U.S. News and Feature Stories from the National Academies

At a recent National Academies event, scientific experts, patient advocates, individuals with lived experience, and other stakeholders discussed the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke’s updated guidance for characterizing traumatic brain injury and how it can improve care for individuals who experience TBI. The new framework incorporates recommendations from a 2022 National Academies report.

School active shooter drills are an increasingly common part of student life. A new National Academies report examines the mental, emotional, and behavioral impacts that active shooter drills can have on children and adolescents and recommends steps to better understand and protect the health and well-being of students and school staff.

In a statement, the presidents of the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine urge federal leaders to respect and safeguard the integrity and objectivity of federal statistical agencies and the information they produce, which is vital to public policy and essential to the nation’s economic well-being.

This summer, 40 graduate students and faculty from four countries are sailing from the Azores to Greenland aboard the historic Staatsraad Lehmkuhl as part of a three-week oceanographic expedition. The voyage follows a workshop introducing the UN Ocean Decade and equips students to collect data, revisit historical ocean temperature records, and study the effects of climate change in the North Atlantic. The project aims to foster international collaboration, hands-on science training, and future ocean science leadership.

A new study will review the latest scientific evidence on whether greenhouse gas emissions are reasonably anticipated to endanger public health and welfare in the U.S., with a focus on evidence gathered by the scientific community since 2009.

The second in a series of retrospectives on National Academies’ reports and activities related to climate science.

Cyberattacks are causing growing disruption for governments, businesses, and individuals. In a recent interview, John Manferdelli, who chairs the National Academies’ Forum on Cyber Resilience, shared his insights on the threat landscape, the underlying “hard problems” in cybersecurity, and the forum’s work to steer the nation’s cyber systems toward greater resilience.

With hopes for future production, many oil and gas wells sit in limbo as they go through ownership cycles where the wells are neither permanently plugged nor are they in use. Plaquemines and Lafourche Parishes offer two different approaches to managing energy infrastructure. By taking lessons from each, we can promote a resilient energy economy in the Gulf and prioritize the health of human and environmental systems that make the Gulf unique.

Guided tours of the historic National Academy of Sciences building offer a treasure trove of architecture, art, and stories of science, scientists, and luminaries who have passed through the building over the past 100 years.

Millions of oil and gas wells have been drilled across the U.S. since 1859, but poor early regulation left many abandoned, creating a large number of orphaned wells with no responsible operator. These wells can leak methane and contaminate groundwater, posing environmental and public health risks. A National Academies study is now reviewing how best to plug and remediate these wells to address the issue long-term.