Social distancing, disrupted routines, and a lost sense of security and safety have made some kids and teens vulnerable to stress, anxiety, and depression during the pandemic. A new set of tools from the National Academies helps kids and adults build skills to cope with stress.

Read a new NAE Perspective by Christopher A. Hart, former chair of the National Transportation Safety Board and the founder of Hart Solutions LLC, on whether the time is right for driverless motor vehicles.

This Guidance Document is a product of the National Academies’ Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education, which presents information and identifies guidance based on existing research literature.

State policymakers should prioritize science and engineering education from preschool through fifth grade, and ensure it is taught comprehensively, frequently, and consistently.

In advance of the National Academy of Medicine’s annual meeting on Oct. 17-18, NAM President Victor Dzau sat down to talk about the compounding crises of COVID-19, climate change, and systemic racism — and how health and medicine can help respond to these threats.

Projects that bring engineering expertise to bear on the questions addressed by evolutionary medicine promise major advances. In a new NAE Perspective, Randolph M. Nesse discusses how applications of evolutionary biology to medicine are giving rise to new opportunities for engineering to enhance understanding of disease.

Despite legal protections for health care workers in combat zones, attacks on them are a continuing problem. From 2016 to 2020 there were more than 4,000 violent incidents against health care workers and facilities. A recent webinar explored what’s driving the violence and steps that should be taken to stop it.

The presidents of the U.S. National Academies said in a statement that the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) presents a historic global opportunity to agree on emissions reduction targets to avoid the most intolerable impacts of climate change.

Using lessons learned from COVID-19, a new report outlines recommendations to strengthen the U.S. Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise (PHEMCE) to better protect the nation from future threats, and ensure it can deliver the vaccines, medicines, and personal protective equipment needed during a public health emergency.

A new decadal survey presents a visionary plan for the fields of astronomy and astrophysics, identifying scientific priorities and opportunities, and recommending an ambitious program of investment to strengthen the profession and achieve new capabilities.

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.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should make changes to its integrated risk information system (IRIS) assessments handbook to ensure it provides clear operational instructions for those conducting assessments, and transparency regarding the assessment process, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

During Nobel Week 2021, ceremonial presentations of Nobel Prize medals and diplomas to 2021 laureates who are based in the United States will take place at the National Academy of Sciences.

The United States should create a national strategy by end of 2022 to reduce its outsized and increasing contribution to plastic waste in the world’s oceans.

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 National Academy of Sciences is hosting celebrations for the winners of 2021 Nobel Prizes who are based in the United States, joining in ceremonies and events being held around the world this week to celebrate laureates unable to travel to Stockholm this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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).

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg addressed attendees of the Transportation Research Board’s 101st Annual Meeting, where he highlighted the importance of evidence-based science, along with economic strength, clean energy, road traffic safety, and infrastructure.

Equitable cancer care starts with prevention and reaching people well before they become patients. Panelists at a recent workshop discussed how cancer centers can weave health equity into everything they do, from creating jobs to helping survivors manage treatment side effects.

Biodiversity — the rich variety of living things that support and sustain life on Earth — is facing grave threats. A new booklet provides an easy-to-read overview, examining the causes of biodiversity loss and presenting actions that can be taken to stop this decline.

Every year, nearly 5 million Americans are evaluated for traumatic brain injury (TBI). But many individuals and their caregivers don’t get needed follow-up support after initial injury. A new report recommends structural changes to improve TBI research and care over the next decade.

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 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.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. has experienced shortages of masks, medical gowns, ventilators, and drugs, but demand surges and supply constraints for medical products predate the current public health crisis. A new report recommends measures to improve supply reliability for medical products, during both emergencies and normal times.

The National Institutes of Health should adopt new practices and standardized language to collect data about sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation from survey respondents or research participants. Better measurements will improve data quality, as well as NIH’s ability to identify and understand LGBTQI+ populations.

“Reports & Events” is a monthly tip sheet for the news media that highlights selected meetings of interest and reports from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

With a $1 million donation, the Breakthrough Prize Foundation joins a growing number of individuals and institutions that are supporting an NAS effort to help displaced Ukrainian researchers relocate, continue their work, and stay connected to the international scientific community.

The Institute of Education Sciences should make changes to research activities at the National Center for Education Research and National Center for Special Education Research to meet new priorities in education, including improving equity and the usefulness of research.

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.

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.

With a $500,000 donation, the American Chemical Society has joined the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in an effort to help researchers who are being forced to flee Ukraine because of Russia’s invasion.

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.

Recidivism is an inadequate measurement of a person’s success after release from prison. Researchers should develop supplementary measures that evaluate multiple areas of a person’s life — including employment, housing, health, social support, and personal well-being — and that examine interactions with the criminal justice system with more nuance.

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.

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.

The Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine today announced grant awards totaling $8.6 million for 11 new projects supporting health equity and community resilience.

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.

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.

Ensuring that populations globally are actively engaged in society while living longer, healthier lives will require a multisector, all-of-society approach. A new NAM report provides a roadmap with recommendations for addressing the needs of older people in the next five years and other actions to improve healthy longevity by 2050.

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.

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.

EPA should conduct an ecological risk assessment of ultraviolet filters used in sunscreens, given the evidence that aquatic ecosystems in the U.S. and possibly endangered species are exposed to these UV filters, and given the importance of these ingredients in skin cancer prevention.

The Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine today announced $200,000 in planning grant awards for two historically Black universities as part of a partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to understand how data on social determinants of health can transform public health data systems in the Gulf of Mexico region.

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) today announced the 2023 class of Minority Student Fellows. As part of its commitment to increasing diversity and inclusiveness in transportation, the TRB Minority Student Fellows Program funds students from minority-serving institutions to attend and present their research at the TRB Annual Meeting and help them engage in TRB’s network of transportation professionals.

Emission reduction goals, changing transportation patterns caused by COVID, an influx of infrastructure investments, and the need to support mobility for all residents together present a challenge for planners. A recent webinar explored how cities can support a transition to more equitable, lower-emissions urban transportation systems.

The Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine today announced awards totaling $1,090,463 to support six projects that engage underserved children and youth in place-based educational activities.

The radio frequency spectrum is a natural resource that underpins all wireless activity. A new report assesses the likelihood of harmful interference from operating a radio network near GPS frequency bands, and considers approaches for evaluating concerns.