Findings
Insights, discoveries, and analysis from Harvard scholars and scientists.
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How to fight depression? Faster.
Hope flags when medications fail, isolating and endangering patients. Backed by a major grant, 2 Harvard scientists are focused on reducing the distance between diagnosis and recovery.
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Health
Warning for younger women: Be vigilant on breast cancer risk
Pathologist explains the latest report from the American Cancer Society
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Science & Tech
Grappling with how clearings may support rainforest animal life
New research offers detailed overview of layout, makeup of canopy gaps in Congo
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Science & Tech
Mars may have been habitable much more recently than thought
Study bolsters theory that protective magnetic field supporting life-enabling atmosphere remained in place longer than estimates
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Health
Study shows vitamin D doesn’t cut cardiac risk
Outdoor physical activity may be a better target for preventive intervention, says researcher
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Health
Weight-loss surgery down 25 percent as anti-obesity drug use soars
Study authors call for more research examining how trend affects long-term patient outcomes
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Health
How to fight depression? Faster.
Hope flags when medications fail, isolating and endangering patients. Backed by a major grant, 2 Harvard scientists are focused on reducing the distance between diagnosis and recovery.
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Researchers reverse hair loss caused by alopecia
Treatment holds promise for painlessly targeting affected areas without weakening immune system
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Binge eating appears more widespread, persistent than thought
New research takes broader, deeper look at common, but poorly understood, disorder
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Want to make robots more agile? Take a lesson from a rat.
Scientists create realistic virtual rodent with digital neural network to study how brain controls complex, coordinated movement
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Alzheimer’s disease indicators track with biological changes in brain, study finds
Researchers see self-reported memory loss may be early, preclinical warning
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More than a planetary fender-bender
New study finds Earth collided with dense interstellar cloud, possibly affecting life on planet
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Bringing back a long extinct bird
Scientists sequence complete genome of bush moa, offering insights into its natural history, possible clues to evolution of flightless birds
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Women who follow Mediterranean diet live longer
Large study shows benefits against cancer, cardiovascular mortality, also identifies likely biological drivers of better health
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Harvard-led study IDs statin that may block pathway to some cancers
Cholesterol-lowering drug suppresses chronic inflammation that creates dangerous cascade
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One way to help big groups of students? Volunteer tutors.
Research finds low-cost, online program yields significant results
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Had a bad experience meditating? You’re not alone.
Altered states of consciousness through yoga, mindfulness more common than thought and mostly beneficial, study finds — though clinicians ill-equipped to help those who struggle
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Rethinking life-support decisions
Of the survivors within one study group, more than 40% recovered at least some independence.
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Everything counts!
New study finds step-count and time are equally valid in reducing health risks
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Glimpse of next-generation internet
Physicists demo first metro-area quantum computer network in Boston
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Science is making anti-aging progress. But do we want to live forever?
Nobel laureate details new book, which surveys research, touches on larger philosophical questions
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More educated communities tend to be healthier. Why? Culture.
New study finds places with more college graduates tend to develop better lifestyle habits overall
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Got milk? Does it give you problems?
Biomolecular archaeologist looks at why most of world’s population has trouble digesting beverage that helped shape civilization
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Epic science inside a cubic millimeter of brain
Researchers publish largest-ever dataset of neural connections
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Excited about new diet drug? This procedure seems better choice.
Study finds minimally invasive treatment more cost-effective over time, brings greater weight loss
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How friends helped fuel the rise of a relentless enemy
Economists imagine an alternate universe where the opioid crisis peaked in ’06, and then explain why it didn’t
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Getting ahead of liver cancer
Researchers hope identifying blood proteins may lead to earlier prediction of risk, increase treatment options
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Alcohol is dangerous. So is ‘alcoholic.’
Researcher explains the human toll of language that makes addiction feel worse
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Can we talk?
Study finds that conversation – even online – could be an effective strategy to help prevent cognitive decline and dementia
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Early warning sign of extinction?
Fossil record stretching millions of years shows tiny ocean creatures on the move before Earth heats up
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Lawyers reap big profits lobbying government regulators under the radar
Study exposes how banks sway policy from shadows, by targeting bureaucrats instead of politicians
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So much for summers of love
Despite ‘hippie’ reputation, male bonobos fight three times as often as chimps, study finds
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Exercise cuts heart disease risk in part by lowering stress, study finds
Benefits nearly double for people with depression
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Amazon butterfly evolved from hybrids
Genomic findings challenge thinking on what makes a species
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A molecular ‘warhead’ against disease
Approach attacks errant proteins at their roots
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Aspirin cuts liver fat in trial
10 percent reduction seen in small study of disease that affects up to a third of U.S. adults
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Why are we so divided? Zero-sum thinking is part of it.
Researchers examine who embraces mindset that one’s gain is another’s loss, and how that affects our politics — in sometimes surprising ways