A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that examines the regulations governing federally funded research recommends that Congress authorize and the president appoint an independent national commission to examine and update the ethical, legal, and institutional frameworks governing research involving human subjects.

Rising levels of noise in the ocean have been identified as a growing concern for the well-being of marine mammals, but other threats such as pollution, climate change, and prey depletion by fisheries may also harm marine mammals and influence their response to additional noise.

Clinical trials for genome editing of the human germline – adding, removing, or replacing DNA base pairs in gametes or early embryos – could be permitted in the future, but only for serious conditions under stringent oversight, says a new report from the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) carries out experiments in which volunteer participants agree to be intentionally exposed by inhalation to specific pollutants at restricted concentrations over short periods to obtain important information about the effects of outdoor air pollution on human health.

At the spring 2017 meeting of the CHR, Professor José Torero—the John L. Bryan Chair in Fire Protection Engineering and Director of the Center for Disaster Resilience at the University of Maryland—spoke to members about his efforts to help protect human rights through the investigation of several high-profile fires.

During the National Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting, the CHR held a breakfast briefing to highlight issues surrounding digital security and human rights. The meeting featured John Scott-Railton of The Citizen Lab, who spoke about the use of digital surveillance and technologies to target members of civil society worldwide.

A new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine proposes a strategy that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should use to evaluate the evidence of adverse human health effects from low doses of exposure to chemicals that can disrupt the endocrine system.

New Report Outlines Research Agenda to Better Understand the Relationship Among Microbiomes, Indoor Environments, and Human Health

An emerging body of evidence suggests that integrating STEMM fields (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine) with the humanities and arts in higher education is associated with positive learning outcomes that may help students enter the workforce, live enriched lives, and become active and informed citizens, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

An international, multidisciplinary organizing committee has been appointed to plan the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing, which will take place Nov. 27-29 in Hong Kong.

Improved understanding of the coupled natural-human coastal system will help promote resilience of coastal communities and ecosystems under rapidly changing environmental conditions and support informed decision-making, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

On the eve of the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing, we were informed of the birth of twins in China whose embryonic genomes had been edited.

Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, welcomed hundreds of participants from around the world to the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing, which began today.

In December 2015, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and U.S. National Academy of Medicine, the Royal Society of the United Kingdom, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences hosted an international summit in Washington, D.C., to discuss scientific, ethical, and governance issues associated with human genome editing.

We thank the organizing committee of the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing, held this week in Hong Kong, for planning an important and timely conference on a rapidly advancing area of science and medicine.

To assess the effects of Venezuelas ongoing health crisis, CHR member Dr. Chris Beyrer organized and supported a team of public health and medical professionals from Johns Hopkins University that joined researchers from Human Rights Watch on a trip to Venezuelas borders.

A new publication from the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, provides a brief summary of presentations and discussions at the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing, held in Hong Kong on Nov. 27-29, 2018.

International Day for the Right to Truth concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims Today, on the International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims, we are sharing our interview with forensic anthropologist Mercedes Doretti, the Director of North and Central American Programs and Board Member of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF), which she also co-founded. Doretti and her colleagues collect and analyze physical evidence of human rights abuses (which often includes identifying the remains of victims of grave human rights abuses and returning them to their families), and they regularly present their findings to tribunals and legal mechanisms around the world to secure justice for those whose rights to life and personal security have been violated.

The Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine today announced a new funding opportunity under its Healthy Ecosystems Initiative.

An international commission has been convened by the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Society of the U.K., with the participation of science and medical academies around the world, to develop a framework for scientists, clinicians, and regulatory authorities to consider when assessing potential clinical applications of human germline genome editing.

In celebration of World Humanitarian Day, we are highlighting efforts by volunteers with Engineers Without Borders USA to help create and sustain job opportunities in refugee communities. Through such efforts, the organization helps individuals from these communities exercise their right to work.

The International Commission on the Clinical Use of Human Germline Genome Editing is tasked with identifying the scientific, medical, and ethical requirements to consider when assessing potential clinical applications of human germline genome editing — if society concludes that heritable human genome editing applications are acceptable.

In just a few years, digital technologies have allowed faster mobilization in response to humanitarian crises, better documentation of war crimes in conflict zones like Syria and Yemen, and more accessible platforms for organizing peaceful demonstrations around the world.

A Conversation with the Sudanese American Physicians Association & Physicians for Human Rights

We recently launched a new website intended to highlight the science underlying questions that our research shows Americans have about current issues.

