Scientific American Custom Media Explores New Horizons in Safety Science at ULRI
UL Research Institutes is featured in New Horizons in Safety Science, a sponsored content series produced with Scientific American Custom Media that examines how safety science is adapting to a rapidly changing world. The series explores the growing risks tied to climate change, emerging technologies, and societal health, and the role of independent research in anticipating and reducing those risks.
Through reported stories and expert perspectives, the series explores ULRI’s work across three interconnected grand challenges: building resilience for a sustainable future, advancing individual and societal health, and promoting safety at the human–digital interface. Together, the articles illustrate how safety science is adapting in scale and scope, moving beyond testing existing technologies to informing the design of safer, next-generation solutions from the outset.
Several features focus on applied research with immediate real-world implications. One examines efforts to prevent lithium-ion battery fires and reduce the risk of catastrophic blazes in the wildland-urban interface, where communities and natural landscapes meet. Another highlights materials discovery research aimed at supporting climate resilience, including innovations to capture carbon, harvest water from air, and enable emerging clean energy technologies such as hydrogen power.
The report also addresses growing concerns around digital safety and public health, from the spread of digital threats to the long-term impacts of chemical exposures. Across these domains, the series underscores the importance of foundational research, data sharing, and collaboration in ensuring that safety science keeps pace with advances in technology and society.
ULRI also featured on ‘Science Quickly’ podcast
The series is complemented by a sponsored episode of Scientific American’s Science Quickly podcast, How the Science of Safety Helps Tackle Global Risks, featuring Chris Cramer, interim president and chief research officer at ULRI, who discusses the importance of open science, global collaboration, and data sharing in addressing complex, interconnected risks and accelerating progress for the public good. Listen to it below.
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