Science & Tech

All Science & Tech

  • U.S. lagging in ability to trace nuclear materials

    The United States must renew its resources in tracing unidentifiednuclear materials, specialists say. Michael May, a professor emeritus at Stanford University and the head ofa panel of nuclear forensic experts…

  • Dean of Engineering and Applied Sciences to step down

    Venkatesh Narayanamurti, dean of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), who for 10 years has directed the renewal and expansion of the former division and its transition…

  • Religious beliefs shape views of science

    Religion greatly influences the American public’s views of technology, says Dietram Scheufele, a professor in the Department of Life Sciences Communications at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Presenting new survey results…

  • Warming of Antarctic oceans endangers marine life

    Global warming is endangering marine life in Antarctic waters for the first time in millions of years, said specialists participating on a panel at the American Association for the Advancement…

  • Visualizing science focus of panel

    The huge load of data now coming from modern computer systems is so overwhelming that new methods must be devised to allow people to visualize the world in more understandable…

  • Early childhood stress affects developing brain

    It is now clear that creating a sustained, reliable, compassionate and widespread system that cares for tiny children born into troubled families is needed in this nation, said Jack P.…

  • Hauser presents theory of “humaniqueness”

    Shedding new light on the great cognitive rift between humans and animals, a Harvard University scientist has synthesized four key differences in human and animal cognition into a hypothesis on…

  • The ethics of the organ bazaar

    In nearly every country in the world, there is a shortage of kidneys for transplantation. In the United States, around 73,000 people are on waiting lists to receive a kidney.…

  • Compact, wavelength-on-demand Quantum Cascade Laser chip created

    Engineers at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have demonstrated a highly versatile, compact and portable Quantum Cascade Laser sensor for the fast detection of a large number of…

  • HarvardScience website wins top awards in two categories

    The Interactive Media Council has named the HarvardScience website “Best in Class” in both the medicine and science categories of its annual Interactive Media Awards competition. In notifying HarvardScience of…

  • Scientists may have identified new target for HIV vaccine

    By coaxing the HIV-1 protein to reveal a hidden portion of its protein coat, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School have provided a newly detailed picture of…

  • E. O. Wilson receives Linean Society Tercentenary Medal

    The Linnean Society of London has awarded Edward O. Wilson, Pelegrino University Research Professor, Emeritus, one of three specially-commissioned Tercentenary Medals to honor his outstanding contribution to the world’s understanding…

  • Neuroimaging fails to demonstrate ESP is real

    Psychologists at Harvard University have developed a new method to study extrasensory perception that, they argue, can resolve the century-old debate over its existence. According to the authors, their study…

  • Turning on cells with magnetic switches

    Harvard scientists have figured out how to turn cells on and off using magnets, an advance with potentially broad applications as researchers around the world work to find new ways…

  • Sulfur dioxide may have helped maintain a warm early Mars

    Sulfur dioxide (SO2) may have played a key role in the climate and geochemistry of early Mars, geoscientists at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) suggest in…

  • Living in disadvantaged neighborhood equivalent to missing a year of school

    Childhood exposure to severely disadvantaged communities is linked to decreased verbal ability later in childhood, a lasting negative effect that continues even after moving out of the neighborhood, according to…

  • Discovery of a key molecular switch regulating cancer stem cells

    The role of stem cells in tumor development has, unexpectedly, been one of the biggest stories in cancer research over the past few years. These aren’t  embryonic stem cells, but…

  • Chimps in wild appear not to regularly experience menopause

    A pioneering study of wild chimpanzees has found that these close human relatives do not routinely experience menopause, rebutting previous studies of captive individuals which had postulated that female chimpanzees…

  • Female lower back has evolved to accommodate strain of pregnancy

    According to a new study by researchers at Harvard and the University of Texas at Austin, women’s lower spines evolved to be more flexible and supportive than men’s to increase…

  • Trafficked

    Slight and soft-spoken, the dark-eyed girl called Gina looks into the camera and speaks of her ordeal in a flat, disembodied voice, chronicling a story relived a thousand times. “The…

  • From neuroscience to childhood policy

    The Center on the Developing Child, founded in July 2006 to promote healthy child development as “the foundation of community development, economic prosperity, and a secure nation,” has been putting…

  • Seabed microbe study leads to low-cost power, light for the poor

    A Harvard biology professor’s fascination with seafloor microbes has led to the development of a revolutionary, low-cost power system consuming garbage, compost, and other waste that could provide light for the developing world.

  • Gonzalo Giribet

     They had sifted through the forest floor’s leaves and dirt for days, looking for a tiny type of daddy longlegs native to New Zealand, but had little more than dirty…

  • White dwarf ‘sibling rivalry’ explodes into supernova

    Astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) have found that a supernova discovered last year was caused by two colliding white dwarf stars.

  • Holdren talks back to skeptics of global warming

    “Global warming is a misnomer,” said John P. Holdren, speaking Tuesday night (Nov. 6) at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at the Kennedy School. “It implies something gradual, uniform, and benign. What we’re experiencing is none of these.”

  • Engineered weathering process could mitigate global warming

    Researchers at Harvard University and Pennsylvania State University have invented a technology, inspired by nature, to reduce the accumulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) caused by human emissions.

  • The cultural politics of pain, from Percodan to Kevorkian

    On a rainy Tuesday afternoon, physicians, historians of science, and members of the general public gathered in the  Gymnasium at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study to hear about pain.…

  • Engineered weathering process might mitigate climate change

    Researchers at Harvard University and Penn State University have invented a technology, inspired by nature, to reduce the accumulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) caused by human emissions. By electrochemically…

  • Foraging for forest frogs

    In the dark of the Sri Lankan cloud forest, the researchers’ only guides were the headlamps they used to light up the night, illuminating the cold, gray mist that drifted…

  • Harvard, Japanese science organization sign memorandum of understanding

    Officials of Harvard and RIKEN, Japan’s equivalent of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Lanoratories have October 29 signed a Memorandum of Understanding to encourage and facilitate collaborations between Harvard…