From the Headlines: Current Events in Science & Technology (9th-12th grade)
"From the Headlines: Current Events in Science & Technology" is a high school class that highlights emerging issues in science and technology.  Students read, reflect on, and discuss a handful of recent news stories each week, with a particular emphasis on issues in artificial intelligence/robotics, epidemiology, space exploration/commercialization, climatology, and genomics/biotechnology.
    The content of the class is different every semester, but typical news stories would include examples like those below:
    "Cellular reprogramming is now hailed by its supporters as the most promising scientific approach to improving human healthspans and lifespans. Proponents claim it has the potential to reshape how — and whether — we grow old. And later this year, a biotech company called Life Biosciences expects to file an application with the Food and Drug Administration to get approval for the first human trial of a version of the technique, according to Sharon Rosenzweig-Lipson, the company’s chief scientific officer. ... If you’ve never heard of cellular reprogramming, you’re hardly alone. A relatively new field, it began with the jaw-dropping 2006 revelation that just four genes could return even the oldest, most decrepit cell to a state resembling youth. ..."  https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2025/03/06/cellular-reprogramming-longevity-reverse-aging/
    "Commercial quadcopters have been on the mainstream gadget scene for 15 years, proliferating across industries and among hobbyists. ... So when researchers at the embedded-device security firm Red Balloon started seeing surprising quadcopter accessories on Chinese shopping platforms like Temu and AliExpress, they didn't think much of it at first. As with any popular gadget type, there's a whole ecosystem of niche, wacky, and comical add-ons available for drones. But the more Red Balloon CEO Ang Cui thought about it, the more unsettled he and his colleagues became about how cheap and easy it would be for anyone to buy seemingly disparate add-ons that could easily turn a mainstream quadcopter into a war machine. ... The fact that battlefield technology is widely available in the United States and around the world at low cost augurs a climate in which any actor—from criminal syndicates to paramilitary groups, from disgruntled employees to ostracized teens—can quickly and cheaply gather the needed equipment to remotely go on a destructive and violent rampage."  https://www.wired.com/story/drone-accessories-weapons-of-war
    "For many years, researchers have been working to build devices that can mimic photosynthesis—the process by which plants use sunlight and carbon dioxide to make their fuel. These artificial leaves use sunlight to separate water into oxygen and hydrogen, which could then be used to fuel cars or generate electricity. Now a research team has taken aim at creating more energy-dense fuels. ... The group’s device produces ethylene and ethane, proving that artificial leaves can create hydrocarbons. The development could offer a cheaper, cleaner way to make fuels, chemicals, and plastics."  www.technologyreview.com/2025/03/12/1113150/this-artificial-leaf-makes-hydrocarbons-out-of-carbon-dioxide
    "I believe that very soon — probably in 2026 or 2027, but possibly as soon as this year — one or more A.I. companies will claim they’ve created an artificial general intelligence, or A.G.I., which is usually defined as something like “a general-purpose A.I. system that can do almost all cognitive tasks a human can do.” I believe that when A.G.I. is announced, there will be debates over definitions and arguments about whether or not it counts as “real” A.G.I., but that these mostly won’t matter, because the broader point — that we are losing our monopoly on human-level intelligence, and transitioning to a world with very powerful A.I. systems in it — will be true. ... I believe that most people and institutions are totally unprepared for the A.I. systems that exist today, let alone more powerful ones, and that there is no realistic plan at any level of government to mitigate the risks or capture the benefits of these systems. ... I believe that whether you think A.G.I. will be great or terrible for humanity — and honestly, it may be too early to say — its arrival raises important economic, political and technological questions to which we currently have no answers. ..."  https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/technology/why-im-feeling-the-agi.html
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