In solar-terrestrial systems, solar energy input has long been recognized to have a profound impact on Earth. The well-known photosynthetic systems enable sustainable solar-to-chemical energy conversion. However, no evidence has yet emerged for the existence of a widespread geological light-harvesting system. This study reveals

Greenland has the potential to drive over 20 feet of sea level rise.

Current kidney-on-chip models lack the 3D geometry, complexity, and functionality vital for recapitulating in vivo renal tissue. We report the fabrication and perfusion of 3D vascularized proximal tubules embedded within an engineered ECM that exhibit active reabsorption of solutes via tubular–vascular exchange. Using this

Concerns about public misinformation in the United States—ranging from politics to science—are growing. Here, we provide an overview of how and why citizens become (and sometimes remain) misinformed about science. Our discussion focuses specifically on misinformation among individual citizens. However, it is impossible to

The smartphone revolution capitalized on generations of advancements in inorganic semiconductor design. Engineers and materials scientists shrank electronic components, primarily manufactured from…

A healthy nutritional status is essential for proper brain development and for the maintenance of optimal cognitive function during adulthood and aging. The effects of ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω-3 PUFAs) and vitamin supplementation or deficiency on neurodevelopment have been extensively studied in healthy

Public participation in scientific projects is flourishing globally as part of projects labeled “citizen science” (CS). Already, a number of professional networks for CS stakeholders have been founded, for example, the US-based Citizen Science Association, the European Citizen Science Association, and the Australian Citizen

Forecasts have painted a difficult picture for the future. But one new study argues that climate change has already imposed an economic penalty on many countries.

Physical exercise is well known for its positive effects on general health (specifically, on brain function and health), and some mediating mechanisms are also known. A few reports have addressed intergenerational inheritance of some of these positive effects from exercised mothers or fathers to

Videos of all research briefing speakers are available on our YouTube channel. Join the conversation #NAS156! Six new members—one from each Academy Class—present their research and answer questions…

We find that global warming has very likely exacerbated global economic inequality, including ∼25% increase in population-weighted between-country inequality over the past half century. This increase results from the impact of warming on annual economic growth, which over the course of decades has accumulated

We reconstruct the mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet for the past 46 years by comparing glacier ice discharge into the ocean with interior accumulation of snowfall from regional atmospheric climate models over 260 drainage basins. The mass balance started to deviate from

Left : Thin-section photomicrograph of shocked mineral from the Tanis Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. Right : Micro-computed tomography of ejecta spherule, digitally dissected to reveal core of…

A new study of evolving attitudes toward gay marriage across the U.S. suggests that state legislation has had a significant impact in reducing anti-gay bias in many parts of the country.

Jawless, boneless, and virtually without fossil record, hagfish have long escaped systematists’ grip on their place among other fish. Yet their systematic resolution is critical to define vertebrates as a clade. Here we report an unequivocal fossil hagfish from the Cretaceous Mediterranean. Using this

A new fossil hagfish shows these animals aren’t as primitive as researchers had assumed.

The Academy's 156th Annual Meeting will take place Saturday, April 27 through Tuesday, April 30, 2019 in Washington, DC. Although the meeting is open to only NAS members and their registered guests,…

Social science has distinct advantages and challenges when it comes to communicating its findings to the public. Its topics are often highly accessible to the general public, yet its findings may be counterintuitive and politically contentious. Conveying recent changes in the organization of the

A massive effort to catalog the number of male-female births shows that 23 million women were never born who should have been, according to the natural sex ratio.

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Within the scientific community, much attention has focused on improving communications between scientists, policy makers, and the public. To date, efforts have centered on improving the content, accessibility, and delivery of scientific communications. Here we argue that in the current political and media environment

While studying a population of sweat bees, researchers uncovered evidence supporting a 40-year-old prediction from evolutionary biology theory. Here, the bees collect pollen from a balsa flower i

This paper investigates the linkages between extreme temperature and precipitation in early life and educational attainment among children throughout the global tropics. We find that experiencing…