2008 Blavatnik Awards finalists announced

Now in its second year, the New York Academy of Sciences Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists celebrate the excellence of our most noteworthy young faculty members and postdoctoral fellows in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The Academy is pleased to announce the 16 finalists for the 2008 Blavatnik Awards.

The 9 faculty members and 7 postoctoral fellows recognized as finalists were selected by a distinguished panel of judges based on their work's impact, the novelty and elegance of their science, and the degree to which they make use of interdisciplinary approaches. To support their future work, each of the faculty finalists has received $10,000, and each postdoctoral finalist has received $5000. These awards have been made possible thanks to the support of the Blavatnik Charitable Foundation.

Five of the finalists will also be declared winners of this year's Blavatnik Awards at the Academy's Science & the City Gala to be held in November. Watch the NYAS Web site for details.

Upcoming NYAS conferences

The concept of fairness is a critical factor in many types of economic, political, and social negotiations. How does the brain reckon with the concept of fairness? How does an individual's culture frame his sense of fairness? And what role does the concept of fairness play in acts of violence, warfare, or terrorism? In recent years, the tools of neuroscience and social science have enabled researchers to learn much about this important factor in how the brain makes decisions. This November, the Academy will be in Spain to cosponsor the first Barcelona Social Brain Conference, which will examine these and other questions related to human qualities of empathy, sacred values, and cooperation, and how science can be used to understand human conflicts.

Also coming up this fall, mark your calendars now for the 6^th Annual Cancer Vaccine Symposium. The meeting will bring together many world-renowned researchers and clinicians, including 2007 Lasker Prize-winner and conference co-organizer Ralph Steinman, to discuss progress in recent preclinical and clinical vaccine trials. Early bird registration rates are now available for both conferences.

The NYAS staff is busy planning the rest of what will be another exciting fall schedule. Watch www.nyas.org/events for updates over the summer.

Mobilizing science to promote human development

In May the Academy unveiled Scientists Without Borders^SM, a powerful online database for matching needs with resources to benefit the world's poorest citizens. To date, more than 450 experts, 80 project leaders, and nearly 150 organizations from across the globe have created profiles. Please join us in this landmark effort to mobilize science to help the developing world. Visit the Scientists Without Borders Web site to learn more, and register yourself or your organization.

The Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences has also just published a new volume investigating how poverty contributes to illness among the poor and undermines human development. Reducing the Impact of Poverty on Health and Human Development is edited by Stephen Kaler and Owen Rennert of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and features reports on diseases of poverty, the relationships between maternal health and poverty, and how housing, education, and social and economic realities affect human development.

Find out more about this and other recent Annals volumes at nyas.org, including the latest addition to our new series of annual reviews, The Year in Evolutionary Biology 2008.

Preparing for Tomorrow, Today
After raising $13.8 million in its silent phase, our first-ever Comprehensive Campaign, "New York's Future: Sustainability through Science and Technology," has now kicked off its public phase. Our goal is to raise $25 million to support our core initiatives.
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