Global demand for animal-derived foods such as meat, eggs, and milk is increasing, even as arable land and water to support animal production are declining worldwide. Among the approaches to meet global demand in a resource-constrained future is the genetic improvement of livestock to increase the efficiency and sustainability of animal agriculture. Food-animal breeders are beginning to leverage advances in the fields of genomics and biotechnology to make targeted changes in DNA, called heritable genetic modifications (HGMs), that can be passed onto subsequent generations, thereby significantly accelerating the process of genetic improvement in populations of food animals.
At the request of Congress, Heritable Genetic Modification in Food Animals examines the biological basis of potential health risks relevant to the regulation of HGMs in food animals. This report considers whether hazards could arise during the development of HGM food animals, the methods available to detect hazards, and the likelihood that they could result in harm. Heritable Genetic Modification in Food Animals recommends conducting additional research to fill gaps in understanding of how both HGM techniques and conventional breeding methods influence animal welfare and the quality of animal foods, establishing a study group to gauge public attitudes toward animal biotechnology in agriculture, and developing best practices for public engagement regarding such technologies.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Genetics | Agriculture » Animal Health and Nutrition
Artificial intelligence (AI) applications in the life sciences have the potential to enable advances in biological discovery and design at a faster pace and efficiency than is possible with classical experimental approaches alone. At the same time, AI-enabled biological tools developed for beneficial applications could potentially be misused for harmful purposes. Although the creation of biological weapons is not a new concept or risk, the potential for AI-enabled biological tools to affect this risk has raised concerns during the past decade.
This report, as requested by the Department of Defense, assesses how AI-enabled biological tools could uniquely impact biosecurity risk, and how advancements in such tools could also be used to mitigate these risks. The Age of AI in the Life Sciences reviews the capabilities of AI-enabled biological tools and can be used in conjunction with the 2018 National Academies report, Biodefense in the Age of Synthetic Biology, which sets out a framework for identifying the different risk factors associated with synthetic biology capabilities.
Topics: Conflict and Security Issues » Biosecurity | Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology | Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal, infectious prion disease affecting the central nervous system of some species of Cervidae-animals such as deer, elk, and moose. Recognized as a disease in the 1980s but suspected to have been present in the United States for decades longer, CWD affects both captive and free-ranging cervids and has been reported in 35 states and five Canadian provinces of North America as of August 1, 2024. The potential ramifications of the increasing spread of CWD are serious, and include negative impacts on ecosystems, and large economic costs for agencies with management responsibilities related to cervids and for industries that depend on cervids or cervid products. Cultural and food security impacts for communities with traditions tied to cervid hunting are also impacted.
In 2020, Congress passed America's Conservation Enhancement (ACE) Act (P.L. 116-188), directing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to lead a task force for addressing CWD in the United States drawing on a study commissioned from the National Academies. This report will assist the task force in prioritizing research and developing future CWD management strategies. It describes the state of knowledge regarding how CWD is transmitted among cervids, the current distribution of disease outbreaks, and the effectiveness of current diagnostic, prevention, and control methods available to limit the spread of the disease.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Animals, Plants and Other Organisms | Environment and Environmental Studies » Ecology and Ecosystems
Our planet is facing many complex environmental challenges, including the loss of biodiversity and rapidly changing climate conditions, driven by intensifying human-nature interactions worldwide. Dramatic advances in the biological sciences over recent years are made possible by new tools to study life at many scales, from identifying mutations in a single gene to monitoring changes in plants, animals, and microbes over an entire continent. These tools have the potential to usher in a new era of continental-scale biology (CSB) in which researchers can combine data from various realms across organizational, spatial, and temporal scales, addressing questions on biological processes and patterns that cannot be answered by observations at either small or large scales alone.
This report, prepared at the request of the National Science Foundation, sets out a vision for the development of CSB and identifies the research areas that could most benefit from multi-scale approaches. Advancing the use of CSB to address a wide range of biological and societal challenges will require the development of integrated conceptual frameworks and theories to guide research, deployment of emerging technologies, and development of a skilled workforce to synthesize the vast amounts of data from various sources.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biodiversity | Environment and Environmental Studies » Climate Change | Environment and Environmental Studies » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
Concerted efforts to deepen understanding of RNA modifications and their role in living systems hold the potential to advance human health, improve crop yields, and address other pressing societal challenges. RNA, which carries the information encoded by DNA to the places where it is needed, is amazingly diverse and dynamic. RNA is processed and modified through natural biological pathways, giving rise to hundreds, in some cases thousands, of distinct RNA molecules for each gene, thereby diversifying genetic information. RNA modifications are known to be pivotal players in nearly all biological processes, and their dysregulation has been implicated in a wide range of human diseases and disorders. Yet, our knowledge of RNA modifications remains incomplete, hindered by current technological limitations. Existing methods cannot discover all RNA modifications, let alone comprehensively sequence them on every RNA molecule. Nonetheless, what is known about RNA modifications has already been leveraged in the development of vaccines that helped saved millions of lives worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. RNA modifications also have applications beyond health, for example, enhancing agricultural productivity.
Charting a Future for Sequencing RNA and Its Modifications: A New Era for Biology and Medicine calls for a focused, large-scale effort to accelerate technological innovation to harness the full potential of RNA modifications to address pressing societal challenges in health, agriculture, and beyond. This report assesses the scientific and technological breakthroughs, workforce, and infrastructure needs to sequence RNA and its modifications, and ultimately understand the roles RNA modifications play in biological processes and disease. It proposes a roadmap of innovation that will make it possible for any RNA from any biological system to be sequenced end-to-end with all of its modifications - a capability that could lead to more personalized and targeted treatments and instigate transformative changes across various sectors beyond health and medicine.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Genetics | Health and Medicine » Genetics | Health and Medicine » Health Sciences
This concise and beautifully illustrated booklet expresses the Academy's view on the teaching of creationism alongside evolution in the science classroom—"The tenets of 'creation science' are not supported by scientific evidence....Creationism has no place in a science curriculum at any level...." This is an essential tool for educators, school administrators, students, and parents—anyone with an interest in the quality of science education. This booklet is a reissue that updates the 1984 edition.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biology
As part of its core mission, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is tasked with assessing the hazards and risks to human health from exposure to pollutants. While some pollutants are well studied, there are little or no data on the potential health effects for many thousands of chemicals that can make their way into the environment, such as PFAS. EPA still relies on laboratory mammalian studies as the foundation of most human health risk assessments, which are limited by high costs, long timelines, and other concerns. New approach methods (NAMs) in toxicology, for example new in vivo and in vitro strategies and computational systems biology, offer opportunities to inform timely decision-making when no data are available from laboratory mammalian toxicity tests or epidemiological studies. NAMs may also help inform efforts to protect susceptible and vulnerable populations by characterizing subtle health perturbations, better encompassing genetic diversity, and accounting for nonchemical stressors.
While the promise and need for NAMs is clear, many barriers to their use remain. This report aims to bridge the gap between the potential of NAMs and their practical application in human health risk assessment. Building Confidence in New Evidence Streams for Human Health Risk Assessment draws lessons learned from laboratory mammalian toxicity tests to help inform approaches for building scientific confidence in NAMs and for incorporating such data into risk assessment and decision-making. Overall, the report recommendations aim to ensure a seamless handoff from the evaluation of NAM-based testing strategies in the laboratory to the incorporation of NAM data into modern, systematic-review-based risk assessments.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Laboratory Animal Research
One strategy cells use for regulation is modifying proteins, DNA, and RNA to control their structure, function, and stability. For years, research has focused on the reversible modifications to proteins and DNA. However, RNA can also be highly modified, and more than 170 types of modification to RNA have been identified so far. Current methods for mapping and sequencing RNA and its modifications - also known as the epitranscriptome - are limited, partly because available sequencing technologies can detect only a small number of them. This limits the understanding of different molecular processes and leaves a gap in knowledge related to human diseases and disorders.
To address these limitations and develop a roadmap for the sequencing of RNA with the epitranscriptome, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened an ad hoc committee to provide a consensus report. A workshop held on March 14-15, 2023 was one part of an information-gathering effort by the committee and is summarized in this proceedings.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Genetics | Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
In 2023, the National Academies held a series of facilitated workshops to gather information on progress to date on projects funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Understanding the Rules of Life (URoL) program. A fundamental goal of the URoL program is to identify the causal, predictive relationships that drive how life functions—a concept articulated as the "rules of life." Principal investigators of the URoL program shared findings from their research and how those findings might contribute to identifying rules of life that are generalizable across fields and scales. Participants also discussed how they have incorporated multidisciplinary, systems-level approaches into their work. This booklet highlights the program's focus areas and reach, major scientific breakthroughs, and lessons for research and education across scientific disciplines. This booklet is intended for policy and lay audiences interested in learning more about the goals and opportunities of NSF's URoL program.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
Artificial intelligence (AI), facial recognition, and other advanced computational and statistical techniques are accelerating advancements in the life sciences and many other fields. However, these technologies and the scientific developments they enable also hold the potential for unintended harm and malicious exploitation. To examine these issues and to discuss practices for anticipating and preventing the misuse of advanced data analytics and biological data in a global context, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened two virtual workshops on November 15, 2022, and February 9, 2023. The workshops engaged scientists from the United States, South Asia, and Southeast Asia through a series of presentations and scenario-based exercises to explore emerging applications and areas of research, their potential benefits, and the ethical issues and security risks that arise when AI applications are used in conjunction with biological data. This publication highlights the presentations and discussions of the workshops.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology | Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
Nonhuman primates represent a small fraction of animals used in biomedical research, but they remain important research models due to their similarities to humans with respect to genetic makeup, anatomy, physiology, and behavior. Limitations in the availability of nonhuman primates have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and recent restrictions on their exportation and transportation, impacting National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded research necessary for both public health and national security. Additionally, there is continued interest in understanding whether and how nonanimal models can be used to answer scientific questions for which nonhuman primates are currently used.
