The Washington-based National Academies, the nation's leading science advisory group, is warning the United States may lose its global lead in science.
The 20-member panel, in a report released Wednesday, cited examples of emerging scientific and industrial power abroad and listed 20 steps the United States should take to maintain its global leadership in science.
"Decisive action is needed now," the report warned, explaining the nation's old advantages "are eroding at a time when many other nations are gathering strength."
The proposals include creation of scholarships to attract 10,000 top students a year to careers in teaching math and science, and 30,000 scholarships for college-level study of science, math and engineering.
The advisory group also urges expansion of the nation's investment in basic research by 10 percent a year for seven years; and making broadband access available nationwide at low cost.
A summary of the report is available online at nationalacademies.org.
Copyright 2005 by United Press International
Related stories:
Get moving: Guidelines set healthy activity levels
(AP) -- Get moving: The nation's new exercise guidelines set a minimum sweat allotment for good health. For most adults, that's 2 1/2 hours a week. How much physical activity you need depends largely on age and level of fitness.
New formula predicts how people will migrate in coming decades
Nearly 200 million people now live outside their country of birth. But the patterns of migration that got them there have proven difficult to project. Now scientists at Rockefeller University, with assistance from the United Nations, have developed a predictive model of worldwide population shifts that they say will provide better estimates of migration across international boundaries. Because countries use population projections to estimate local needs for jobs, schools, housing and health care, a more precise formula to describe how people move could lead to better use of resources and improved economic conditions.
Most elementary schools in California will fail to meet proficiency requirements by 2014
How well students and schools – from kindergarten through high school – succeed in mastering a curriculum that includes English Language Arts (ELA), mathematics, and the social and natural sciences, strongly influences how well the students fare in higher education.
Unexpected large monkey population discovered
A Wildlife Conservation Society report reveals surprisingly large populations of two globally threatened primates in a protected area in Cambodia.
UC San Diego engineers part of nationwide effort to make buildings earthquake safe
Engineering researchers from UC San Diego and the University of Arizona have concluded three months of rigorous earthquake simulation tests on a half-scale three-story structure, and will now begin sifting through their results so they can be used in the future designs of buildings across the nation. The engineers produced a series of earthquake jolts as powerful as magnitude 8.0 on a structure resembling a parking garage.
New book tutors future presidents and public on science behind the headlines
In the event of a standoff between the United States and Iran over uranium enrichment, would Barack Obama, if elected president, know enough about the physics of nuclear weapons to assess the threat? In leading the nation toward reduced greenhouse gas emissions, would John McCain as president understand which technologies would best decrease America's carbon footprint?
Public health clinic study links 'Americanization' and depression
A study of 439 U.S. and Mexican-born Latinas seeking pregnancy and postpartum services at public health clinics in San Antonio uncovered elevated levels of depression among the more "Americanized" women, report researchers from The University of Texas School of Public Health and The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in the most recent online issue of the
Maternal and Child Health Journal.
New report warns current policies will not avert health workforce crisis
Without immediate action to develop an integrated, comprehensive, national health workforce policy, the U.S. is at risk of losing its status as the global health care leader, states a new report released by the Association of Academic Health Centers. The report was funded in part by the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation.