March 17 -- The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History has opened a new exhibit dedicated to the discovery and understanding of human origins. The National Academy of Sciences consulted on the project and is a partner institution for the exhibit. On March 31, the Smithsonian will host a lecture about a recent National Research Council report, Understanding Climate's Influence on Human Evolution. Several members of the committee that wrote the report will discuss its findings and recommendations.
March 10 -- The InterAcademy Council, a multinational body of science academies including the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, was asked today to conduct an independent review of the processes and procedures of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The review was requested by the United Nations secretary-general and the chair of the IPCC.
March 4 -- Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric Co., John Chambers, CEO of CISCO, and many others participated in the first summit of a new series on the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges for Engineering. During the event in Raleigh, N.C., Duke University and North Carolina State University announced a new program designed to stimulate students’ interest in science and technology called Grand Challenge K12 Partners Program.
March 4 -- Despite problems in an environmental impact statement prepared by the U.S. Army for its expansion of biocontainment laboratories at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., there are policies and procedures in place that meet or exceed currently accepted standards and provide appropriate protection to workers and the public, according to a new National Research Council report that was requested by Congress.
March 3 -- Knowledge of how past climate may have influenced human evolution could be enhanced with a cross-disciplinary research program to improve human fossil and climate records, says a new report from the National Research Council. The program should focus on locating new fossil sites, drilling on land and in lakes and ocean basins in areas where humans evolved, investing in climate modeling experiments, and enhancing public outreach.