At the direction of the U.S. Congress, NIH asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene an expert committee to conduct a landscape analysis of current and future use of nonhuman primates in NIH-supported biomedical research, as well as opportunities for new approach methodologies to complement or reduce reliance on nonhuman primate models. This report provides the committee findings and conclusions.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Laboratory Animal Research | Health and Medicine » Health Sciences | Health and Medicine » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
At the request of the U.S. Government, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine established a standing committee to identify future biotechnology needs for national security. The standing committee identifies and explores in detail new and emerging research and development of biotechnologies of interest to national security. Communication and Information Transmission Using Biotechnology: Abridged Version is the public version of the committee's classified consensus study that describes current research on DNA, protein, and small molecule-based approaches for transmitting information and the nascent field of molecular communication.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology | Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
A growing body of evidence has sounded the alarm that the biodiversity that supports and sustains life on Earth is at risk. Habitat destruction, resource exploitation, and climate change are among the many stressors that have put 1 million species under threat of extinction and sharply reduced the populations of many plant and animal species. While researchers and global leaders ramp up efforts to address this existential threat, the significance of species loss and the value of preserving biodiversity is not widely recognized by policy makers or the public. This booklet, produced by an international committee of experts, provides a publicly accessible overview of the many dimensions of biodiversity and why it's vital to the health of all life on the planet. The booklet also examines the causes of biodiversity loss and presents actions that can be taken from the individual to the global level to stop this decline.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biodiversity | Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
Biological collections are a critical part of the nation's science and innovation infrastructure and a fundamental resource for understanding the natural world. Biological collections underpin basic science discoveries as well as deepen our understanding of many challenges such as global change, biodiversity loss, sustainable food production, ecosystem conservation, and improving human health and security. They are important resources for education, both in formal training for the science and technology workforce, and in informal learning through schools, citizen science programs, and adult learning. However, the sustainability of biological collections is under threat. Without enhanced strategic leadership and investments in their infrastructure and growth many biological collections could be lost.
Biological Collections: Ensuring Critical Research and Education for the 21st Century recommends approaches for biological collections to develop long-term financial sustainability, advance digitization, recruit and support a diverse workforce, and upgrade and maintain a robust physical infrastructure in order to continue serving science and society. The aim of the report is to stimulate a national discussion regarding the goals and strategies needed to ensure that U.S. biological collections not only thrive but continue to grow throughout the 21st century and beyond.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biology | Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
Heritable human genome editing - making changes to the genetic material of eggs, sperm, or any cells that lead to their development, including the cells of early embryos, and establishing a pregnancy - raises not only scientific and medical considerations but also a host of ethical, moral, and societal issues. Human embryos whose genomes have been edited should not be used to create a pregnancy until it is established that precise genomic changes can be made reliably and without introducing undesired changes - criteria that have not yet been met, says Heritable Human Genome Editing.
From an international commission of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the U.K.'s Royal Society, the report considers potential benefits, harms, and uncertainties associated with genome editing technologies and defines a translational pathway from rigorous preclinical research to initial clinical uses, should a country decide to permit such uses. The report specifies stringent preclinical and clinical requirements for establishing safety and efficacy, and for undertaking long-term monitoring of outcomes. Extensive national and international dialogue is needed before any country decides whether to permit clinical use of this technology, according to the report, which identifies essential elements of national and international scientific governance and oversight.
Topics: Health and Medicine » Genetics | Biology and Life Sciences » Genetics
Research and innovation in the life sciences is driving rapid growth in agriculture, biomedical science, information science and computing, energy, and other sectors of the U.S. economy. This economic activity, conceptually referred to as the bioeconomy, presents many opportunities to create jobs, improve the quality of life, and continue to drive economic growth. While the United States has been a leader in advancements in the biological sciences, other countries are also actively investing in and expanding their capabilities in this area. Maintaining competitiveness in the bioeconomy is key to maintaining the economic health and security of the United States and other nations.
Safeguarding the Bioeconomy evaluates preexisting and potential approaches for assessing the value of the bioeconomy and identifies intangible assets not sufficiently captured or that are missing from U.S. assessments. This study considers strategies for safeguarding and sustaining the economic activity driven by research and innovation in the life sciences. It also presents ideas for horizon scanning mechanisms to identify new technologies, markets, and data sources that have the potential to drive future development of the bioeconomy.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology | Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service commissioned the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to develop a request for applications, "Research to determine the taxonomy of wild canid populations in regions of the United States where recent evidence suggests the potential presence of red wolves (Canis rufus)," and to conduct an independent evaluation of the submitted applications. This letter report describes the work of the committee and transmits the final evaluation of applications to carry out research.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Animals, Plants and Other Organisms | Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
Scientific advances over the past several decades have accelerated the ability to engineer existing organisms and to potentially create novel ones not found in nature. Synthetic biology, which collectively refers to concepts, approaches, and tools that enable the modification or creation of biological organisms, is being pursued overwhelmingly for beneficial purposes ranging from reducing the burden of disease to improving agricultural yields to remediating pollution. Although the contributions synthetic biology can make in these and other areas hold great promise, it is also possible to imagine malicious uses that could threaten U.S. citizens and military personnel. Making informed decisions about how to address such concerns requires a realistic assessment of the capabilities that could be misused.
Biodefense in the Age of Synthetic Biology explores and envisions potential misuses of synthetic biology. This report develops a framework to guide an assessment of the security concerns related to advances in synthetic biology, assesses the levels of concern warranted for such advances, and identifies options that could help mitigate those concerns.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology | Conflict and Security Issues » Military and Defense Studies
People's desire to understand the environments in which they live is a natural one. People spend most of their time in spaces and structures designed, built, and managed by humans, and it is estimated that people in developed countries now spend 90 percent of their lives indoors. As people move from homes to workplaces, traveling in cars and on transit systems, microorganisms are continually with and around them. The human-associated microbes that are shed, along with the human behaviors that affect their transport and removal, make significant contributions to the diversity of the indoor microbiome.
The characteristics of "healthy" indoor environments cannot yet be defined, nor do microbial, clinical, and building researchers yet understand how to modify features of indoor environments—such as building ventilation systems and the chemistry of building materials—in ways that would have predictable impacts on microbial communities to promote health and prevent disease. The factors that affect the environments within buildings, the ways in which building characteristics influence the composition and function of indoor microbial communities, and the ways in which these microbial communities relate to human health and well-being are extraordinarily complex and can be explored only as a dynamic, interconnected ecosystem by engaging the fields of microbial biology and ecology, chemistry, building science, and human physiology.
This report reviews what is known about the intersection of these disciplines, and how new tools may facilitate advances in understanding the ecosystem of built environments, indoor microbiomes, and effects on human health and well-being. It offers a research agenda to generate the information needed so that stakeholders with an interest in understanding the impacts of built environments will be able to make more informed decisions.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biology | Engineering and Technology » Construction: Design, Research, Planning
Biodiversity—the genetic variety of life—is an exuberant product of the evolutionary past, a vast human-supportive resource (aesthetic, intellectual, and material) of the present, and a rich legacy to cherish and preserve for the future. Two urgent challenges, and opportunities, for 21st-century science are to gain deeper insights into the evolutionary processes that foster biotic diversity, and to translate that understanding into workable solutions for the regional and global crises that biodiversity currently faces. A grasp of evolutionary principles and processes is important in other societal arenas as well, such as education, medicine, sociology, and other applied fields including agriculture, pharmacology, and biotechnology. The ramifications of evolutionary thought also extend into learned realms traditionally reserved for philosophy and religion.
The central goal of the In the Light of Evolution (ILE) series is to promote the evolutionary sciences through state-of-the-art colloquia—in the series of Arthur M. Sackler colloquia sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences—and their published proceedings. Each installment explores evolutionary perspectives on a particular biological topic that is scientifically intriguing but also has special relevance to contemporary societal issues or challenges. This tenth and final edition of the In the Light of Evolution series focuses on recent developments in phylogeographic research and their relevance to past accomplishments and future research directions.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Evolution
Genetically engineered (GE) crops were first introduced commercially in the 1990s. After two decades of production, some groups and individuals remain critical of the technology based on their concerns about possible adverse effects on human health, the environment, and ethical considerations. At the same time, others are concerned that the technology is not reaching its potential to improve human health and the environment because of stringent regulations and reduced public funding to develop products offering more benefits to society. While the debate about these and other questions related to the genetic engineering techniques of the first 20 years goes on, emerging genetic-engineering technologies are adding new complexities to the conversation.
Genetically Engineered Crops builds on previous related Academies reports published between 1987 and 2010 by undertaking a retrospective examination of the purported positive and adverse effects of GE crops and to anticipate what emerging genetic-engineering technologies hold for the future. This report indicates where there are uncertainties about the economic, agronomic, health, safety, or other impacts of GE crops and food, and makes recommendations to fill gaps in safety assessments, increase regulatory clarity, and improve innovations in and access to GE technology.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology | Agriculture » Crop and Plant Production | Biology and Life Sciences » Genetics
Research on gene drive systems is rapidly advancing. Many proposed applications of gene drive research aim to solve environmental and public health challenges, including the reduction of poverty and the burden of vector-borne diseases, such as malaria and dengue, which disproportionately impact low and middle income countries. However, due to their intrinsic qualities of rapid spread and irreversibility, gene drive systems raise many questions with respect to their safety relative to public and environmental health. Because gene drive systems are designed to alter the environments we share in ways that will be hard to anticipate and impossible to completely roll back, questions about the ethics surrounding use of this research are complex and will require very careful exploration.
Gene Drives on the Horizon outlines the state of knowledge relative to the science, ethics, public engagement, and risk assessment as they pertain to research directions of gene drive systems and governance of the research process. This report offers principles for responsible practices of gene drive research and related applications for use by investigators, their institutions, the research funders, and regulators.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology | Biology and Life Sciences » Genetics
In an era of promising advances in cancer research, there are considerable and even alarming gaps in the fundamental knowledge and understanding of ovarian cancer. Researchers now know that ovarian cancer is not a single disease—several distinct subtypes exist with different origins, risk factors, genetic mutations, biological behaviors, and prognoses. However, persistent questions have impeded progress toward improving the prevention, early detection, treatment, and management of ovarian cancers. Failure to significantly improve morbidity and mortality during the past several decades is likely due to several factors, including the lack of research being performed by specific disease subtype, lack of definitive knowledge of the cell of origin and disease progression, and incomplete understanding of genetic and non-genetic risk factors.
Ovarian Cancers examines the state of the science in ovarian cancer research, identifies key gaps in the evidence base and the challenges to addressing those gaps, considers opportunities for advancing ovarian cancer research, and examines avenues for translation and dissemination of new findings and communication of new information to patients and others. This study makes recommendations for public- and private-sector efforts that could facilitate progress in reducing the incidence of morbidity and mortality from ovarian cancers.
