This is my last editorial before moving on to other things. The IEEE Computer Society has a policy, which I strongly applaud, of term limits for editors in chief, and I’ve reached the end of mine. Four years has been long enough to put my stamp on the magazine’s direction, but not so long as to cast it permanently into concrete. I have great faith that the magazine will be in good hands and tha...

a Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Graduate Program, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, U.S.A. b Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, U.S.A. c Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, U.S.A. d Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, U.S.A. e Department of Biology, University of Okl...

Claims based on observational studies that a treatment has certain effects are often met with counterclaims asserting that the treatment is entirely without effect, that all associations with treatment are produced by biased treatment assignment. Some counterclaims undermine themselves in the following specific sense: presuming the counterclaim to be true may strengthen the support that the ori...

The (so-called) pharmaceutical safety system is struggling. Part of the problem is failure to define the complexity of the system and design processes which are evidenced based and both adaptable and flexible for those who work in them. The size of the challenge is huge and global. This is why ACRES (Alliance Clinical Research Excellence and Safety) was established as a not-for-profit internati...

For centuries, the wisdom of the West of investing in basic science and technology led to its dominance in world politics and economics. Today, this wisdom is being put aside: fundamental research is losing its appeal to funding agencies and as a professional asset for job hunters. This state of affairs could exacerbate a dearth of innovations and lead to a transition of the "haves" into the "h...