Science & Tech

An astronomical team uses detailed data to create a virtual reality experience of being inside an exploded star.

Researchers have created a micro-robot whose electroadhesive foot pads allow it to climb on vertical and upside-down conductive surfaces, such as the inside walls of a jet engine. Groups of micro-robots could one day be used to inspect complicated machinery and detect safety issues sooner, while reducing maintenance costs.

Getting the perfect-size artificial heart valve without ever actually looking at the patient’s heart was a challenge … until now. Researchers at the Wyss at Harvard University have created a 3-D printing workflow that allows cardiologists to evaluate how different valve sizes will interact with each patient’s unique anatomy

In a paper published in PNAS, Jack W. Szostak, professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard, along with graduate student Seohyun (Chris) Kim, suggest that RNA could have started with a different set of nucleotide bases. In place of guanine, RNA could have relied on a surrogate, inosine.

Harvard scientists have created a soft valve that could replace “hard” valves and lead to the creation of entirely soft robots. The valve’s structure can also be used to produce unique, oscillatory behavior.

By examining the teeth of Neanderthal infants, a team of researchers was able to glean insight into nursing and weaning behavior as well as winter and summer cycles. The study even found evidence that the Neanderthals had been exposed to lead — the earliest such exposure ever recorded in any human ancestor.

Using a detailed, musculoskeletal model of an echidna forelimb, Harvard scientists are not only shedding light on how the little-studied echidna’s forelimbs work, but also opening a window into understanding how extinct mammals might have used those limbs.

A Ph.D. student working in the lab of Professor Mikhail Lukin, co-director of the Quantum Science and Engineering Initiative, has demonstrated a method for engineering an interaction between two qubits using photons.

Professor Robin Wordsworth explains why the just-announced landing site for the 2020 Mars rover mission has a lot to offer SEAS researchers.

Harvard researchers have started to combine bacteria with semiconductor technology that, similar to solar panels on a roof, harvests energy from light and, when coupled to the microbes’ surface, boosts their biosynthetic potential.

A tiny seed has already changed the careers of the Arnold Arboretum’s Tiffany Enzenbacher and Kea Woodruff, and it may one day bear fruit in an example of flora rescued from extinction— and a growing space for women in science.

Harvard researchers contribute to the preservation of museum specimens, marking the collections’ importance in a special journal released Nov. 19.

A paper by Harvard researchers wonders whether the interstellar object known as “‘Oumuamua” is a visitor from an alien civilization.

Based on close examination of thousands of fossilized fish teeth, a Harvard researcher found that, while the asteroid impact that killed off the dinosaurs did lead to the extinction of some fish species, it also set the stage for two periods of rapid evolution among marine life.

Using an innovative robotic platform to observe bees’ behavior, Harvard researchers showed that, following exposure to a commonly used class of pesticides, bees spent less time nursing larvae and were less social than other bees.

By pairing quantum science exploration with solution-driven quantum engineering the new Harvard Quantum Initiative, aims to raise the bar across higher education, industry, and government research to progress quantum science and engineering and educate the future workforce.

Liquid-gated membranes filter nanoclay particles out of water with twofold higher efficiency and nearly threefold longer time to foul, and reduce the pressure required for filtration over conventional membranes.

Emissions from power plants and heavy industry, rather than spewing into the atmosphere, could be captured and chemically transformed from greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide into industrial fuels or chemicals thanks to a system developed by Harvard researchers.

Harvard’s Adam Cohen is the lead author of a new study that challenges conventional theories about the fluid nature of cell membranes and how they react to tension.

While some social networks have been shown to intrinsically lead to cooperation, others been shown to not only lead to a breakdown in cooperation, but produce outright spite.

Increased production of corn in the U.S. has been credited largely to advances in farming technology, but new research shows that changing temperatures play a significant role in crop yield.

SETI astronomer Jill Tarter was among the speakers at this year’s Radcliffe science symposium, “The Undiscovered.”

Working in a basement lab at Harvard, a group of researchers led by John Doyle, the Henry B. Silsbee Professor of Physics, have been part of a team making the most precise measurement of the shape of the field around an electron. The results suggest that some theories for what lies beyond the standard model of physics need to return to the drawing board.

A recent study used seismic noise to measure the size and water levels in underground aquifers, focusing on California’s San Gabriel Valley aquifer, which had to meet the demands of 1 million people during a five-year drought.

Harvard scientists are using the fossil record and a close examination of the vertebrae of thousands of modern animals to understand how and when specialized regions in the spines of mammals developed.

In their quest to build a tool that uses atomic-scale impurities in diamonds to sense magnetic fields, a pair of Ph.D. candidates from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences have developed a method that can simultaneously detect magnetic fields in various directions: “It’s like listening to four FM radio stations at once and having it all make sense.”

Researchers have determined that large-scale wind power would require more land and cause more environmental impact than previously thought.

John Carreyrou, the reporter who broke the story about the problems of the blood-testing company Theranos, explains the rise and fall of the Silicon Valley firm, and sees it as a cautionary tale.

Astrophysicist and cosmologist Martin Rees discusses his new book, “On the Future: Prospects for Humanity,” and shares his thoughts on climate change, artificial intelligence, robotics, and more.

Scientists at the Wyss Institute and colleagues have created a highly flexible soft robotic arm, giving biologists intuitive control over a module by wearing a glove equipped with wireless soft sensors that respond to their own hand and finger movements.