Driving progress for the benefit of society by providing independent, objective advice to advance science, engineering, and medicine.
Innovative Materials in Water Resources Infrastructure: Opportunities for the Corps of Engineers
Announcement
Dams, locks, and levees are critical to U.S. navigation, safety, and commerce — but many are reaching the end of or have surpassed their design lives. A new National Academies report examines how innovative materials could help the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintain, repair, and modernize this vital infrastructure.
Search for Life Should Be Top Science Priority for First Human Landing on Mars, Says New Report
News Release
When astronauts set foot on Mars, it will be one of humanity’s greatest milestones, marking the start of a new era of discovery on another planet. A new National Academies report identifies the highest priority science objectives for the first human missions to Mars and says searching for evidence of existing or past life on the planet should be the top priority.
Ways we are making a difference
“There is a critical gap between the performance of machine learning [and] what we would expect in a safety-critical system,” – George Pappas, Associate Dean of Research, School of Engineering and Applied Science at University of Pennsylvania. Machine learning, a key enabler of artificial intelligence, is increasingly used for applications like self-driving cars, medical devices, and advanced robots that work near humans — all contexts where safety is of critical importance.
12,757,958 Over 12,757,958 people have engaged with our work in 2025.
7,300 Over 7,300 innovative thinkers and accomplished practitioners volunteered their time with the National Academies in 2024.
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