Science & Tech
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Social media fueled divisions. Teaming up may help heal.
Study finds pairing members of opposing parties on the same side to compete in specially designed quiz eases partisanship
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‘We’re still standing … We can still do important work’
Climate researchers wrestling with losses of federal funding, data, and key tools
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Why are you cursing?
Steven Pinker breaks down the history of taboo words, different categories of swearing, and the meaning conveyed by a bleep
Part of the Wondering series -
Science that gives humans more say over their destinies
David Liu’s gene-editing technologies demonstrate game-changing potential in two recent cases
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Chance to branch off in new directions
Seven novel research projects awarded grants by Star-Friedman Challenge
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‘We have a way of steering a fly like you would a car’
Geneticists find method to turn tiny bugs into living robots
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The ‘platypus’ of crabs
A crab that swam the seas 95 million years ago was believed to be an active predator with sharp vision as opposed to today’s bottom-dwellers with limited vision.
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Reminders from Hollywood on memory, amnesia, personality
Psychology, philosophy scholars mine psycho-thriller “Memento” for its lessons on function of recall, how it shapes who we are.
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Should married couples live apart?
Separate takes from husband-and-wife psychiatrists on distance, drift, and how to stay connected
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Logic or emotion: Which is more valuable?
Neither thinking nor feeling is superior, according to Leonard Mlodinow’s new book, which argues that the two are inextricably linked.
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Back in days of great floods
Harvard researcher explains how overflowing rivers billions of years ago helped shape what Mars looks like today.
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What it takes to be a scientific breakthrough
Harvard Medical School Professor Anthony L. Komaroff explains the difference between a scientific advance and a true breakthrough.
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A different kind of queen’s gambit
The n-queens challenge dates back to 1869. After working on the problem for about 5 years, mathematician Michael Simkin has an almost definitive solution.
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How a bubble gives birth to young stars
Scientists have shown how a chain of events led to the creation of the vast bubble that is responsible for the formation of all young stars within 500 light-years of the sun and Earth.
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5 ways to learn new things in the new year
Adults can continue to learn new things if they follow a few simple rules.
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Seeing squid more clearly
Harvard researchers shed new light on squid eye development and convergent evolution.
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Turns out smarter kids are made, not born
A study co-authored by experts at the Graduate School of Education found that mothers with positive mindsets can mitigate the negative effects of maternal stress on mother-child interactions and help promote children’s healthy development.
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Gut-brain connection in autism
Researchers have identified a possible mechanism linking autism and intestinal inflammation in mouse models.
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Geneticists’ new research on ancient Britain contains insights on language, ancestry, kinship, milk
Two new studies highlight technological advances in large-scale genomics and open windows into the lives of ancient people.
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Twin gene-editing system gives twice the efficiency
A new gene-editing technique that enables larger edits than earlier ones could create new ways to study and treat genetic diseases, such as hemophilia or Hunter syndrome.
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Telescope to help tell the story of the universe
Harvard astrophysicist details the most ambitious space probe NASA ever built.
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Why that song is stuck in your head
Brain scientist explains earworms
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Touching the sun
An instrument made by scientists and engineers at the Center for Astrophysics has helped verify that — for the first time in history — a spacecraft has entered the corona of the sun.
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University seen as well-equipped to meet goals of ambitious institute
Scholars across University say Harvard is well-suited to the challenge owing to breadth, size of intellectual resources, experience.
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New University-wide institute to integrate natural, artificial intelligence
University-wide initiative made possible by gift from Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg.
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Negotiating the irrational with Daniel Kahneman
Nobel-winning behavioral economist and author of “Thinking Fast and Slow” shares advice on negotiation at Harvard event.
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Step in quest for quantum computing
Harvard researchers observe a state of matter predicted and hunted for 50 years, but never previously observed.
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Potential step toward new superconductors
Never-before-seen electron behavior could help scientists create superwires for supercharged technology.
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Getting the asteroid before it gets us
Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics explains the science and objectives guiding the agency’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test.
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Elizabeth Kolbert sees a world depleted, and possibly defeated, by climate change
New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert and Planetary Health Alliance Director Samuel Myers discussed whether humans can save the Earth during a “Weather Reports” panel hosted by the Harvard Divinity School.
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Meat and muscles, sure. But the human eye is a stretch, for now.
The author and MIT professor Ritu Raman discussed the promise and ethical challenges of a lab-shaped future.
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When will a robot write a novel?
In considering whether a robot could write a work of fiction, the computer science Krzysztof Gajos says it depends—trashy novel or a good one?
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A Rosetta Stone of biology
Harvard researcher develops program to read any genome sequence and decipher its genetic code.
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Lessons in regeneration by light of glowing worms
Harvard-led team is learning secrets of regeneration through a method for manipulating genome, which allows a better view of workings of cells.
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If we could talk to the animals … whales, specifically
A group of scholars who met at Radcliffe in 2017 have formed a nonprofit aimed at deciphering whale communication.
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A big discovery of a tiny critter
Discovery in 16-million-year-old amber is the third species of water bear ever found.