Topics: Health and Medicine » Cancer | Health and Medicine » Women's Health | Biology and Life Sciences » Genetics
The tremendous progress in biology over the last half century - from Watson and Crick's elucidation of the structure of DNA to today's astonishing, rapid progress in the field of synthetic biology - has positioned us for significant innovation in chemical production. New bio-based chemicals, improved public health through improved drugs and diagnostics, and biofuels that reduce our dependency on oil are all results of research and innovation in the biological sciences. In the past decade, we have witnessed major advances made possible by biotechnology in areas such as rapid, low-cost DNA sequencing, metabolic engineering, and high-throughput screening. The manufacturing of chemicals using biological synthesis and engineering could expand even faster. A proactive strategy - implemented through the development of a technical roadmap similar to those that enabled sustained growth in the semiconductor industry and our explorations of space - is needed if we are to realize the widespread benefits of accelerating the industrialization of biology.
Industrialization of Biology presents such a roadmap to achieve key technical milestones for chemical manufacturing through biological routes. This report examines the technical, economic, and societal factors that limit the adoption of bioprocessing in the chemical industry today and which, if surmounted, would markedly accelerate the advanced manufacturing of chemicals via industrial biotechnology. Working at the interface of synthetic chemistry, metabolic engineering, molecular biology, and synthetic biology, Industrialization of Biology identifies key technical goals for next-generation chemical manufacturing, then identifies the gaps in knowledge, tools, techniques, and systems required to meet those goals, and targets and timelines for achieving them. This report also considers the skills necessary to accomplish the roadmap goals, and what training opportunities are required to produce the cadre of skilled scientists and engineers needed.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry | Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology | Industry and Labor » Industrial and Manufacturing Technologies
By 2050 the world's population is projected to grow by one-third, reaching between 9 and 10 billion. With globalization and expected growth in global affluence, a substantial increase in per capita meat, dairy, and fish consumption is also anticipated. The demand for calories from animal products will nearly double, highlighting the critical importance of the world's animal agriculture system. Meeting the nutritional needs of this population and its demand for animal products will require a significant investment of resources as well as policy changes that are supportive of agricultural production. Ensuring sustainable agricultural growth will be essential to addressing this global challenge to food security.
Critical Role of Animal Science Research in Food Security and Sustainability identifies areas of research and development, technology, and resource needs for research in the field of animal agriculture, both nationally and internationally. This report assesses the global demand for products of animal origin in 2050 within the framework of ensuring global food security; evaluates how climate change and natural resource constraints may impact the ability to meet future global demand for animal products in sustainable production systems; and identifies factors that may impact the ability of the United States to meet demand for animal products, including the need for trained human capital, product safety and quality, and effective communication and adoption of new knowledge, information, and technologies.
The agricultural sector worldwide faces numerous daunting challenges that will require innovations, new technologies, and new ways of approaching agriculture if the food, feed, and fiber needs of the global population are to be met. The recommendations of Critical Role of Animal Science Research in Food Security and Sustainability will inform a new roadmap for animal science research to meet the challenges of sustainable animal production in the 21st century.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Laboratory Animal Research | Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
This report is the Thai translation of Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals: Eighth Edition.
A respected resource for decades, the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals has been updated by a committee of experts, taking into consideration input from the scientific and laboratory animal communities and the public at large. The Guide incorporates new scientific information on common laboratory animals, including aquatic species, and includes extensive references. It is organized around major components of animal use:
The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals provides a framework for the judgments required in the management of animal facilities. This updated and expanded resource of proven value will be important to scientists and researchers, veterinarians, animal care personnel, facilities managers, institutional administrators, policy makers involved in research issues, and animal welfare advocates.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Laboratory Animal Research | Agriculture » Animal Health and Nutrition | Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
Humans possess certain unique mental traits. Self-reflection, as well as ethic and aesthetic values, is among them, constituting an essential part of what we call the human condition. The human mental machinery led our species to have a self-awareness but, at the same time, a sense of justice, willing to punish unfair actions even if the consequences of such outrages harm our own interests. Also, we appreciate searching for novelties, listening to music, viewing beautiful pictures, or living in well-designed houses. But why is this so? What is the meaning of our tendency, among other particularities, to defend and share values, to evaluate the rectitude of our actions and the beauty of our surroundings? What brain mechanisms correlate with the human capacity to maintain inner speech, or to carry out judgments of value? To what extent are they different from other primates' equivalent behaviors?
In the Light of Evolution Volume VII aims to survey what has been learned about the human "mental machinery." This book is a collection of colloquium papers from the Arthur M. Sackler Colloquium "The Human Mental Machinery," which was sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences on January 11-12, 2013. The colloquium brought together leading scientists who have worked on brain and mental traits. Their 16 contributions focus the objective of better understanding human brain processes, their evolution, and their eventual shared mechanisms with other animals. The articles are grouped into three primary sections: current study of the mind-brain relationships; the primate evolutionary continuity; and the human difference: from ethics to aesthetics. This book offers fresh perspectives coming from interdisciplinary approaches that open new research fields and constitute the state of the art in some important aspects of the mind-brain relationships.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biology | Biology and Life Sciences » Evolution
The U.S. veterinary medical profession contributes to society in diverse ways, from developing drugs and protecting the food supply to treating companion animals and investigating animal diseases in the wild. In a study of the issues related to the veterinary medical workforce, including demographics, workforce supply, trends affecting job availability, and capacity of the educational system to fill future demands, a National Research Council committee found that the profession faces important challenges in maintaining the economic sustainability of veterinary practice and education, building its scholarly foundations, and evolving veterinary service to meet changing societal needs.
Many concerns about the profession came into focus following the outbreak of West Nile fever in 1999, and the subsequent outbreaks of SARS, monkeypox, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, highly pathogenic avian influenza, H1N1 influenza, and a variety of food safety and environmental issues heightened public concerns. They also raised further questions about the directions of veterinary medicine and the capacity of public health service the profession provides both in the United States and abroad.
To address some of the problems facing the veterinary profession, greater public and private support for education and research in veterinary medicine is needed. The public, policymakers, and even medical professionals are frequently unaware of how veterinary medicine fundamentally supports both animal and human health and well-being. This report seeks to broaden the public's understanding and attempts to anticipate some of the needs and measures that are essential for the profession to fulfill given its changing roles in the 21st century.
Topics: Agriculture » Animal Health and Nutrition | Biology and Life Sciences » Animals, Plants and Other Organisms | Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
The central goal of the In the Light of Evolution (ILE) series is to promote the evolutionary sciences through state-of-the-art colloquia—in the series of Arthur M. Sackler colloquia sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences—and their published proceedings. Each installment explores evolutionary perspectives on a particular biological topic that is scientifically intriguing but also has special relevance to contemporary societal issues or challenges.
This book is the outgrowth of the Arthur M. Sackler Colloquium "Brain and Behavior," which was sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences on January 20-21, 2012, at the Academy's Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center in Irvine, CA. It is the sixth in a series of Colloquia under the general title "In the Light of Evolution." Specifically, In Light of Evolution: Brain and Behavior focuses on the field of evolutionary neuroscience that now includes a vast array of different approaches, data types, and species.
This volume is also available for purchase with the In the Light of Evolution six-volume set.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biology | Biology and Life Sciences » Evolution
The committee evaluated submissions received in response to a request for proposals (RFP) for Biomolecular Simulation Time on Anton, a supercomputer specially designed and built by D.E. Shaw Research (DESRES) that allows for dramatically increased molecular dynamics simulations compared to other currently available resources. During the past 2 years, DESRES has made available to the non-commercial research community node-hours on an Anton system housed at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC), based on the advice of previous National Research Council committees convened in the falls of 2010 and 2011.
The success of the program has left DESRES to make the Anton machine housed at the PSC available for an additional 3.7 million node-hours during the 9 months following October 2012. DESRES has asked the National Research Council (NRC) to once again facilitate the allocation of time to the non-commercial research community. To undertake this task, the NRC convened a committee of experts to evaluate the proposals submitted in response to the aforementioned RFP. The committee members were selected for their expertise in molecular dynamics simulations, as well as their experience in the subject areas represented in the 52 proposals that were considered by the committee. They comprised a cross-section of the biomolecular dynamics field in academia, industry, and government, including an array of both senior and junior investigators.
The goal of the third RFP for Biomolecular Simulation Time on Anton has been to continue to facilitate breakthrough research in the study of biomolecular systems by providing a massively parallel system specially designed for molecular dynamics simulations. These special capabilities allow multi-microsecond to millisecond simulation timescales, which previously had been unobtainable. The program seeks to continue to support research that addresses important and high-impact questions demonstrating a clear need for Anton's special capabilities.Report of the Committee on Proposal Evaluation for Allocation of Supercomputing Time for the Study of Molecular Dynamics: Third Round is a summary of the proposals, research, and criteria set forth in the RFP for Biomolecular Simulation Time on Anton.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology | Computers and Information Technology » Computers
There is growing enthusiasm in the scientific community about the prospect of mapping and sequencing the human genome, a monumental project that will have far-reaching consequences for medicine, biology, technology, and other fields. But how will such an effort be organized and funded? How will we develop the new technologies that are needed? What new legal, social, and ethical questions will be raised?
Mapping and Sequencing the Human Genome is a blueprint for this proposed project. The authors offer a highly readable explanation of the technical aspects of genetic mapping and sequencing, and they recommend specific interim and long-range research goals, organizational strategies, and funding levels. They also outline some of the legal and social questions that might arise and urge their early consideration by policymakers.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Genetics
Biodiversity—the genetic variety of life—is an exuberant product of the evolutionary past, a vast human-supportive resource (aesthetic, intellectual, and material) of the present, and a rich legacy to cherish and preserve for the future. Two urgent challenges, and opportunities, for 21st-century science are to gain deeper insights into the evolutionary processes that foster biotic diversity, and to translate that understanding into workable solutions for the regional and global crises that biodiversity currently faces. A grasp of evolutionary principles and processes is important in other societal arenas as well, such as education, medicine, sociology, and other applied fields including agriculture, pharmacology, and biotechnology. The ramifications of evolutionary thought also extend into learned realms traditionally reserved for philosophy and religion.
The central goal of the In the Light of Evolution (ILE) series is to promote the evolutionary sciences through state-of-the-art colloquia—in the series of Arthur M. Sackler colloquia sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences—and their published proceedings. Each installment explores evolutionary perspectives on a particular biological topic that is scientifically intriguing but also has special relevance to contemporary societal issues or challenges. This book is the outgrowth of the Arthur M. Sackler Colloquium "Cooperation and Conflict," which was sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences on January 7-8, 2011, at the Academy's Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center in Irvine, California. It is the fifth in a series of colloquia under the general title "In the Light of Evolution." The current volume explores recent developments in the study of cooperation and conflict, ranging from the level of the gene to societies and symbioses.
