Polygraph Testing Is Too Flawed for Security Screening
Oct. 8 -- The federal government shouldn't rely on polygraph tests to identify national-security risks among prospective or current employees because results are too inaccurate, says a new National Academies report. Polygraph tests sensitive enough to detect most security violators also mark large numbers of innocent test takers as guilty. Less sensitive polygraph tests, including those used in several federal agencies, don't catch most major security violators and still incorrectly flag truthful people as deceptive.
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Human Research Participants Need Broader Protection
Oct. 3 -- Ensuring the health and well-being of people enrolled in research studies demands broader U.S. government oversight, says a new Institute of Medicine report. Congress should require publicly and privately funded organizations that conduct research with human participants to do so under the authority of a research participant protection program subject to federal oversight. But ultimate responsibility for ensuring that protections are in place must rest with the highest levels of a research organization's leadership.
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New Report Endorses Everglades Research Plan

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Academy Members Win Nobel Prize in Physics

Oct. 8 -- Two members of the National Academy of Sciences are among the winners of the 2002 Nobel Prize in physics. NAS members Raymond Davis of the University of Pennsylvania and Riccardo Giacconi of Associated Universities Inc. in Washington, D.C. were awarded the prize along with Masatoshi Koshiba of the University of Tokyo. The researchers were recognized for their contributions to astrophysics: Davis and Koshiba jointly for the detection of cosmic neutrinos, and Giacconi for work that led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources. [more]

Academy Member and Foreign Associate Win Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

New Nobel Laureate Gives Account of the Race to Map the Human Genome

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