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70 stories tagged ‘Chemistry’
Scientists may soon be able to turn to one of the most powerful forces in biology — evolution — to help in their quest to develop new synthetic polymers.
Pickles, prisms, and scientists
Celebrating its 11th year of public engagement, the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences’ (SEAS) Holiday Lecture Series dazzled and delighted audiences on Dec. 8 with a show guaranteed to kindle curiosity about the natural world.
Having already broken new ground in robotics with the development, last year, of a class of “soft”, silicone-based robots based on creatures like squid and octopi, Harvard scientists are now working to create systems that would allow the robots to camouflage themselves, or stand out in their environment.
Airborne pollutants lead a double life
Researchers at Harvard University and the University of British Columbia (UBC) have provided visual evidence that atmospheric particles — which are ubiquitous, especially above densely populated areas — separate into distinct chemical compositions during their life cycle.
Fuel cell keeps going after hydrogen runs out
Materials scientists at Harvard have demonstrated that a solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC), which converts hydrogen into electricity, can also store electrochemical energy like a battery. This fuel cell can continue to produce power for a short time after its fuel has run out.
At a Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on May 1, 2012, the Minute honoring the life and service of the late William von Eggers Doering, Mallinckrodt Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus, was placed upon the records. Time called Professor Doering’s synthesis of quinine “one of the greatest scientific achievements in a century.”
Evans wins Welch Award in Chemistry
David A. Evans, the Abbott and James Lawrence Professor of Chemistry Emeritus, was awarded the 2012 Welch Award in Chemistry in recognition of his pioneering research.
Bubble, bubble — without toil or trouble
Among the advances linked to Harvard is one that came in a field not normally associated with the University: the culinary arts. Cooks use a professor’s 1850s invention, baking powder, as a time-saving replacement for yeast.
Professor Charles Lieber receives Israel’s Wolf Prize
Charles Lieber, the Mark Hyman Jr. Professor of Chemistry, was recently awarded Israel’s prestigious Wolf Prize.
Reading life’s building blocks
A team led by Harvard researcher Charles Lieber has for the first time succeeded in creating a device that opens the door to using tiny holes called nanopores in an electrically charged membrane to quickly and easily sequence DNA.
Harvard researchers have developed a “primer” to identify some of the most useful probes for super-resolution imaging. As described recently on Nature Methods’ website, the work also identified the key characteristics that are important for imaging, giving researchers a framework for evaluating other probes, or even designing custom-made molecules to use in imaging.
Martin Karplus, Theodore William Richards Professor Emeritus at Harvard University and Professeur Conventionne at the Universite de Strasbourg, has been awarded the Antonio Feltrinelli International Prize in Chemistry by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. The award was presented at the Academy in Rome on Nov. 11.
A new chemical process developed by a team of Harvard researchers may increase the utility of positron emission tomography (PET) in creating real-time 3-D images of chemical processes occurring inside the human body.
Electrical conductor sparks interest
Harvard and Stanford chemists have created and purified an organic semiconductor with excellent electrical properties, simultaneously confirming a screening process being used to find new photovoltaic materials.
William Nunn Lipscomb Jr., emeritus professor and winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1976, died at age 91 in Cambridge, Mass., on Thursday (April 14) of pneumonia and other complications resulting after a fall.
AAAS announces 15 Harvard fellows
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has awarded 15 Harvard faculty members the distinction of being named an AAAS Fellow on Jan. 11.
Gregory Verdine wins prize for cancer research
Gregory Verdine has won the 2011 American Association for Cancer Research Award for Outstanding Achievement in Chemistry in Cancer Research.
In a lecture, titled “Good Vibrations: How We Communicate” and hosted by Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Howard Stone, Dixon Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University and a former Harvard faculty member, enticed children and their families into the world of physics and biology.
At Harvard, the Kitchen as Lab
Harvard students are savoring an undergraduate course that uses the kitchen to convey the basics of physics and chemistry...
Chemists and engineers at Harvard University have fashioned nanowires into a new type of V-shaped transistor small enough to be used for sensitive probing of the interior of cells.
Business neophytes at Harvard and MIT wrap up the annual case competition, stepping out of their everyday fields to learn about being business consultants.
Three Harvard scientists named Pew Scholars
Assistant Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Fernando Camargo, Assistant Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School (HMS) Alexander Gimelbrant, and Sun Hur, assistant professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at HMS, have been named 2010 Pew Scholars in the biomedical sciences by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Author Erling Norrby discusses how the Nobel Prizes for the sciences, while often awarding breakthrough efforts, also can miss pivotal findings that made a difference.
Physicists create an artificial material to gain up-close insights into quantum materials and how they interact.
Kathryn Hollar, a chemical engineer by training, is director of educational programs at the Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, where she teaches a program called “science for K to gray.”
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