Highlights:

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

  Video Presentations from the 2009 Annual Meeting Available Online
View presentations of the symposium Darwin Would Be Amazed: Recent Developments in Evolutionary Biology and research briefings by NAS members elected in 2008

  NAS InterViews Podcasts
Listen to audio interviews in which members talk about their research, why they became scientists, and other aspects of their research and careers.  

News:

  NAS, IOM Members to Serve as Science Envoys
November 4, 2009: Former NAS President Bruce Alberts, former NIH Director and IOM member Elias Zerhouni, and Nobel prize-winning chemist and NAS member Ahmed Zewail have been appointed by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to serve as science envoys to Muslim majority countries. The envoys will travel to North Africa, the Middle East, and South and Southeast Asia "to fulfill President Obama’s mandate to foster scientific and technological collaboration," Clinton said, speaking at a forum in Morocco.‪

  New Radio Spectrum Management Policies Needed to Protect Scientific Observations
November 2, 2009: The current means for managing the radio frequency spectrum -- which is used by researchers for myriad purposes, including weather forecasting and astronomical investigations, and by consumers for such technologies as cellular phones and wireless Internet -- must be changed, says a new report. The current policies threaten to thwart scientific discovery, diminish the utility of critical environmental observations, and limit economic growth because of inefficient use of these resources.

  NASA’s Pilot Safety Survey Yields Unreliable Data
October 28, 2009: Data from NASA's National Aviation Operations Monitoring Service (NAOMS) project, a survey administered to pilots in order to track safety-related incidents during air travel, should not be used to measure rates or trends in safety in the National Airspace System, says a new report. Deficiencies in several aspects of the survey design make the data gathered unreliable.

  Improvements Needed to Ensure Interoperable State Voter Registration Databases
October 21, 2009: Several actions are needed to help make voter registration databases capable of sharing information within state agencies and across state lines, says a new report. These include short-term changes to improve education, dissemination of information, and administrative processes, and long-term changes to make improvements in data collection and entry, matching procedures, and ensure privacy and security.

  Census Bureau Releases Alternative U.S. Poverty Estimate
October 20, 2009: The U.S. Census Bureau has released alternative estimates of poverty for the 2008 calendar year. The Bureau’s calculations are based on recommendations in the 1995 National Research Council report, “Measuring Poverty: A New Approach.” Using the report’s revised definitions, the Census Bureau calculated a higher rate of poverty (15.8 percent) than the Bureau’s official annual estimate (13.2 percent).

  New Nutrition Requirements Recommended for School Meal Programs
October 20, 2009: The National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program should adopt a new set of nutrient targets and standards, says a new report, to meet children's nutritional needs better and foster healthy eating habits. The recommended targets and standards would bring the programs in line with the latest information on nutrition and child health and with current dietary guidelines.

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