At a meeting sponsored by the American Academy, the Royal Society, and the Carnegie Institution for Science, Wendy Freedman (Crawford H. Greenewalt Chair and Director of Carnegie Observatories at the Carnegie Institution for Science) and Martin Rees (Fellow of Trinity College; Emeritus Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge; Astronomer Royal; and Visiting Professor at Imperial College London and at Leicester University) discussed what we know and do not know about the universe.

The British Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences hosts a series of events with the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

As I reflect on my first year as president of the Academy, I am struck by how our members came together in so many different ways to address such a broad range of challenges, including unprecedented threats to academic freedom, the research enterprise, and the rule of law. And while it was a year of great challenges, there were also moments of great hope. For me, top among those moments was the Induction of our 2025 class of new members here in Cambridge in October.

Essays in the Fall 2009 issue of Dædalus on the global nuclear future examine the interconnected issues of a potential worldwide expansion of civilian nuclear power, attendant risks of weapons proliferation and nuclear terrorism, and the prospects for lessening the impact of climate change through growth in nuclear energy.

The American Academy of Arts & Sciences celebrated the launch of the new report from the Commission on Accelerating Climate Action, Forging Climate Solutions: How to Accelerate Action Across America. The report calls for a coordinated, cross-sector effort to combat climate change with strategies and recommendations rooted in justice, pragmatism, and accountability. The event featured Commission co-chairs Mustafa Santiago Ali, Christopher Field, David G. Victor, and Patricia Vincent-Collawn in conversation with Scientific American's Laura Helmuth.

A new interagency partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) will support the American Academy of Arts & Sciences’ Humanities Indicators project to assess the size and health of the nonprofit humanities, arts, and cultural sectors.

Prefatory note from Academy President Jonathan Fanton in the Bulletin inviting members to read about the work of the Academy and hoping they discover that members are engaged in the “positive programs” that Howard Mumford Jones imagined.

​​​​​​​The Rumford Prize – a storied science award presented by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences – has been given to astrophysicist and experimental cosmologist Charles L. Bennett.

An event with Professor Akhil Amar, Professor Charles Fried, journalist Kimberly Atkins Stohr, Fix the Court Executive Director Gabe Roth, and Judge Patti Saris focused on the new report from the Academy's bipartisan U.S. Supreme Court Working Group in favor of Supreme Court Term Limits.

One of the recommendations for strengthening American democracy proposed in Our Common Purpose - the report of a bipartisan Academy commission - is to enact ranked-choice voting (RCV) for presidential, congressional, and state elections. This article examines legislative progress at the federal, state, and local levels concerning ranked-choice voting.

Affordability and credential attainment are important goals. But the big question for higher education now, some of the enterprise's best minds say, is "completion of what?" Inside Higher Ed explores the Daedalus volume on Improving Teaching.

In a new release today, the American Academy reports on the first broad national survey on the humanities, which asked Americans about their engagement in a variety of humanistic activities, as well as their beliefs about the personal, societal, and economic benefits of the humanities.

What is consciousness? How do we store memories, process thoughts, and command our bodies? Why do we require sleep to live? And can we trust our perception of the world around us? The Winter 2015 issue of Dædalus responds to these fundamental questions of human experience, exploring “What is the Brain Good For?” through recent developments and new theories in the field of neuroscience.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is pleased to announce the creation of a new endowed fund to support its premier fellowship program in science-related policy. Previously named the Hellman Fellowship in Science and Technology Policy, the rebranded program will now be known as the Hellman and Simons Fellowship in Science and Technology Policy. The new name reflects the contributions of two families, the Hellman Family on the West Coast and the Simons Family on the East Coast, with strong philanthropic ties to the Academy and longstanding commitments to the critical importance of basic and academic science research in America.

Across the country, state and local referenda gave voters a chance to enact the recommendations in Our Common Purpose. Almost everywhere, they did just that, supporting ballot measures to expand ranked-choice voting, increase access to early voting, and improve transparency around election funding.

Remembrance of Stephen R. Graubard

The Academy has launched a cross-sector Commission on Opportunities After High School. The multi-year project will bring together educators, economists, and employers to envision a new system that would help foster informed decision-making among students, enable effective planning by colleges and universities, and promote business growth.

Governance & Committees, 2025–2026

Communities with strong civic infrastructure engender greater civic engagement and a sense of belonging. Stephen Heintz, cochair of the American Academy’s Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship, argues that philanthropy should lead in funding projects across the country that would connect people to their neighbors, communities, and government institutions.

As I reflect on my first few months as president of the Academy, one of the great joys has been getting to know our extraordinary fellowship of members. As of this writing, I have had the opportunity to visit our vibrant member communities in North Carolina, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, New York, Southern California, Chicago, and, of course, the Academy’s home in the Boston-Cambridge area. In each location, I have been awed by our fellow members: their achievements, their passions, their hopes for the future. The articles in this issue also represent the power of the local–with deliberations in San Diego, New York City, and Los Angeles.