Science & Tech
-
A small slice of time
An NSF project builds a special camera to shoot the night sky, light up dark matter, and map the Milky Way
-
Real reason ACL injury rate is higher for women athletes
Study finds flaw in key sports science metric
-
Can people change?
One thing is certain in the new year — we’ll evolve, with or without resolutions. In podcast, experts consider our responsibility.
-
A common sense, win-win idea — and both right, left agree
Poll measures support for revenue-sharing plan on renewable energy that helps states, localities, and environment
-
Climate change experts see dark clouds ahead
Salata Institute panelists predict legal, regulatory setbacks and areas of hope as Trump administration prepares to take over
-
Ever wonder why your dog does this?
Study decodes neural mechanism that causes hairy mammals to shake their fur when wet
-
Information, writ widely
The Dataverse 4 catalog expands access to research, across many Web platforms, even globally.
-
Wyss improves sepsis device
Scientists at the Wyss Institute have improved a device developed last year to treat sepsis that works by mimicking the human spleen. The new device is better positioned for near-term use in clinics.
-
It was California or bust
A group of Harvard and MIT students has pedaled its way to the Pacific Ocean from Washington, D.C., with stops along the way to lead science “learning festivals” to promote STEM learning among children.
-
Robotic insect mimics nature’s extreme moves
A team of researchers from Harvard and Seoul National University has unveiled a novel robotic insect that can jump off the surface of water. In doing so, they have revealed new insights into the natural mechanics that allow water striders to jump from rigid ground or fluid water with the same amount of power and height.
-
A shift in motherhood
New findings draw from evolution to explain why human mothers seek help with raising their children.
-
Go ahead, be sarcastic
Despite sarcasm’s nasty reputation, new research finds that it can boost creativity and problem-solving in the workplace.
-
Pesticide found in 70 percent of Massachusetts’ honey samples
In a new study, Harvard researchers looked at pollen and honey samples collected from the same set of hives across Massachusetts. Findings show they contain at least one pesticide implicated in Colony Collapse Disorder.
-
Quality and quantity of key crops changing
Changing environmental conditions around the globe caused by human activity could negatively impact the health of millions of people by altering the amount and quality of key crops, according to two new studies from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
-
More eyes on climate change
Season Spotter is a citizen-science project that aims to recruit Internet users to assist researchers analyzing images of natural scenes.
-
Tiny wires, great potential
Harvard scientists have developed a method for creating a class of nanowires that could one day see applications in everything from consumer electronics to solar panels.
-
Pluto in detail
Scott Kenyon offers an astrophysicist’s view of the New Horizons mission to Pluto.
-
And now, the hopping robot
Harvard-designed robot transitions from soft to hard, reducing the stress where the rigid electronic components join the body.
-
Electrifying invention can save young lives
Treatment with inhaled nitric oxide (NO) has proved to be lifesaving in newborns, children, and adults with several dangerous conditions. But the availability of the treatment has been limited by the size, weight, and complexity of equipment needed to administer the gas, and the therapy’s high price — until now.
-
Unveiling the ancient climate of Mars
The high seas of Mars may never have existed. According to a new study that looks at two opposite climate scenarios of early Mars, a cold and icy planet billions of years ago better explains water drainage and erosion features seen today.
-
Injectable device delivers nano-view of the brain
An international team of researchers has developed a method of fabricating nanoscale electronic scaffolds that can be injected via syringe. The scaffolds can then be connected to devices and used to monitor neural activity, stimulate tissues, or even promote regeneration of neurons.
-
A new grasp on robotic glove
Having achieved promising results in proof-of-concept prototyping and experimental testing, a soft robotic glove under development by Conor Walsh and a team of engineers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering could someday help people who have lost hand motor control regain some of their daily independence.
-
Cooking up cognition
A new study suggests that many of the cognitive capacities that humans use for cooking — a preference for cooked food, the ability to understand the transformation of raw food into cooked, and even the ability to save and transport food to cook it — are shared with chimpanzees.
-
Accelerator Fund boosts Harvard tech startups
At Harvard, the Accelerator Fund boosts technologies in engineering and physical sciences, and helps launch companies in robotics, 3-D printing, and materials discovery.
-
An advocate for others
While at Harvard, Veronica Gloria ’15 worked to empower first-generation and Latino students like herself.
-
Why more ‘hotspots’ aren’t so cool
A new study published today in the Journal of Applied Ecology reports that the number of ecosystem hotspots in Massachusetts has increased over the past decade, with more and more popping up in metro Boston.
-
A better sense of place
Alyssa Goodman, professor of astronomy at Harvard University, will give a talk titled “Lost Without Longitude” on Thursday at the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments.
-
Finding problems, designing solutions
The controlled chaos of the fourth annual Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Design and Project Fair on May 6 offered a taste of the wide range of projects SEAS developed during the school year.
-
Saving the digital record
Changing with the times as the world moves from paper to digital, the Harvard Library has adopted forensic techniques to save material stored on obsolete formats.
-
The era of climate responsibility
At Harvard’s 10th annual Plant Biology Symposium, climate expert Chris Field talked about the need to evaluate environmental risks in the coming decades even as many people work to reduce climate-warming emissions.
-
Really, try the brisket
Sixteen Harvard engineering students spent the last few months researching, designing, and building a better barbecue smoker. They presented their findings — and some tasty brisket — to guests during the final class presentation.
-
Benefits of Clean Power Plan are clear
States will gain large, widespread, and nearly immediate health benefits if the Environmental Protection Agency sets strong standards in the final Clean Power Plan, according to the first independent, peer-reviewed paper of its kind, published May 4 in the journal Nature Climate Change.
-
Deans’ Challenges winners
Five student-led teams at Harvard were named winners in the third annual Deans’ Challenges, focusing on health and life sciences, cultural entrepreneurship, the food system, and innovation in sports.
-
Redesigning design contests
A Harvard conference on design competitions — which can be creative, ubiquitous, and troubling — lays out the present controversies surrounding them, and some solutions.
-
The fast-firing universe
Nobel laureate and astrophysicist Brian Schmidt returns to Harvard this week to deliver the Morris Loeb and David M. Lee Lectures in Physics. Schmidt will discuss his discovery that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, as well as the SkyMapper survey of the southern skies and the first stars that emerged after the universe’s dark ages.
-
Women in sciences
A group called Harvard Graduate Women in Science and Engineering just celebrated a decade of fellowship in those fields.