This commentary was originally published by Defense One on August 1, 2025. Defense strategy has become a booming enterprise, yet its core themes often boil down to a single word—or just a few. Donald Rumsfeld’s tenure in the Pentagon was defined by “transformation,” while Lloyd Austin’s strategy (PDF) emphasized “campaigning” and “integrated deterrence.” Robert Gates… Continue reading Writing a Defense Strategy That Sticks
New Method Is the Fastest Way To Find the Best Routes
If you want to solve a tricky problem, it often helps to get organized. You might, for example, break the problem into pieces and tackle the easiest pieces first. But this kind of sorting has a cost. You may end up spending too much time putting the pieces in order. This dilemma is especially relevant… Continue reading New Method Is the Fastest Way To Find the Best Routes
Russia’s Use of Crypto Schemes
To maintain access to international markets in the face of Western economic pressure, Russia is increasingly turning to noncurrency payment schemes. The state has strong incentives to obscure its transactions and reduce reliance on fiat currencies (such as the dollar or euro) to evade sanctions and avoid scrutiny. This month, the head of Rosfinmonitoring, Russia’s… Continue reading Russia’s Use of Crypto Schemes
How Can Math Protect Our Data?
Every time data travels — from smartphones to the cloud, or across the vacuum of space — it relies on a silent but vigilant guardian in the form of error-correcting codes. These codes, baked into nearly every digital system, are designed to detect and repair any errors that noise, interference or cosmic rays might inflict.… Continue reading How Can Math Protect Our Data?
Leading States Offer a Roadmap to Jobs of the Future
It’s hard to plan for jobs of the future that promise to be vastly different. But the future is rapidly approaching in advanced manufacturing. How can state governments, education and training organizations, and employers start to collaborate now to create these new jobs? Manufacturing jobs a decade, or even five years, from now will require… Continue reading Leading States Offer a Roadmap to Jobs of the Future
‘It’s a Mess’: A Brain-Bending Trip to Quantum Theory’s 100th Birthday Party
Those Who Don’t Know The evening before Fuchs and I had lunch, he had given the first official physics talk of the conference, a lightning review of QBism and a report on some conjectures in number theory that QBist thinking had helped him make recent progress on. His closing words at the end of the… Continue reading ‘It’s a Mess’: A Brain-Bending Trip to Quantum Theory’s 100th Birthday Party
A Science-Based Strategy for Preventing Veteran Suicide: There’s Room at the Table for Everyone
Veteran suicide remains a critical issue in the United States, claiming more than 6,000 lives annually. The suicide rate among veterans exceeds that of nonveterans and for two decades has been rising at a faster pace. Despite significant efforts by government and private sectors, the problem persists. In recent research, we took stock of existing… Continue reading A Science-Based Strategy for Preventing Veteran Suicide: There’s Room at the Table for Everyone
These Contacts Let You See Infrared Light—Even with Your Eyes Closed
New Contacts Let You See Infrared Light—Even with Your Eyes Closed Straight out of science fiction, these contact lenses convert infrared light into visible light that humans can see By Elizabeth Gibney & Nature magazine People who tested a new type of designer contact lens could see flashing infrared signals from a light source. Yuqian… Continue reading These Contacts Let You See Infrared Light—Even with Your Eyes Closed
The Health Care System Is Broken—and Prior Authorization Is a Big Part of the Problem
The U.S. health care landscape is undergoing historic change—from Medicare drug price negotiations to rising public scrutiny of insurance practices. As policymakers have increasingly focused on addressing administrative waste, prior authorization has become a top priority. In June, several private insurers pledged to address the issue of prior authorization. They promised to reduce the number… Continue reading The Health Care System Is Broken—and Prior Authorization Is a Big Part of the Problem
Why Did The Universe Begin?
Most cosmologists agree that our universe had a beginning. But the finer details about the Big Bang remain a mystery. A history of everything would explain all, or so theoretical physicists hoped. In his final years, Stephen Hawking working with Thomas Hertog proposed a striking idea: The laws of physics were not precisely determined before… Continue reading Why Did The Universe Begin?