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By: Alvin Powell/
October 29, 2009
Harnessing fun for serious science
Researchers from chemistry, computer science, and astronomy are learning a trick or two from video games and investigating a new kind of computing based on graphics processing units.
Humans and computers connect in Discovery Room
Chia Shen at the Scientists Discovery Room Lab is devising new ways for researchers to visually explore large data sets.
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Two centers join fellowship programs
The Berkman Center and the Center for Research in Computation and Society (CRCS) have joined their fellowship programs for the 2009-10 academic year.
Scholar makes robots that detect land mines
On Oct. 10, 2005 — he remembers the date exactly — Thrishantha Nanayakkara was driving down a country road, headed for a science workshop at Jaffna Central College, a high school in the far north of Sri Lanka. The event was designed to distract potential child soldiers from the allure of war.
Understanding materials to make microdevices
In the 1990s, semiconductor companies began to incorporate a wider variety of materials into the construction of computer chips, selecting materials based on how they would perform electrically and not necessarily on how they would stand up to the rigors of the manufacturing process or continued use.
Spiral swimmers may be new workhorses
Harvard researchers have created a new type of microscopic swimmer: a magnetized spiral that corkscrews through liquids and is able to deliver chemicals and push loads larger than itself.
Fair shows progress of humanities in digital world
Bill and Carrie meet in a Harvard College library you might know. The walls are reddish stone and in one corner a working fireplace blazes brightly.
Robotic radical hysterectomy has advantages
New technologies now allow surgery to be performed with less impact on patient quality of life. As the trend toward minimally invasive surgery grows, robotic-assisted surgery has become an appealing tool for gynecologic oncology surgeons. However, to date, there is little data to confirm the benefits of this technology. New research from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) compares robotic radical hysterectomy (RRH) using the DaVinci robot to classically performed open radical hysterectomies (ORH) in patients with stage I and II cervical cancer. Researchers found that RRH results in lower blood loss and shorter length of stay compared with ORH. The findings are available online and published in the December print issue of Gynecologic Oncology.
Shai Agassi dreams of a gas-free future
Electric cars with zero emissions. Powered by renewable energy. All over the world. That is Shai Agassi’s dream. The 40-year-old Israeli entrepreneur left a lucrative corporate software track last year to found Better Place, a transportation company based on sustainability and independence from oil.
Students looking to light African night
Some current and former Harvard students have joined forces in an effort to apply new technology to an old problem: how to light Africa’s rural areas far from modern power supplies.
Woolsey: New technologies will make need for oil obsolete
Salt was once highly valued as a preservative for meat, but eventually a new technology — refrigeration — greatly reduced its value. Today, rather than a contentious commodity, salt is a humdrum condiment.
Quantum computers could excel in modeling chemical reactions
Quantum computers would likely outperform conventional computers in simulating chemical reactions involving more than four atoms, according to scientists at Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Haverford College. Such improved ability to model and predict complex chemical reactions could revolutionize drug design and materials science, among other fields.
Lecture ‘Can’t you see I’m busy’ addresses ‘interruption management’
You’ve opened a Microsoft Word document and are just about to write. Feel good? No. Instead of inspiration, along comes Clippy, the annoying little pop-up man with his bobbing eyebrows and balloon full of intrusive questions. “It looks like you’re writing a letter. Would you like help?”
HSCI creates Web presence for research
The Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) and the Harvard Initiative in Innovative Computing (IIC) have launched an online stem cell textbook that seeks to engage and inform the stem cell community as it presents up-to-date stem cell science in a format useful to scientists and students.
Undergrads create ‘dirt-powered’ light for Africa
A team composed of Harvard students and alumni was among the winners of the World Bank’s Lighting Africa 2008 Development Marketplace competition, held in Accra, Ghana, from May 6 to 8, 2008. The team’s innovation, microbial fuel cell-based lighting systems suitable for sub-Saharan Africa, netted the Harvard group a $200,000 prize.
Humanities: From deconstruction to digitization
Malcolm Hyman, a research associate at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, addressed a group of 20 listeners at the Barker Center about the theoretical challenges ahead for humanities computing — a fast-growing corner of scholarship in the classics, modern literature, and the arts that looks to computer science for analytical help.
Seabed microbe study leads to low-cost power, light for the poor
A Harvard biology professor’s fascination with seafloor microbes has led to the development of a revolutionary, low-cost power system consuming garbage, compost, and other waste that could provide light for the developing world.
Do sports and statistics constitute a ‘dream team’?
Many argue it’s the reason the curse was finally reversed. A few say it has revolutionized the game. “Sabermetrics” — the statistical analysis of baseball data — pervades sports conversation today. But how many people are aware that analytical statistics can make powerful contributions to other sports, like say, pingpong? Well, for a start there are the more than 100 statisticians and sports enthusiasts — in this case, often one and the same — who came together at the Harvard University Science Center Sept. 29 for the first “New England Symposium on Statistics in Sports” (NESSIS).
Move over, Archimedes. A researcher at Harvard University is finding that ancient Greek craftsmen were able to engineer sophisticated machines without necessarily understanding the mathematical theory behind their construction.
Multimedia Features
Harvard Stem Cell Institute - First 5 years
What has the Harvard Stem Cell Institute accomplished in its first 5 years?
Video
3:05 run time
October 4, 2007
Stem cells: Mending a broken heart?
Video / Oct 15, '09
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