Highlights:

  This Week in PNAS 
Highlights from the recent edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the Academy's scientific journal

  Biographical Memoirs
Access more than 1,000 biographies of leading U.S. scientists including Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Margaret Mead, Louis Agassiz, and Joseph Henry

  Norman Neureiter Receives the 2008 Public Welfare Medal
Listen to his acceptance speech online

News:

  Plan to Reduce Hurricane Risk to Louisiana Has Important Weaknesses
May 13, 2008: A new report from the National Research Council provides advice and recommendations to improve an Army Corps of Engineers' draft report for Louisiana coastal protection and restoration. The Corps' report does not identify clear priorities for project implementation -- including ecosystem restoration, hurricane protection, and nonstructural measures such as buyouts -- nor does it provide evidence that sediment resources for all proposed restoration projects will be available.

  Futures Initiative Awards $1 Million for Bold Research Proposals
May 8, 2008: The National Academies have announced the recipients of its 2007 Futures grants for 15 projects ranging from engineering solutions to extend human healthspan to developing socially assistive robotics for physical and cognitive health. The grant recipients participated in the conference "The Future of Human Healthspan: Demography, Evolution, Medicine, and Bioengineering," held last November. A summary of the conference is available.

  Report Advises on Risk Assessments for Boston Lab
May 2, 2008: When developing additional risk assessment studies for the proposed biocontainment laboratory to be located in Boston, the National Institutes of Health should consider scenarios for a variety of agents with diverse transmission characteristics and utilize available data to develop probabilities for release consequences, using either qualitative approaches or quantitative models.

  Academy Elects 72 New Members
Apr. 29, 2008: The National Academy of Sciences today announced the election of 72 new members and 18 foreign associates in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Those elected today bring the total number of active members to 2,041.

  Summit Gauges Progress on Math and Science Education, Competitiveness
Apr. 29, 2008: At a national convocation today, leaders from government, business, and education will weigh how much progress has been made in bolstering math and science education and strengthening the nation's research enterprise since the National Academies released their 2005 report Rising Above the Gathering Storm.

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