Five international academies call for more investment in language education, to increase access to and diversity of languages spoken in the respective academies’ national borders, including Indigenous languages.

A new and timely report, America and the Future of International Science, presents the case for robust U.S. support for and participation in international scientific collaborations.

Ruth Lehmann and Gertrud M. Schüpbach have been awarded the 2020 Francis Amory Prize in Reproductive Medicine and Reproductive Physiology by the Academy. The discoveries made by Lehmann, a cell biologist, and Schüpbach, a geneticist, have advanced their own fields and contributed to knowledge and progress in DNA repair, embryonic development, RNA regulation, stem cell research, and other areas.

Robert Townsend, Codirector of the Academy’s Humanities Indicators project, speaks with Karin Wulf of The Scholarly Kitchen about “The Humanities in American Life” survey findings and implications.

The Winter 2021 issue of Dædalus “On the Novel,” guest-edited by Michael Wood, features fourteen essays, written by scholars with a variety of approaches and interests, that offer remarkable insights into the behavior of this versatile literary form.

The American Academy of Arts & Sciences and The MIT Press are today announcing that Dædalus, Journal of the American Academy, will now be an open access publication.

It’s time to start building online versions of the libraries, parks and other public spaces that make societies and democracies work, write Eli Pariser and Danielle Allen, cochair of the Academy’s Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship.

The Academy and PBS American Portrait worked together to produce a crowdsourced poem, curated by Natasha Trethewey, that is a testament to art, diversity, and resilience from people across the country.

Joseph Kannarkat and Norm Augustine, cochair of Academy project on New Models for U.S. Science and Technology Policy, discuss the project’s final report and what the U.S. can learn from China to improve its competitiveness in technology development.

Prolific scholar and public intellectual Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has been named the recipient of the Academy’s Don M. Randel Award for Humanistic Studies, which recognizes remarkable scholars whose work shapes our inner lives and our understanding of the world around us.

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.

A statement from Academy President David Oxtoby on the passing of Louis Wellington Cabot, who was an active and valued Academy member for more than six decades.

National Public Radio affiliate KUNM gathered a panel of citizens to discuss and debate the recommendations in Our Common Purpose, the final report of the Academy’s Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship.

In this Moderate Party podcast, host Hillari speaks with Carolyn Lukensmeyer, member of the Academy’s Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship, about how to save democracy and what must be done to make it happen.

For a full and up-to-date listing of upcoming events, please visit amacad.org/events.

I hope you are well during this time of both peril and promise for our nation. After a harrowing year that challenged confidence in our public health system, our economy, and our notions of a just and equitable society, our system of democratic government itself came under unprecedented attack. The January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol revealed just how fragile democracy can be. It also underscored the need for constant vigilance to protect our democratic institutions and a renewed commitment to strengthening them in the years ahead.

We know what a novel is, but can we say the same about the novel? The Winter 2021 issue of Dædalus “On the Novel,” guest-edited by Michael Wood, features fourteen essays that, rather than surveying or summarizing the fate of the novel, offer remarkable insights into the behavior of this versatile literary form, glimpses of where and what it has been and where it may go in the future.

Global challenges, like the COVID-19 pandemic, underscore the value of international coordination and collaboration. In the case of pandemics, this need comes into play not only in managing and mitigating the spread of the disease, but also in the development of treatment therapies and vaccines. Indeed, the first COVID-19 vaccine approved by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration in December 2020 arose from an international collaboration between U.S. and German-based biotech companies, each led by immigrants from Greece and Turkey, respectively.

In August 2020, the Public Face of Science initiative published its final report, The Public Face of Science in America: Priorities for the Future, which outlines recommendations for strengthening the relationship between science and society. The first two reports released by the project, Perceptions of Science in America (2018) and Encountering Science in America (2019), show the heterogeneity of current attitudes toward science and the great breadth of experiences that can influence those attitudes. The final report takes a multifaceted approach and identifies three high-level areas for change that can, over the long term, shape attitudes toward science and people’s experiences with it.