Not that we’re putting down forensic evidence—for all its faults, it has worked courtroom miracles across the globe.

Surveillance
After taking full advantage of the post-Patriot Act world, the FBI may finally be getting a legal—and Congressional—smackdown for its cavalier attitude towards people’s desire not to be spied on.

Science as a Defense
Big Tobacco’s massive hit—a class action settlement to the tune of $206 billion—struck a nerve with other industries, at least one of which is already whipping up some “solid” science to help mount a defense when/should the class actions commence. If it works, look for plenty more privately funded research labs in the near future.

Drug Lawsuits
From price inflation to deceptive advertising to injury class actions, drugmakers are spending plenty of time—and money—in the courts these days. And as more Big Pharma companies see their patents expire and the generic brands swoop in, look for drug companies to start filing suit against each other.

The Pharmaceutical Industry
As the race for new drugs grows ever tighter, Big Pharma companies have begun outsourcing R&D to China and India, while creeping ever closer to the “scientific research/private interests” divide. Meanwhile, activist groups are calling for greater social responsibility in the industry—and the the American Medical Students Association is calling for more policies on financial conflicts of interest—with good reason.

The Doctor Shortage
Conflicts of interest or no, we’re in for a serious shortage of doctors in the near future—bad news as the baby boomers hit their golden years. As for the doctors currently practicing, many of them are pretty unhappy.

Autism
While it may be more than just a brain disorder and may be linked to older dads, the number of diagnosed cases is on the rise—though whether that’s due to an increase in actual numbers or merely better diagnoses remains to be seen. One thing we’ve known for a while: It ain’t the vaccines, despite the fluke results of the Hannah Poling case.

Universal Health Care?
On the election front, Obama’s proposed health care plan involves creation of a public insurance program, with a $2,500 premium for middle class families, sliding-scale subsidies for low-income participants, and a prohibition on insurance companies turning people down for preexisting conditions.

McCain, meanwhile, wants to end tax breaks for employers—a particularly painful move given that employer health care costs are expected to rise nearly 10 percent in 2008—and stick in a tax credit to help people pay their health insurance bills—the larger goal being to shrink government involvement and avoid regulating insurance companies (though he would promote cost controls).

Whichever way the election goes, the winner would be wise to keep an eye on the benefits—and costs—of Massachusetts’s current universal health insurance program.

But the people—the American ones, at least—are still fond of their God-created species. Then again, maybe people’s stance on evolution depends on the way you ask the questions.

Science Finds God
Lest ye think that science and religion can never co-exist, some evolution-supporting scientists are totally into God. Others have even gone so far as to use one (science) to figure out the other (religion).

But regardless of where you come down on the question, the Vatican wants you to know that if we ever find alien life, “the extraterrestrial is [our] brother“—offering a new dimension to The Brother From Another Planet.

In the Courts
Intelligent design in schools may have died its legal, if not popular, death in Kitzmiller v. The Dover Area School District. But creationists have decided to rebrand: Now they’re advocating teaching about the “strengths and weaknesses” of evolution. Hopefully this new rephrasing will also get bounced out of a federal court within the next few years.

Next question: What are we going to do about it? Thus far, Europe has been looking to the cap-and-trade system, which hasn’t been without its bumps. Despite the troubles it’s had in the U.S. so far, chances are it’ll be adopted here at some point after November.

There’s also the idea of sequestering all that carbon, an option that states like New York—as well as the Big Oil companies—have embraced.

Plus there’s no forgetting methane, the greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Efforts to dampen the most egregious methane emitters have focused on its biggest source: livestock burps. Luckily, there’s research in the works to, er, rectify the problem.

And, of course, there’s always the notion of using less carbon in the first place. Social awareness of carbon footprints is at an all-time high, and everyone from regular Joes to magazines is working to decrease their carbon trail. Alternative energy could play a major part in our efforts—for more on this, see Reality Check: Energy.

The Food Crisis
On the other end of the spectrum, the global food crisis is threatening to leave more than 1 billion hungry, and causing turmoil from Pakistan to American grocery stores. A U.N. summit of world leaders has pledged to push down food prices, boost agriculture, and ease trade restrictions as a common response—though not without considerable politicking first. Muddying the water even more is the rise of biofuels, meaning less crops for food and more for your greedy car.

Food Legislation
The $307 billion farm bill passed this year by Congress extended just about every federal food subsidy on the books, leading to criticism that it didn’t do enough to encourage farmers to move towards more natural and healthier growing. Still, the bill’s local food initiative, community food projects, and organic agriculture funding did leave some happy—though “organic” can still be a somewhat “flexible” moniker.

Nuclear Weapons
The number of nukes in the world—as well as the number of countries that have them—isn’t dropping any time soon, leaving scientists worried about the environmental fallout should one or more of them ever be used.

