Health

Using high-speed cameras, Harvard researchers have shown that ant-mimicking jumping spiders don’t walk on six legs in an attempt to appear more ant-like, but instead walk with all eight and take tiny, 100-millisecond pauses to lift their front legs to make them resemble ant antennae.

A Harvard study suggests a process known as synergistic epistasis enables humans to survive with an unusually high mutation rate.

Researchers have discovered that bacteria respond to antibiotics very differently — exactly opposite, in fact — inside the body than they do on a petri dish.

Study finds guardian gene that protects against Type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases exerts its pancreas-shielding effects by altering the gut microbiota.

The extreme winter of 2013–2014 created conditions for a Harvard grad student to expand his work on green anole lizards into study of natural selection in action.

After discovering that the complexity inherent in birdsongs results from a controllable instability in the organ used to create them, researchers at the Harvard Paulson School have developed a mimicking device.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s clinical trial confirms its “inflammatory hypothesis” — reducing inflammation cuts the risk of future cardiovascular events.

New research from Harvard Medical School casts doubt on the prevailing model of memory formation, suggesting that the brain may be far more flexible. 

Harvard researchers have teamed with local departments to examine cancer hazards contained in firehouse life.

A new Harvard study is the first to definitively show that the prevalence of knee osteoarthritis has dramatically increased in recent decades.

The disease-targeting embryo edit at Oregon Health & Science University signals a path for “those rare situations where the genes really are life-threatening,” says Harvard bioethicist Robert Truog.

After the Senate’s failure to reform Obamacare, Harvard economist David Cutler assesses what occurred and what the future might hold.

Digitization of Harvard’s fossil insect collection produced a surprising twist: The return to Germany of hundreds of Eocene insects frozen in amber.

Researchers have identified more than 760 genes upon which cancer cells of multiple types are strongly dependent for their growth and survival. 

Study finds psychopaths aren’t inhuman, but have a particular kind of brain wiring dysfunction.

New findings point to a surprising link between a genetic variant that favors shortness and an increased risk of osteoarthritis.

Jonny Kim, a Harvard Medical School graduate and former Navy SEAL, has been selected to join NASA’s next astronaut class.

An MGH study has found that the use of fMRI and EEG may provide early detection of consciousness in patients with severe traumatic brain injury.

CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology revealed a promising new class of cancer immunotherapy.

A new study shows weight gain during young and middle adulthood may increase risk of chronic diseases and premature death, and decrease the likelihood of achieving healthy aging.

When working stem cells within the intestine are depleted, some types of mature cells can transform themselves into stem cells, replenishing the population.

Harvard-based researchers have developed cancer-killing viruses that can deliver stem cells via the carotid artery, a potential treatment for tumor cells that have metastasized to the brain.

Enrollees in Medicaid reported in a nationwide survey that they’re largely satisfied with the health care they receive under the program, according to researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

New research led by Professor Jeff Lichtman opens a path to deeper insight on brain action behind certain behaviors.

Marking Thoreau’s 200th birthday, Harvard University Herbaria will post images of more than 800 plants the author and naturalist collected, part of a larger digitization effort.

A team of researchers has found that the stability plays a key role in the evolution of different protein structures.

Sarah Wakeman, an addiction specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses the role of fentanyl in the country’s opioid crisis.

A new Harvard Medical School study shows how malfunctioning RNA may lead to ALS and a form of dementia.

Two interventions that link clinical care with community resources helped improve key health measures in overweight or obese children at the outset of a study, as reported in JAMA Pediatrics.

Harvard-affiliated diabetes specialists are calling for fruit juice to be cut from the federal WIC supplemental nutrition program for low-income families.