Publication Archive

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Climate & Energy
day one project
Policy Memo
Modernizing Colorado’s Canals to Save Water Lost in Transit

About 86% of Colorado’s water is used for agriculture, but only about 30-60% of that water actually reaches crops. Conveyance efficiency through canal modernization is a powerful drought resilience and water saving strategy with proven technical feasibility.

08.24.26 | 12 min read
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Global Risk
Blog
AI Didn’t Invent Existential Risk

“One thing became increasingly clear: AI doesn’t simply introduce a new category of risk. It changes the speed, scale, complexity, and interaction of risks that already exist.”

08.21.26 | 3 min read
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Climate & Energy
Blog
Conspiracy Theories Are Not a Good Reason to Ban Geoengineering Research

In an ideal world, we would not have state or federal climate intervention research bans. We would have researchers and institutions that would not shy away from revealing the good, the bad, and the ugly of these technologies and doing so responsibly.

08.20.26 | 7 min read
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Emerging Technology
Blog
Experimenting with Science and Structure in Government

“What excites me is that it’s very tempting to be very discouraged, and say, ‘Oh, we’ve got these archaic institutions that are calcified and you could never change them.’ But I think we’re in the middle of a technological revolution that will upend lots of things, and does provide a window.”

08.20.26 | 22 min read
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Climate & Energy
Blog
Let’s Build America’s Climate and Health Capacity Together

Ask people what worries them most right now, and they’ll say the cost of living and their livelihoods, not climate change. But those concerns are not separate.

08.19.26 | 4 min read
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Government Capacity
Article
Cancer Risk Is Still There, Even If the Data Isn’t

After a year-long delay, this April, EPA released the latest air toxics data, which only included raw air data downloads. This year, for the first time in nearly 25 years, the air toxics data did not include cancer risk estimates. 

08.17.26 | 6 min read
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Global Risk
Article
Debris-Creating Anti-Satellite Tests Score Low on Strategic and Military Benefits

In the current environment of declining trust and magnifying strategic competition, banning debris-creating tests is a concrete step towards stability that favors interests of all states seeking to conduct space activities.

08.13.26 | 10 min read
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State & Local Innovation
Article
How We Found Eight Data Center Community Benefit Agreements and Why It Matters

Often negotiations between data center developers and local officials are conducted behind closed doors, protected by NDAs. How can we have an informed debate, when we don’t know what’s on the table? 

08.11.26 | 5 min read
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Government Capacity
Article
How Do We Track Terminations of Federal Data?

As federal data policy nerds, the question we get asked all the time is “How much data has the current administration terminated?”

08.10.26 | 11 min read
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Global Risk
Blog
Google Introduces Deepfake Satellite Imagery: “It’s Fun!”

Google’s motto famously used to be “don’t be evil.” However, its latest feature has just made being evil a whole lot easier. 

07.31.26 | 5 min read
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FAS
Blog
What Does it Take to Deliver a New Golden Age?

The public will judge the next era of American science by the innovation that touches their lives through the new cures, products, and opportunities created within their communities.

07.30.26 | 3 min read
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Climate & Energy
Article
How Methane Emissions Events Impact Air Quality and Put Human Health at Risk

99% of the natural gas sampled near the point of extraction across the country contains hazardous air pollutants harmful to health.

07.30.26 | 11 min read
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