Biology and Life Sciences

With the publication in 1859 of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, Charles Darwin established evolution by common descent as the dominant scientific explanation for nature's diversity. This was to be his gift to science and ...

The sources, distributions, and transformation of organic compounds in the solar system are active study areas as a means to provide information about the evolution of the solar system and the possibilities of life elsewhere in the universe. There ...

The National Research Council hosted an interacademy workshop in Yekaterinburg, Russia together with the Russian Academy of Sciences in October 2004 as a means of exploring various aspects of industrial innovation in the Urals region of Russia. Workshop presenters ...

In December 2004, the National Academy of Sciences sponsored a colloquium on “Systematics and the Origin of Species” to celebrate Ernst Mayr’s 100th anniversary and to explore current knowledge concerning the origin of species. In 1942, Ernst Mayr, one of the twentieth century’s ...

There has been a sea change in how we view genetic recombination. When germ cells are produced in higher organisms, genetic recombination assures the proper segregation of like chromosomes. In the course of that process, called meiosis, recombination not only ...

The exponentially increasing amounts of biological data along with comparable advances in computing power are making possible the construction of quantitative, predictive biological systems models. This development could revolutionize those biology-based fields of science. To assist this transformation, the U.S. Department of Energy asked ...

Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research examines current interdisciplinary research efforts and recommends ways to stimulate and support such research.

Advances in science and engineering increasingly require the collaboration of scholars from various fields. This shift is driven by the need ...