Corruption can be ruinous, destroying nations, institutions, communities, individuals, the environment, and the very notion of public trust. Corruption self-reinforces, respects no law or border, and reproduces like disease. The Summer 2018 issue of Dædalus features fifteen essays exploring the nature of modern global corruption—and how to defeat it.

Giving by private foundations to the humanities more than doubled during the past decade, according to a new study conducted and published by the Foundation Center in collaboration with the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Public broadcaster WGBH News to air in-depth reporting series expanding on <em>Dædalus</em> research and expertise

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.

The 2015 class includes Pulitzer Prize-winner Holland Cotter, singer-songwriter Judy Collins, Nike co-founder Philip Knight, Nobel Prize-winner Brian Kobilka, Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, and novelist Tom Wolfe.

Randy W. Schekman moderated a panel discussion on consensus and controversy in science with Jennifer Doudna, Richard A. Muller, and Pamela Ronald.

Research funding is not unlike food production; it is not the amount, but the distribution of research funds that matters.

Report urges sustained federal investments in research and offers recommendations on rejuvenating the American dream.

New Research from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Moody's Analytics

What would it take to pull American politics out of the fire and make Americans feel, in any real sense, that we are all in this together? Evan Osnos, in The New Yorker, cites the recommendations in Our Common Purpose as a possible path forward.

On April 30, 2024, the Academy hosted a virtual event that featured four contributors to the Dædalus volume on “Understanding Implicit Bias: Insights & Innovations”—guest editors Goodwin Liu (California Supreme Court) and Camara Phyllis Jones (King’s College London) and authors Jennifer Eberhardt (Stanford University) and Frank Dobbin (Harvard University)—who discussed some of the strategies and solutions to understand and combat implicit bias. The program included welcoming remarks from Academy President David W. Oxtoby. An edited transcript of the event follows.

Since its founding, projects that work to bolster Americans’ engagement with government institutions have been a hallmark of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Our charter states that the “end and design” of the American Academy is to “cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.” Today, this effort involves projects designed to develop innovative solutions to problems facing American society in the twenty-first century. Projects in this area interpret the term “institutions” broadly, focusing on all of the constituent elements of government, civic culture, and civil society. These projects address how individual citizens interact with social structures, how these experiences prepare people to make a positive contribution to a diverse America, and how these institutions are evolving. The Academy shares this research through publications, convenings, and active outreach.

The American Academy and the British Academy held a joint conference in London that examined the state of humanities research and education in an international context

Recent business scandals reveal a disturbing breakdown of values in corporate America. A new book from the American Academy examines the failure of “gatekeepers” – corporate directors, auditors, regulators, lawyers, investment bankers, and business journalists – to stand between corporate misconduct and the public interest.

Rising inequality is one of our most pressing social concerns. And it is not simply that some are advantaged while others are not, but that structures of inequality are self-reinforcing and cumulative; they become durable. The societal arrangements that in the past have produced more equal economic outcomes and social opportunities – such as expanded mass education, access to social citizenship and its benefits, and wealth redistribution – have often been attenuated and supplanted by processes that are instead inequality-inducing.

"In this essay, I review some of my work that attempts to understand the changes in human memory that take place from young adulthood to old age."