Author: Division on Earth and Life Studies

Addressing climate change is essential and possible, and it offers a host of benefits - from better public health to new economic opportunities. Th...

Many people in the United States are exposed to formaldehyde. Exposure can occur from environmental sources (for example, combustion processes, bui...

Many people in the United States are exposed to styrene. Sources of environmental exposure included food (from migration of styrene from polymer pa...

In its current strategic plan, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) describes a cross-agency strategy to advance sustainable environmenta...

Select Agents are defined in regulations through a list of names of particularly dangerous known bacteria, viruses, toxins, and fungi. However, nat...

Does the public trust science? Scientists? Scientific organizations? What roles do trust and the lack of trust play in public debates about how sci...

Chemistry plays a critical role in daily life, impacting areas such as medicine and health, consumer products, energy production, the ecosystem, an...

As the nation's economic activities, security concerns, and stewardship of natural resources become increasingly complex and globally interrelated,...

The 21st century has witnessed a complete revolution in the understanding and description of bacteria in eco- systems and microbial assemblages, an...

Expanding water reusethe use of treated wastewater for beneficial purposes including irrigation, industrial uses, and drinking water augmentationco...

The growing use of nuclear medicine, the potential expansion of nuclear power generation, and the urgent needs to protect the nation against extern...

Across the United States, impacts of climate change are already evident. Heat waves have become more frequent and intense, cold extremes have becom...

To safeguard public health, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must keep abreast of new scientific information and emerging technologies ...

As climate change has pushed climate patterns outside of historic norms, the need for detailed projections is growing across all sectors, including...

Human spaceflight is inherently risky, with numerous potential hazards posed at each phase of a mission. Potential health risks during spaceflights...

Separation science plays a critical role in maintaining our standard of living and quality of life. Many industrial processes and general necessiti...

The human-mediated introduction of species to regions of the world they could never reach by natural means has had great impacts on the environment...

During July 10-13, 2011, 68 participants from 32 countries gathered in Istanbul, Turkey for a workshop organized by the United States National Rese...

Historically, the flow of sediment in the Missouri River has been as important as the flow of water for a variety of river functions. The sediment ...

The March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami sparked a humanitarian disaster in northeastern Japan. They were responsible for more t...

Natural disastersincluding hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and floodscaused more than 220,000 deaths worldwide in the first half of 20...

The obligation to treat animals used in research ethically and humanely extends beyond their lives in the laboratory to include their transportatio...

The U.S. Congress asked the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a technical study on lessons learned from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear acciden...

Across the United States, thousands of hazardous waste sites are contaminated with chemicals that prevent the underlying groundwater from meeting d...

The ocean has absorbed a significant portion of all human-made carbon dioxide emissions. This benefits human society by moderating the rate of clim...

The polar regions are experiencing rapid changes in climate. These changes are causing observable ecological impacts of various types and degrees o...

The first two decades of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program have provided a successful and useful asses...

The Update to the Strategic Plan (USP) is a supplement to the Ten-Year Strategic Plan of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) completed...

The nanotechnology sector, which generated about $225 billion in product sales in 2009, is predicted to expand rapidly over the next decade with th...

In the United States (U.S.), the Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976, now known as the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Manage...

Huanglongbing (HLB) or citrus greening, first observed more than a hundred years ago in Asia, is the most serious disease threat to the citrus-grow...

Climate change poses many challenges that affect society and the natural world. With these challenges, however, come opportunities to respond. By t...

Although advances in engineering can reduce the risk of dam and levee failure, some failures will still occur. Such events cause impacts on social ...

Although ecosystems, humans, and fire have coexisted for millennia, changes in geology, ecology, hydrology, and climate as well as sociocultural, r...

To improve screening of containerized cargo for nuclear and radiological material that might be entering the United States, the Department of Homel...

As climate has warmed over recent years, a new pattern of more frequent and more intense weather events has unfolded across the globe. Climate mode...

Wildfires in America are becoming larger, more frequent, and more destructive, driven by climate change and existing land management practices. Man...

H1N1 (swine flu), SARS, mad cow disease, and HIV/AIDS are a few examples of zoonotic diseases-diseases transmitted between humans and animals. Zoon...

Our ability to observe and forecast severe weather events has improved markedly over the past few decades. Forecasts of snow and ice storms, hurric...

The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in southwest Washington State radically changed the physical and socio-economic landscapes of the region. The...

The academic biomedical research community is a hub of employment, economic productivity, and scientific progress. Academic research institutions a...

A great number of diverse microorganisms inhabit the human body and are collectively referred to as the human microbiome. Until recently, the role ...

Over the past century, the work of chemical engineers has helped transform societies and the lives of individuals, from the synthetic fertilizers t...

Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are a type of unconventional explosive weapon that can be deployed in a variety of ways, and can cause loss of ...

Offshore wind energy development is poised to expand rapidly across the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf over the next decade, as part of a government-...

To facilitate scientific progress and collaboration while also protecting personal privacy, the integrity of research investments, and national sec...

Fisheries are essential to the global economy and feed billions around the world; they, support individuals and communities, and sustain cultural h...