This book describes the evolving CBRN risk landscape and highlights advances in the “core” CBRN technologies, including when combined with (improvised) explosive devices (CBRNe threats). It analyses how associated technologies create new safety and security risks, challenging certain assumptions that underlie current control regimes. The book also shows how technologies can be enablers for more effective strategies to mitigate these risks. 21st-century safety and security risks emanating from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials – whether resulting from natural events, accidents or malevolent use - are increasingly shaped by technologies that enable their development, production or use in ways that differ from the past. Artificial intelligence, the use of cyberspace, the revolution in the life sciences, new manufacturing methods, new platforms and equipment for agent delivery, hypersonic weapons systems, information tools utilised in hybrid warfare – these and other technologies are reshaping the global security environment and CBRN landscape. They are leading to a growing potential for highly targeted violence, and they can lead to greater instability and vulnerability worldwide. At the same time, technology offers solutions to manage CBRN risks. Examples are faster detection, more accurate characterisation of the nature and origin of CBRN agents, new forensic investigation methods, or new medical treatments for victims of CBRN incidents. New educational concepts help to foster a culture of responsibility in science and technology and strengthen governance. New training methods help develop practical skills to manage CBRN risks more effectively. The book concludes that there is a growing need for a holistic framework towards CBRN risk mitigation. Traditional arms control mechanisms such as global, regional or bilateral treaties and export controls are still needed, as they provide a necessary legal and institutional framework. But laws and technology denial alone will not suffice, and institutional mechanisms can at times be weak. Given the pace of technological progress and the diffusion of critical knowledge, tools and materials, policymakers must accept that CBRN risks cannot be eliminated altogether. Instead, society has to learn to manage these risks and develop resilience against them. This requires a “softer”, broadly based multi-stakeholder approach involving governments, industry, the research and development communities, educators, and civil society. Furthermore, educating policymakers that cutting-edge technologies may seriously affect global strategic stability could create incentives for developing a more creative and contemporary arms control strategy that fosters cooperation rather than incremental polarisation.

The myth of Prometheus has long served as a symbol of the industrialization and individualism of the modern world, yet Arthur Mitzman aims to demonstrate an alternative conception emphasizing creativity over productivity, and a harmonious union with nature rather than its technocratic conquest.

Description: Private higher education is perhaps the most rapidly growing segment of postsecondary education worldwide. In this collection, the authors provide a multifaceted and comparative analysis of private higher education and consider both broad issues and specific case studies. The only book currently available to lend an international focus to this subject, it examines such topics as accreditation, funding, and the impact of the market in the context of Latin American, European, and Asian higher education, and is a unique and invaluable study for researchers and policymakers alike. Including case studies from Hungary, India, Mexico, Chile, and Malaysia, this book offers new perspectives on such key issues as the relationship of private higher education to social and economic development, competition among institutions, and the association between government and private universities. As private higher education has the potential to provide postsecondary access while limiting public expenditure, it is a significant subject that has thus far been accorded only the narrowest attention. This groundbreaking collection analyzes for the first time its implications in a variety of countries, both developed and developing.

This book tells the dramatic story of Crispr and the potential impact of this gene-editing technology.

"A rare insight into industrial planning on a huge scale...Excellent." --The Economist Rescuing Prometheus is an eye-opening and marvelously informative look at some of the technological projects that helped shape the modern world. Thomas P. Hughes focuses on four postwar projects whose vastness and complexity inspired new technology, new organizations, and new management styles. The first use of computers to run systems was developed for the SAGE air defense project. The Atlas missile project was so complicated it required the development of systems engineering in order to complete it. The Boston Central Artery/Tunnel Project tested systems engineering in the complex crucible of a large scale civilian roadway. And finally, the origins of the Internet fostered the collegial management style that later would take over Silicon Valley and define the modern computer industry. With keen insight, Hughes tells these fascinating stories while providing a riveting history of modern technology and the management systems that made it possible.

