Clear and precise communication is more crucial than ever before to the health and security of every nation. Four academies have joined together with the American Academy to sign a document in support of language education.

Academy member Douglas S. Massey discusses Ferguson and the meaning of race in America for the Bulletin’s new feature, “On the Professions.”

L. A. Times columnist Nicholas Goldberg includes the work of the Academy’s Commission on the Arts in his column supporting public spending on the arts in California.

Wars and conflicts in the twenty-first century are putting tremendous strain on the strategies traditionally used by humanitarian responders to help those in need, particularly strategies that deliver effective health responses. Recent civil wars not only account for a larger proportion of ongoing conflicts, but they have become more protracted with more actors with fragmented affiliations. Some of the world’s deadliest places are not formally war zones but areas of extreme political and criminal violence, such as in Venezuela, Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Providing humanitarian aid amid urban warfare calls for strategies that are different from the ones used in rural settings, where humanitarians have commonly operated in the past. Ruthless deliberate attacks on hospitals, schools, and civilians, as well as sexual and gender-based violence, form part of many of these twenty-first-century conflicts. Humanitarian health workers and health facilities are at growing risk of attack as the normative and legal framework that has traditionally regulated war has become less protective. Geopolitical rivalry and perceptions of a weakening commitment to humanitarian norms are further undermining traditional humanitarian approaches. At the same time, the risk of infectious diseases of pandemic potential intersects with conflict-related health and humanitarian needs, presenting additional challenges for humanitarians.

Scientists and the journalists who cover their research approach their roles from very different perspectives, yet they depend on each other to keep the public informed about scientific issues. Science and the Media, a new volume from the American Academy, examines this dynamic though a series of essays by scientists, journalists, and public relations specialists.

An engraving above the western entrance to the U.S. Supreme Court proclaims a bold ideal for the American judicial system: “equal justice under law.” Unfortunately, the nation has not yet achieved the Court’s aspiration. While many Americans experience legal issues at some point in their lives, not everyone has access to the legal assistance that they need.

Academy’s Commission on the Arts issues Art is Work: Policies to Support Creative Workers, recognizing the importance of artists to the national economy

On May 5–6, 1956, the Academy hosted a conference on “Science and the Modern World View–Toward a Common Understanding of the Sciences and the Humanities.” The conference, funded by the National Science Foundation, was held in honor of physicist Percy Williams Bridgman and mathematician and physicist Philipp G. Frank. At their request, the meeting was not a celebration of their individual work. Rather, it highlighted the discipline of the philosophy of science, which they both advanced. Specifically, the conference examined the history of a scientific worldview and its intersection with the humanities in the mid-twentieth century.

“A Night at the Museums” was conceived of and hosted by Academy members and Gainesville Representatives Pamela Soltis and Douglas Soltis (both, University of Florida). They wanted an event that would highlight the utility of the modern museum collection while connecting members from across the country. This program gave a behind-the-scenes look at museums in Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, California, and Oregon – all of which are associated with universities in the Academy’s network of Affiliate institutions. An edited version of select portions of the presentations and Q&A session follows.

The last remaining bilateral nuclear arms treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation is set to expire in 2021. Then what happens? Discussions and essays explore the new nuclear territory.

The Super Bowl has inspired a wager between Robert Hauser, the executive officer of the American Philosophical Society (APS), based in Philadelphia and founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin, and Jonathan Fanton, the president of the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based American Academy of Arts & Sciences founded in 1780 by John Adams and others.

From the invention of new life forms to the discovery of life beyond Earth, science is reshaping our understanding of the universe in the twenty-first century. In the Summer 2012 issue of Dædalus, leading scientists describe emerging advances in nanoscience, neuroscience, genetics, paleontology, microbiology, mathematics, planetary science, and plant biology.

While the world’s economy is increasingly global, fewer American students are studying how to speak a language other than English. That’s a backward slide that hurts the nation’s ability to compete economically and diminishes the overall quality of a typical American education. Citing Academy report on "America's Languages," the editorial board of the News & Observer makes the case for improving foreign language instruction.

The American Academy’s quarterly journal, Dædalus, has released its Winter 2009 issue, Reflecting on the Humanities. The issue coincides with publication by the American Academy of the Humanities Indicators, the first comprehensive data set about the humanities in America.

A panel discussion on Institutions of Democracy and the Public Good was the focus of the Academy's 2012 Induction Weekend, featuring Diane Wood, Governor Phil Bredesen, and Ambassador Karl Eikenberry alongside Judy Woodruff, Alex Jones, and Marty Baron. The discussion was moderated by Norman Ornstein.

In "The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?" Michael J. Sandel argues that the divide between winners and losers has poisoned our politics and pulled us apart. The problem, he contends, is not only that we have failed to live up to the meritocratic ideals we profess, but that a meritocratic society is a flawed aspiration. It produces hubris among the successful and humiliation among those left behind. In the first virtual Stated Meeting in the history of the Academy, Michael J. Sandel joined T. J. Jackson Lears and Anna Deavere Smith in a conversation about his new book and the destructive consequences of linking socioeconomic status with personal worth.

American Academy of Arts & Sciences leads discussion on “Restoring the Foundation: The Vital Role of Research in Preserving the American Dream”

On April 13, 2023, the Academy presented its Talcott Parsons Prize for distinguished and original contributions to the social sciences to Robert D. Putnam. First awarded in 1974, the Talcott Parsons Prize was established to honor the noted sociologist and former president of the Academy. Previous recipients of the prize include William David Labov (linguistics), Joan Wallach Scott (history), Daniel Kahneman (psychology), and William Julius Wilson (sociology).