Legislative action on the ballooning federal deficit is long overdue. Fellow John W. Diamond proposes a new nonpartisan fiscal commission to bypass congressional inaction on reform.

At least a dozen countries, including the U.S., have suspended funding to the United Nations agency that delivers aid to Palestinian refugees. The cuts fit a long-time pattern of the politicization of refugee aid, write Nicholas R. Micinski and Kelsey Norman.

Taiwan’s Jan. 13 elections saw voters assert an increasingly diverse and inclusive democratic identity. Allies and foes alike should take note, writes fellow Steven W. Lewis.

“Nearly one billion travelers pass through U.S. airports each year,” writes Alicia L. Johnson, civic science postdoctoral associate. In a new commentary, she outlines how the CDC’s genomic surveillance program, which monitors airport wastewater for traces of infectious disease, must balance public health and privacy concerns.

The work of Katalin Karikó, 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine recipient, laid a foundation for the development of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines that saved close to 20 million lives worldwide. But her discoveries almost did not happen, writes Alicia L. Johnson, a civic science postdoctoral associate at the Baker Institute Center for Health and Biosciences. Karikó’s story highlights the vital importance of supporting women in STEM.

The surprise attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas has raised a number of critical questions related to geopolitics, aid, energy, and other global affairs. Baker Institute fellows and scholars are continuing to provide expert analysis on the conflict.

Fellow Harris Eyre calls for strategic investments in R&D and the application of brain-related technologies to harness the full potential of our minds.

This is a summary of the call to action emerging from the Brain Health and Research Day at UNGA78.

Introduction

Countries face dynamic, multidimensional and interconnected crises. The pandemic, climate change, rising…

Federal marijuana legalization is on the horizon — and it’s time for the DEA to get behind the policy changes and move on to fighting more dangerous drugs, writes nonresident fellow Gary Hale.