Tag: Andrew Knoll

  • Science & Tech

    6 things to know about Earth

    Andrew Knoll, Harvard’s Fisher Research Professor of Natural History and author of the recent popular science book “A Brief History of Earth: Four Billion Years in Eight Chapters,” shares six facts about the Earth.

    3–4 minutes
    Andrew Knoll.
  • Health

    Understanding life, here, there, and everywhere

    Harvard’s Origins of Life Initiative has grown along with the rise in interest in how life first arose on Earth and whether it exists on other planets.

    4–6 minutes
  • Science & Tech

    Mars rover, slightly used, runs fine

    Originally scheduled to operate on the Red Planet’s surface for 90 Martian days, the rover Opportunity has now logged more than 3,500 days, traveled nearly 39 kilometers, and collected a trove of data that scientists have used to study the planet’s early history, particularly any past traces of water.

    3–4 minutes
  • Science & Tech

    Earth’s sister in the crosshairs

    A new book by Harvard astronomer Dimitar Sasselov explains the revolution in understanding the universe that views life as a natural part of planetary evolution and that has researchers on the brink of finding worlds that echo this one.

    3–5 minutes
  • Health

    Taking a stride toward synthetic life

    Harvard scientists have cleared a key hurdle in the creation of synthetic life, assembling a cell’s critical protein-making machinery in an advance with both practical, industrial applications and that advances the basic understanding of life’s workings. George Church, a genetics professor at Harvard Medical School and member of Harvard’s Origins of Life Initiative, reported the…

    3–5 minutes
  • Science & Tech

    Mars’ water appears to have been too salty to support life

    A new analysis of the Martian rock that gave hints of water on the Red Planet — and, therefore, optimism about the prospect of life — now suggests the water was more likely a thick brine, far too salty to support life as we know it. The finding, by scientists at Harvard University and Stony…

    3–4 minutes
  • Science & Tech

    Australian shale tells tale of layered seas

    Harvard researchers have found important clues about the Earth’s environment 1.5 billion years ago. Their results present quite a different picture from present times, in which oceans have oxygen-rich waters from top to bottom and are capable of supporting large animal life even in their depths. The findings are important not just for what they…

    1–2 minutes