The visual image that most people have of the Dead Sea Scrolls is likely of one of the beautifully preserved manuscripts stored in stone jars, discovered in the hill caves of Jordan in the late 1940s. Unfortunately, only a handful of the scrolls were preserved in this way.

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.

"Science During Crisis" coauthors Rita Colwell and Gary Machlis show how science plays a critical role in responding to crises, informing and guiding decisions governing disaster response and recovery.

Danielle Allen, cochair of Academy project on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship, says students need to understand government just as much as math and science.

Martha Nussbaum Will Receive Randel Award and Deliver Remarks at April Event

Among the founding documents in the Academy Archives is a large bound volume, in three parts, of manuscript minutes, dating back to the Academy’s first meeting in May 1780. In addition to attendance rolls and descriptions of business trans­acted at these meetings, the volume contains other documents that chronicle the establishment of the organization’s rules, regulations, and practices.

The Academy is engaged in a number of projects, studies, and meetings that, when taken together, support the quality education and informed exchange that shape a healthy and inclusive democratic society. Just recently the Academy announced a Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship

Colleges and universities across the country are pushing a simple message: majoring in the humanities pays off in the job market.

Paul Wise will cochair the latest Academy project on “Rethinking the Humanitarian Health Response to Violent Conflict,” designed to help define new strategies for the provision of essential health services in areas of violent conflict.

In November 2003 the people of the former Soviet state of Georgia forced a revolutionary change in leadership to establish a new government under President Mikhail Saakashvili. “Statehood and Security: Georgia after the Rose Revolution,” a new book from the American Academy, analyzes the security problems that confront this new government and the greater Caucasus region.

A new report, focused on improving international scientific partnerships, recommends actions the United States - the world’s largest funder of scientific research – can take to strengthen connections in an increasingly global network of science and technology.

The two-day forum, part of a project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, led by the Freeman Spogli Institute’s Karl Eikenberry and Stephen Krasner, gathered experts to examine trends in civil wars and solutions moving forward.

Academy report includes a roadmap for storing spent nuclear fuel

On a gray London morning in January, I walked past familiar markers of institutional gravity on my way to the Royal Society. Stone facades. Heavy doors. Plaques engraved with names that have outlived the controversies of their eras. It is easy, in places like this, to slip into a kind of historical reverence that feels comforting, even anesthetizing.

The crafters of the Constitution expected the size of the House to grow as the U.S. population increased. Citing the American Academy report on “The Case for Expanding the House of Representatives,” Kevin Kosar calls for Capitol Hill to consider the proposition.

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.

Eric Liu, cochair of the Academy's Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship, speaks about how to prepare citizens in a democracy.

The Academy’s Commission on the Arts created Mixtape - a multimedia gallery featuring poems, stories, songs, videos, and visual art contributed by members of the Commission and Academy. Mixtape offers art and inspiration wherever you are, whenever you want.

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.