As millions of adolescents head back to school, what can science tell us about how the isolation and upheaval of the past year-and-a-half have affected their mental health and development?

The pandemic reshaped a range of human rituals, from handshakes to happy hours to weddings. In a recent Science & Entertainment Exchange webinar, psychologist Cristine Legare discussed why rituals matter and how COVID-19 revamped them.

The Transportation Research Board’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) today announced nine winners of its annual Graduate Research Awards.

Yesenia Aguilar Silvan, a Ford Fellow and a doctoral student in clinical psychology, studies the barriers that keep young people from getting mental health care and what can be done to overcome these obstacles.

For the first time since the pandemic struck, many colleges and universities are bringing students back to campus at full capacity. Their administrators are turning to new strategies and incentives to get students vaccinated against COVID-19.

A multidisciplinary committee representing 11 nations will plan the Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing, to be held in London March 7-9, 2022. The NAS and NAM join other international partners in organizing the summit, which will build upon previous events held in Washington, D.C. and Hong Kong.

Eleven years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the Gulf Research Program’s Offshore Situation Room event examined how to make sure another offshore oil spill doesn’t happen — and how we can be better prepared if it does.

Seasonal influenza and the next influenza pandemic could emerge at any time. Four new reports examine lessons learned from COVID-19 that can improve preparedness for an influenza pandemic, including vaccine R&D, supply chain resilience, and non-vaccine public health measures.

On May 20, 2021, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a virtual convening of public health and communications practitioners to examine the challenges, opportunities, and lessons they saw while executing effective communications and community engagement in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.S. should undertake a new research program to better understand the potential risks and benefits of ocean-based interventions to remove or sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and learn how these methods could be used to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Industry leaders, policymakers, administrators, and researchers will gather in person from Jan. 9 to 13 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., for the 101st annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB).

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many older Americans experienced social isolation or loneliness, which can impact both mental and physical health. Carla Perissinotto, a geriatrician who served on a National Academies study committee that examined the topic, reflected on her patients’ experiences during the pandemic and what we’ve learned.

A new National Academies consultation outlines strategies that decision-makers could use to address long-standing challenges and mitigate the effects of COVID-19 in the early child care and education sector.

The National Academies are partnering with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to administer a new funding opportunity that aims to recognize and further the leadership and scientific accomplishments of excellent biomedical researchers who — through outreach, mentoring, and teaching — have a record of promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in their fields.

As the omicron variant of the coronavirus sweeps through the U.S. and other parts of the world — and with the possibility of emerging new variants looming — building confidence in vaccines has become even more important. How can knowledge from the social sciences inform effective communication around vaccines?

To maintain U.S. global leadership and meet societal challenges — including generating medical advances, furthering the energy transition, and making food and water safer and more sustainable — new investments, collaborations, and educational practices in the chemical engineering field are needed.

The COVID-19 pandemic and more frequent wildfires have highlighted the need for respiratory protection for the public and all types of workers, including essential and gig economy workers. A new report recommends frameworks to ensure both groups receive timely access to appropriate respiratory protective devices and guidance on their effective use.

Experts discuss the future of ocean-based approaches to carbon dioxide removal — including the ethics of investigating proposed strategies, how research can respond to public concerns, and what we need to know to make informed climate decisions.

The world faces enormous challenges of unprecedented complexity—problems that intertwine in a dizzyingly interconnected, interdependent, and changing landscape. Few of them—especially those dealing with energy, environment, and social structures—admit clean solutions with clear endpoints.

The new Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communication aim to recognize and develop excellence in science communication by research scientists and by early career, local, and freelance science journalists. The program will provide winners with cash awards as well as training and resources to further expand their communications skills.

A recent report — and the subject of an upcoming symposium — examines what’s driving the underrepresentation of women of color in tech education and careers, and how universities and tech companies can help remedy it.

Almost 110,000 Americans are waiting for organ transplants, but there are significant inequities in who gets access to the waiting list and an eventual transplant. A new report recommends several policy changes to create a more fair, equitable, and patient-focused system for organ allocation.

A presidential commission on bioethics has not been appointed since 2017. The Biden administration should reinstate a presidential bioethics advisory commission to help inform policy decisions that have bioethical implications, urge the NAS and NAM presidents and other experts.

In 1998, the National Cancer Institute undertook a review of available knowledge about cigars. A new National Academies consensus study report provides a comprehensive update to the 1998 report. Steven Teutsch, the chair of the committee that wrote the report, shared some of the report’s key findings and research recommendations to move the field forward.

The Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine announced the award of $22 million to support three consortia that will undertake the third phase of the Understanding Gulf Ocean Systems (UGOS) program.

