Science & Tech

At Harvard College Observatory in the late 19th and early 20th century, Henrietta Swan Leavitt developed a powerful new tool for estimating the distances of stars and galaxies.

Harvard’s Ambulatory Microrobot explores new surfaces.

A team of researchers was able to show how sensory neurons in the face detect temperature, and how this information is later passed on to the hindbrain of zebrafish, where it is processed to produce behavior.

Harvard researcher Daniel Gilbert’s “prevalence-induced concept change” speaks to humankind’s conflicted relationship with progress.

Keynote speakers at the eighth Harvard IT Summit focused on how technology can contribute to a more diverse, just, and civil society.

Harvard researchers examined mysteries of color in the spider species Phoroncidia rubroargentea.

In a step to help fight global warming, Harvard Professor David Keith has a plan to repurpose existing technology to slash the costs of carbon capture.

Amgen and Harvard are teaming up to develop a free online education platform called LabXchange.

A graduate student, who had a baseball-sized brain tumor, was curious to see what his brain looked like before the tumor was removed. This led him to colleagues who collaborated on a new 3-D printing technique.

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics researchers explore dark matter particles that may carry an electric charge, and explain why that matters.

CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna discussed the gene-editing technology’s rapid spread and the need for a robust discussion about the ethics of its applications.

Natural lab holds promise to transform understanding of deep-ocean carbon cycling, says Professor Peter Girguis.

A new study shows that in repeated interactions winning strategies involve either partners or rivals, but only partnership allows for cooperation.

Harvard research teams systematically profiled every cell in developing zebrafish and frog embryos to establish a roadmap revealing how one cell builds an entire organism.

A group of Harvard researchers has developed a new genetic-analysis technique that harnesses “natural barcodes” to create what happens to cells when they are exposed to any kind of experimental condition, enabling large pools of cells from multiple people to be analyzed for personalized medicine.

“This is the miracle of being able to see what we have never been able to see before,” said Harvard Medical School professor and study co-author Tomas Kirchhausen.

Liu Zhenya, chairman of the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization, gave a talk titled “The Art of Energy Revolution” at Harvard Law School.

Harvard scientists have developed a system that uses nitrogen-vacancy centers — atomic-scale impurities in diamonds — to read the nuclear magnetic resonance signals produced by samples as small as a single cell — and they did it on a shoestring budget using a 53-year-old, donated electromagnet.

What can termites teach us about designing green buildings? As it turns out, a lot.

The University-wide Sustainability Celebration marked more than a decade of the Harvard community’s collective achievements in holistically addressing sustainability to build a healthier campus community less dependent on fossil fuels.

Harvard Professor Daniel Lieberman offers evolutionary perspective on Roger Bannister’s four-minute mile, today’s marathoners.

Diagnosed with ADHD, Ph.D. candidate Jennifer Kotler uses clinical and genetic studies to reinterpret how humans think.

Harvard Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology Kang-Kuen Ni and colleagues have combined two atoms for the first time into what researchers call a dipolar molecule.

Evolutionary biologist Athena Aktipis of Arizona State University delivered a lecture titled “Why Cancer is Everywhere” at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.

In a recently published study, Harvard Kennedy School Professor Matthew Baum and Northeastern University Professor David Lazer, an associate of the Harvard Institute for Quantitative Social Science, argue that a multidisciplinary effort is needed to understand better how the Internet spreads content and how citizens process the news and information they consume.

Seeking new biomedical tools and treatments, marine biologist David Gruber plumbs the potential of an oceanic enigma.

Biologist E.O. Wilson suggests conserving half of the Earth to save species. He and former National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis discuss how to do that.

Following NASA’s launch of TESS, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics will provide follow-up observations of the satellite’s targets.

Exhibit at the Harvard Museum of Natural History shows the beauty and utility of microbes.

The Wyss Institute and Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences announced Novartis will have access to commercially develop their therapeutic, biomaterial-based cancer vaccine technology.