“Protecting the Internet as a Public Commons” surveys potential safeguards and improvements for the Internet, and weighs whether introducing them might prove counterproductive.

On December 15, 2015, the Language Commission convened its first meeting at the Academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, MA, under the leadership of Paul LeClerc.

A publication, The Case for Enlarging the House of Representatives, proposes adding 150 seats to the House of Representatives, followed by regular expansion. Enlarging the House will help restore the connection between the people and “the people’s house” as envisioned by the nation’s founders.

Ann Ardis writes, "The workforce data in this new American Academy of Arts & Sciences report is the perfect complement to individual storytelling in helping today’s humanities majors think through 'What are you going to do with that?'"

Established in 1958 to recognize distinguished achieve­ment in the field of literature, the Emerson-Thoreau Medal is awarded to an individual for their overall literary achievement. The first recipient of the award in 1958 was poet Robert Frost (elected to the Academy in 1931).

There is a surge of outbreaks in vaccine-preventable diseases in the United States. What research is needed to reverse this trend?

The Academy's Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences includes a group of prominent business, government, and academic leaders, artists, and scholars.

May R. Berenbaum presented at the fall Stated Meeting of the Midwest Center of the American Academy. The talk was a condensed and popularized version of her paper titled "Animal-Plant Warfare: Molecular Basis for Cytochrome P450-Mediated Natural Adaptation."

Danielle Allen writes about how Facebook is weakening our democratic institutions and what can be done to rebuild them. For solutions, she draws on recommendations in the Our Common Purpose report issued by the Academy Commission she cochaired.

For the third time in our long history as an independent republic – the Civil War, the Civil Rights movement, and now this movement of civil unrest – we see the possibility of real progress in escaping the long shadow of White Supremacy in our country that dates back to its beginnings. The Academy was founded, as was our nation, during the Enlightenment, a moment in which prominent thinkers and philosophers – including Thomas Jefferson – codified notions of racial difference and hierarchy, the bedrock of White Supremacy and racism. These ideas, intrinsic in our national story, are embedded in our institutional history as well, and we certainly cannot advance if we refuse to have frank conversations about the past and the present of racism in our country.

Since the release in June 2020 of Our Common Purpose: Re­inventing American Democracy for the 21st Century, the final report of the Academy’s Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizen­ship, there have been a number of surprising and inspiring stories about the impact the report has had. From giving the report away as Valentine’s Day presents to ordering a copy for everyone in the city government of Boise, Idaho, Our Common Purpose has been shared, read, downloaded, viewed, and discussed around the country.

In a forum essay, the HULA team (Danielle Allen, Maggie Schein, Christopher Pupik Dean, and David Kidd) describes its work, which start in the education sector but are now being extended to public humanities projects.

Ahead of the White House’s December 2021 Summit for Democracy and as part of its ongoing efforts to advance the recommendations in Our Common Purpose, the Academy organized two initiatives last fall aimed at young people: a national polling project and a summit of young leaders, who were brought together for their expertise, vision, and commitment to making progress on critical issues in their communities.

Neal Lane and Norman Augustine, cochairs of the Academy project on New Models for U.S. Science and Technology Policy, discuss the project’s latest report on the perils of complacency and how the U.S. can compete with China.

The American Academy of Arts & Sciences named Toni Morrison as the recipient of the 2016 Emerson-Thoreau Medal for her distinguished achievement in the field of literature. Established in 1958, the medal is awarded to an individual for his or her total literary achievement rather than for a specific work.

Creating a “new normal” of multiliteracy and multiculturalism is key to the future of the United States as a leader on the world stage.

Daylong symposium at MIT showcases innovative ways of sharing facts and building trust in research results, featuring the Public Face of Science project.