The emergence of biological physics as a field has had an impact on artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, the global response to COVID-19, and more. A new report outlines research directions and recommends ways federal agencies and universities can help strengthen the field’s future.

Many scientists and researchers are among the millions of Ukrainians who have fled their country since the Russian invasion. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences has launched a new initiative to help these researchers and their families resettle in Poland.

Neil Pedersen, executive director of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, announced he will retire in the early fall of 2022. The National Academies will launch a nationwide search for Pedersen’s successor.

Assessing the success of ecological restoration efforts since the Deepwater Horizon platform explosion and oil spill in 2010 will require continued improvements in data analysis and coordination across the Gulf of Mexico region.

A new decadal survey presents a comprehensive plan for the fields of planetary science and astrobiology, identifying priority missions, planetary defense efforts, strategic technology and infrastructure investments, and ways to support the profession.

The Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education today released three new individually authored publications to serve as resources for higher education institutions as they work to prevent sexual harassment and mitigate the damage it causes.

This description of practice summarizes the development and implementation of a policy by the University of Wisconsin (UW) System to prevent “passing the harasser,” a term that denotes a known harasser transitioning from one institution to another without (1) the new employer’s knowledge of previous violations of sexual harassment policy or ongoing investigations of such violations, and/or (2) facing disciplinary action.

The description of practice below summarizes the development and implementation of a policy by the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) to prevent “passing the harasser,” a term that denotes a known harasser transitioning from one institution to another without (1) the new employer’s knowledge of previous violations of sexual harassment policy or ongoing investigations of such violations, and/or (2) facing disciplinary action.

Our new visual identity is here. Drawing on the rich history and visual heritage of the National Academies, our new identity supports the work of the scientists, engineers, and health care professionals who work with us to offer their best advice to the nation.

A new report examines how the U.S. Department of Defense can increase the capacity of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and other minority institutions to conduct defense and national security research.

To modernize the consumer price index — the most widely used measure of inflation in the U.S. — the Bureau of Labor Statistics should accelerate its use of new sources of data and develop price indexes based on different income levels, says a new report.

Automated research workflows — which integrate computation, laboratory automation, and tools from artificial intelligence — have the potential to increase the speed of research activities and accelerate scientific discovery. A new report recommends ways to advance their development.

The Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine was an active contributor at the first in-person Gulf of Mexico Conference (GoMCon) held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, from April 25-28. The four-day conference gathered more than 800 researchers, resource managers, and interested stakeholders, and highlighted the intersection of scientific research and the management of human and natural systems in the Gulf of Mexico region.

Lack of representation in research is compounding disparities in health outcomes, with serious consequences for underrepresented groups and the nation as a whole. Urgent actions are needed by NIH, FDA, and others to boost representation of racial and ethnic minority groups and other underrepresented populations in clinical trials and research.

At a recent event, acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Alondra Nelson discussed the urgent need to improve equity in science, and the role community engagement can play in tackling the problems that lay ahead.

The recently passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act presents a unique opportunity for the U.S. to improve its transportation, water, communication, and energy systems.

As health care delivery systems increasingly depend on technology, the expertise of clinical engineers in the use and management of this technology is critical for achieving best outcomes. In a new NAE Perspective, Thomas Judd and Yadin David discuss the indispensable role of clinical engineers in merging technology at the point of care.

Science academies from the G-7 nations issued statements urging their governments to take action on four global challenges — developing antiviral drugs to prepare for future pandemics, speeding progress on decarbonization, protecting the oceans and sea ice, and implementing a One Health approach to zoonotic disease and antimicrobial resistance.

The CDC’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine should create an effective and innovative quarantine station model to confront new challenges in preventing the spread of infectious diseases in the U.S., and requires new investment and regulatory reforms to do so.

The COVID-19 pandemic shaped many people’s choices about whether and when to have children. A recent webinar explored the pandemic’s impact on birth rates, longer-term trends in U.S. birth rates, and why it matters for policy.

The Transportation Research Board’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) has selected winners for its annual University Design Competition for Addressing Airport Needs. Now in its 16th year, the prestigious competition encourages students to design innovative and practical solutions to challenges at airports.

The Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine announced $4.6 million in awards to support three project teams undertaking research to improve the forecasting of sea level rise along the Gulf Coast of the United States.

Maintaining U.S. leadership in chemical research will require continued and sustained support — including federal agency funding for chemical research projects, private investment in research and development, and efforts to attract international research talent.

A range of ‘climate-smart’ farming practices have the potential to lower greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and help sequester carbon dioxide emitted by other parts of the economy. A recent webinar explored how to expand use of these practices.

The COVID-19 pandemic, wildfires, and other hazards have highlighted major gaps in the nation’s system for ensuring timely access to respirators and masks for the public and for many workers. A recent report and two webinars examined ways to fill these gaps.