Findings
Insights, discoveries, and analysis from Harvard scholars and scientists.
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How to fight depression? Faster.
Hope flags when medications fail, isolating and endangering patients. Backed by a major grant, 2 Harvard scientists are focused on reducing the distance between diagnosis and recovery.
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Science & Tech
What happened when a meteorite the size of four Mount Everests hit Earth?
Giant impact had silver lining for life, according to new study
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Science & Tech
Big discovery about microscopic ‘water bears’
Bit of happenstance, second look at ancient fossils leads to new insights into evolution of tardigrade, one of most indestructible life forms on planet
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Work & Economy
Millions of workers are also juggling caregiving. Employers need to rethink.
Business School report finds rigid hiring policies, work rules, scheduling hurt employees but also productivity, retention, bottom line
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Science & Tech
Blue, green, gold: Why eyes of wild cats vary in color
Study traces iris diversity to gray-eyed ancestor
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Health
Falls put older adults at increased risk of Alzheimer’s
Researchers found dementia more frequently diagnosed within one year of a fall, compared to other types of injuries
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Epic science inside a cubic millimeter of brain
Researchers publish largest-ever dataset of neural connections
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Excited about new diet drug? This procedure seems better choice.
Study finds minimally invasive treatment more cost-effective over time, brings greater weight loss
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How friends helped fuel the rise of a relentless enemy
Economists imagine an alternate universe where the opioid crisis peaked in ’06, and then explain why it didn’t
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Getting ahead of liver cancer
Researchers hope identifying blood proteins may lead to earlier prediction of risk, increase treatment options
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Alcohol is dangerous. So is ‘alcoholic.’
Researcher explains the human toll of language that makes addiction feel worse
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Can we talk?
Study finds that conversation – even online – could be an effective strategy to help prevent cognitive decline and dementia
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Early warning sign of extinction?
Fossil record stretching millions of years shows tiny ocean creatures on the move before Earth heats up
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Lawyers reap big profits lobbying government regulators under the radar
Study exposes how banks sway policy from shadows, by targeting bureaucrats instead of politicians
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So much for summers of love
Despite ‘hippie’ reputation, male bonobos fight three times as often as chimps, study finds
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Exercise cuts heart disease risk in part by lowering stress, study finds
Benefits nearly double for people with depression
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Amazon butterfly evolved from hybrids
Genomic findings challenge thinking on what makes a species
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A molecular ‘warhead’ against disease
Approach attacks errant proteins at their roots
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Aspirin cuts liver fat in trial
10 percent reduction seen in small study of disease that affects up to a third of U.S. adults
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Why are we so divided? Zero-sum thinking is part of it.
Researchers examine who embraces mindset that one’s gain is another’s loss, and how that affects our politics — in sometimes surprising ways
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Parkinson’s warning in skin biopsy
Medical office procedure identifies key biomarker that may lead to more reliable diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders
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How the already anxious avoided global spike in COVID anxiety
Psychological tools learned by those in treatment proved protective in high-stress event, study finds
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Larger lesson about tariffs in a move that helped Trump but not the country
Researcher details findings on policy that failed to boost U.S. employment even as it scored political points
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Menopause depression risk has been exaggerated
Some groups are more vulnerable but symptoms far from universal, review finds
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Despite prevalence, arthritis, neck and back pain receive few research dollars
Musculoskeletal diseases are the leading cause of years lived with disability
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Glimpse into how mind may affect healing
Study finds bruising fades faster in patients who are led to believe more time has passed than actually has
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Do high-stress jobs put pregnancy at risk?
Study compared outcomes for expecting doctors, lawyers. One group fared worse.
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Harvard physicists create a new phase of matter
First demonstration of non-Abelian anyons in a quantum processor
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Did fermented foods fuel brain growth?
Study puts fermentation, not fire, as pivot point behind our ancestors’ increasing cranial capacity
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‘Radcliffe Wave’ is waving
Astronomers detail oscillation of our giant neighbor
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Looking to rewind the aging clock
Harvard researchers create model that better measures biological age, distinguishes between harmful and adaptive changes during life
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Potential new weapon in battle against superbugs
Harvard team’s synthetic molecule highly effective against drug-resistant bacteria
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A win for science, and patients, against brain injury ‘nihilism’
Hope for progress even after a 450-foot fall, trial shows, defying pessimism that hurts research and families
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Are top-ranked colleges really the best? Depends. At what?
Sociologist urges ratings focused on real-life outcomes, particularly in those from underrepresented groups
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We’re social beings. So are microbes.
When we pick up our neighbors’ bugs, we get the good as well as the bad and the ugly
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New evidence shows COVID-19 isn’t done with us yet
Study suggests lack of regular care and screenings set stage for worse public health outcomes, wider disparities