Military Technology
Can robots commit war crimes? It’s worth discussing, as robotic weapons technology continues to reach new levels of sophistication. Meanwhile, weapons advancements are emerging from labs as fast as scientists can generate them—with inspiration sometimes coming from the unlikeliest of places. Innovation hasn’t been restricted to deadly weapons—the non-lethal side has seen development of ideas from heat beams to laser guns to taser shotguns.

Medical Advances
Estimates on the number of American soldiers sustaining both physical and mental injuries in Iraq have officially passed 30,000 (and unofficially reached 100,000), and researchers have been developing ever-more creative ways of treating their wounds.

Stem Cell Research
The current President’s position on funding for stem cell research hasn’t exactly been friendly. But hope glints on the horizon: Obama has vowed to overturn Bush’s restrictions, and even McCain has announced he will support federal funding—though with strings attached.

Biofuels
Iowa’s role in the presidential caucuses gave ethanol a boost, and McCain has stated that he “see[s] a bright future for ethanol”—though he’s admittedly “wary” of government subsidies for the fuel, and his support has appeared to wane in the wake of rising food prices. Obama, meanwhile, has pledged to boost the renewable fuel standard to at least 60 billion gallons by 2030 and require that all new vehicles be “flexfuel” by 2012.

Emissions
While McCain is sticking by his 2007 bill to cut emissions 30 percent by 2050, Obama takes it up a notch, calling for an 80 percent slash of emissions below 1990 levels by 2050.

Alaskan Drilling
For once, they’re all agreed: Both Obama and McCain are in support of leaving the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge alone.

Luckily, scientists have been hard at work searching for ways to mitigate the global warming impact of fossil fuels, such as carbon dioxide storing technology at coal plants—though you may not want to hold your breath for the “clean coal” movement.

Biofuels
Instead of using petroleum, which is imported, pollution-causing, and slowly disappearing, why not simply power your car with plants of all shapes and sizes? But when something sounds too good to be true, it often is, and our favorite new fuel alternative may wind up being a damaging and waste-producing dud—and one that’s winning us no friends in the international arena.

Meanwhile, researchers soldier on with effort to produce fuel from cellulosic plants—which sounds great in theory, but hasn’t been so great in practice.

Solar, Wind, and Geothermal
This oft-forgotten trio has shown lots of promise, and now a few large-scale realizations are finally underway, such as the U.S. Air Force base in Nevada powered entirely with solar panels.

As for cost, while solar power remains more expensive than regular electricity, experts are looking for a solution that would up its economic viability. Wind, meanwhile, is getting increasingly competitive. And for those looking toward an innovative future, keep an eye out for solar power gathered in space.

Nuclear Power
Yes, it has an image problem. But is it really warranted? Given its efficiency and relative environmental purity, maybe it’s time to turn back to the green glowing standby.

Scientists have been getting results with microRNAs, which have been used to successfully differentiate stem cells, and have even managed to re-start dead animal hearts using cell transplantation. Meanwhile, for women, the stem cells in your menstrual blood may come in handy for your health down the road—though exactly how handy remains to be seen.

And while the longterm political and religious furor over stem cells continues to rage on, the ongoing development of embryonic stem cell-like cells raise scientists’ hopes for miracle cures that would make even the Pope happy.

Bioengineered Meat
Meat is in trouble. Between inhumane farming practices, an increase in livestock-borne diseases, and the problems inherent in generating enough beef, pork, and chicken to feed an ever-growing population, a carnivorous future isn’t looking rosy. So leave it to scientists to begin developing lab-grown meat, created from cells of living animals. The “lab meat movement” has made “glacial progress” in the past few years, to the point where PETA has offered a $1 million prize to the first scientist/s who can “produce commercially viable quantities” of it by 2012. After that, all that’s left is finding a way to rid consumers of the “ick factor.”

Cloning
On the human end, cloning and controversy have gone hand in hand. After a scandal involving a fake cloned human embryo in 2006, the real deal may have finally been achieved. But that hasn’t stopped the widespread calls for a ban.

But when it comes to animals, it’s been the more the merrier since Dolly hit the scene in 1997. The FDA has now decreed that cloned cows are safe to eat, and soon, for the bargain price of around $100,000, you can have your beloved spaniel or retriever cloned as well.

Engineering New Life
Can life be created and manipulated synthetically, and enabled to do things that Mother Nature never could have imagined? Scientists have certainly been game to find out. From fabricating a malaria drug by mashing genes from different species into a single microbe to manufacturing a bacterium’s complete genome and then transferring it to another species, bioengineers have been revolutionizing the field—and raising some concern as to whether their work could be harnessed for harm as well as good.

The Mind/Machine Connection
Controlling machines with your mind is no longer a sci-fi stunt—recent studies have transformed it into a reality. Researchers at Brown took the first giant leap toward a human-electronics connection, enabling a quadriplegic to control a prosthetic hand with only his mind. Their work has now been duplicated in an even more sophisticated test—this time with monkeys.