The COVID-19 pandemic has produced numerous challenges for scientific societies and organizations, including the necessity to quickly move large in-person meetings to a fully online format. Joining us on this episode of BioScience Talks is Dr. Kevin Sato, past president of the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research and chair of the organizing committee for the 2020 ASGSR Virtual Meeting. He describes the planning and execution of this novel event and provides an early look into the society’s plans for 2021.

Three winners have been selected in the 2020 Faces of Biology Photo Contest, sponsored by the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS).

AIBS, in collaboration with the NET ESolutions Corporation, published findings from an analysis of citations of scientific articles which introduced a meta-method for large-scale discovery of scientific communities of practice.

The undersigned organizations and institutions, representing hundreds of thousands of individuals and entities working in science, technology, engineering, medicine and mathematics, urge you to complete work on the fiscal year (FY) 2021 appropriations bills without delay. The disruption created by short and long-term continuing resolutions (CRs) has severe consequences for science and research. The public health and economic crises caused by COVID-19 further compound the negative effects of unpredictable funding; as such, in addition to finalizing the annual funding levels for science agencies and programs, we urge enactment of emergency research relief funding to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, US science leaders and others have expressed frustration with the lack of an informed and coherent federal response, a sentiment that echoes objections to the handling of other pressing issues, such as climate change. Writing in BioScience, an assemblage of the past presidents of the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) have issued an appeal for the reinvigoration of sound policy and governance through the careful consideration of sound science.

The Public Policy Report has been released. The report provides analysis and communication on important issues in the scientific community.

House and Senate Appropriators have reached an agreement on top-line allocations for the twelve appropriations bills to divide the $1.4 trillion in discretionary spending for fiscal year (FY) 2021, but disagreements remain over the exact provisions. Both chambers need to pass and the President needs to sign the spending package before the current stopgap measure expires to avert a government shutdown.

President-Elect Joe Biden has announced that former Secretary of State John Kerry will serve as the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Change. In this newly created position on the National Security Council, Kerry would become the highest-ranking U.S. official ever to have a portfolio dedicated to climate change.

President-Elect Joe Biden has announced that he will nominate Neera Tanden to be the next Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Tanden is the President and CEO of the Washington, DC-based think tank, Center for American Progress.

On December 1, 2020, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)—a panel of independent scientific experts on vaccines that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—approved the recommendation that health care personnel and residents of long-term care facilities should receive the first round of COVID-19 vaccinations.