Humans can be vicious, but paradoxically we are also among nature's great cooperators. Even our great conflicts-wars-are extremely cooperative endeavors on each side. Some of this cooperation is best understood culturally, but we are also products of evolution, with bodies, brains, and behaviors molded by natural selection. How cooperation evolves has been one of the big questions in evolutionary biology, and how it pays or does not pay is a great intellectual puzzle. The puzzle of cooperation was the dominant theme of research in the early years of Darwin's research, whereas recent work has emphasized its importance and ubiquity. Far from being a rare trait shown by social insects and a few others, cooperation is both widespread taxonomically and essential to life. The depth of research on cooperation and conflict has increased greatly, most notably in the direction of small organisms.
Although most of In the Light of Evolution V: Cooperation and Conflict is about the new topics that are being treated as part of social evolution, such as genes, microbes, and medicine, the old fundamental subjects still matter and remain the object of vigorous research. The first four chapters revisit some of these standard arenas, including social insects, cooperatively breeding birds, mutualisms, and how to model social evolution.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biodiversity | Biology and Life Sciences » Biology | Biology and Life Sciences » Evolution
In 2003, the Boston University Medical Center (BUMC) was awarded a $128 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to build one of two national maximum-containment laboratory facilities for pathogen research. The National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) are meant to support the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' biodefense research agenda, conducting research to develop new approaches to treating, preventing, and diagnosing a variety of bacterial and viral diseases. The facility includes a biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) containment laboratory housed in a 192,000 square foot building. Although the NEIDL BSL-4 laboratory accounts for only 13 percent of the building's total space, it has been the source of virtually all of the community concern surrounding this project. The location of the facility on Albany Street in Boston's South End, which is an environmental justice community, has been controversial, and there have been numerous public meetings over the plans for the facility as well as three legal actions challenging the project.
Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation of Additional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL, Phase 3, the fifth in a series of reports about the proposed facility, provides further technical input on the scope and design of any additional studies that may be needed to assess the risks associated with the siting and operation of the NEIDL. This report presents comments and questions on a "90 percent", or penultimate, draft of the revised risk assessment. According to the report, the "90 percent" draft of the risk assessment is a substantial improvement over past documents reviewed. Additionally, the report makes recommendations to improve the version that is ultimately prepared for public comment.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biology | Biology and Life Sciences » Animals, Plants and Other Organisms
During the last decade, national and international scientific organizations have become increasingly engaged in considering how to respond to the biosecurity implications of developments in the life sciences and in assessing trends in science and technology (S&T) relevant to biological and chemical weapons nonproliferation. The latest example is an international workshop, Trends in Science and Technology Relevant to the Biological Weapons Convention, held October 31 - November 3, 2010 at the Institute of Biophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.
Life Sciences and Related Fields summarizes the workshop, plenary, and breakout discussion sessions held during this convention. Given the immense diversity of current research and development, the report is only able to provide an overview of the areas of science and technology the committee believes are potentially relevant to the future of the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention (BWC), although there is an effort to identify areas that seemed particularly ripe for further exploration and analysis. The report offers findings and conclusions organized around three fundamental and frequently cited trends in S&T that affect the scope and operation of the convention:
The report does not make recommendations about policy options to respond to the implications of the identified trends. The choice of such responses rests with the 164 States Parties to the Convention, who must take into account multiple factors beyond the project's focus on the state of the science.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology | Conflict and Security Issues » Weapons and Technology | Conflict and Security Issues » Biosecurity
The Committee on Proposal Evaluation for Allocation of Supercomputing Time for the Study of Molecular Dynamics evaluated submissions received in response to a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Biomolecular Simulation Time on Anton, a supercomputer specially designed and built by D.E. Shaw Research (DESRES) that allows for dramatically increased molecular dynamics simulations compared to other currently available resources. Over the past year (October 1, 2010—September 30, 2011), DESRES has made available to the non-commercial research community 3,000,000 node-hours on an Anton system housed at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC), based on the advice of a previous National Research Council committee convened in the fall of 2010.
The goal of the second RFP for Biomolecular Simulation Time on Anton has been to continue to facilitate breakthrough research in the study of biomolecular systems by providing a massively parallel system specially designed for molecular dynamics simulations. These special capabilities allow multi-microsecond to millisecond simulation timescales, which previously had been unobtainable. The program seeks to continue to support research that addresses important and high impact questions demonstrating a clear need for Anton's special capabilities. The Anton RFP described the three criteria against which the committee was asked to evaluate proposals: Scientific Merit, Justification for Requested Time Allocation, and Investigator Qualifications and Past Accomplishments.
Topics: Computers and Information Technology » Computers | Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology
The Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, Third Edition, assists judges in managing cases involving complex scientific and technical evidence by describing the basic tenets of key scientific fields from which legal evidence is typically derived and by providing examples of cases in which that evidence has been used.
First published in 1994 by the Federal Judicial Center, the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence has been relied upon in the legal and academic communities and is often cited by various courts and others. Judges faced with disputes over the admissibility of scientific and technical evidence refer to the manual to help them better understand and evaluate the relevance, reliability and usefulness of the evidence being proffered. The manual is not intended to tell judges what is good science and what is not. Instead, it serves to help judges identify issues on which experts are likely to differ and to guide the inquiry of the court in seeking an informed resolution of the conflict.
The core of the manual consists of a series of chapters (reference guides) on various scientific topics, each authored by an expert in that field. The topics have been chosen by an oversight committee because of their complexity and frequency in litigation. Each chapter is intended to provide a general overview of the topic in lay terms, identifying issues that will be useful to judges and others in the legal profession. They are written for a non-technical audience and are not intended as exhaustive presentations of the topic. Rather, the chapters seek to provide judges with the basic information in an area of science, to allow them to have an informed conversation with the experts and attorneys.
Topics: Policy for Science and Technology » Policy for Science and Technology | Biology and Life Sciences » Genetics | Behavioral and Social Sciences » Law and Justice
We are living in an age when scientific knowledge is of the utmost concern to all mankind. The proper use of scientific knowledge can result in unparalleled benefits to mankind and a misuse can lead to unimaginable disasters.
Heredity and Development: Second Edition describes the progress of genetics as it took place and in so doing evaluates some of the problems facing scientists who are working on unknown phenomena. The principal purpose is to show how ideas in these two fields were formulated and studied. The intellectual history of the two has been quite different. Therefore, the report provides a foundation of the data and concepts in the field of genetics and an understanding of the manner in which science develops.
Emphasizing the manner in which hypotheses and observations lead to the conceptual schemes that allow us to think in an orderly and satisfying way about the problems involved, Heredity and Development explores the subsciences of genetics and embryology detailing a range of topics from Darwin's Theory of Pangenesis, and Mendelism to DNA structure and function, and differentiation. Used chiefly in college biology and genetics courses, the text is essential to decision makers, including those without a scientific background.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Genetics
Less than a month after the September 11, 2001 attacks, letters containing spores of anthrax bacteria (Bacillus anthracis, or B. anthracis) were sent through the U.S. mail. Between October 4 and November 20, 2001, 22 individuals developed anthrax; 5 of the cases were fatal.
During its investigation of the anthrax mailings, the FBI worked with other federal agencies to coordinate and conduct scientific analyses of the anthrax letter spore powders, environmental samples, clinical samples, and samples collected from laboratories that might have been the source of the letter-associated spores. The agency relied on external experts, including some who had developed tests to differentiate among strains of B. anthracis. In 2008, seven years into the investigation, the FBI asked the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to conduct an independent review of the scientific approaches used during the investigation of the 2001 B. anthracis mailings.
Review of the Scientific Approaches Used During the FBI's Investigation of the Anthrax Letters evaluates the scientific foundation for the techniques used by the FBI to determine whether these techniques met appropriate standards for scientific reliability and for use in forensic validation, and whether the FBI reached appropriate scientific conclusions from its use of these techniques. This report reviews and assesses scientific evidence considered in connection with the 2001 Bacillus anthracis mailings.
Topics: Conflict and Security Issues » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry | Conflict and Security Issues » Prevention, Security and Response | Conflict and Security Issues » Biosecurity
The polar regions are experiencing rapid changes in climate. These changes are causing observable ecological impacts of various types and degrees of severity at all ecosystem levels, including society. Even larger changes and more significant impacts are anticipated. As species respond to changing environments over time, their interactions with the physical world and other organisms can also change. This chain of interactions can trigger cascades of impacts throughout entire ecosystems. Evaluating the interrelated physical, chemical, biological, and societal components of polar ecosystems is essential to understanding their vulnerability and resilience to climate forcing.
The Polar Research Board (PRB) organized a workshop to address these issues. Experts gathered from a variety of disciplines with knowledge of both the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Participants were challenged to consider what is currently known about climate change and polar ecosystems and to identify the next big questions in the field. A set of interdisciplinary "frontier questions" emerged from the workshop discussions as important topics to be addressed in the coming decades. To begin to address these questions, workshop participants discussed the need for holistic, interdisciplinary systems approach to understanding polar ecosystem responses to climate change. As an outcome of the workshop, participants brainstormed methods and technologies that are crucial to advance the understanding of polar ecosystems and to promote the next generation of polar research. These include new and emerging technologies, sustained long-term observations, data synthesis and management, and data dissemination and outreach.
