Findings
Insights, discoveries, and analysis from Harvard scholars and scientists.
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Probe the gut, protect the brain?
In fight against Parkinson’s and other disorders, two-way connection may someday lead to a breakthrough
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Health
Gender-affirming care is rare, study says
Fewer than 1 in 1,000 transgender youth receive hormones or puberty blockers
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Nation & World
Unfuzzy math: U.S. needs to do better
Ed School expert has some ideas, including a rethink of homework bans, after ‘discouraging’ results
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Health
Nature offers novel approach to oral wound care
Slug’s sticky mucus inspiration behind adhesive hydrogel that can seal wounds in wet environment
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Health
Time for a rethink of colonoscopy guidelines?
Change informed by new findings would help specialists focus on those most at risk, researcher says
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Health
The deadly habit we can’t quite kick
Actions by tobacco companies worry researcher even amid ‘dramatic decrease’ in smoking among young Americans
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Science & Tech
Real reason ACL injury rate is higher for women athletes
Study finds flaw in key sports science metric
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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