When Sara Altschule took a 23andMe ancestry test, the results confirmed what she already suspected - She is 77 percent Ashkenazi Jewish.

It has been a little over a year since the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing in Hong Kong, where scientist He Jiankui (pictured above) announced the birth of twins whose healthy embryonic genomes had been edited to confer resistance to HIV.

In light of the present situation in the U.S., we believe that it is essential to explore a wide range of options for treating the increasing numbers of very ill patients with COVID-19 respiratory illness.

The Committee on Human Rights (CHR) of the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine fully endorses the Call for a Human Rights-Based Approach to COVID-19, issued by the Executive Committee of the International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies (IHRN).

Human embryos whose genomes have been edited should not be used to create a pregnancy until it is established that precise genomic changes can be made reliably without introducing undesired changes — a criterion that has not yet been met by any genome editing technology, says a new report by an international commission of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the U.K.’s Royal Society.

The Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine today announced grant awards totaling $5.27 million for six new projects. These projects, planned to span two to three years, aim to improve understanding of how natural processes and human activities interact to affect coastal ecosystems in the U.S. Gulf Coast region.

In my nearly 20 years at SpaceX, I have experienced hundreds of Falcon launches and test firings. As such, my level of anxiety prior to these events had been waning until, of course, Saturday, May 30, 2020. On that day, and for days leading up to it, my heart was in my throat.

Using nuclear propulsion technologies to support a human mission to Mars in 2039 will require NASA to pursue an aggressive and urgent technology development program, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

New models for studying the human brain — human neural organoids, transplants, and chimeras — show promise for advancing understanding of the brain and laying the groundwork for new therapeutic approaches to brain diseases that have so far proved hard to treat, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

On November 15, 2020, after 4 months in large-scale Phase 3 clinical testing, Moderna received resounding proof that its new class of medicines based on messenger RNA encased in lipid nanoparticles could be safely deployed as a highly effective vaccine to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies today announced the first seven recipients of its 2021 Early-Career Research Fellowships.

Two new companion reports from a World Health Organization expert panel provide recommendations to the scientific community on the use of human genome editing. The panel’s work was informed by a 2020 report written by an international commission under the auspices of NAS, NAM, and the U.K.’s Royal Society.

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.

Human control over technology was a concern thousands of years ago when early humans sought to ensure safe use of fire. Later, control over horse-drawn wagons and eventually steam engines led to debates about how to make the most of their benefits while limiting dangers. Now questions of control are central in the design of AI-infused technologies, for which some advocates envision full machine autonomy while others promote human autonomy.

Five scientists have been selected for the Human Health and Community Resilience track of the Early-Career Research Fellowship (ECRF), the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine announced today.

Registration is now open for the Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing, to be held March 6-8, 2023, in London. The three-day summit is being organized by the Royal Society and U.K. Academy of Medical Sciences, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine, and the World Academy of Sciences.

The final agenda is now available for the Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing, to be held March 6-8 in London and virtually. The National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine are among the international partners hosting the summit.

Research funded by NIH that uses nonhuman primates is critical to the nation’s ability to respond adequately to public health emergencies and carry out high-impact biomedical research, but gaps in the systems that support research using these animal models are undermining national health emergency readiness.

Could human risk in cybersecurity be managed with a cyber-rating, much like credit scores help assess people’s financial responsibility?

Oceanographers from MIT and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution report that the northeast Pacific Ocean has absorbed an increasing amount of anthropogenic carbon dioxide over the last decade, at a rate that mirrors the increase of carbon dioxide emissions pumped into the atmosphere.

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In an interview with ETCIO, Shalini Warrier, Executive Director, Federal Bank shares how their Digital CoE fosters a multi-disciplinary approach to banking, how it works together with the business to identify new opportunities, tenets of a bank-fintech partnership and how technology is at the fulcrum of every banking innovation.

Using high-tech human heart models and mouse experiments, scientists at Johns Hopkins and Germany's University of Bonn have shown that beams of light could replace electric shocks in patients reeling from a deadly heart rhythm disorder.

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Unique protein markers in hair could be used alongside DNA profiling for human identification, according to a study published September 7, 2016 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Glendon Parker from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA, and colleagues.

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During HIV infection, the virus mutates too rapidly for the immune system to combat, but some people produce antibodies that can recognize the virus even two years after infection. With an eye towards developing a vaccine, in four related papers from multiple groups publishing September 8 in Cell and Immunity, researchers describe a multi-step method for "training" the immune system to produce these antibodies in genetically engineered mice.

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