Democratic lawmakers demand Trump explain—and reverse—termination of NSF’s governing board
Letters from Senate and House of Representatives question purge of the National Science Board
Interdisciplinary
In This Issue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 19, May 2026. <br/>
Virologist accused of starting COVID-19 will fight U.S. ban on funding
HHS memo says Ralph Baric had a “pattern of deception” in describing virus studies long before pandemic
Most dementia patients have multiple brain diseases. How should they be treated?
Growing awareness of “copathology” inspires new diagnostic tests and clinical trials
Chinese postdocs in U.S. hit with a wave of prosecutions and deportations
The U.S. government has recently convicted multiple postdocs for improper shipments of biological materials. Some see a replay of the 2018 China Initiative
Two skeptics of antidepressant drugs named to NIH mental health council
Pending appointments of Laura Delano and David Cohen raise concerns that key advisory groups are becoming politicized
How Unknowable Math Can Help Hide Secrets
A graduate student recently harnessed the complexity of mathematical proofs to create a powerful new tool in cryptography. The post How Unknowable Math Can Help Hide Secrets first appeared…
Pregnancy Changes Mothers’ Brains. These Recent Discoveries Are Showing Us How
“Baby brain” isn’t the deficit it’s stereotyped to be, research suggests. Neural adaptations during pregnancy can prime soon-to-be-moms to become more attuned to their children and enhance…
Will We Ever Be Able To Forecast Volcanic Eruptions Like Weather?
It should be possible, but getting there will require a greater understanding of subsurface physics. The post Will We Ever Be Able To Forecast Volcanic Eruptions Like Weather? first…
Evaluating the statistical realism of LLM-generated social science data
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 19, May 2026. <br/>SignificanceLarge language models (LLMs) enable the generation of data that could potentially be analyzed…