Topics: Earth Sciences » Polar Studies | Biology and Life Sciences » Genetics
In December 2006, the National Academy of Sciences sponsored a colloquium (featured as part of the Arthur M. Sackler Colloquia series) on "Adaptation and Complex Design" to synthesize recent empirical findings and conceptual approaches toward understanding the evolutionary origins and maintenance of complex adaptations. Darwin's elucidation of natural selection as a creative natural force was a monumental achievement in the history of science, but a century and a half later some religious believers still contend that biotic complexity registers conscious supernatural design. In this book, modern scientific perspectives are presented on the evolutionary origin and maintenance of complex phenotypes including various behaviors, anatomies, and physiologies. After an introduction by the editors and an opening historical and conceptual essay by Francisco Ayala, this book includes 14 papers presented by distinguished evolutionists at the colloquium. The papers are organized into sections covering epistemological approaches to the study of biocomplexity, a hierarchy of topics on biological complexity ranging from ontogeny to symbiosis, and case studies explaining how complex phenotypes are being dissected in terms of genetics and development.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biology | Biology and Life Sciences » Biodiversity | Biology and Life Sciences » Evolution
A respected resource for decades, the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals [updated digital version] has been updated by a committee of experts, taking into consideration input from the scientific and laboratory animal communities and the public at large. The Guide incorporates new scientific information on common laboratory animals, including aquatic species, and includes extensive references. It is organized around major components of animal use:
The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals provides a framework for the judgments required in the management of animal facilities. This updated and expanded resource of proven value will be important to scientists and researchers, veterinarians, animal care personnel, facilities managers, institutional administrators, policy makers involved in research issues, and animal welfare advocates.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Laboratory Animal Research | Agriculture » Animal Health and Nutrition | Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
The Human Condition is a collection of papers by leading evolutionary biologists and philosophers of science that reflect on the Darwinian Revolution as it relates to the human condition at levels ranging from the molecular to the theological. The book focuses on understanding the evolutionary origin of humans and their biological and cultural traits. The Human Condition is organized into three parts: Human Phylogenetic History and the Paleontological Record; Structure and Function of the Human Genome; and Cultural Evolution and the Uniqueness of Being Human.
This fourth volume from the In the Light of Evolution (ILE) series, based on a series of Arthur M. Sackler colloquia, was designed to promote the evolutionary sciences. Each volume explores evolutionary perspectives on a particular biological topic that is scientifically intriguing but also has special relevance to contemporary societal issues or challenges. Individually and collectively, the ILE series interprets phenomena in various areas of biology through the lens of evolution, addresses some of the most intellectually engaging as well as pragmatically important societal issues of our times, and fosters a greater appreciation of evolutionary biology as a consolidating foundation for the life sciences.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biodiversity | Biology and Life Sciences » Biology | Biology and Life Sciences » Evolution
Synthetic biology is an innovative and growing field that unites engineering and biology. It builds on the powerful research that came about as a result of a recombinant DNA technology and genome sequencing. By definition, synthetic biology is an interdisciplinary enterprise comprising biologists of many specialties, engineers, physicists, computer scientists and others. It promises a fundamentally deeper understanding of how living systems work and the capacity to recreate them for medicine, public health and the environment, including renewable energy.
NAKFI Synthetic Biology: Building a Nation's Inspiration discusses new foundational technologies and tools required to make biology easier to engineer, considers ethical issues unique to synthetic biology, explores how synthetic biology can lead to an understanding of the principles underlying natural genetic circuits and debates how synthetic biology can be used to answer fundamental biological questions.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biology | Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology
Traditionally, the natural sciences have been divided into two branches: the biological sciences and the physical sciences. Today, an increasing number of scientists are addressing problems lying at the intersection of the two. These problems are most often biological in nature, but examining them through the lens of the physical sciences can yield exciting results and opportunities. For example, one area producing effective cross-discipline research opportunities centers on the dynamics of systems. Equilibrium, multistability, and stochastic behavior—concepts familiar to physicists and chemists—are now being used to tackle issues associated with living systems such as adaptation, feedback, and emergent behavior.
Research at the Intersection of the Physical and Life Sciences discusses how some of the most important scientific and societal challenges can be addressed, at least in part, by collaborative research that lies at the intersection of traditional disciplines, including biology, chemistry, and physics. This book describes how some of the mysteries of the biological world are being addressed using tools and techniques developed in the physical sciences, and identifies five areas of potentially transformative research. Work in these areas would have significant impact in both research and society at large by expanding our understanding of the physical world and by revealing new opportunities for advancing public health, technology, and stewardship of the environment.
This book recommends several ways to accelerate such cross-discipline research. Many of these recommendations are directed toward those administering the faculties and resources of our great research institutions—and the stewards of our research funders, making this book an excellent resource for academic and research institutions, scientists, universities, and federal and private funding agencies.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology | Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
The effort to understand and combat infectious diseases has, during the centuries, produced many key advances in science and medicine—including the development of vaccines, drugs, and other treatments. A subset of this research is conducted with agents that, like anthrax, not only pose a severe threat to the health of humans, plants, and animals but can also be used for ill-intended purposes. Such agents have been listed by the government as biological select agents and toxins. The 2001 anthrax letter attacks prompted the creation of new regulations aimed at increasing security for research with dangerous pathogens. The outcome of the anthrax letter investigation has raised concern about whether these measures are adequate.
Responsible Research with Biological Select Agents and Toxins evaluates both the physical security of select agent laboratories and personnel reliability measures designed to ensure the trustworthiness of those with access to biological select agents and toxins. The book offers a set of guiding principles and recommended changes to minimize security risk and facilitate the productivity of research. The book recommends fostering a culture of trust and responsibility in the laboratory, engaging the community in oversight of the Select Agent Program, and enhancing the operation of the Select Agent Program.
Topics: Conflict and Security Issues » Prevention, Security and Response | Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Conflict and Security Issues » Biosecurity
The use of animals in research adheres to scientific and ethical principles that promote humane care and practice. Scientific advances in our understanding of animal physiology and behavior often require theories to be revised and standards of practice to be updated to improve laboratory animal welfare.
Recognition and Alleviation of Pain in Laboratory Animals, the second of two reports revising the 1992 publication Recognition and Alleviation of Pain and Distress in Laboratory Animals from the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR), focuses on pain experienced by animals used in research. This book aims to educate laboratory animal veterinarians; students, researchers and investigators; Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee members; and animal care staff and animal welfare officers on the current scientific and ethical issues associated with pain in laboratory animals. It evaluates pertinent scientific literature to generate practical and pragmatic guidelines for recognizing and alleviating pain in laboratory animals, focusing specifically on the following areas: physiology of pain in commonly used laboratory species; pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic principles to control pain; identification of humane endpoints; and principles for minimizing pain associated with experimental procedures. Finally, the report identifies areas in which further scientific investigation is needed to improve laboratory animal welfare.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Laboratory Animal Research
Two Centuries of Darwin is the outgrowth of an Arthur M. Sackler Colloquium, sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences on January 16-17, 2009. In the chapters of this book, leading evolutionary biologists and science historians reflect on and commemorate the Darwinian Revolution. They canvass modern research approaches and current scientific thought on each of the three main categories of selection (natural, artificial, and sexual) that Darwin addressed during his career. Although Darwin's legacy is associated primarily with the illumination of natural selection in The Origin, he also contemplated and wrote extensively about what we now term artificial selection and sexual selection. In a concluding section of this book, several science historians comment on Darwin's seminal contributions.
Two Centuries of Darwin is the third book of the In the Light of Evolution series. Each installment in the series explores evolutionary perspectives on a particular biological topic that is scientifically intriguing but also has special relevance to contemporary societal issues or challenges. The ILE series aims to interpret phenomena in various areas of biology through the lens of evolution and address some of the most intellectually engaging, as well as pragmatically important societal issues of our times.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Evolution | Biology and Life Sciences » Biodiversity | Biology and Life Sciences » Biology | Explore Science » Explore Science
Scientific and Humane Issues in the Use of Random-Source Dogs and Cats in Research examines the value of random-source animals in biomedical research and the role of Class B dealers who acquire and resell live dogs and cats to research institutions. Findings include that, while some random-source dogs and cats may be necessary and desirable for National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded research, there is no clear need to obtain those animals from Class B dealers. Several options for random-source animal acquisition already exist and additional options are recommended, which would further ensure the welfare of these animals and foster a positive public image for NIH.
While the scientific community has recognized and responded to concerns for humane treatment of animals in research, government oversight has thus far been unable to fully enforce the Animal Welfare Act in regard to Class B dealers of live animals. Although the animals acquired by Class B dealers are destined for research—and NIH research in particular—the standard of care while in the possession of some Class B dealers requires an inordinate amount of government enforcement and is not commensurate with the policies of most NIH-funded research laboratories. This dichotomy of standards reflects poorly on public perceptions of NIH and jeopardizes animal welfare.
This book will be crucial for NIH and other groups using random-source animals in research, including veterinary schools and research facilities. Animal welfare advocates, policy makers, and concerned pet owners will also find this a vital and informative work for reconciling the needs of research with the welfare of animals.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Laboratory Animal Research | Agriculture » Animal Health and Nutrition
The same technologies that fuel scientific advances also pose potential risks—that the knowledge, tools, and techniques gained through legitimate biotechnology research could be misused to create biological weapons or for bioterrorism. This is often called the dual use dilemma of the life sciences. Yet even research with the greatest potential for misuse may offer significant benefits. Determining how to constrain the danger without harming essential scientific research is critical for national security as well as prosperity and well-being.
This book discusses a 2007 survey of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) members in the life sciences about their knowledge of dual use issues and attitudes about their responsibilities to help mitigate the risks of misuse of their research.
Overall, the results suggest that there may be considerable support for approaches to oversight that rely on measures that are developed and implemented by the scientific community itself. The responses also suggest that there is a need to clarify the scope of research activities of concern and to provide guidance about what actions scientists can take to reduce the risk that their research will be misused by those with malicious intent.
Topics: Policy for Science and Technology » Policy for Science and Technology | Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Conflict and Security Issues » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Conflict and Security Issues » Prevention, Security and Response | Conflict and Security Issues » Biosecurity
The current extinction crisis is of human making, and any favorable resolution of that biodiversity crisis—among the most dire in the 4-billion-year history of Earth—will have to be initiated by mankind. Little time remains for the public, corporations, and governments to awaken to the magnitude of what is at stake. This book aims to assist that critical educational mission, synthesizing recent scientific information and ideas about threats to biodiversity in the past, present, and projected future.
This is the second volume from the In the Light of Evolution series, based on a series of Arthur M. Sackler colloquia, and designed to promote the evolutionary sciences. Each installment explores evolutionary perspectives on a particular biological topic that is scientifically intriguing but also has special relevance to contemporary societal issues or challenges. Individually and collectively, the ILE series aims to interpret phenomena in various areas of biology through the lens of evolution, address some of the most intellectually engaging as well as pragmatically important societal issues of our times, and foster a greater appreciation of evolutionary biology as a consolidating foundation for the life sciences.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biodiversity | Biology and Life Sciences » Genetics | Biology and Life Sciences » Evolution
Since the first commercial introduction of transgenic corn plants in 1995, biotechnology has provided enormous benefits to agricultural crop production. Research is underway to develop a much broader range of genetically engineered organisms (GEOs), including fish, trees, microbes, and insects, that could have the potential to transform fields such as aquaculture, biofuels production, bioremediation, biocontrol, and even the production of pharmaceuticals . However, biotechnology is not without risk and continues to be an extremely controversial topic. Chief among the concerns is the potential ecological effects of GEOs that interact with wildlife and habitats.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is charged with providing scientific advice to inform federal agencies that manage wildlife and their habitats. USGS has identified biotechnology as one of its major challenges for future research. Seeing an opportunity to initiate a dialogue between ecologists and developers of GEOs about this challenge, the USGS and the National Research Council (NRC) held a two-day workshop in November of 2007, to identify research activities with the greatest potential to provide the information needed to assess the ecological effects of GEOs on wildlife and habitats. The workshop, designed to approach the research questions from a habitat, rather than transgenic organism, perspective, is summarized in this book.
