Happy Birthday Leonardo da Vinci!
Happy Birthday Leonardo da Vinci! On April 15, 1452, the ultimate Renaissance Man, Leonardo da Vinci, was born in Italy. Throughout his extraordinary life, he excelled in many diverse fields in the arts and sciences, such as architecture, mathematics, engineering, writing, painting, music, botany, sculpture, geology, anatomy, geology, and cartography. Celebrate the life of one [...]
Happy Pi Day!
Happy Pi Day! How do you celebrate Pi Day? From recitation contests to pi conversion games to baking a pi pie, there are an infinite number of ways for math and science enthusiasts to celebrate 3/14. The date also marks the anniversary of the birth of Albert Einstein, one of the greatest minds in [...]
Happy Birthday Abraham Lincoln!
Happy Birthday President Abe Lincoln! This year marks the 150th anniversary of the National Academy of Sciences, a landmark that would not be possible without the perseverance and courage of President Abraham Lincoln. In 1863, during the Civil War, President Lincoln founded the [...]
Top Titles of 2012
“Mendel’s concept of the laws of genetics was lost to the world for a generation because his publication did not reach the few who were capable of grasping and extending it.” – Vannevar Bush Science has the power to change the world–but only if people know about it. We want everyone in the world to have [...]
Science Debate 2012: Critical Natural Resources
The leading U.S. science and engineering organizations developed a list of 14 science policy questions facing the U.S. in 2012. You can read these questions–and the Presidential candidates’ answers–at ScienceDebate.org. For each of the Science Debate 2012 questions, we’re going to provide you a selection of the authoritative and unbiased resources of the National Academies to [...]
Sharing Water: Making Decisions About Sustainable Water Management
Water: we need it every day, and use it in countless ways. As the world enters the second decade of the 21st century, the human community finds itself searching for new paradigms for water supply and management in response to expanding populations, sprawling development, climate change, and the limits of existing conventional supplies. The following [...]
Cybersecurity: Issues in Defending Networks and Systems from Cyberattack and Cyberespionage
Last week the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported that it was a target of a cyber break-in, an attack designed to infiltrate the IMF in order to gain sensitive insider privileged information. Intrusions into secure networks of organizations such as the IMF focus the public’s attention on the subject of cybersecurity. We asked Herb Lin, [...]
Climate Change Resources
A report released today from the National Research Council reiterates the pressing need for substantial action to limit the magnitude of climate change and to prepare to adapt to its impacts. Read about the America’s Climate Choices series below. America’s Climate Choices, which builds on the four previous America’s Climate Choices panel reports, reaffirms that [...]
Welcome to Notes From NAP!
The page you’re looking at is our new site, Notes From NAP, a space where we could venture outside the catalog pages of nap.edu and give you more from our world: lists of new publications, new audio and video, insight on ways nap.edu can help you learn and educate others, and voices from individuals who [...]
