Research Library

High-skilled immigrants from emerging markets are playing an increasingly important role in the global knowledge economy, writes nonresident scholar Elizabeth Salamanca Pacheco. In this paper, Salamanca Pacheco explains how high-skilled migrants from Mexico are well positioned to alleviate a STEM talent shortage in the U.S. and stimulate innovation in their native country.

With center-right President Emmanuel Macron facing off against extreme-right Marine Le Pen, what’s in store for the French presidential election next April? In a new brief, Baker Institute faculty scholar Julie Fette and William Tsai, Rice '24, examine the polls, platforms and possibilities.

To better reflect the iterative collaboration necessary for scientific progress, the Nobel Prize must expand its recognition to the many contributors of winning discoveries as well as diversify the selection committee, thereby also expanding recognition of the work of underrepresented minorities, argues this Baker Institute Blog post.

This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry recognizes the development of carbon-based catalysts. S&T Policy research assistant Flora Naylor writes that their discovery emphasizes the value of federal funding in supporting fundamental scientific research.

This year's Nobel Prize in Physics broadens the traditionally defined scope of the discipline, writes Kenneth Evans, demonstrating how discoveries in physics play a crucial role in addressing global issues like climate change.

On Monday, David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian received the 2021 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology “for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.” Fellow Kirstin Matthews praises their research on how capsaicin and TRP affect nerve cells as an accomplishment made possible by U.S. federal funding for and support of science.

In the push for decarbonization, "turquoise" hydrogen offers a unique, commercially viable technology that reduces CO2 emissions, argue Rachel A. Meidl and Kenneth B. Medlock III.

A bitter dispute about one of Poland's largest lignite mines — the source of electricity for millions, jobs for thousands, and serious environmental concerns for the region — highlights the hurdles communities around the world could face during attempts to phase out coal.

This brief lays out why COVID-related travel restrictions should be lifted at U.S.-Mexico land ports of entry, and recommends how to do it.