Health

The positive effects of mindfulness meditation on pain and working memory may result from an improved ability to regulate a crucial brain wave called the alpha rhythm. This rhythm is thought to “turn down the volume” on distracting information, which suggests that a key value of meditation may be helping the brain deal with an often overstimulating world.

A student project seeks to improve maternal and child care in India by using the proliferation of cellphones in rural areas to remind women to visit local clinics.

An innovative experimental treatment for boosting the effectiveness of blood stem-cell transplants with umbilical cord blood has a favorable safety profile in long-term animal studies, according to Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Children’s Hospital Boston.

Harvard Medical School researchers believe that identifying the properties of the herpes viruses found in Africa could open the door to developing a more potent vaccine against an infection now rampant in sub-Saharan Africa.

Scientists at Harvard University have harnessed the prowess of fast-replicating bacterial viruses, also known as phages, to accelerate the evolution of biomolecules in the laboratory.

Stem cells being transfused into post-heart attack patients may not be developing into new heart muscle, but they still appear to be beneficial. Some stem cells in the bone marrow, called c-kit+ cells, appear capable of stimulating adult stem cells already present in the heart to repair damaged tissue.

Studying dead women’s cut-up bodies was not what Katharine Park originally set out to do. But a trip to Florence opened a new chapter in the scholar’s life.

A section of the AIDS virus’ protein envelope once considered an improbable target for a vaccine now appears to be one of the most promising, new research by Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists indicates.

For the 20 percent of patients with so-called triple-negative breast cancer, the outcome is bleak. Now, however, researchers from Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Baylor College of Medicine have identified a critical molecular component to the disease, one that suggests potential therapies involving combinations of FDA-approved, readily available drugs.

Harvard-affiliated researchers using two brain-imaging technologies have found that apparently normal older individuals with brain deposits of amyloid beta — the primary constituent of the plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients — also had changes in brain structure similar to those seen in Alzheimer’s patients.

In a Harvard School of Public Health webcast, researchers used a recent federal report to start a conversation on vitamin D. How much is enough, and how much is too much?

Scientists at Harvard have created breathtaking three-dimensional images of an entire organ, moving a step closer to understanding the complex development of the kidney.

Harvard stem cell researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston have taken two important steps toward development of a new way of treating melanoma, the most virulent form of skin cancer.

Key amino acids important for biological life are among the ones most easily formed in nature, according to Ralph Pudritz from McMaster University.

In a new, large-scale study from Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, researchers found no evidence that higher levels of mercury exposure were associated with higher risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, or total cardiovascular disease in two separate studies of U.S. adults.

Harvard scientists have unveiled the most comprehensive picture to date of the full genetic blueprint of multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer.

A Harvard biologist succeeds in mapping a neural network for learned olfactory behavior, using a roundworm model to trace the dislike of a particular smell to the reaction that avoids it.

Astronomy Professor David Charbonneau is as enthusiastic about explaining his field to students as he is about researching faraway planets.

By measuring the levels of small molecules in the blood, doctors may be able to identify individuals at elevated risk of developing type 2 diabetes as much as a decade before symptoms of the disorder appear.

According to a new study released online Monday (March 21), 60 percent of parents, whether they smoke or not, said they would like to have their children tested for tobacco smoke exposure during pediatric visits.

Harvard researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard find that elevated levels of p21, a protein best known as a cancer fighter, may be involved in the immune system’s ability to control HIV infection.

Scientists are advancing in their understanding of the biology of the deep sea, which still remains largely unexplored and mysterious, according to Associate Professor Peter Girguis.

The debate over whether routine mammogram screenings are useful diagnostic tools or potentially ineffective and wasteful was the issue of a Harvard School of Public Health forum on March 8.

Researchers in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School have developed a technique for unraveling these masses. Through a combination of microscopy platforms, researchers can crawl through the individual connections composing a neural network, much as Google crawls web links.

Study suggests our assumptions about natural talent can influence our judgments, overlooking and undervaluing the impact of hard work.

Shelley Carson, a researcher in the Psychology Department and lecturer at the Extension School, has penned a how-to book on harnessing your untapped abilities.

A new study by Harvard School of Public Health researchers shows that adults who regularly take ibuprofen, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, have about one-third less risk of developing Parkinson’s disease than nonusers.

As genetic testing and its offspring — personalized medicine — have matured, patients and doctors have become entangled in such issues as how to best share at-risk information, access treatment options, and weigh decisions about threats to the young and unborn. And sometimes these issues mushroom, becoming quandaries for society as a whole.

Taking advantage of the simple color pattern of deer mice, Harvard researchers showed that small changes in the activity of a single pigmentation gene in embryos generate big differences in adult color pattern.

On a day when Harvard celebrated the accomplishments of the Human Genome Project, the Radcliffe Institute hosted a scientist whose work focuses not just on DNA, but on the mechanisms that control its expression.