Pnas Science Sessions

Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist, author, host of "NOVA ScienceNOW," and the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium. Listen as Dr. Tyson discusses the extraordinary capabilities of the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the nature of dark matter and dark energy.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist, author, host of "NOVA ScienceNOW," and the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium. Listen as Dr. Tyson discusses the balance between scientific credibility and public exposure, and the pitfalls of challenging Pluto's status as a planet.

Dr. Mae Jemison is a physician and scientist, who on September 12, 1992 aboard the space shuttle Endeavour, became the world's first woman of color to travel into space. Listen as Dr. Jemison discusses race and gender bias in science education, and the importance of public science literacy.

Dr. Nathan Wolfe is the Lorry I. Lokey Visiting Professor in Human Biology at Stanford University and Director of the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative. Listen as Dr. Wolfe discusses malaria and the parasites that cause it, and his research that determined the origin of malignant malaria in humans.

Dr. Lennart Balk discusses the thiamine deficiency syndrome killing European wild birds.

Dr. Mary Immordino-Yang discusses her fMRI study of admiration and compassion.

Dr. Vera Gorbunova discusses the innate cancer immunity of the naked mole rat.

Listen as Dr. Daniel Rugar discusses his 100 million-fold improvement in resolution to conventional magnetic resonance imaging.

Michael Köttgen and Owen Woodward discuss identifying a key gene associated with gout, and the possible therapeutic implications.

John Dore discusses the connection between rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and the increasing acidity of Earth's oceans.

Edward C. Holmes is a professor of biology and a Distinguished Senior Scholar in the Eberly College of Science at the Pennsylvania State University. Listen as Dr. Holmes discusses his research on using comparative genomics to study the genetic evolution of RNA viruses.

Alessandro Acquisti is an Associate Professor of Information Technology and Public Policy at the Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. Listen as Dr. Acquisti discusses his research in the economics of privacy and his 2009 PNAS research article on predicting Social Security numbers.

Maureen Cropper is an economics professor at the University of Maryland and a former lead economist at the World Bank. Listen as Dr. Cropper discusses her research in environmental economics and her 2008 election into the National Academy of Sciences.

James Thomson is best known for his pioneering work that isolated and cultured non-human primate and human embryonic stem cells. Listen as Dr. Thomson discusses his research and the future of stem cells in medical uses ranging from drug discovery, transplantation, and as a basic research tool.

Emily Carter's work merges quantum mechanics, applied mathematics, and solid state physics to create simulations of various molecules and materials. Listen as Dr. Carter discusses her research and her 2008 election to the National Academy of Sciences.

Richard Klein served as editor for the PNAS Special Feature titled "Out of Africa". This collection of articles explores the historical expansion of Homo sapiens from Africa to Eurasia. The Special Feature, along with an editorial by Dr. Klein, will publish in the September 22 issue of PNAS.

Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz's laboratory at the National Institutes of Health works to characterize the fundamental principles governing protein geography and movement within cells. Dr. Lippincott-Schwartz talks about her work and her recent election to the National Academy of Sciences.

"Decreases in dengue transmission may act to increase the incidence of dengue hemorrhagic fever"

"Cross-modal individual recognition in domestic horses (Equus caballus)."

"Neurons derived from reprogrammed fibroblasts functionally integrate into the fetal brain and improve symptoms of rats with Parkinson's disease"