A transcript from an interdisciplinary panel discussion on the importance of creativity in science, with participants highlighting how creativity and imagination fuel scientific discovery and how science inspires artistic expression. The conversation followed the presentation of the Rumford Prize to Andrea Ghez by Laurie Patton.

On June 11, 2020, the Academy’s Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship celebrated the release of its final report: Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century. Nearly 1,200 people viewed the launch event, which featured Commission Chairs Danielle Allen (Harvard University), Stephen Heintz (Rockefeller Brothers Fund), and Eric Liu (Citizen University); Academy President David Oxtoby; as well as Commission members Judy Woodruff (PBS NewsHour) and David Brooks (The New York Times).

Ellen T. Harris spoke at the Academy about Handel’s life and his inner circle of friends.

At events in Phoenix hosted by local supporters of civic work, there were opportunities for the leaders of the Our Common Purpose project to share progress on recommendations in the report and for discussions that showcased local initiatives strengthening democracy in Arizona.

Reuters covers the new metric and report issued by the Academy's Commission on Reimagining Our Economy. Introduces some of the innovative work undertaken to create economic measures and recommendations centered on the American people.

In the early 1800s, the Academy received reports of a sea serpent, described as 60 to 100 feet long, in what is now Maine’s Penobscot Bay. In 1810, upon hearing that the reports had been lost, minister and politician Alden Bradford, with the assistance of Lemuel Weeks, collected and presented to the Academy sworn statements of witnesses. In doing so, Bradford acknowledged, “Accounts of this sort, I am aware, should be received with caution.”

Global challenges, like pandemics, cannot be addressed by one nation alone; scientific capacity is essential in all corners of the globe to deal with COVID-19 today and the threats of tomorrow. A new Academy report, “Global Connections: Emerging Science Partners,” issued by the Challenges for International Scientific Partnerships initiative, describes the importance of strengthening collaborations between the U.S. and emerging science partner countries.

On October 25, 2011, the Academy convened a panel of global experts at Stanford University. Scott D. Sagan, Harald Müller, Noramly bin Muslim, Olli Heinonen, and Jayantha Dhanapala considered the global nuclear future in light of the accident at Fukushima.

Economic uncertainty is a disruptive force in American life. Too many families are unable to achieve the life they want despite their best efforts, too many communities have not benefited fully from national economic growth, and too many Americans believe the economy does not work for people like them. In a 2021 Pew Research Center survey, 66 percent of Americans felt that the nation’s economy needs major reforms, while just 6 percent felt it should remain unchanged. Coupled with the current challenges facing American democracy, these trends contribute to the growing distrust of political and economic institutions. While it often seems that the nation cannot agree on much, there is widespread agreement that changes are needed to bolster opportunity and to allow more Americans to share in the nation’s prosperity.

Benjamin Holtzman, Visiting Scholar at the American Academy, discusses Thomas Campanella's history of Brooklyn, "the once and future city."

The Academy hosted a multi-faceted conversation about the interconnectedness of polarization, institutions, and the public’s trust in science. The panelists shared views from academic, journalistic, and institutional perspectives about how the public trust has been eroded and how the trust can be restored.

Brief introductions and readings from poet Heather McHugh of the University of Washington and poet Paul Muldoon of Princeton University.

A Wall Street Journal essay features the CORE Score, a metric created by the Academy's Commission on Reimagining the Economy to help move national focus from how the economy is doing to how Americans are doing. In this essay, the CORE Score helps explain how standard economic measures may indicate a good economy, while that's not what many Americans are feeling about their own wellbeing.

How to improve Congress? An opinion feature in the New York Times highlights bold ideas to make Congress better, including a link to the Academy's report, "The Case for Enlarging the House of Representatives.” The opinion piece and the report explain how expanding Congress would make it more representative, better serve voters, and keep the institution in line with the Founders’ vision.

A new publication, which emerged from the Academy's Our Common Purpose work, proposes alternatives to the “winner-take-all” system used in most U.S. elections. The proposed alternatives have the potential to reduce partisan divides and virtually eliminate gerrymandering.

The American Academy of Arts & Sciences has released a publication designed to help colleges and universities address a defining academic and societal challenge: preparing young people today with the knowledge, skills, and habits to sustain a healthy constitutional democracy. Preparing Students for Civic Life: A Guide for Higher Education Leaders includes strategies and case studies.

Listen to Seamus Heaney read his poem “From the Frontier of Writing” along with commentary about its inspiration. This is an excerpt from a compete transcript and recording of his evening at the Academy.

A Bloomberg article about the new metric of wellbeing issued by the Commission on Reimagining Our Economy - the CORE Score - considers how it might shed light on a a disconnect between how Americans have been feeling about the economy and standard indicators of economic activity.

The Academy presented its Emerson-Thoreau Medal to Maxine Hong Kingston for her distinguished achievement in the field of literature. The award, named after Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, was first given to Robert Frost in 1958 and has since been presented to several notable authors, including T.S. Eliot, Hannah Arendt, Norman Mailer, Toni Morrison, and Margaret Atwood.

The Fall 2020 issue of Dædalus on “Witnessing Climate Change” features sixteen personal narratives about climate-related work by professionals from multiple fields, backgrounds, and generations who feel a responsibility to share what they know and take action.