PNAS Science Sessions

Noam Sobel explains how a human olfactory fingerprint helps uncover the uniqueness of individuals' sense of smell.

Rino Rappuoli of GlaxoSmithKline discusses preclinical studies of a vaccine candidate against Staphylococcus aureus.

As AAAS president for 2015, Geraldine Richmond focuses on global scientific engagement.

Susan Fiske describes how intentional acts of harm motivate people to assign blame.

Jef Boeke explains how to safeguard against unauthorized growth of engineered microorganisms.

Lonnie Thompson discusses clues to Earth's ancient climate history that are stored in tropical glacial ice.

Kyle Siler discusses the role of editors as gatekeepers at scientific journals.

Alán Aspuru-Guzik discusses how he uses supercomputing as a "molecular spaceship" to explore chemical space and discover potentially useful new molecules.

Keith Joung and Feng Zhang explain methods for editing sequences of DNA in living cells.

Veronica Vieland discusses a common disconnect between scientists and statisticians in evaluating scientific evidence.

Robin Ali describes efforts to transplant healthy rod and cone cells into afflicted retinas.

Hesham Sadek explains the regenerative capability of newborn mouse hearts.

Ambassador Deborah Birx discusses international efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Elaine Mardis discusses how next generation sequencing technology is helping the Pan-Cancer Initiative gain a molecular understanding of cancer.

David Schaffer describes how to culture human stem cells in a fully-defined, scalable 3D medium.

Brian Kaspar discusses the role of astrocyte cells in the motor neuron disease ALS.

Frank McCormick discusses a National Cancer Institute-led effort to turn a well-known cancer-causing protein into a viable drug target.

James Collins explains how researchers can rewire bacterial cells and control multiple genes simultaneously within a single cell.

Francesco Pennacchio explains how neonicotinoid insecticides can influence the immune response of honey bees.

Caroline Roullier and colleagues won the 2013 Cozzarelli Prize in Behavioral and Social Sciences for their work on the distribution of sweet potatoes in Oceania.

Yoel Sadovsky and Carolyn Coyne describe the placenta's role in protecting the fetus from infection by viruses.

Tad Patzek explains how natural gas production declines over time in hydrofractured wells.

Mimi Kao and Allison Doupe explore song learning in the male zebra finch.

Erik Petigura and Geoffrey Marcy discuss the number of Earth-like planets that may exist in our galaxy.

James "Jay" McClelland describes a parallel distributed processing approach to understanding human cognition.

Alvin Roth discusses how principles of economics can benefit people who need kidney transplants.

Inés Ibañez-Tallon discusses how nicotine and neurons conspire to hamper efforts to quit smoking.

Inder Verma and colleagues describe how a breast cancer-associated gene might be implicated in brain size control in mammals.

Paul Dunk discusses the chemistry of carbon in space following a supernova.

NAS member Gregory Petsko discusses efforts to assess the US postdoctoral workforce.

Ariena van Bruggen and J. Glenn Morris, Jr. discuss their work on citrus greening, a disease that is threatening the global citrus industry.

C. Thomas Caskey and Amy McGuire discuss whole-genome genetic screening for adult-onset diseases.

James Liao talks about engineering microorganisms to synthesize fuels and chemicals from CO2.

Janet Werker describes how exposure to speech and environmental factors can affect language acquisition by infants.

Neuroscientists John Morrison and Yuko Hara talk about the links between estrogen, mitochondria, and age-related cognitive decline.

David Mills discusses regional differences in microbes found in grape must.

Yi Cui discusses how nanometerials are improving the energy storage capacity of batteries.

Steven Benner discusses the interaction between early humans and alcohol.

Scott Fraser discusses tools to glean a multicolored view of embryonic development.

Deborah Hung talks about identifying new approaches for treating and diagnosing infectious diseases.

Steven Pinker explains the idea of a cognitive niche, which may have facilitated the evolution of human intelligence.

David Laibson describes how behavioral economics can help incentivize positive behaviors.

Harry Klee explains how he is trying to make commercial tomatoes more flavorful.

Nicholas Fisher discusses his recent study investigating the health risks associated with eating seafood contaminated with Fukushima-derived radioactivity.

Nina Mazar discusses her recent study showing that where people sign a form affects how honestly they complete it.

Jeff Lichtman explains the promise and challenges tied to building a mouse connectome.

Matt Sponheimer discusses what our ancient evolutionary ancestors may have eaten.

Andrew Zammit-Mangion, Michael Dewar,Visakan Kadirkamanathan, and Guido Sanguinetti describe their statistical model of conflict dynamics and how they tested it using the WikiLeaks Afghan War Diary.

Janet Braam and E. Wassim Chehab discuss how plants anticipate and defend against insect attacks.

Paloma Gonzalez-Bellido, Hanchuan Peng, and Apostolos Georgopoulos describe their research on how dragonflies catch their prey.