calling some of the shots.
He’s certainly thinking big….
Norsk Telegrambyra AS/Reuters
The technological goals are lofty. But fitting the new tech into the social and political landscape might pose the bigger challenge.
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt faced a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing called ‘The Power of Google: Serving Consumers or Threatening Competition’ in 2011.
Larry Downing/Reuters
A list of 10 new technologies poised to transform our lives provides a chance to think about any related risks sooner than later. Reconceptualizing “value” changes what responsible development means.
Cup of coffee via Shutterstock.
From www.shutterstock.com
For 15 years, coffee got a bad rap for possibly being a cause of cancer. After filtering though more than 1,000 studies, a panel reversed itself June 15, saying coffee is safe after all.
Wildfires are getting bigger and more costly. Can we return them to a less dangerous state by looking to the past?
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Restoring forest landscapes through active thinning and letting fires burn in order to minimize fire damage has proved harder and less effective than advocates believed, says historian of fire.
CubeSats upon release from the International Space Station.
NASA Johnson
Just about anyone can get a tiny, cheap satellite into orbit these days. As we consider how to deploy them responsibly, inspiration comes from an amateur community of enthusiasts.
What are you looking at?
Baby eating via www.shutterstock.com.
Microscopic needle-like particles don’t seem like something you’d want to feed a baby. Whether safe or not, the way we deal with nanoscale food additives leaves plenty of other questions.
Hydrogen is built into helium at a temperature of millions of degrees.
NASA/SDO (AIA)
Fire has played a vital role in human history, and will continue to. Recent advances in fusion herald the freeing of fire from captivity back into its natural form.
Vantablack is the darkest pigment ever – thanks to carbon nanotubes.
Surrey NanoSystems
Two very similar new carbon nanotube products, released eight years apart, provoked very different reactions. What’s changed about the way we consider nanotechnology risks and benefits?
Getting healthy foods on shelves is only part of the solution.
Lynn Friedman/Flickr
Does making healthy food accessible actually affect what people purchase and what they eat? The answer is a little more complicated than you might think.
Sunrise on Angel’s Window, North Rim, Grand Canyon National Park.
National Park Service/Wikimedia
Contributing to the public good should be a top priority for public and land grant universities. Here, some ideas on how to match what institutions value with academics’ own drive for service.
What’s the best tool for taking tests?
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan
Insecticides and mosquito nets only get you so far. Synthetic biologists are ready to take the battle against mosquito-borne disease to the level of DNA – which might spell the insects’ ultimate doom.