Highlights:

 This Week in PNAS 
Highlights from the recent edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the Academy's scientific journal

  Restoration of the NAS Building
The NAS building on Constitution Avenue is undergoing a restoration project to improve the building’s historic spaces, increase accessibility, and bring the building's aging infrastructure and facilities into the 21st century. 

  NAS InterViews Podcasts
Listen to audio interviews in which members talk about their research, why they became scientists, and other aspects of their research and careers.  

News:

  NAS Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Project Mohole
Apr. 15, 2011: Fifty years ago an ambitious scientific endeavor dubbed "Project Mohole" achieved a first it successfully obtained geological samples beneath the ocean bottom, operating at a depth of 12,000 feet. Hailed as the earth sciences’ answer to the space program, Project Mohole is commemorated on a new NAS website.

  EPA's Draft Health Assessment for Formaldehyde Needs Improvement
Apr. 8, 2011: A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency draft assessment of the potential health effects associated with formaldehyde exposure needs substantial revision, says a new report. It finds that EPA supports its conclusions that formaldehyde can cause irritation to the eyes, nose, and throat; lesions in the respiratory tract; genetic mutations; and cancers of the nose, nasal cavity, and upper throat. However, EPA’s conclusion that formaldehyde causes other cancers of the respiratory tract, leukemia, or several other noncancer health outcomes is not supported.

  Report Calls for Enhanced Role of HHS in Improving Nation’s Oral Health
Apr. 8, 2011: Despite calls for providers and patients to recognize dental health as an integral part of overall health and the shocking 2007 case of a boy's death due to an untreated tooth infection, oral health needs a higher profile within the U.S. health care system. A new report provides a blueprint for how the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services can help make that happen. The report’s recommendations are designed to enhance HHS's recently debuted Oral Health Initiative, a cross-agency, national plan for improving oral health.

  Life and Physical Sciences Research Could Enable Human Space Missions
Apr. 5, 2011: By elevating its life and physical sciences research program, NASA could achieve the biological understanding and technical breakthroughs needed to allow humans to be sent deeper into space, including to Mars, says a new National Research Council report. One of a series of decadal surveys that the Research Council has completed for NASA, the report lays out a research agenda for the next decade that could bring about such breakthroughs.

  Secretary of Energy Talks About Clean Energy Innovations
Apr. 1, 2011: U.S. Secretary of Energy and NAS member Steven Chu delivered the National Academy of Sciences’ 11th annual Sackler Lecture. Chu's talk, "The Energy and Climate Change Challenge: Risks and Opportunities," outlined the major challenges in developing renewable energy and highlighted innovations made by the U.S. and other countries. Chu referenced the space race in the ‘60s, saying "we are in a race to develop clean energy technologies…this is our Sputnik moment" and called federal support “critical to technology leadership."

  Active Effort to Research Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People’s Health Needed
Mar. 31, 2011: Researchers need to proactively engage lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in health studies and collect data on these populations to identify and better understand health conditions that affect them, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. The scarcity of research yields an incomplete picture of LGBT health status and needs. The report provides a comprehensive assessment of what is known about the health of these groups and outlines an agenda for the research and data collection necessary to form a fuller understanding.

  Strengthening U.S. Resilience to Earthquakes
Mar. 30, 2011: A new National Research Council report presents a 20-year road map to increase the nation's capacity to maintain important community functions and recover quickly following damaging earthquakes. The report was mostly written prior to the March 11 earthquake in Japan, but the committee of experts who authored it noted that the Japanese experience is a reminder of the devastation that can occur even in a country acknowledged as a leader in implementing earthquake-resilience measures.

  A New Era of Challenges, Opportunities for Corps of Engineers
Mar. 25, 2011: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- which operates and maintains the nation's water resources infrastructure of dams, levees, locks, and navigation channels -- faces a water planning paradox, says a new report from the National Research Council. Water demands are increasing and becoming more complex, while investments in water infrastructures are declining, leading to expectations that cannot be met consistently. Despite challenges, the situation offers opportunities to develop and implement creative water planning, the report says.

  Guidelines for Working With Hazardous Chemicals Released
Mar. 25, 2011: A new report from the National Research Council offers a reference guide for the safe handling, storage, and disposal of hazardous chemicals in the laboratory. An update to the 1995 edition, new topics include emergency planning, laboratory security, green chemistry, compatible chemical storage, and the handling of nanomaterials, as well as an expanded discussion of environmental health and safety systems.

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