Science & Tech

All Science & Tech

  • The RoboBee flies solo

    Several decades in the making, the Harvard Microbiotics Lab’s RoboBee made its first solo flight.

    To achieve untethered flight, the latest iteration of the Robobee underwent several important changes, including the addition of a second pair of wings.
  • Leave those calluses alone

    A running-studies pioneer takes a look at walking, with and without shoes, and gives calluses a thumbs-up.

    Nick Holowka, Postdoctoral Researcher, performs an ultra sound on callouses
  • Blood-brain barrier chip performs human-like drug and antibody transport

    Wyss Institute scientists have developed chip technology that mimics the blood-brain barrier in humans. The new models will help researchers study drugs to treat cancer, neurodegeneration, and other diseases of the central nervous system.

    A transparent plastic model of a human skull
  • The little robot that could

    The iRobot Corp. announced its acquisition of Root Robotics, Inc., whose educational Root coding robot got its start as a summer research project at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University in 2011

    The Root robot with a whiteboard and iPad
  • The science of the artificial

    Researchers propose a new field of study — “machine behavior” — to look at artificial intelligence through the lens of biology, economics, psychology, and other behavioral and social sciences.

    David Parkes.
  • Beyond the cloud

    Every day, more and more information is filed in less and less space. Even the cloud will eventually run out of space, can’t thwart all hackers, and gobbles up energy. Now, a new way to store information could stably house data for millions of years.

    Brian Cafferty works in the lab.
  • No laughing matter

    A recent study shows that nitrous-oxide emissions from thawing Alaskan permafrost are about 12 times higher than previously assumed. About a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere is covered in permafrost, which is thawing at an increasing rate. And, even though researchers are monitoring carbon dioxide and methane, no one seems to be monitoring N2O, the most potent greenhouse gas.

    Aerial photo of Alaska
  • Forward thinking

    Research led by scientists at Harvard and the Broad Institute has optimized the process of making human brain “organoids” — miniature 3D organ models — so they consistently follow growth patterns observed in the developing human brain.

    Scientists
  • Editing genes at the source

    Study shows how genes could be edited in stem cells within intact organs, without having to remove them from their normal environment. The new approach could treat a variety of diseases.

    uninjected and injected cells
  • A new vision for neuroscience

    For decades scientists have been searching for a way to watch a live broadcast of neurons firing in real time. Now, a Harvard researcher has done it with mice.

    Researchers Adam Cohen and Yoav Adam examine their experiment in the lab
  • Researcher connects the dots in fin-to-limb evolution

    With an innovative technique called anatomical network analysis, clear patterns emerge that help solve the puzzle of how fins became limbs 420 million years ago.

  • Learning why cancer drugs work (or don’t)

    Assistant Professor Brian Liau of the Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department has answered the question of why some new drugs for acute myeloid leukemia don’t work by combining CRISPR gene editing with small-molecule inhibitor treatments in a technique he calls CRISPR-suppressor scanning.

    Professor sits in front of a white board
  • The evolution of flightless birds

    Based on an analysis of the genomes of more than a dozen flightless birds, including an extinct moa, a team led by Harvard researchers found that while different species show wide variety in the protein-coding portions of their genomes, they appear to turn to the same regulatory pathways when evolving flight loss.

    Researchers display skeletons of flightless birds.
  • Easy on the eyes

    New computer program uses artificial intelligence to determine what visual neurons like to see. The approach could shed light on learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, and other neurologic conditions.

    Photo manip of a person in profile, over clouds
  • Researchers ID molecules that rein in CRISPR systems

    Scientists have identified the first chemical compounds able to inhibit and regulate CRISPR systems, which could ultimately make CRISPR gene-editing technologies more precise, efficient, and safe.

    3D render of the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing system
  • AI model predicts TB resistance

    A Harvard undergrad, working with Harvard Medical School scientists, has designed an artificial intelligence model that predicts tuberculosis resistance to 10 most commonly used drugs. The new model outperforms previous machine-learning tools, and incorporating it into clinical tests could dramatically enhance early detection and prompt treatment of drug-resistant TB.

