Science & Tech

All Science & Tech

  • Wyss-designed swabs enter human trials for COVID-19

    The Wyss Institute has collaborated in the design of a new low-cost nasopharyngeal swabs that can be manufactured quickly to address the international shortage of swabs for testing and research.

    Nasal swabs.
  • In a photo of a black hole, a possible key to mysteries

    So little is known about black holes and the image hints at a path to a higher-resolution image and more and better data.

    Rings around a black hole.
  • Toward an unhackable quantum internet

    Harvard and MIT researchers have found a way to correct for signal loss with a prototype quantum node that can catch, store, and entangle bits of quantum information. The research is the missing link toward a practical quantum internet.

    Researchers working in lab.
  • Students come together with Congregate

    With the move to online classes, a group of Harvard students quickly formed a team and collaborated over spring break to develop Congregate, a web platform that enables users to host events or gatherings that are broken into many dynamically generated conversation rooms.

    The SEAS computer group.
  • ‘Faster protection with less material’

    Further research and development on a class of molecules called bisphosphonates might turbocharge a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus, and help bring immunity to huge populations more quickly.

    Professor Uli von Andrian.
  • Scientists map human protein interactions

    Scientists produce a reference map of human protein interactions, releasing data helpful for understanding diseases including cancer and infectious diseases such as COVID-19.

    Tissue-specific subnetworks.
  • Design School turns 3D printers into PPE producers

    The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) began production of personal protective equipment (PPE) on Sunday.

    Workers in Fabrication Lab.
  • Facing a pandemic, Broad does a quick pivot

    Facing a pandemic, scientific and administrative teams across the Broad Institute raced to enable coronavirus testing in a matter of days.

    Staff receiving training.
  • Capabilities of CRISPR gene editing expanded

    Investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital have modified the gene editing system, making it possible to potentially target any location across the entire human genome.

    DNA strands.
  • Learning from recovery

    Using the tool VirScan, researchers are able to detect antibodies in people’s blood that indicate active and past infections by viruses and bacteria. The goal is to learn how the virus affects the immune system.

  • ‘There will be cascading failures that get fixed on the fly’

    The massive shift from the office to remote work will test the internet in ways it hasn’t been tested before, a Harvard expert on the technology industry said, offering a real-time experiment that will likely see failures, but from which unexpected solutions will also emerge.

    View from above of city network of lights.
  • Genetic control of collective behavior

    Researchers use zebrafish to explore the connection between specific genetic mutations and group behavior.

    Zebrafish
  • Blood biopsies offer early warning of cancer’s return

    Researchers have designed personalized blood biopsies that offer the potential of an early warning signal of breast cancer recurrence.

  • i3 Center formed for advancing cancer immunotherapy

    Harvard’s Wyss Institute will collaborate with other institutions to form the i3 Center where cancer immunologists and biological engineers will develop new biomaterials-based approaches to enable anti-cancer immune-therapies for therapy-resistant cancers.

    Illustration of cancer cells.
  • Was Darwin first? Kind of depends

    Charles Darwin’s work arose in an era where many were thinking about the source of nature’s variety.

    Photograph of Charles Darwin taken around 1874 by Leonard Darwin.
  • A great civilization brought low by climate change (and, no, it’s not us)

    Human-environmental scientist says there are new clues about how and why the Maya culture collapsed.

    Professor Billie L. Turner standing in front of a slide showing rainfall.
  • From YouTube to your school

    In a new paper, Harvard researchers show for the first time that research-based online STEM demonstrations not only can teach students more, but can be just as effective as classroom teaching.

    Live demonstration.
  • What the nose knows

    Experts discuss the science of smell and how scent, emotion, and memory are intertwined — and exploited

    Illustration of a person smelling flowers.
  • From ancient flooding, modern insights

    Tamara Pico, a postdoctoral fellow, is using records of flooding in the Bering Strait to make inferences about how the ice sheets that covered North America responded to the warming climate, and how their melting might have contributed to climate changes.

    Tamara Pico in front of an image of the Earth.
  • The good, bad, and scary of the Internet of Things

    Radcliffe researcher explores how to create a framework for the Internet of Things that minimizes risk and maximizes safety.

    Illustration of people walking around.
  • Food that’s better for all of us and the planet

    According to a summit on food production, diet, and sustainability, humanity needs to refocus on a diet that encompasses sustainability and social justice.

    Walter Willett speaking.
  • Beyond Pavlov

    Artificial intelligence researchers and neurobiologists share data on how options are sorted in decision-making.

    Researchers standing on stairwell.
  • The ‘right’ diet

    Professor Emily Balskus and her team have identified an entirely new class of enzymes that degrade chemicals essential for neurological health, but also help digest foods like nuts, berries, and tea, releasing nutrients that may impact human health.

    Spoon with pomogranate seeds.
  • A crisper CRISPR

    Fewer off-target edits and greater targeting scope bring gene editing technology closer to treating human diseases.

    David Liu.
  • Going where the diversity is

    Two graduate students from Arnold Arboretum have created the Mamoní Valley Preserve Natural History Project, an ongoing series of student-led field expeditions designed to increase our understanding of how biodiversity can persevere in the face of climate change, deforestation, and human disturbance.

    Men walking with collection bags.
  • New details about mumps outbreaks of 2016‒17

    Studying the mumps virus genomes in 2016 and 2017 filled in gaps about how the disease was spreading in Massachusetts and elsewhere in the U.S.

    Graphic of spread of viruses.
  • Getting the brain’s attention

    New technology helps dissect how the brain ignores or acts on information

    Adam Cohen.
  • How I hacked the government (it was easier than you may think)

    Though no expert coder, Max Weiss ’20, a government concentrator uses bots to show an agency its website vulnerability.

    Max Weiss.
  • Collaboration generates most complete cancer genome map

    An international team of 1,300 scientists has generated the most complete cancer genome map to date, bringing researchers closer to identifying all major cancer-causing genetic mutations.

    Illustration of concept cancer treatment.
  • Evaluating the hidden risks of herbicides

    Research into the gut microbes of wasps shows that exposure to atrazine, a widely used herbicide, leads to changes in the gut microbiome that are passed to future generations. Findings indicate that the microbiomes of insects, including pollinators, and of humans should be considered when evaluating the biorisk of pesticides.

    A scanning electron micrograph of the parasitic wasp.