Topics: Agriculture » Crop and Plant Production | Environment and Environmental Studies » Ecology and Ecosystems | Biology and Life Sciences » Genetics
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology | Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
Life on Earth would be impossible without plants. Humans rely on plants for most clothing, furniture, food, as well as for many pharmaceuticals and other products. Plant genome sciences are essential to understanding how plants function and how to develop desirable plant characteristics. For example, plant genomic science can contribute to the development of plants that are drought-resistant, those that require less fertilizer, and those that are optimized for conversion to fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. The National Plant Genome Initiative (NPGI) is a unique, cross-agency funding enterprise that has been funding and coordinating plant genome research successfully for nine years. Research breakthroughs from NPGI and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Arabidopsis 2010 Project, such as how the plant immune system controls pathogen defense, demonstrate that the plant genome science community is vibrant and capable of driving technological advancement. This book from the National Research Council concludes that these programs should continue so that applied programs on agriculture, bioenergy, and others will always be built on a strong foundation of fundamental plant biology research.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Biology and Life Sciences » Genetics | Agriculture » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Agriculture » Crop and Plant Production
Scientific advances in our understanding of animal physiology and behavior often require theories to be revised and standards of practice to be updated to improve laboratory animal welfare. This new book from the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR) at the National Research Council, Recognition and Alleviation of Distress in Laboratory Animals, focuses on the stress and distress which is experienced by animals when used in laboratory research. This book aims to educate laboratory animal veterinarians; students, researchers, and investigators; animal care staff, as well as animal welfare officers on the current scientific and ethical issues associated with stress and distress in laboratory animals. It evaluates pertinent scientific literature to generate practical and pragmatic guidelines. Recognition and Alleviation of Distress in Laboratory Animals focuses specifically on the scientific understanding of the causes and the functions of stress and distress, the transformation of stress to distress, and the identification of principles for the recognition and alleviation of distress. This book discusses the role of humane endpoints in situations of distress and principles for the minimization of distress in laboratory animals. It also identifies areas in which further scientific investigation is needed to improve laboratory animal welfare in order to adhere to scientific and ethical principles that promote humane care and practice.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Laboratory Animal Research
Topics: Agriculture » Crop and Plant Production | Biology and Life Sciences » Animals, Plants and Other Organisms
Although its importance is not always recognized, theory is an integral part of all biological research. Biologists' theoretical and conceptual frameworks inform every step of their research, affecting what experiments they do, what techniques and technologies they develop and use, and how they interpret their data.
By examining how theory can help biologists answer questions like "What are the engineering principles of life?" or "How do cells really work?" the report shows how theory synthesizes biological knowledge from the molecular level to the level of whole ecosystems. The book concludes that theory is already an inextricable thread running throughout the practice of biology; but that explicitly giving theory equal status with other components of biological research could help catalyze transformative research that will lead to creative, dynamic, and innovative advances in our understanding of life.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biology | Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology
How did life evolve on Earth? The answer to this question can help us understand our past and prepare for our future. Although evolution provides credible and reliable answers, polls show that many people turn away from science, seeking other explanations with which they are more comfortable.
In the book Science, Evolution, and Creationism, a group of experts assembled by the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine explain the fundamental methods of science, document the overwhelming evidence in support of biological evolution, and evaluate the alternative perspectives offered by advocates of various kinds of creationism, including "intelligent design." The book explores the many fascinating inquiries being pursued that put the science of evolution to work in preventing and treating human disease, developing new agricultural products, and fostering industrial innovations. The book also presents the scientific and legal reasons for not teaching creationist ideas in public school science classes.
Mindful of school board battles and recent court decisions, Science, Evolution, and Creationism shows that science and religion should be viewed as different ways of understanding the world rather than as frameworks that are in conflict with each other and that the evidence for evolution can be fully compatible with religious faith. For educators, students, teachers, community leaders, legislators, policy makers, and parents who seek to understand the basis of evolutionary science, this publication will be an essential resource.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biology | Education » Math and Science Education | Biology and Life Sciences » Evolution
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology
Pollinators—insects, birds, bats, and other animals that carry pollen from the male to the female parts of flowers for plant reproduction—are an essential part of natural and agricultural ecosystems throughout North America. For example, most fruit, vegetable, and seed crops and some crops that provide fiber, drugs, and fuel depend on animals for pollination.
This report provides evidence for the decline of some pollinator species in North America, including America's most important managed pollinator, the honey bee, as well as some butterflies, bats, and hummingbirds. For most managed and wild pollinator species, however, population trends have not been assessed because populations have not been monitored over time. In addition, for wild species with demonstrated declines, it is often difficult to determine the causes or consequences of their decline. This report outlines priorities for research and monitoring that are needed to improve information on the status of pollinators and establishes a framework for conservation and restoration of pollinator species and communities.
Topics: Agriculture » Crop and Plant Production | Biology and Life Sciences » Genetics | Agriculture » Animal Health and Nutrition | Biology and Life Sciences » Animals, Plants and Other Organisms
This report is the second in a series of three evaluating underexploited African plant resources that could help broaden and secure Africa's food supply. The volume describes the characteristics of 18 little-known indigenous African vegetables (including tubers and legumes) that have potential as food- and cash-crops but are typically overlooked by scientists and policymakers and in the world at large. The book assesses the potential of each vegetable to help overcome malnutrition, boost food security, foster rural development, and create sustainable landcare in Africa. Each species is described in a separate chapter, based on information gathered from and verified by a pool of experts throughout the world. Volume I describes African grains and Volume III African fruits.
Topics: Agriculture » Crop and Plant Production | Biology and Life Sciences » Animals, Plants and Other Organisms
Mimi Koehl tinkers with machines. Some are so tiny they can't be seen by the naked eye, and some disappeared millions of years ago. But Mimi isn't a mechanic. She's a biomechanist. Mimi Koehl uses engineering and physics to study the designs of living things that fly, swim, drift, and crawl. She loves solving riddles about how creatures—from feathered dinosaurs to flying frogs—live and move. Mimi's curiosity has led her into all kinds of natural neighborhoods. She has braved turbulent waters to explore how giant green sea anemones survive crashing waves. In Chile, while studying seaweeds, a rogue wave washed Mimi off one cliff and slammed her into another one. But nothing stops her desire for discovery. To uncover answers, Mimi has attached leashes to microscopic animals and created ingenious models using raspberry gelatin and even Silly Putty. Today Mimi searches the world—and her imagination—for answers to life's challenging mysteries.
This title aligns to Common Core standards:
Interest Level Grades 6 - 8; Reading Level Grade level Equivalent: 7.1: Lexile Measure: 1080L; DRA: Not Available; Guided Reading: Z
Topics: Explore Science » Explore Science | Biology and Life Sciences » Animals, Plants and Other Organisms | » Biography and Autobiography
Amy Vedder leads a wild life. How many people can say they were once a member of a mountain gorilla family? Amy Vedder is a wildlife biologist, a scientist who studies animals and their behavior. She uses her knowledge to save animals whose lives and habitats are threatened. She once lived in a remote part of central Africa, where she helped rescue Rwanda's mountain gorillas from extinction. Amy did groundbreaking science in a beautiful rain forest environment, but it wasn't always easy. She had to face tough conditions in a country affected by conflict and war. In the process, she met unforgettable people and unforgettable gorillas. Today Amy travels the world, from her home base at New York's Bronx Zoo to the far reaches of Mongolia in Asia. Everywhere she goes, she teaches people how to appreciate and protect the precious wildlife that surrounds them. Gorilla Mountain is an exciting and inspiring story of true tale adventure. Young readers everywhere will be moved by the story of the young nature lover who became a powerful champion of great apes.
This title aligns to Common Core standards:
Interest Level Grades 6 - 8; Reading Level Grade level Equivalent: 7.1: Lexile Measure: 1080L; DRA: Not Available; Guided Reading: Z
Topics: Explore Science » Explore Science | Biology and Life Sciences » Animals, Plants and Other Organisms | » Biography and Autobiography | Biography and Autobiography » Biographies
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) gives the highest priority to developing countermeasures against bioterrorism agents that are highly infective when dispersed in aerosol form. Developing drugs to prevent or treat illnesses caused by bioterrorism agents requires testing their effectiveness in animals since human clinical trials would be unethical. At the request of NIAID, the National Academies conducted a study to examine how such testing could be improved. Overcoming Challenges to Develop Countermeasures Against Aerosolized Bioterrorism Agents provides recommendations to researchers on selecting the kinds of animal models, aerosol generators, and bioterrorism agent doses that would produce conditions that most closely mimic the disease process in humans. It also urges researchers to fully document experimental parameters in the literature so that studies can be reproduced and compared. The book recommends that all unclassified data on bioterrorism agent studies—including unclassified, unpublished data from U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID)—be published in the open literature. The book also calls on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to improve the process by which bioterrorism countermeasures are approved based on the results of animal studies.
Topics: Conflict and Security Issues » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Biology and Life Sciences » Laboratory Animal Research | Conflict and Security Issues » Biosecurity
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Laboratory Animal Research | Agriculture » Animal Health and Nutrition
Biomedical advances have made it possible to identify and manipulate features of living organisms in useful ways—leading to improvements in public health, agriculture, and other areas. The globalization of scientific and technical expertise also means that many scientists and other individuals around the world are generating breakthroughs in the life sciences and related technologies. The risks posed by bioterrorism and the proliferation of biological weapons capabilities have increased concern about how the rapid advances in genetic engineering and biotechnology could enable the production of biological weapons with unique and unpredictable characteristics. Globalization, Biosecurity, and the Future of Life Sciences examines current trends and future objectives of research in public health, life sciences, and biomedical science that contain applications relevant to developments in biological weapons 5 to 10 years into the future and ways to anticipate, identify, and mitigate these dangers.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology | Conflict and Security Issues » Prevention, Security and Response | Policy for Science and Technology » Policy for Science and Technology | Conflict and Security Issues » Biosecurity
Topics: Agriculture » Animal Health and Nutrition | Biology and Life Sciences » Laboratory Animal Research
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations | Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology | Policy for Science and Technology » Research and Data
Science, Medicine, and Animals explains the role that animals play in biomedical research and the ways in which scientists, governments, and citizens have tried to balance the experimental use of animals with a concern for all living creatures. An accompanying Teacher's Guide is available to help teachers of middle and high school students use Science, Medicine, and Animals in the classroom. As students examine the issues in Science, Medicine, and Animals, they will gain a greater understanding of the goals of biomedical research and the real-world practice of the scientific method in general.