From Grandmaster Robert A. Heinlein comes a long-lost first novel, written in 1939 and never before published, introducing ideas and themes that would shape his career and define the genre that is synonymous with his name. July 12, 1939: Perry Nelson is driving along the palisades when suddenly another vehicle swerves into his lane, a tire blows out, and his car careens off the road and over a bluff. The last thing he sees before his head connects with the boulders below is a girl in a green bathing suit, prancing along the shore.... When he wakes, the girl in green is a woman dressed in furs and the sun-drenched shore has transformed into snowcapped mountains. The woman, Diana, rescues Perry from the bitter cold and takes him inside her home to rest and recuperate. Later they debate the cause of the accident, for Diana is unfamiliar with the concept of a tire blowout and Perry cannot comprehend snowfall in mid-July. Then Diana shares with him a vital piece of information: The date is now January 7. The year...2086. When his shock subsides, Perry begins an exhaustive study of global evolution over the past 150 years. He learns, among other things, that a United Europe was formed and led by Edward, Duke of Windsor; former New York City mayor LaGuardia served two terms as president of the United States; the military draft was completely reconceived; banks became publicly owned and operated; and in the year 2003, two helicopters destroyed the island of Manhattan in a galvanizing act of war. This education in the ways of the modern world emboldens Perry to assimilate to life in the twenty-first century. But education brings with it inescapable truths—the economic and legal systems, the government, and even the dynamic between men and women remain alien to Perry, the customs of the new day continually testing his mental and emotional resolve. Yet it is precisely his knowledge of a bygone era that will serve Perry best, as the man from 1939 seems destined to lead his newfound peers even further into the future than they could have imagined. A classic example of the future history that Robert Heinlein popularized during his career, For Us, The Living marks both the beginning and the end of an extraordinary arc of political, social, and literary crusading that comprises his legacy. Heinlein could not have known in 1939 how the world would change over the course of one and a half centuries, but we have our own true world history to compare with his brilliant imaginings, rendering For Us, The Living not merely a novel, but a time capsule view into our past, our present, and perhaps our future. The novel is presented here with an introduction by acclaimed science fiction writer Spider Robinson and an afterword by Professor Robert James of the Heinlein Society.

This report “Physical Chemistry: The Continuing Gifts of Prometheus” serves two purposes. The first, is to impart a living, joyous sense of the difference between mere money and true value. The qualitative nature of real human advancement is best seen in broad terms by looking at the changing use of fire, from which Prometheus says man “shall learn many arts.” From wood to coal to nuclear power, the platforms for activity provided by these power sources mark successive stages of human economic development. In this report, we will use the development of physical chemistry, whose origins stretch to the beginning of human prehistory, with the uses of fire to change materials, from the birth of metallurgy to today's semiconductors and nuclear science, to give an image of true physical value. The second purpose, is to sketch out the foundation for a human future based upon this concept of Promethean value. Value, which lies in what will be brought about in the future, can always be expressed in specific, wide-ranging goals. The specific goals that will measure the depth of our powers to develop will be covered briefly: the development of controlled nuclear fusion and theimplementation of continental water management. Reference is made to our previous Special Report: “Nuclear NAWAPA XXI: Gateway to the Fusion Economy.” Prometheus was a true non-mythical historical personality, who endured the wrath of the god Zeus for daring to bring “fire” from heaven to man (along with poetry, astronomy, and science in general). Though chained by Zeus to a rock to have the torture of an eagle devouring his liver every day, Prometheus was unawed by Zeus's power to punish him, and held him in utter contempt.The story of the Olympian god Zeus and Prometheus the Fire-Bringer is not fictional, not a piece of idle drama. Here we find the most pure expression of the fight that has dominated large-scale political and economic conflict throughout mankind's existence. We find the essence of the confrontation between an oligarchical outlook, in which some few rulers maintain capricious power over (preferably stupefied) masses, and the humanist outlook—in which the true identity of every human being as a potential genius is embraced and in which providing the opportunity (physical, moral, and emotional) for every individual to lead a functionally immortal life is the ultimate goal. “Every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.” Our exploration of the successful applications of this Promethean power will take us through four main fields, which can all be grouped under the general concept of physical chemistry. These fields are: metallurgy, the birth of modern chemistry, the world of electromagnetism, and the science of the nucleus. After our voyage, we'll be able to reach new conclusions. . . . “Though they had eyes to see, they saw to no avail.” What really matters? What matters to us of peoplefrom three millenia ago? Those who developed bronze or made their lives possible contributed something of unquestionably durable importance to human civilization, an evolution of the species: not a genetic evolution, but a super-genetic one. What do the lives of those who wasted their potential in dissipating pleasures mean to us today? What opportunity for long-lasting contributions are afforded to those subject to grinding poverty, unable, by their conditions of life, to develop their mental faculties? Truly, creating the conditions for the elevation of allmembers of the human race, to being meaningfully human, is the greatest of political goals, and the most noble aspiration for the life of any individual. This is the Promethean outlook, and it can no longer coexist with the oligarchical. — Jason Ross