A New Biology for the 21st Century

The National Academies recently released a report titled "A New Biology for the 21st Century: Ensuring the United States Leads the Coming Biology Revolution." Modeled in part on the Grand Challenges for Engineering project, the report recommends that a "New Biology" approach--one that depends on greater integration within biology, and closer collaboration with physical, computational, and earth scientists, mathematicians and engineers--be used to find solutions to four key societal needs: sustainable food production, ecosystem restoration, optimized biofuel production, and improvement in human health.