Science, Medicine, and Animals and the Teacher's Guide were written by the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research and published by the National Research Council of the National Academies. The report was reviewed by a committee made up of experts and scholars with diverse perspectives, including members of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institutes of Health, the Humane Society of the United States, and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The Teacher's Guide was reviewed by members of the National Academies' Teacher Associates Network.
Science, Medicine, and Animals is recommended by the National Science Teacher's Association NSTA Recommends.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Laboratory Animal Research | Education » Math and Science Education | Education » Teacher Preparation and Professional Development
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology | Computers and Information Technology » Computers | Biology and Life Sciences » Biology | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Math and Statistics | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Physics | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry | Surveys and Statistics » Surveys and Statistics
Animal Health at the Crossroads: Preventing, Detecting, and Diagnosing Animal Diseases finds that, in general, the U.S. animal health framework has been slow to take advantage of state-of-the-art technologies being used now to protect public health; better diagnostic tests for identifying all animal diseases should be made a priority. The report also recommends that the nation establish a high-level, authoritative, and accountable coordinating mechanism to engage and enhance partnerships among local, state, and federal agencies, and the private sector.
Topics: Agriculture » Animal Health and Nutrition | Biology and Life Sciences » Animals, Plants and Other Organisms
Topics: Agriculture » Animal Health and Nutrition | Biology and Life Sciences » Animals, Plants and Other Organisms | Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
In addition to a preceding essay by Edward O. Wilson, this book includes the 16 papers presented by distinguished evolutionists at the colloquium. The papers are organized into sections covering the origins of species barriers, the processes of species divergence, the nature of species, the meaning of "species," and genomic approaches for understanding diversity and speciation.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biology | Biology and Life Sciences » Biodiversity
This book results from a study by a committee of the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council's Board on Agriculture. The committee examined the scientific foundations of medically assisted conception and developed an agenda for basic research in reproductive and developmental biology that would contribute to advances in the clinical and agricultural practice of in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer. The volume also discusses some barriers to progress in research and ways of lowering them, and explains the scientific issues important to ethical decision making.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biology | Health and Medicine » Health Sciences
From earliest times, human beings have noticed patterns in nature: night and day, tides and lunar cycles, the changing seasons, plant succession, and animal migration. While recognizing patterns conferred great survival advantage, we are now in danger from our own success in multiplying our numbers and altering those patterns for our own purposes.
It is imperative that we engage again with the patterns of nature, but this time, with awareness of our impact as a species. How will burgeoning human populations affect the health of ecosystems? Is loss of species simply a regrettable byproduct of human expansion? Or is the planet passing into a new epoch in just a few human generations?
Nature and Human Society presents a wide-ranging exploration of these and other fundamental questions about our relationship with the environment. This book features findings, insights, and informed speculations from key figures in the field: E.O. Wilson, Thomas Lovejoy, Peter H. Raven, Gretchen Daily, David Suzuki, Norman Myers, Paul Erlich, Michael Bean, and many others.
This volume explores the accelerated extinction of species and what we stand to lose—medicines, energy sources, crop pollination and pest control, the ability of water and soil to renew itself through biological processes, aesthetic and recreational benefits—and how these losses may be felt locally and acutely.
What are the specific threats to biodiversity? The book explores human population growth, the homogenization of biota as a result in tourism and trade, and other factors, including the social influences of law, religious belief, and public education.
Do we have the tools to protect biodiversity? The book looks at molecular genetics, satellite data, tools borrowed from medicine, and other scientific techniques to firm up our grasp of important processes in biology and earth science, including the "new" science of conservation biology.
Nature and Human Society helps us renew our understanding and appreciation for natural patterns, with surprising details about microorganisms, nematodes, and other overlooked forms of life: their numbers, pervasiveness, and importance to the health of the soil, water, and air and to a host of human endeavors.
This book will be of value to anyone who believes that the world's gross natural product is as important as the world's gross national product.
Topics: Environment and Environmental Studies » Sustainable Development | Biology and Life Sciences » Biology | Environment and Environmental Studies » Ecology and Ecosystems
Today many school students are shielded from one of the most important concepts in modern science: evolution. In engaging and conversational style, Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science provides a well-structured framework for understanding and teaching evolution.
Written for teachers, parents, and community officials as well as for scientists and educators, this book illustrates how evolution explains both the great diversity and the underlying similarity of the earth's organisms; it explores how scientists approach the question of evolution; and it describes the nature of science as a way of knowing about the natural world. In addition, the book provides answers to frequently asked questions to help readers understand many of the issues and misconceptions about evolution.
The book includes sample activities for teaching about evolution and the nature of science. For example, there are activities that investigate fossil footprints and population growth that teachers of science can use to introduce principles of evolution. Background information, materials, and step-by-step presentations are provided for each activity. Comprehensive and practical, Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science brings one of today's educational challenges into focus in a balanced and reasoned discussion. It can be read online at www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/evolution98. For more information and additional resources, visit www4.nas.edu/opus/evolve.nsf.
Topics: Education » Math and Science Education | Education » Testing, Assessments and Standards | Biology and Life Sciences » Evolution
Chemical signals among organisms form "a vast communicative interplay, fundamental to the fabric of life," in the words of one expert. Chemical ecology is the the discipline that seeks to understand these interactions-to use biology in the search for new substances of potential benefit to humankind.
This book highlights selected research areas of medicinal and agricultural importance. Leading experts review the chemistry of:
Topics also include the appropriation of dietary factors for defense and communication; the use of chemical signals in the marine environment; the role of the olfactory system in chemical analysis; and the interaction of polydnaviruses, endoparasites, and the immune system of the host.
Topics: Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Chemistry | Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology
This companion to Infectious Diseases of Mice and Rats makes practical information on rodent diseases readily accessible to researchers.
This volume parallels the three parts of the main volume. Part I, Principles of Rodent Disease Prevention, briefly examines the requirements for maintaining pathogen-free rodents, factors in designing health surveillance programs, and other laboratory management issues.
Part II, Disease Agents, is an easy-to-use reference section, listing diagnosis and control methods, the potential for interference with research, and other factors for disease agents ranging from adenoviruses to tapeworms. It covers bacteria, viruses, fungi and common ectoparasites, and endoparasites.
Part III, Diagnostic Indexes, presents alphabetical listings of clinical signs, pathology, and research complications and lists infectious agents that might be responsible for each.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Laboratory Animal Research
The United States is entering an era when, more than ever, the sharing of resources and information might be critical to scientific progress. Every dollar saved by avoiding duplication of efforts and by producing economies of scale will become increasingly important as federal funding enters an era of fiscal restraint.
This book focuses on six diverse case studies that share materials or equipment with the scientific community at large: the American Type Culture Collection, the multinational coordinated Arabidopsis thaliana Genome Research Project, the Jackson Laboratory, the Washington Regional Primate Research Center, the Macromolecular Crystallography Resource at the Cornell High-Energy Synchrotron Source, and the Human Genome Center at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The book also identifies common strengths and problems faced in the six cases, and presents a series of recommendations aimed at facilitating resource sharing in biomedical research.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology
Scientific Frontiers in Developmental Toxicology and Risk Assessment reviews advances made during the last 10-15 years in fields such as developmental biology, molecular biology, and genetics. It describes a novel approach for how these advances might be used in combination with existing methodologies to further the understanding of mechanisms of developmental toxicity, to improve the assessment of chemicals for their ability to cause developmental toxicity, and to improve risk assessment for developmental defects. For example, based on the recent advances, even the smallest, simplest laboratory animals such as the fruit fly, roundworm, and zebrafish might be able to serve as developmental toxicological models for human biological systems. Use of such organisms might allow for rapid and inexpensive testing of large numbers of chemicals for their potential to cause developmental toxicity; presently, there are little or no developmental toxicity data available for the majority of natural and manufactured chemicals in use. This new approach to developmental toxicology and risk assessment will require simultaneous research on several fronts by experts from multiple scientific disciplines, including developmental toxicologists, developmental biologists, geneticists, epidemiologists, and biostatisticians.
Topics: Environment and Environmental Studies » Pollutants and Toxics | Biology and Life Sciences » Biology
Since George Gaylord Simpson published Tempo and Mode in Evolution in 1944, discoveries in paleontology and genetics have abounded. This volume brings together the findings and insights of today's leading experts in the study of evolution, including Ayala, W. Ford Doolittle, and Stephen Jay Gould.
The volume examines early cellular evolution, explores changes in the tempo of evolution between the Precambrian and Phanerozoic periods, and reconstructs the Cambrian evolutionary burst. Long-neglected despite Darwin's interest in it, species extinction is discussed in detail.
Although the absence of data kept Simpson from exploring human evolution in his book, the current volume covers morphological and genetic changes in human populations, contradicting the popular claim that all modern humans descend from a single woman.
This book discusses the role of molecular clocks, the results of evolution in 12 populations of Escherichia coli propagated for 10,000 generations, a physical map of Drosophila chromosomes, and evidence for "hitchhiking" by mutations.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biology | Biology and Life Sciences » Genetics | Biology and Life Sciences » Evolution
Recent scientific breakthroughs, celebrity patient advocates, and conflicting religious beliefs have come together to bring the state of stem cell research—specifically embryonic stem cell research—into the political crosshairs. President Bush's watershed policy statement allows federal funding for embryonic stem cell research but only on a limited number of stem cell lines. Millions of Americans could be affected by the continuing political debate among policymakers and the public.
Stem Cells and the Future of Regenerative Medicine provides a deeper exploration of the biological, ethical, and funding questions prompted by the therapeutic potential of undifferentiated human cells. In terms accessible to lay readers, the book summarizes what we know about adult and embryonic stem cells and discusses how to go about the transition from mouse studies to research that has therapeutic implications for people.