    Secondary tuberculosis in lungs and close-up view of Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria, 3D illustration
  • Embedded EthiCS wins $150,000 grant

    A joint program of the computer science and philosophy departments, Embedded EthiCS has won a $150,000 grant as part of the Responsible Computer Science Challenge sponsored by Omidyar Network, Mozilla, Schmidt Futures, and Craig Newmark Philanthropies.

    Barbara Grosz (from left), Jeff Behrend, and Allison Simmons
  • Ultra-high-speed Wi-Fi breakthrough

    In a breakthrough on the road toward ultra-high-speed Wi-Fi, Harvard researchers have demonstrated for the first time a laser that can emit microwaves wirelessly, modulate them, and receive external radio frequency signals.

    Laser.
  • Day of the golden jackal

    The surprising success story of the golden jackal in Europe holds lessons about nature’s resilience and about how nature might respond to the evolutionary pressure exerted by humans as we change the natural landscape. The Gazette spoke with doctoral student Nathan Ranc for insight.

  • Arboretum gets a solar boost

    The Weld Hill Solar Project, currently underway, is the Arnold Arboretum’s third and largest solar project and Harvard’s most ambitious sustainability initiative to date, with nearly 1,300 solar panels powering a 45,000-square-foot science laboratory and teaching facility in Roslindale.

    Installing solar panels at the Arnold Arboretum's Weld Hill property
  • Written in the bones

    Harvard doctoral students offered a glimpse of the future of evolutionary inquiry, outlining projects that touch on the human pelvis, butterfly hybrids, field and forest mice, and the mystery of an ancient pile of bones.

  • Containing the sun

    Scientists from Harvard and Princeton have teamed up to create an artificial intelligence algorithm that can predict destructive disruptions in nuclear fusion experiments

  • Protecting P-town

    Architect and GSD Professor Scott Cohen discusses his studio course that considered how architects could help his beloved Provincetown, Mass., address the prospect of rising seas due to climate change while still retaining its quirky magic.

    Provincetown skyline.
  • Rocketwoman

    Fifty years ago this summer, Neil Armstrong took his “giant leap for mankind” on the moon. In his wake hundreds of others have flown into space, including Ellen Ochoa, a four-time shuttle astronaut who stepped down as director of the Johnson Space Center in 2018 and is currently a visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership.

  • Clearing the way for cleaner air in China

    Researchers have analyzed technical and economic viability for China to move toward carbon-negative electric power generation and found that China can do so in an economically competitive way.

    Ganjiaxiang's industrial panorama.
  • Before the Big Bang

    Harvard researchers are proposing using a “primordial standard clock” as a probe of the primordial universe. The team laid out a method that may be used to falsify the inflationary theory experimentally.

    A representation of the timeline of the universe.
  • Identifying exotic properties

    Though they have unusual properties that could be useful in everything from superconductors to quantum computers, topological materials are frustratingly difficult to predictably produce. To speed up the process, Harvard researchers in a series of studies develop methods for efficiently identifying new materials that display topological properties.

    illustration of water and how symmetry indicators work as a net to catch topological materials
  • Laying some groundwork for environmental protection

    The Wyss Institute has developed a sheet pile driving robot, Romu, that works in uneven terrain to build metal walls that can act as dams, retaining walls, or building foundations.

    Romu the robot in the sand
  • Tackling climate change through study

    Harvard’s Climate Change Solutions Fund, now in its fifth year, is awarding seven research projects $1 million in grants.

    Thermovision of house.
  • ‘Seeing the unseeable’

    A years-long effort by dozens of researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics reveals the first-ever image of a supermassive black hole.

    In the first picture of a black hole, it is outlined by emission from hot gas swirling around it under the influence of strong gravity near its event horizon.