Summary

In today's high-speed, high-pressure world, keeping up with the latest scientific and technological discoveries can seem an overwhelming, even impossible task. Each day brings fresh information about how the world works: how human bodies and minds work and how human civilization can "work" the world by applying its collective knowledge. Switch on a television news program or the Internet—pick up any newspaper or current interest magazine—and stories about health and the environment, worries about national security and violent crime, or advertisements for the latest communication and entertainment gadgets abound.

Given the nonstop flow of information and commercial pressures, it may seem that a surface understanding of scientific and technological issues is the only realistic goal. The Contemporary Issues in Science set dispels the myth that a deeper understanding of new findings in science and technology is out of reach for non-specialists and should be "left to the experts." This set reviews current topics of universal relevance and explores—through the lens of real people's stories—how recent discoveries have changed daily life and are likely to alter the future.