Perhaps most important, Stem Cells and the Future of Regenerative Medicine also provides an overview of the moral and ethical problems that arise from the use of embryonic stem cells. This timely book compares the impact of public and private research funding and discusses approaches to appropriate research oversight.
Based on the insights of leading scientists, ethicists, and other authorities, the book offers authoritative recommendations regarding the use of existing stem cell lines versus new lines in research, the important role of the federal government in this field of research, and other fundamental issues.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology | Health and Medicine » Medical Technologies and Treatments
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology | Environment and Environmental Studies » Waste Disposal and Clean Up
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Animals, Plants and Other Organisms | Earth Sciences » Ocean Studies
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology | Biology and Life Sciences » Genetics
This collection of papers—by American and Russian specialists—addresses a variety of legal, regulatory, institutional, and financial issues that can promote or hinder technology commercialization. The book is the result of a series of workshops organized by the National Research Council with the Russian Academy of Sciences on commercialization of technologies, particularly those developed at research and educational institutions.
Technology Commercialization concludes with a list of actions, programs, and policies which warrant further consideration as Russia tries to improve the success of technology commercialization. This book will be of interest to those concerned with small-business development in post-communist states, university technology management, and comparative technology commercialization.
Topics: Industry and Labor » Economics | Biology and Life Sciences » Biology
U.S.-Japan Technology Linkages in Biotechnology provides an assessment of the extent and nature of the rapidly expanding linkages between the United States and Japan in biotechnology. Through analysis of aggregate data and case studies, the book assesses the implications of these linkages for the competitiveness of the U.S. biotechnology industry and provides concrete suggestions on what can be done to ensure that the linkages bring benefits to the United States.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology
For the first time since the Apollo program, NASA and space agencies abroad have plans to bring samples to Earth from elsewhere in the solar system. There are missions in various stages of definition to gather material over the next decade from Mars, an asteroid, comets, the satellites of Jupiter, and the interplanetary dust. Some of these targets, most especially Jupiter's satellites Europa and Ganymede, now appear to have the potential for harboring living organisms.
This book considers the possibility that life may have originated or existed on a body from which a sample might be taken and the possibility that life still exists on the body either in active form or in a form that could be reactivated. It also addresses the potential hazard to terrestrial ecosystems from extraterrestrial life if it exists in a returned sample. Released at the time of the Internationl Committee on Space Research General Assembly, the book has already established the basis for plans for small body sample retruns in the international space research community.
Topics: Space and Aeronautics » Space Exploration and Development | Biology and Life Sciences » Biology
A 1985 amendment to the Animal Welfare Act requires those who keep nonhuman primates to develop and follow appropriate plans for promoting the animals' psychological well-being. The amendment, however, provides few specifics.
The Psychological Well-Being of Nonhuman Primates recommends practical approaches to meeting those requirements. It focuses on what is known about the psychological needs of primates and makes suggestions for assessing and promoting their well-being.
This volume examines the elements of an effective care program—social companionship, opportunities for species-typical activity, housing and sanitation, and daily care routines—and provides a helpful checklist for designing a plan for promoting psychological well-being.
The book provides a wealth of specific and useful information about the psychological attributes and needs of the most widely used and exhibited nonhuman primates. Readable and well-organized, it will be welcomed by animal care and use committees, facilities administrators, enforcement inspectors, animal advocates, researchers, veterinarians, and caretakers.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Laboratory Animal Research | Agriculture » Animal Health and Nutrition
This important book for scientists and nonscientists alike calls attention to a most urgent global problem: the rapidly accelerating loss of plant and animal species to increasing human population pressure and the demands of economic development.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biodiversity
A respected resource for decades, the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals has been revised by a committee of experts, based on input from scientists and the public. The Guide incorporates recent research on commonly used species, including farm animals, and includes extensive references. It is organized around major components of animal use:
The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals provides a framework for the judgments required in the management of animal facilities—a resource of proven value, now updated and expanded. This revision will be important to researchers, animal care technicians, facilities managers, administrators at research institutions, policymakers involved in research issues, and animal welfare advocates.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Laboratory Animal Research | Agriculture » Animal Health and Nutrition | Biology and Life Sciences » Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
"The present book is intended as a progress report on [the] synthetic approach to evolution as it applies to the plant kingdom." With this simple statement, G. Ledyard Stebbins formulated the objectives of Variation and Evolution in Plants, published in 1950, setting forth for plants what became known as the "synthetic theory of evolution" or "the modern synthesis." The pervading conceit of the book was the molding of Darwin's evolution by natural selection within the framework of rapidly advancing genetic knowledge.
At the time, Variation and Evolution in Plants significantly extended the scope of the science of plants. Plants, with their unique genetic, physiological, and evolutionary features, had all but been left completely out of the synthesis until that point. Fifty years later, the National Academy of Sciences convened a colloquium to update the advances made by Stebbins.
This collection of 17 papers marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Stebbins' classic. Organized into five sections, the book covers: early evolution and the origin of cells, virus and bacterial models, protoctist models, population variation, and trends and patterns in plant evolution.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Animals, Plants and Other Organisms | Biology and Life Sciences » Biodiversity | Biology and Life Sciences » Evolution
Proponents of agricultural biotechnology believe that genetically modified (GM) crops have the potential to provide great ecological benefits, such as reduced pesticide and land use, as well as agricultural benefits. However, given the rapid emergence of commercial GM crops and the likely increase in their use, many groups have raised concerns about the potential unintended, adverse ecological effects of these crops. Some ecological concerns are enhanced development of pest resistance, crosspollination with wild relatives, and reductions in beneficial insects or birds.
Ecological Monitoring of Genetically Modified Crops considers the latest in monitoring methods and technologies and to asks—What are the challenges associated with monitoring for ecological effects of GM crops? Is ongoing ecological monitoring of GM crops a useful and informative activity? If so, how should scientifically rigorous monitoring be carried out in the variety of ecological settings in which GM crops are grown?
Topics: Agriculture » Crop and Plant Production | Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology
Scientific experiments using animals have contributed significantly to the improvement of human health. Animal experiments were crucial to the conquest of polio, for example, and they will undoubtedly be one of the keystones in AIDS research. However, some persons believe that the cost to the animals is often high. Authored by a committee of experts from various fields, this book discusses the benefits that have resulted from animal research, the scope of animal research today, the concerns of advocates of animal welfare, and the prospects for finding alternatives to animal use. The authors conclude with specific recommendations for more consistent government action.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Laboratory Animal Research
On April 26-28, 2001, the Board on Mathematical Sciences and Their Applications (BMSA) and the Board on Life Sciences of the National Research Council cosponsored a workshop on the dynamical modeling of complex biomedical systems. The workshop's goal was to identify some open research questions in the mathematical sciences whose solution would contribute to important unsolved problems in three general areas of the biomedical sciences: disease states, cellular processes, and neuroscience. The workshop drew a diverse group of over 80 researchers, who engaged in lively discussions.
To convey the workshop's excitement more broadly, and to help more mathematical scientists become familiar with these very fertile interface areas, the BMSA appointed one of its members, George Casella, of the University of Florida, as rapporteur. He developed this summary with the help of two colleagues from his university, Rongling Wu and Sam S. Wu, assisted by Scott Weidman, BMSA director.
This summary represents the viewpoint of its authors only and should not be taken as a consensus report of the BMSA or of the National Research Council.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology | Math, Chemistry, and Physics » Math and Statistics | Biology and Life Sciences » Biology | Surveys and Statistics » Surveys and Statistics
Topics: Health and Medicine » Other Diseases | Biology and Life Sciences » Animals, Plants and Other Organisms
The report identified various factors which contributed to creating an unfulfilled need for veterinarians in the biomedical research workforce, including an increase in the number of NIH grants utilizing animals and the burgeoning use of transgenic rodents, without a comparable change in the supply of appropriately-trained veterinarians. The committee developed strategies for recruiting more veterinarians into careers in biomedical research.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Animals, Plants and Other Organisms | Agriculture » Animal Health and Nutrition
Topics: Conflict and Security Issues » Military and Defense Studies | Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology
The diversity of marine life is being affected dramatically by fishery operations, chemical pollution and eutrophication, alteration of physical habitat, exotic species invasion, and effects of other human activities. Effective solutions will require an expanded understanding of the patterns and processes that control the diversity of life in the sea.
Understanding Marine Biodiversity outlines the current state of our knowledge, and propose research agenda on marine biological diversity. This agenda represents a fundamental change in studying the ocean—emphasizing regional research across a range of space and time scales, enhancing the interface between taxonomy and ecology, and linking oceanographic and ecological approaches.
Highlighted with examples and brief case studies, this volume illustrates the depth and breadth of undescribed marine biodiversity, explores critical environmental issues, advocates the use of regionally defined model systems, and identifies a series of key biodiversity research questions. The authors examine the utility of various research approaches—theory and modeling, retrospective analysis, integration of biotic and oceanographic surveys—and review recent advances in molecular genetics, instrumentation, and sampling techniques applicable to the research agenda. Throughout the book the critical role of taxonomy is emphasized.
Informative to the scientist and accessible to the policymaker, Understanding Marine Biodiversity will be of specific interest to marine biologists, ecologists, oceanographers, and research administrators, and to government agencies responsible for utilizing, managing, and protecting the oceans.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Biodiversity | Earth Sciences » Ocean Studies
This newly revised edition incorporates the regulatory requirements and improved practices for laboratory animal care that have developed over the past two decades.
The volume covers:
Laboratory Animal Management: Dogs examines controversies over proper cage sizes and interpretation of federal requirements for exercise and offers recommendations for researchers. Guidelines are provided on how to recognize and alleviate pain and distress in research dogs and on the sensitive topic of euthanasia.
Laboratory Animal Management: Dogs discusses how to assemble a proper research protocol and how to handle conflicts. Outlined are procedures for institutional animal care and use and committee review. The volume also presents guidelines for handling aging dogs, use of radiation in experiments, and a wide range of other special circumstances.
Thoroughly referenced, this guide will be indispensable to researchers, research administrators, review committees, and others concerned about laboratory dogs.
Topics: Biology and Life Sciences » Laboratory Animal Research
Biographic Memoirs: Volume 74 contains the biographies of deceased members of the National Academy of Sciences and bibliographies of their published works. Each biographical essay was written by a member of the Academy familiar with the professional career of the deceased. For historical and bibliographical purposes, these volumes are worth returning to time and again.
Topics: Biography and Autobiography » Biographies | Biology and Life Sciences » Biotechnology